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Charity Fowler Bishop was born in Durham, Ontario on March 25, 1862. Charity was the daughter of James Fraser Fowler and Lavinia Bunnel Brown. Her father, James was the son of Caleb Fowler, a celebrated captain in the British Army during the Revolutionary War. After the war Caleb moved to Maugerville in Sanbury County, New Brunswick, where James grew up. He attended the Academy at Fredericton and then the University of New Brunswick. While at the Academy he met his future wife, Lavinia Bunnel Brown, who had grown up in the village of Nashwaak. After he completed his studies, the British Government gave him a land grant in Durham, Ontario. James and Lavinia ran a farm in Durham where they raised their seven children: Sue, Will, Rachel, Allen, Eliza, Joe, and Charity. As devout members of the Church of England, Charity and her family spent most of their free time participating in church activities. Charity lived and attended school in Durham until 1877, at which time she went to live with her cousin Tom and his wife, Lavinia Hathaway, in Fredricton, New Brunswick.

In 1879, Tom Hathaway secured a job with the Eddy-Hammond Company, later renamed the Missoula Mercantile Company, in Missoula, Montana. Tom departed for Missoula ahead of the rest of the family to procure a house. The Hathaways invited Charity to come to Montana with them and after discussing the option with her parents, she accepted.

On May 1, 1879, Charity accompanied Lavinia, her children, and another cousin, Joe Sutherland, to Missoula. They started their journey by train in Fredericton, traveling on to Chicago and finally to Promontory, Utah, the closest point to Missoula that could be reached by train. In Promontory they secured a covered wagon to take them the rest of the way to Missoula. After twenty-eight days of grueling travel they arrived in Missoula on June 7, 1879, and immediately began to settle into a small house on Front Street. Charity soon settled into Missoula life and joined the Holy Spirit Episcopal Church. After three years on Front Street, the Hathaways needed larger quarters for their family and moved to Pine Street. Charity lived with her cousins in Missoula until 1883, when her beau Charles Bishop proposed to her. They were married in the spring of that year and immediately after the wedding moved to the nearby town of Corvallis.

Charles and Charity's brother, Allen Fowler, opened a general merchandise store there. The two men were hoping to capitalize on a proposed terminal by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company to be built in Corvallis. Unfortunately, the terminal was built elsewhere and the store did not fare well and closed in 1885. Despite this disappointment the Bishops decided to stay on in Corvallis and in 1885 their first child, Arthur, was born. After the store venture, Charles entered into a partnership with George Daugherty to raise sheep. A harsh drought hit Corvallis that year and also forced this business under. In 1886, soon after this catastrophe, their second child, Marie was born. After a few other attempts at business in Corvallis, the Bishops moved to Somerville, Mass., where Charles's brother Arthur lived. Their third child, Clare, was born soon after their arrival in Sommerville in 1892. The family stayed there approximately two years until Charles procured a job with the mine in Butte, Montana, in 1894. After arriving in Butte they found the mine workers on strike and after much consideration Charles and Charity decided to leave Butte and go back to Missoula.

The Bishops met adversity again upon arriving in Missoula, where a highly volatile strike against the Northern Railroad Company was in progress. U.S. troops had already been dispatched and were poised to take the city under martial law if the situation escalated any further. Fortunately the strike soon dissipated and the situation quieted down, allowing Charles to secure a job through the railroad. Allen, the Bishop's fourth child was born a year later in 1896.

Charles Bishop passed away circa 1900 from an unspecified illness, leaving Charity with little money or future security. To provide for her family she began to take boarders into her home, mainly students and professors from the University in Missoula. In 1902, Charity moved her boarding house to Seattle, Washington, in hopes providing a more ample musical education for her daughter Marie. Soon after their arrival in Seattle, a traveling ensemble offered Marie a spot as a violinist on their national tour. After six months with the ensemble she moved permanently to New York. Charity and her youngest daughter, Claire joined her there a few years later.

After a two years in New York, Charity and Clare returned to Seattle. After a brief time in Seattle, Charity and Clare moved to Drummond, Montana, to live with Arthur on a ranch he had purchased. In the remainder of her years Charity moved frequently to various towns in Montana and the Northwest finally residing in New York.