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As
the creator of this website, I had to have a topic
devoted to my parents, Arthur and Mildred (Roggerman)
Heiden, and their parents. Since all but two of
their seven children are still alive as of 2024,
most of the information is devoted to Art and Mil
and her ancestors, the Roggermans and Gettys. We are
also exploring Mildred's maternal ancestors, the
Olivers.
They were married for 51 years and, by my count,
lived in nine different houses all within about five
miles of each other. At the time of Mildred's death
in 2012, they had fifteen grandchildren, twenty-five
great-grandchildren, and 11 great-great
grandchildren. |
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Arthur
Henry Carl Heiden was called Art by everyone. He
was born on August 29, 1912 at the family home
at 8861 Dixon Road in
Raisinville Township,
Monroe County, Michigan. He was the eighth of
the thirteen children of Wm Carl and Mary (Rambow)
Heiden. For the rest of his life, he lived
within about 5 miles of that house and twice
lived in a house directly across the road from
his parents' home.
Like
all of his siblings, Art attended Bridge School
which was less than half a mile from the family
home. At that time, rural children were expected
to go on with their lives once they had
completed the 8th grade. Art said that he would
have loved to go to high school in Dundee or Ida
but you needed to provide your own
transportation and that was not possible.
Instead, he
became a farm worker for a number of years. The
1930 census has him living as a "border" on the
Fred Degner farm just north of Ida at 8864 West
Dunbar Road. August Lehmkuhl who would later
marry one of Art's distant cousins, Lucille
Burmeister also lived there at the time. Border
was the census' designation for listing farm
laborers. Art also worked for other farmers in
the area.
In
the late 1930s after he and Mildred had two
children, he started working at
Monroe Auto Equipment in Monroe, Michigan. They built shock
absorbers and other parts for the automobile
industry in Detroit. Art was a welder and seemed
to enjoy his work. A photo identification badge
he had to wear during World War II showed his
height as just under 6' 4".
In addition to
working in the factory, Art also farmed on the
side. He never owned a farm but would rent land
and/or farms starting when the family moved to
what was called the C.J. Rath farm at
9450 Dixon Road. Over the years, they also lived at the Laskey and Suchek farms all on Dixon Road. He
and the boys worked the Albert Miller farm and
the Irish farm on Dixon Road just east of the
Laskey farm.
In
the 1960s, Monroe Auto Equipment decided to shed
the union workers in Monroe and moved to the
South. Art then worked at Wolverine Fabricating,
Co.
in Dundee for a while before finishing his work
years at Dundee Products, Co. also in Dundee.
In the mid-1970s,
Art retired from the factory and he and Mildred
lived for the second time at
8864 Dixon
Road. On
June 18, 1985 he died at the University of
Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Art is
buried at the
St
Matthew Lutheran Church
cemetery in Raisinville Township, Monroe County,
Michigan.
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Mildred
Mae (Roggerman) Heiden was born on September 4,
1914 in Dundee, Michigan. She was the third
child of Ralph Raymond and Adeline "Addie"
(Getty) Roggerman.
Tragedy
struck the family on November 25, 1929. Mildred's
mother, Addie
(right), was
riding in a car in Lenawee County being driven by
her eldest son, Ervin who was 19 years old.
According to the newspaper report, a stray horse ran
out in front of them causing the car to roll over in
the ditch after striking the animal. Addie was taken
to Bixby Hospital in Adrian, Michigan where she was
pronounced dead at 4:00 a.m. on November 26. She was
38 years old and was buried in Ridgeway Cemetery a
few days later. Ervin suffered a broken left arm and
cuts and bruises in the accident.
This left fifteen
year old Mildred without a mother. So, since her
older sister, Bernice (Roggerman) Pickens had been married
on November 2 prior to the accident, Mildred had
to takeover household duties. This included
helping to care for young brothers, Bob who was
11 and Kenneth who was only 3 at the time of
their mother's death.
 Even
with the extra responsibilities, since she lived
in town, she was able to attend
Dundee High School and graduated in 1931. There were 28
students in her graduating class. She was 16
years old when she graduated which was common in
those days. In high school, she was on the "Pep"
squad for sporting events.
Sometime around
1933, she met Art Heiden and they were married
on March 3, 1934. She was 19 years old at the
time of their marriage before a Justice of the
Peace in Monroe, Michigan.
Mildred bore
seven children in her married life. One, a boy,
was stillborn in 1951. The others were spread
out over a long period of time with either 4 or
6 years between each birth. Their oldest child
was 24 years old when Art and Mildred's last
child was born so she spent the majority of her
adult life raising her children.
During
her married life, Mildred did not work "outside
the home" as the used to say. She did however
occasionally hang wallpaper for other people in
the family. Sometimes she and a sister-in-law,
Lucille Heiden would team up for a big job.
Mildred even had a specially made foldable
wooden table to make the work go smoothly.
After Art's death
in 1985, Mildred lived at the Rawson Place
Apartments senior citizens complex in Dundee.
When she was 84 years old, she had hip
replacement surgery.
On July 3, 2012,
she died in Monroe, just two months shy of her
98th birthday. She is buried next to Art in the
St
Matthew Lutheran Church
cemetery .
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Seven children were born to Arthur and
Mildred Heiden over a 24 year period from 1934
to 1958.
Left is a picture of the family at the 50th
Anniversary of Art and Mil. Click on the picture
for a larger version with caption.
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Arthur and
Mildred were married on March 3, 1934 and
remained together until his death on June 18,
1985. During those 51 years, they moved at least
8 times and had seven children. Still, they
seemed to have a good time. Follow them through
the decades as they made the best of their lives
together.
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Mildred's father
was Ralph Raymond Roggerman who lived in Dundee after
his early adult life as a sailor on the Great
Lakes. The Roggerman's also originated in
Germany and have been traced back to Ruegen
Island on the northern coast near Denmark.
[Pictured are Ralph Raymond and Adeline
"Addie" Roggerman, Mildred's parents.] |
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Mildred's
mother's maiden name was Adeline "Addie" Getty.
That family originated in small villages in what
is now
Northern Ireland not far from the city of
Belfast. Much of the information we have comes
from a book titled, "A Bit O' Yesterday" by a
member of the Getty family, Monita Fergus. The
1985 publication takes the family back several
generation in Ireland.
Pictured are Ervin Leonidas and Lena Belle
Getty, Mildred's grandparents.
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Lena
(Oliver) Getty was the maternal grandmother of
Mildred (Roggerman) Heiden. We have done just a
little research on this branch so far but hope
to do more in the future. The earlier
generations were located in Lenawee County just
over the western county line with Monroe County.
Several of the Getty families also lived in this
area. |
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