Charles Freeman Libby, son of James Brackett and Hannah Catherine (Morrill) Libby, was born January 31, 1844 in Limerick, Maine.
Moving to Portland at a young age he received his early education at Portland High School. He graduated first in his class from Bowdoin College in 1864 and immediately began a study of law with Fessenden and Butler of Portland.
Libby continued his education at Columbia Law School and then in Europe studying in both Paris and Heidelberg. He was admitted to the bar in 1866 and began his law practice in Portland in 1868 as a well-to-do, well-traveled and well-educated young man and, as might be expected, was soon one of Portland’s and the State’s leading lawyers.
In addition to his law practice and his involvement with the arts and cultural life of Portland, he was soon involved in the quest for public office, serving as City Solicitor, County Attorney, a trustee of the public library and on the local school committee before becoming Mayor of the city in 1882 at the age of thirty-eight.
He served two terms in the State Senate from 1889 to 1892 and during his second term was chosen President of that body without opposition.
Charles F. Libby was active in establishing the Maine Bar Association and served as its first President from 1891 to 1896. He also served as President of the American Bar Association in 1909.
A member of the Board of Overseers of Bowdoin College and eventually President of the Board he also maintained an interest in several Portland area businesses; being President of the Portland Railroad Company and a director of the Portland Steam Packet Company, the Maine Steamship Company, the International Steamship Company and the Eastern Steamship Company.
Libby died on June 3, 1915 of heart failure in his home at Cape Elizabeth.