Charles (DoB incorrect on headstone) was the son of William H Bronston (c.1813–c.1884) and his 2nd wife Nancy "Nannie" Bailey (1836–1904). His namesake was likely abolitionist US Senator Charles Sumner (1811-1874).

All census records confirm that Charles followed the family newspaper trade like his parents, maternal grandparents [Wm Shreve Bailey published the only antislavery newspaper in KY in the 1850s], his sister and her husband, and his half-brother. Family lore says Charles died from inhaling printers' ink, a known carcinogen.

Before 1860 Charles's parents moved from KY to KS and continued to work as printers. Charles had a sister, Caroline Anna (1867-1899) w/o Arlie A Bailey of Portland, OR. He also had a much older half-brother Thomas J Bronston (1833–1888), whom he may not have known.

Charles was married on 22 Oct 1876 in Anderson Co, KS to Matilda Jane Tunnell (c.1857–c.1892), d/o Lemuel Harrison Tunnell & Nancy Milstead.
Charles & Jane were the parents of 3:
1) William Harry (1877 KS – 1943 MO), h/o Effie Mae Taylor
2) Nellie (1880 KS – 1958 CA), w/o Harrison Nelson Robinson
3) Ella (1884 KS – 1982 WA), w/o Otis H "Bud" Smith

Charles was married 6 Jun 1893 in Leavenworth Co, KS to Anna Maria "Annie" Perryman (1867–1938), d/o William Perryman & Esther Partridge of England and KS.
Charles and Annie were the parents of 2:
1) Maybelle (1894 KS–1966 KS), w/o Martin Rasmus Pedersen
2) Helen P Bronston (1895 KS–1909 KS)
Annie filed for divorce from Charles in Dec 1896, publishing that he must respond or lose custody of his children.

Charles married a 3rd time on 10 Oct 1902 in Seaton, Mercer, IL, to Edna C 'Lettie' Herman (1880 IL – 1978 CA), d/o John U. Herman & Mary Jane Whiteside.
Charles & Lettie were the parents of 7:
1) John Sumner (1903–1981), h/o Agnes Amanda Butler.
2) Gertrude Millicent "Gert" (1906–1984), w/o Miles E Dunn.
3) Charles MELVIN 'Bus' (1907–1929) unmarried.
4) Effie (1910–1976), w/o Mr Perry.
5) Layman Herman 'Red' (1912–1961) h/o Eva Lindgren & Edna Lillian Snider
6) Margaret Ruth 'Meg' (1915–1987), w/o Jack Wm Lofstedt.
7) Thomas Lanigan (1916–2010), h/o Eula Jane Miller.

Charles chose to be a mystery to his third family. Family lore gives us conflicting details of his ancestry and records give conflicting details of his life:
~ from Lettie's children: "he refused to tell where he was from, hinting about a "blue-blood family from KY".
~ from descendants of his son Wm Harry: "our line came from Ireland and the family died shortly after making it to the states."
~ His nativity was c.1859 in KY in most censuses with his parents (US 1860, 1870, 1880 and KS 1865, 1875, 1885).
~ In later censuses, he reported his birth in KY, AR, VA, IL, and OR; and varied his age.
~ His IL DC (1929) gave his birth as 28 Sept 1845 in Livingston, KY and his age as 63 (conflicting)
~ His obit gave 28 Sep 1865 (63y, 5m, 24d), and birth in Livingston, KY
~ The ILDC of his son, Melvin (buried nearby) says father was born in Freeport, KY

OBITUARY in the possession of the family:

CHARLES S. BRONSTON - Charles Sumner Bronston was born at Livingston, Kentucky September 28, 1865 , died at his home in Dallas City March 21, 1929, his death following an illness of several months due to gradual decline. He was aged 63 years, 5 months and 24 days.
At an early age he with his parents and sister went to Portland, Oregon and he learned the printers trade, at the age of 14 with his mother taking charge of a printing office at Portland, where he remained for a number of years. Later he worked as a journeyman printer in all parts of the United States. He located at Aledo, lll in the 90's as linotype operator all around printer. There he met and was married to Miss Lettie Herman in 1902.
Later Mr and Mrs Bronston moved to Farmington, Iowa, and took charge of a newspaper plant and a short time later they moved to Kahoka, MO for a few months.
Fifteen years ago they came to Dallas City, Mr. Bronston first working for the Enterprise , and later for Charles Kistner at Lomax during Love's New City boom as both printer and machine operator. For the past 10 years, Mr. Bronston has been foreman and the main standby in the composing department of the Review, and was a valued and honored mechanic, as well as one of the most painstaking and conscientious workers we ever knew. He took pride in the printing trade and was a firm believer in always giving his best effort to any work he set himself to do.
Mr. and Mrs. Bronston were the parents of seven children all of whom with the faithful wife survive him. They are John of Milwaukee, Wis., Gertrude Dunn of Burlington, Iowa, Melvin of Williamsfield, Effie, Layman, Margaret and Tom at home. He also leaves three grandchildren of whom he was very proud.
While we will all miss him, yet we cannot but feel that in his case death comes as a relief from suffering which had practically sapped his strength for the past few years. He bore it all with great fortitude, and was always found ready to do the hardest tasks, even when his weakened condition required the force of his iron will to keep him going. His only regret was that he could not carry on and keep up his end of the work to be done.
Funeral service was conducted from the home Sunday morning at 10:00 by Rev W P Bell, pastor of the Dallas City Christian church. Interment in the Dallas City cemetery.
[The Dallas City Review (Dallas City, IL) Tues, 26 Mar 1929, Vol. XLII, No. 30]