Charles Humphrey was born in Little Britain, New York, on February 14, 1792, and was raised in Newburgh, New York. During the War of 1812, he interrupted his legal studies to serve as a first sergeant in Newburgh Company No. 5 and as a captain in the United States Army's 41st Infantry Regiment. He was admitted to the bar in January 1816, and began practicing law in Ithaca, New York, in 1818. He held several public offices: member, United States House of Representatives (1825-1827); president, village of Ithaca (1828-1829); surrogate, Tompkins County (1831-1834); member, New York State Assembly (1834-1836, 1842); speaker, New York State Assembly (1835-1836); and clerk, New York Supreme Court (1843-1847). Humphrey and his wife, Ann Eliza Belknap, had three children: William Ross (1820-1901), Charles (1832-1870), and Sarah (1835-1904). Charles Humphrey died on April 17, 1850.
William Ross Humphrey was born in Ithaca, New York, on April 10, 1820. In 1838, he worked for the Harlem Railroad survey. After his admission to the bar in January 1842, Humphrey practiced law in Ithaca for several years, leaving in 1849 to become superintendent for the Ithaca and Owego Railroad (later the Cayuga and Susquehanna Railroad). He married Mary H. Wheeler in 1848, and they had 4 children. William R. Humphrey died in 1901.
From the guide to the Charles and William R. Humphrey correspondence, Humphrey, Charles and William R. correspondence, 1811-1847, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
