Born as Charles Johan Petter Pettersson, he was the oldest of five children to parents Lars Johan Pettersson and Laura Fristedt. Charles lived in or near the town of Borås until March 1889, when he immigrated to Chicago, IL. His mother and brother Robert moved to Chicago the next year, and his sister Helga followed in 1894. His brother Oscar also moved to Chicago between 1890-1897 and 1900-1902, before moving back to Sweden. After the disappearance of their father in the 1880s, Robert and Charles changed their last names in 1897 to Freestate, an Americanized version of their mother's maiden name Fristedt (sometimes spelled Friestedt after the mid-1800s).

Charles's first wife was Alma Swanson, and they lived with their daughter Della Freestate and Alma's son from a prior marriage, Harold Johnson; Charles and Alma divorced sometime between 1910-1918. After his brother Robert Herman passed away in 1922, Charles married Robert's widow Anna and raised their three children Fern, Alfa, and Robert Charles; Charles and Anna also had a son named Charles Herman. Charles was mechanically inclined, and enjoyed working on carpentry and machines in his basement workshop. He was granted multiple patents for machinery that he invented for Western Shade & Cloth Co.'s factory in Chicago, where he worked for several decades before retiring. Charles is buried beneath the same headstone as his second wife Anna, his mother Laura, his brother Robert, and Anna's brother Max Gercke.

Chicago Tribune - Tuesday, May 27, 1952
Charles P. Freestate of 287 Herrick road, Riverside, husband of Anna, nee Gercke; father of Fern Ralston, Alfa Peplow, Robert and Charles Freestate, grandfather of eight, brother of Helga Godenius and the late Robert. Services at chapel, 80 Burlington road, Riverdale, Wednesday at 2 p.m. Burial Montrose cemetery. Member of Riverside lodge No. 862, A. F. & A. M.