He was born on March 20, 1743 in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, United States. His family was of remote French origin with Scotch and Irish branches. Charles Pettigrew's father, James, of the Irish branch, became estranged from his people because of religious differences and emigrated to America with his wife, Mary Cochran, from County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1740. The family later moved to Virginia and in 1768 to North Carolina.
In North Carolina Charles studied under the Rev. Henry Patillo, who was serving the Presbyterians of that state.
Although still a Presbyterian, he was appointed principal of the academy at Edenton, a school which was practically Episcopalian and which had marked influence on the early history of North Carolina. Here he became an Episcopalian and decided to take orders.
He sailed for England in 1774, was ordered deacon by the Bishop of London, and advanced to the priesthood by the Bishop of Rochester in 1775.
He returned to America in the last ship that sailed before the Revolution, and became rector of St. Paul's Church in Edenton. In the fall of 1789, when Bishop White of Philadelphia wrote to Governor Samuel Johnston, of North Carolina to request that the clergy of the Episcopal church in that state meet to take steps to revive the church organization there, the Governor referred the matter to the Rev. Charles Pettigrew, whom he called "his Pastor and Friend. "
Pettigrew called a meeting of the clergy, each of the six in the state being asked to bring one layman. Only two clergymen and two laymen, both residents of Tarboro, were present at the meeting in that town on June 5, 1790. They proceeded to organize and to elect deputies for the General Convention of 1792. It was a day of small beginnings, no notice of organization or attendance of delegates appearing in the records of the General Convention, and a permanent organization was not effected until 1817. At a state convention held in Tarboro on May 28, 1794, comprising five clergymen and eight laymen, Pettigrew was elected bishop. He expected to be consecrated at the Convention of 1795, which met at Philadelphia, but he was stopped in Norfolk, Virginia, by an epidemic of yellow fever, and was delayed until the Convention was adjourned.
He returned to his home on the family estate, "Bonarva" in Tyrrell County, North Carolina, where he built a chapel on his own grounds to serve the surrounding countryside and where he died before being consecrated bishop.
He died in 1807.
Charles Pettigrew was well-known for many years as the rector of St. Paul's Church, he participated in a movement to organize the former Anglican church into the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. He was the owner of two plantations in North Carolina, eight hundred acres of land in Tennessee, thirty-four slaves, a chapel, where he served the surrounding countryside. Besides, Pettigrew was instrumental in founding the University of North Carolina and was one of the trustees from 1790 to 1793.
A Federalist in politics, he detested both Thomas Jefferson and Tom Paine.
He was twice married, first on October 28, 1778, to Mary Blount who died in 1786, leaving him two sons, one of whom was Ebenezer, the father of James Johnston Pettigrew, and second, on June 12, 1794, to Mary Lockhart.
