June 6, 1843, Linesville, Pennsylvania.

December 1, 1918, Oberlin, Ohio.

Gustavus Cemetery, Gustavus, Ohio.

When Case was about four years old, his family moved to Gustavus, Ohio, where he lived the rest of his life. Case’s father was an accomplished violinist, and his grandfather, a American revolutionary war veteran, taught vocal music. By the time Charles was nine years old, a neighbor gave him a small violin which he mastered long before he could read music. At age 16, he began to go to singing school (without his parents’ consent), borrowing the money from a neighbor.

His first vocal music instructor was a Mr. C. A. Bentley, a prominent conductor of the day. William Bradbury’s Jubilee was the school textbook. For three winters in a row, Case attended Bentley’s singing school, working on his father’s farm in the summer. In 1866, Case, began studying with B. F. Baker in Boston, Massachusetts. He also studied under George Root, Carl Zerrahn, William Mason, Carlo Bassini, Horatio Palmer, Philip Bliss, Luther Emerson, George Webb, and others.

Soon after Case began teaching, the parents of James McGranahan moved to a house two miles from Case’s home, so the two young men became friends.

Case wrote and edited a number of Gospel song books, including:

  1. Marching Home
  1. Be Careful What You Sow
  2. Bursa
  3. Faneuil Hall
  4. Fountain of Purity
  5. I Never Knew You
  6. Milford
  7. On the Rock
  8. Only a Song
  9. Only a Word
  10. Story of His Love, The
  11. There Is Joy Among the Angels
  12. We Shall Reign
  13. Why Not Now?