Charles Rye emigrated to the U.S.A. with his sister Mary Ann in 1851. Mary Ann's husband William Laycock had preceded them about 18 months or so before and presumably sent a message back for them to join him. After two years in the East he moved to Minnesota where his family and descendants were raised. After a preliminary failed marriage to Mary Chadwick he remarried to Ida May Wood. He served for a period in the Union Army during the American civil war.