Clamme Family - Ourfolk

In business affairs probably no citizen of Jackson township has more extended relations with the community than Charles Clamme, who is known as a farmer and stock raiser, a shipper, and a contractor in road building. He belongs to one of the well known families of the county, and several of his brothers are associated with him in the contracting business.

Charles J. Clamme was born in Washington township of Blackford county, March 18, 1878, and is still a young man for all the success that he has won. His parents are Pierre and Elizabeth (Spyre) Clamme, both well known residents of Jackson township. His mother was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the father in Germany, emigrating to America, and after landing at New York city found his way to Blackford county, Indiana, in 1867.

There are eight children in the family named as follows: John, a former sheriff of Blackford county and noted as a successful raiser of fine stock, Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs; Charles J.; Catherine, who is the wife of A. W. Stoll of Jackson township; Albert, of Jackson township, a contractor and a stock feeder; Perry W., a farmer and contractor in Jackson township; Harry, also in the contract business and a farmer; Lewis, a Jackson township farmer; and Anna, unmarried and living with her parents.

The sons Charles J. Albert, Perry W. and Harry carry on an extensive business as contractors under the name of Clamme Brothers, and have united their interests in the construction of roads and the furnishing of material, and also in the shipping of live stock. The active business manager of the Clamme Brothers enterprise is Charles J.

Reared in Washington and Jackson townships, with an education acquired in the local schools, Charles J. Clamme has spent nearly all his life in Blackford county but for two years was in the state of Tennessee. The old home sheltered him until he was twenty-three, but from the time he attained his majority he has been actively identified with farming. Later he took up the contracting business in furnishing gravel and stone materials for the construction of improved roads, and has also been particularly successful in the buying and shipping of live stock. Mr. Clamme owns a fine farm of two hundred and eighty-six acres in Jackson and Harrison townships, and practically all that estate represents his individual enterprise and management. On his farm he feeds from one to two carloads of cattle every year, and raises most of the feed stuffs to fatten his stock for market.

On December 24, 1901, Mr. Clamme married Arminda Empsweiller, who was born in Jackson township. They are the parents of four children: Charles J. P., born September 23, 1902; Harold H., born May 19, 1904; Minnie E., born December 30, 1906; and Edna H. born June 5, 1909. The family worship in the Evangelical Lutheran church at Hartford City, and Mr. Clamme is one of the active members of the Farmers Club. A Democrat he has been quite active in politics, has served as a local committeeman, and is now a member of the county council, having been elected at large.

(Blackford and Grant Counties, Indiana A Chronicle of their People Past and Present with Family Lineage and Personal Memoirs Compiled Under the Editorial Supervision of Benjamin G. Shinn Volume I Illustrated The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago and New York 1914) #/box