Son of Charles H. and Sally Toll, was born on the 8th of April, 1817, in the town of Van Buren, Onondaga county, New York. Charles was principally educated at the public schools of his neighborhood, but subsequently, during one year. pursued a more thorough course of study in an institution under the supervision of Dr. Andrew Yates. At the age of eighteen he left home and soon after engaged himself as a clerk in a grocery store in the city of Syracuse, New York. After a brief term he retired from the above position, and obtained a more desirable one in another establishment in the same vicinity and continued with it one year. Having obtained in this time some knowledge of business as well as practical experience in trade, in 1837 he entered into a business arrangement with another party, and established himself in the parental neighborhood in a mercantile capacity. After continuing in this business some three years the partnership was mutually dissolved, he having embarked in another enterprise in a neighboring locality. His business career during the following eight years, although exhibiting great business talent and ability, as well as financial skill and comprehension, was characterized by various adverse experiences, arising invariably from injudicious management of his associates in trade. He removed to Chicago in 1853, and after spending a few months as bookkeeper in a well-known firm in that city, he decided to locate at Lyons, Iowa, where he took up his residence in 1854, having previously made a small investment in that vicinity. Soon after his arrival he was employed by eastern capitalists to assist in superintending the building of a railroad from the Mississippi river to Council Bluffs, on the Missouri. In 1855 he was elected mayor of the city of Lyons. He resigned his office as mayor of Lyons and located in Clinton, where his business required his presence. During his connection with the railroad company he was elected assistant treasurer of the Iowa Land Company, and was appointed also superintendent of the ferry boat owned by this company. In 1859 he was elected sheriff of Clinton county, and served two years. In 1862 he was appointed United States commissary for a division of the Union army, and immediately reported for duty at Cincinnati. In that capacity he served until the close of the war in 1866. Although an active business man, Major Toll has filled several civil positions of trust and responsibility. In 1845 and 1846 he was supervisor of the town of Lysander, Onondaga county, New York. In 1854 he was elected a member of the legislature. In 1859 he was elected sheriff, and in 1862 appointed war commissary in the Union army. He has been justice and supervisor of Clinton during the past five years. In 1846 he joined the Odd-Fellows, and continued with that fraternity till he came west in 1856. He is a highly intelligent and respected member of the Baptist church, and contributed liberally to its support, having joined the denomination in 1839. He married, in 1840, Eliza H., daughter of Richard Lusk, of Lysander, New York. In politics, he is a republican, a decided and independent thinker. He is a man well qualified for business and social intercourse; prompt, courteous and frank in his manners, and from his natural quickness of perception and his constant habit of mingling with men he has a clear and accurate knowledge of human nature. In the army he achieved an honorable record, and justly occupies a high position in the community where he resides.