A native of Illinois, he also served as a state circuit court judge in Oregon, fought in the Modoc War in 1873, and was a newspaper editor.

Bellinger received his education at a school near the Santiam River where his teacher was Orange Jacobs, later a judge and politician in Washington.

[2] He left Willamette in order to read law under attorney and later judge Benjamin F. Bonham, after which he passed the bar in 1863.

[2] He left the state's highest court to accept a judgeship for Oregon's fourth judicial district, serving until 1880.

[1] Charles Bellinger was married to Margaret (or Margery) Serena Johnson of Linn County, Oregon, with whom he would have seven children.

[2] Also in Portland he was a commissioner of the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition held there in 1905 after his death, and as President of the Oregon State Bar.