Although we do not know for sure, it would appear that
Heinrich Rambow and his wife, Wilhelmina (Milhan) and
August Heiden
and his wife, Fredericka (Knaack) probably knew each
other in Germany. They were all from the small village of
Gross Wokern which only had a
few hundred
people residents during the late 1800s. August and his family
emigrated to America in 1873 and the Rambows followed one
year later. Both clans ended up in
Raisinville Township,
Monroe County, Michigan. Finally, two of Heinrich's
daughters (Mary and Fredareka) married two of August's sons
(William Carl and
Herman, respectively).
One more "coincidence" was that the Rambows
settled on a farm on South Custer Road only a few miles from
the home of
August Heiden
who was a brick mason and builder. Family
stories say that August built the Rambow house for them
probably in the late 1870s. The first generation Rambows
lived their until their deaths and then their two youngest
children, William and Wilhelmina "Minnie" lived there until
her death in 1962. |