This family is related to the Heiden Family through Fredericka aka Rika Knaack, who was the wife of August Heiden, the first of our family to emigrate from Germany.

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 newspaper 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. Also, relatives who attended her funeral service all wrote their names as Knack. Anna originated from a different part of Germany than Rika, too. So, it would appear that Knack is the proper spelling.

Relatives who did not leave Germany are indicated by the letter, . Those who made the trip to America from Germany have a next to their name. All others listed below were born in the U.S.

At the bottom of the page is information on other types of graphical representations. These include graphic family trees created in PhotoShop and a wide variety of family relationship charts which can be created in RootsMagic software that we use. 
  1. Johann Knaack +
    1. Christoph Knaack + Sophia Dreier
      1. Fredericka Knaack + August Heiden
        1. Her 8 Children
          1. Her 38 Grandchildren
= German Ancestors = Came to America
Johann Knaack
+		 Christoph Knaack
+ Sophia Dreier
  1. Christoph Knaack
  1. Hanna Knaack
  2. Georg Knaack
  3. Johann Knaack
  4. Fredericka Heiden
  5. Christoph Knaack

It can help to see a physical representation of facts and other data involved in a family history. This partially explains the use of "family trees" with relatives scattered among the branches which helps to bring order to things.

The RootsMagic software that I use has many, many options for displaying the information in its database. I have included a few examples and hope to add more in the future. If you are interesting in getting a chart or display for your particular branch of a family, I would be glad to help you.