Rika Heiden, the wife of August and mother of three children born in Germany and 5 born in America had the maiden name of Knaack. However, in some records in Germany and in America, her surname was given as Knaak. We have chosen to use the German spelling.

We can trace the family back to a Johann Knaak who was born in 1791 in the village of Serrahn in Mechlenburg, Schwerin, Germany. If we expand the ancestors chart out to a child born in 2010, it would account for nine generations and would make Johann that person's sixth great grandfather.

Knaack - Knack - Kanak - Knaak - Rika (Mrs August) Heiden and her daughter-in-law, Anna (Mrs Ernst) Heiden had similar maiden names. Both have been recorded in different documents as having one of the four spellings above for their maiden name.

In researching Rika's background, the old German church records most frequently spell it Knaack. In America, we find the occasional Knaak or Kanack. Since Knaack appears to be the accepted German spelling, that is what we will use...for now.

Anna in her obituary is listed as Knaack also. However, tracing her back into Germany finds her father's name is Knack and her Social Security application has her maiden name as Knack. So, it would appear that it is the proper spelling of her name.