Charles Hetts Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 525-526

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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CHARLES HETTS, one of Hanson county's oldest settlers, is doing a 
general farming business on the east half of section 10, Edgerton 
township. He is of German extraction, born April 19,1853, in Oakland, 
Wisconsin, the son of John and Catherine (Hurth) Hetts, both of whom 
are now deceased. The parents were both natives of Germany, the father 
born in the year 181 1, and died in 1882; and the mother born in the 
year 1819, and died in 1865. They were the parents of a family of eight 
children, of whom our subject is the sixth in the order of birth. The 
oldest son, John, died while in the army. 

Charles Hetts, of whom this is a brief life history, when about twelve 
years of age, began life as a farm laborer, but his wages all went to 
his father, and he was thus engaged in Jefferson county until twenty-
five years of age. In 1878 he went to Iowa, and in November, of the 
same year, he made his way to Dakota and settled in that part of 
Davison county that is now Hanson county, and filed a tree claim. Mr. 
Hetts then returned to his home in Wisconsin, and on March 1, 1879, he 
again started west, this time with a team and wagon, and arrived in 
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, March 28. From there he pushed on to his 
farm and filed a homestead claim to the quarter-section adjoining it, 
and upon the latter he built a small board shanty, 10 x 14 feet, and 
sodded it on the outside, and then erected a sod barn. Mr. Hett's 
capital at this time amounted to about two hundred dollars besides his 
wagon and three horses, and with this start he began to improve and 
cultivate his new farm. As a resort of his efforts in this direction, 
this farm is furnished with a line of improvements that will compare 
favorably with the best improved farms in the community. There is a 
good farm barn, well arranged for dairy cows, and a deep well furnished 
with a wind mill, and a cosy home has displaced the sodded homestead 
shanty. The farm is well stocked with a herd of dairy cattle, and our 
subject is a patron of the Spencer creamery. Politically, Mr. Hetts is 
a Populist and voices high license and anti-suffrage, and from 1883 to 
1885 he served the citizens of Hanson county in the capacity of county 
commissioner. He is a member of the German Lutheran church, and also of 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen fraternity, Spencer Lodge, No. 47. 

In 1883, Mr. Hetts was united in marriage to Miss Susan Butler, who was 
born in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, May 28, 1854. Mrs. Hetts is a 
daughter of Daniel and Anna Maria (Scheafmann) Butler, the former now 
deceased and the latter a resident of Hanson county, South Dakota. To 
this union have been born five children, all of whom are living, and 
upon whom they have seen fit to bestow the following names: Homer, 
Clarence, Arminda, Orlo and Roland.