J. C. Rodemer, contractor, and also supply merchant with store in Gallatin, is a native of Frederick, Va., born in 1839, and the son of Christopher and Anna (Ruloff) Rodemer. The father was born in Baden, Germany in 1813. When quite young he left his native country and immigrated to the United States, settling in Virginia. He married and afterward lived in Maryland and Kentucky. In 1858 he came to Sumner County and settled near Gallatin. He followed contracting on railroads the greater portion of his life. He worked on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad for three years. He died in 1858. His wife was born in Prussia and since the death of her husband has lived in Sumner County. Of their seven children (five now living) our subject is the eldest. He received his education in an academy at Cumberland, Md., and at the age of thirteen commenced working on contracts with his father. After the death of his father he succeeded him in the business at which he has since been engaged. He has worked on the Baltimore & Ohio, the Parksburg Branch, Virginia, the Louisville & Nashville, the Nashville & Northwestern, and was contractor on the Tennessee & Pacific, Glasgow Branch, Memphis & Knoxville, Elizabethtown & Paducah (Cumberland, Ohio), Owensboro & Russelville, Nashville & Tuscaloosa, Knoxville Extension of Lebanon Branch of Louisville & Nashville, Cincinnati Southern, Middle & East Tennessee Central, and numerous pikes. In 1866, directly after the war, Mr. Rodemer married Miss Mary Ida Walsh, who was a native of South Carolina. She died in 1868. Mr. Rodemer is a Royal Arch Mason and Council Mason and is a highly respected citizen. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He has been successful, and carried out and completed all his contracts.