Born in County Leitrim, Ireland in 1854 to Dennis and Rachel Elizabeth Higgins, Charles Higgins arrived in America at the age of six, several months after the arrival of his parents. The family settled in an apartment at 464 Columbia Street in Brooklyn, an Irish working-class neighborhood where Higgins attended school until the age of nine. By the age of twenty-five, he was working as a patent solicitor and living at 411 Atlantic Avenue with his mother and two sisters. After working for several companies, he set out on his own as an independent patent solicitor, securing patents for clients and experimenting with inventions of his own, including, in 1880, a black ink he hoped would replace the popular Chinese stick or "India" ink.

He worked on the ink at home with the help of his sister Marguerite and brother-in-law John Gianella, who in 1885 became his partner in the "Chas. M. Higgins [and] Co., manufacturers of Inks and Adhesives" business. He continued to work as a patent solicitor until 1888, when he sold the business and purchased a factory at 168-170 Eighth Street in Park Slope to devote his time to the ink business. The factory employed up to 48 men and women, many of them Irish immigrants. Higgins secured 26 patents for processes, formulas, and devices used in the business, which gained a national reputation and quickly expanded. In 1898, Higgins purchased 271 Ninth Street, near the border of Park Slope and Gowanus, which served as company headquarters and administrative offices. Higgins also purchased the adjoining land at 273–277 Ninth Street, which he developed into a second factory, with an official address of 240 Eighth Street (240–244 Eighth Street in period documents). The buildings are still standing as of 2026.

In 1899, Higgins married Alexandra Fransioli. She moved into 499 Fourth Street, which Higgins shared with his mother. Rachel Elizabeth Higgins died in 1901, and by 1903, the couple had moved to 101 Prospect Park West. They had three children: a son, Tracy Higgins, and two daughters, Lisbeth Higgins Hamm and Rachel Higgins Everson.

Higgins was an early opponent of compulsory vaccination, thinking it harmful. For many years he was the treasurer of the Anti-Vaccination League of America. He wrote many pamphlets on this subject, and also a book titled Horrors of Vaccination (1920).

In 1900, Charles M. Higgins wrote an open letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Eagle on "Justice for China," at the time of the Boxer Rebellion.

In 1908, Higgins was a leader in the effort to rehabilitate the Brooklyn Borough Bank, which had been founded in 1832 and was located on Court Street. He opposed the receivership being placed in the hands of an "up-stater" and was himself appointed as a joint-receiver.

As one of the founding members of the Kings County Historical Society, Higgins fought to have the Gowanus site of the Battle of Long Island restored, especially the Old Stone House. Higgins's money also enabled the Kings County Historical Society to donate the Altar to Liberty statue on Battle Hill in Green-Wood Cemetery.

Higgins was a member of many clubs and served on the boards of many public service-oriented institutions, including the Kings County Historical Society, the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, the Brooklyn Ethical Culture Society, the Anti-Vaccination League of America, the Manufacturer's Association, the Montauk Club, the Riding & Driving Club, the Crescent Athletic Club, the Brooklyn Club, the St. George's Golf Club, and the Huntington Bay Club.