When Charles Carl Wilhelm Ernst Spens was born on 20 February 1893, in Rogers City, Presque Isle, Michigan, United States, his father, Johann Friedrich August Spens, was 21 and his mother, Louisa Lesser, was 7. He married Gertrude Susanna Kohsman on 4 June 1914, in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 2 daughters. He lived in Rogers Township, Presque Isle, Michigan, United States in 1910 and Ecorse, Wayne, Michigan, United States for about 10 years. He died in September 1963, in Michigan, United States, at the age of 70.