Home - Biographies Menu

Fred Hacke, blacksmith, wagon and carriage maker, of De Soto, is a 
native of Prussia, and was born in 1832.  His parents were Fred and
Dorethea (Tavel) Hacke, the former of whom, a blacksmith by trade, was
born in 1776 and died in 1836; the latter was born in 1795 and died in
1880.  Of their five children, Fred, the subject of this sketch, was
the youngest.  He was educated in his native country, attending school
from six until fourteen years of age; he subsequently spent two years 
in a school of artillery, and after four years' service before his 

discharge was commissioned colonel.  In early life he worked as a 

blacksmith, and after his relief from military service he became a 

railroad engineer. In 1858 he established a wholesale and retail hardware 

store in Salsbrunn; disposing of his stock in 1868 he immigrated to 

America, and came directly to De Soto, where he established his present 

business in which he has met with good success. In 1857, in his native 

country, he married Miss Pauline Helbig, who was born in Prussia in 1842 

and died in De Soto, Mo., in 1871, leaving three children, viz.: Selma 
(wife of William Bieser), Theodore (a blacksmith with his father) and
Clara.  In 1872 Mr. Hacke married Earnestena Flann, also a native of
Prussia, born in 1843.  Four children have been born to this union:
Max, Emma, Minnie and Hulda.  Politically, Mr. Hacke is a Democrat; he
is one of the directors of the People's Bank of De Soto, and is a member 

of the K. of P.  He manufactures all kinds of carriages and wagons,
and is a good business man.  He and wife are members of the Evangelical
Church.