Charles Joseph Verso was the second of six children and the only son of Joseph Verso and Susan Brunker who migrated to Victoria from Dublin, with their eldest daughter Susanna Mary, arriving in the ship Falcon on 20 December 1854. They first lived at Greensborough where Charles Joseph was born on 5 October 1855.
He was baptised in the Plenty River by the Rev James Lynar of Heidelberg. Church services at that time were held under a large gum tree near the river.

Joseph Verso was a carpenter and also an 'ardent musician'. A few years were spent on the gold fields at Research and Eltham before the family moved to Richmond in 1860 to open a family grocer and general store.
Joseph also found ample work in the area as a builder. In later years Joseph retired to Northcote where he resided in one of two fine houses designed and built by his only son, Charles Joseph.


Charles Joseph followed in his father's footsteps and completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter. He built the Diamond Creek School in 1877 and the old Upper Diamond Creek schoolhouse in 1878. In 1879 he entered into a partnership with H. Knott and established the business of Verso and Knott, Builders and Contractors in Northcote.
Charles Verso drew up the plans and specifications for the Horticultural Hall at Diamond Creek, which was constructed in 1887 for the Diamond Creek Horticultural Society. (In November 1901 the hall was moved, in two sections, to a new site purchased from the Diamond Creek Recreation Reserve Committee.)
During 1894, he reconstructed a four roomed dwelling at 'Allwood', Hurstbridge as a family home for Frances Ellen (nee Hurst) and William George (Bill) Gray, the son of George and Jane Elizabeth Gray of 'Cleir Hills', Back Creek near Queenstown.



On 22 July 1880 Charles married Anne Sheil Herbert, the daughter of William Wandliss Herbert and Elizabeth Wilson of Diamond Creek. (William Wandliss Herbert migrated to Victoria in 1847. In July 1852 he purchased 100 acres of land on the Diamond Creek to the north of Nillumbik. He named this property 'Greenhills'.) Charles and Anne were married in St John's Church of