A miller and fuller, he benefitted from the system of chattel slavery that existed in the province during that time by using enslaved laborers to operate his businesses.
The son of Daniel and Hannah (née Wynne; daughter of Dr. Thomas Wynne) Humphreys, he and his two sisters, Elizabeth and Rebecca, became the enslavers during their adult years of multiple Black men, women and children, including: Tom, Caesar, Judy, Nany, Nancy, Dolly, Alice, Fanny, and Tommey in 1780.
Judy, Nany, Nancy, and Dolly were adult women; and Alice, Fanny, and Tommey were children.
[1] Charles Humphreys served as a delegate for Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776.
[2] Despite not taking part in the Revolutionary War, he sympathized with the Patriot cause and was critical of incidents of oppression by the British government and its representatives.