Charles was an enslaved African American man. The first record of Charles' enslavement comes from a 1695 estate inventory of North Carolina governor Seth Sothel, indicating that Sothel enslaved him sometime prior to his death in 1694. Charles' ownership then transferred to Sothel's widow, Anna and when Anna died in early 1695, Charles then became enslaved by Anna's next husband, John Lear. When John Lear too died by the end of 1695, the Sothel/Lear estate records fell into disorder and several estate executors proceeded to squabble over who had a right to the estate and with it, the ownership of Charles and several other individuals that the Sothels/Lears had enslaved. Any further records about Charles' fate have not been located.