 Charles Larned was a native of Pittsfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts.He was the son of Simon Larned, Sheriff of Berkshire County, who had come to America when young, and, during the American Revolutionary War, was Colonel of the 9th Regiment United States Infantry, and aide-de-camp to General Washington.Larned graduated from Williams College in 1806 and then studied law in Kentucky in the offices of Henry Clay.