Some information says he was born on February 24, 1808, but no source was given. His mother Nancy is living with him in the 1850 census of Edgar County, Illnois. He was a sergeant in the Illinois Volunteers in the war with Sax and Fox Indians as indicated by an 1832 application for a land bounty. He never married.
Some LDS information says that a Charles Ignatius Bodine and Eliza Hunter had a son William Thomas bodine born about 18??. William was from Edgar County, Illinois.