Cornelius Wilson Larison was born on January 10, 1837, in Sandy Ridge, New Jersey.

He graduated from Lewisburg University, Pennsylvania, and Geneva Medical School, New York (1863). He became a professor of Natural Sciences at the University of Lewisburg (later Bucknell University), Pennsylvania. He settled in Ringoes, New Jersey, where he practised medicine his entire life. He was also an author, natural scientist, phonetic expert, historian, editor, reporter, publisher, genealogist, headmaster, and the founder of two private academies, the Ringoes Seminary and the Academy of Science and Art. As an advocate of spelling reform, Larison established the Fonic Publishing House, which produced books, magazines, and pamphlets advocating simplified phonetic spelling. Its principal products were The Jurnal of American Orthopei, published bimonthly from 1884 to 1909 and written mostly by Larison in phonetic spelling, and The Jurnal of Helth (folded after 12 issues). His long medical career is told in the book "The County Doctor," by Dr. Harry B. Weiss (1953).

In 1863, he married Mary Jane Sergeant (1836-1917). He died on April 15, 1910, and was buried in Ringoes, New Jersey.