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.

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.

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 .
 

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.

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.
 

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.]

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.
 

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.