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Charles Hemme, a contractor and builder of De Soto, is a native of Hanover, 

Germany, and was born in 1843.  His parents were August G. and Regina 

(Wettram) Hemme, natives of Hanover, Germany, who were born in 1815 and 

1825, respectively.  August G. Hemme was a large real estate owner, and 

immigrated to America in 1857, locating in Marine Township, Madison Co., 

Ill., where he died the following year, his widow surviving him but one 

year.  Of their four children only two are living: Charles, and Ida, wife 

of G. Bucher, a farmer of Jefferson County, Mo. Charles Hemme came to this 

country with his parents in 1857, and after the death of his parents went 

to St. Louis, where he was employed as a clerk by his uncle, Francis Wettman, 

a lumber merchant, with whom he remained until 1864.  He then went to 

Chicago, and for one winter attended Bryant & Stratton's Business College, 

when he returned to St. Louis, and resumed work at his trade for several 

years.  He afterward did contracting at Springfield and Bloomington, Ill., 

and in 1868 located in Hillsboro, Mo., where he lived two years. The following
eighteen months he spent in De Soto, and then returned to St. Louis, where he 

remained five years, at the expiration of which time he moved to De Soto, 

where he has since resided.  He is a skillful workman, and is one of the 

substantial business men of De Soto.  He has met with good success, and has 

erected over 100 buildings in De Soto, among the largest being the opera house 

and S. W. Crawford's residence.  In May, 1875, he married Miss Margaret Brill, 

who was born in Washington Co., Mo., in 1852, and is a daughter of Solomon and 

Sarah (Vineyard) Brill. Mr. and Mrs. Hemme have four children: Laura, Charles 

Jr., Lillie and Virdie.  Mr. Hemme is a Republican in politics, a Master Mason 

and a Knight of Honor, and a member of the German Lutheran Church.