Chauncy Persons was born around 1838 in Ellisburg, New York, to Ira and Eliza Persons. His father was a blacksmith who owned $300 of real estate by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Henderson, New York, and by 1860, he was working as a laborer.
He enlisted in the Union army on September 18, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company K of the 24th New York Infantry on September 27. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 6 inches tall, with black hair and blue eyes. He died in the Second Battle of Bull Run on August 29, 1862.