Charles James Titsworth was born in 1887 as the son of Alonzo and Margaret (Stocker) Titsworth. He was named after his uncle, Charles James Downing.

"Young Charles, as soon as he was big enough, followed in his father's footsteps, working in the logging industry to support his mother and two sisters. At the age of sixteen he contracted the dread disease, typhoid fever, and died on September 7, 1903, in Torch Lake Township."