Charles Francois Joseph Crelier was born in 1835 in Bure, Jura, Switzerland and he was baptised 25 january 1835 in Bure. His parents was Valentin Crelier and Clemence Riat.

At the age of 21 he served as a gendarme in the border department of the canton Neuchatel from august 16th 1856 to june 30th 1857. He was then appointed border guard at the establishment of this corps in on july 1st 1857 until october 12th of the same year. He then went on to become a customs officer on october 13th 1857. In 1911 "La Patrie suisse" published a portrait of him celebrating 55 years of service as a customs officer. His first post was at Col-des-Roches where he was for 2 months, then he was hired by Verrières. He was at Col-de-Roches at the time of the revolution in the canton Neuchatel in 1856. When Bourbaki's army entered Switzerland in 1871 he was on duty in Verrières.

He married Eugènie Philomène Grandvoinnet from Le Gras on june 21st 1862. They had 25 children, but only 10 made it to adulthood. In Verrières he was known as "père Crelier". He died february 26 1921 at the grand old age of 86.