Charles E. Semmel, youngest son of Benjamin a merchant at Allentown, was born in 1862, at Neffsville. After his education in the village school, he was employed as a clerk in a store at Kreidersville for a number of years. In 1900, he went to Allentown he continued clerking in the store at H. Leh & Company for eight years; then he engaged in a general store business for himself at Thirteenth and Chew streets, and has carried it on in a successful manner until the present time. In 1882, he was married to Ella M. Wolf, daughter of James and Mary (Borger) Wolf.