August Friedrich Anton Theodor Heiden was born Saturday, January 27, 1838 in the Village of Gross Wokern in the province of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in Germany. He spent his youth there, got married there and started his family in that little town.

The area where he lived was comprised of several towns with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants each. They were spaced a few miles apart and people walked between them. August's wife, Elisabeth Sophia Wilhelmina Friedericka "Rika" Knaack lived in the village of Mamerow about 4 miles away.

We have included details on these small communities and how they relate to the Heiden family and other relatives.

There were two versions of a German feminine name in the family. Mrs August Heiden was Fredericka with Rika for short while Mrs Herman Heiden was Fredareka with Reka for short. Also, at times, the name was recorded as Fredericke or Rica in some records.

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.

Like so many other German common folks of that era, August and Rika decided that there was a better future for them and their family in America. Times were tough in Germany for the working class so many people chose to emigrate even though the outside world was unknown to them.

The Heidens' journey led them to the port city of Hamburg and on to New York in June of 1873. Within a few weeks, they were in Monroe, Michigan to start their new lives.

August and Rika began their American life in 1873 in the City of Monroe, Michigan. August probably worked at his trade of brick mason building houses but within a relatively short period, he was the owner of two pieces of property in nearby Raisinville Township.

Through U.S. census reports and plat books, we have been able to trace their progress through the 1920s.

August and Rika (Knaack) Heiden had eight children. Six survived to adulthood including Heinrich and Ernst (Ernest) who were born in Germany and William Carl*, Herman, Lena (Koster) and John were born in America. Meta (born in Germany) died in infancy after they reached Michigan in 1873. Bertha and Herman were fraternal twins but she did not survive infancy.

The children were quite prolific and they produced 38 grandchildren and 106  great grandchildren. Through 1995 when The Heiden Family book was produced, there were several hundred more descendants of August and Rika (Knaack) Heiden. There are bound to be many, many more now.

Note: * Heinrich Heiden will be cited as either Heinrich or Henry F. to distinguish him from his son, Henry William Heiden who will be shown as Henry Wm Heiden.

Likewise, William Carl Heiden will include his middle name to avoid confusion with his youngest son, William Frank Heiden. They were sometimes mistakenly designated as Sr. and Jr.

According to the German church records, August Heiden's father was "alleged to be" a man named Johann Canseir. As we followed that person back in history, it appears that the actual name was probably Kanseyer.

This is most likely due to the general illiteracy in those times when various record keepers had to figure out spelling based on the spoken word alone. 

The maiden name of August's wife, Rika, was Knaack. Again, this is a name that had a variety of spellings in the old records.

The maiden name  of Rika Heiden's mother was Dreier. This branch of the family leads to the relationship with the Laas and Regelin families who settled in Toledo, Ohio and Monroe County respectively.

In the early to later 1900s, members of the Laas and Burmeister families were regular attendees at the annual Heiden Family Reunions. They were related to the family through the Dreier connection to Rika Heiden.

A family by this name lived in Monroe County near the homes of many of the Heidens. They were related through the same branch as the Laas Family.