Charles F. Lotze was born on February 22, 1857, in Vienna, Trumbull County, Ohio, to George and Catherine Lotze. His father, a German immigrant, was a merchant in Ohio. At age four, Charles moved with his family to Girard, Ohio, where he completed his public school education. In 1875, he moved to Berrien Springs, Michigan, and started a jewelry business. In 1879, he relocated to Vermillion, South Dakota, where he expanded his business to include books and music. A successful entrepreneur, Lotze also participated in the Masonic order. He married Martha C. Hurd in 1885, and they had three daughters: Hazel C., Marie L., and Laura B.
Charles F. Lotze claims the splendid old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity, having been born in Vienna, Trumbull county, Ohio, on the 22nd of February, 1857, and being a son of George and Catherine Lotze, the former of whom was born in Germany, while the latter was born in the United States, the father having settled in Ohio soon after his coming to America and having there passed the remainder of his life. He was a merchant by vocation and was a man of distinctive integrity and honor in all the relations of life. When our subject was a child of four years, his parents removed to Girard, Trumbull county, Ohio, where he was reared and where he completed the curriculum of the public schools. In 1875, at the age of eighteen years, he went to Berrien Springs, Berrien county, Michigan, where he established himself in the jewelry business and where he continued to reside until 1879, when he came as a pioneer to what is now the state of South Dakota, locating in Vermillion, Clay county, where, in December of that year, he established himself in the jewelry, book and music business, in which line of enterprise he has ever since continued. He began operations on a modest scale and with the rapid settling of the surrounding country and the steady growth and progress of Vermillion, his business increased in scope and importance and is now one of the leading enterprises of the sort in this section of the state. He has a large and well-appointed store and carries a select stock in each of the three departments, controlling a representative trade and being one of the popular and influential business men of the city. In politics Mr. Lotze is a staunch adherent of the Republican party, but he has never sought or desired public office. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order, in which he has attained the chivalric degrees, being a member of Vermillion Commandery, No. 16, Knights Templar, in his home city.
On the 21st of October, 1885, Mr. Lotze was united in marriage to Miss Martha C. Hurd, daughter of Jabez and Elizabeth Hurd, of Lancaster, Wisconsin, in which state she was born and reared. Mr. and Mrs. Lotze have three daughters, all of whom remain at the parental home: Hazel C., Marie L., and Laura B.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.