|
 We
don't know for certain why,
but
August and Rika (Knaack) Heiden
and their first three
children made their way 3,
800 miles from Germany to
New York harbor and then 600
miles to Monroe, Michigan in
June of 1873. August was a
brick mason by trade and the
family settled in the City
of Monroe for a while but
within a couple of decades,
August and his two sons,
Heinrich (Henry) and Ernst
(Ernest) all owned acreage
in
Raisinville Township a
few miles west of Monroe.
All but one of August's
children lived their entire
life in Monroe County. One
son, Herman, found his way
north to Isabella County and
raised his family in that
area.
William
Carl and Mary (Rambow) Heiden had 13 children and
all of them except one lived
in Monroe County. Their
daughter, Hilda (Heiden) Fuller,
lived in Battle Creek,
Michigan in Calhoun County.
With only a few exceptions.
August Heiden children,
grandchildren and even great
grandchildren lived at least
part of their lives in Raisinville, Dundee or Ida
Townships. Of course, more
recent generations have been
more likely to disperse far
and wide around the United
States but many of the
members of this very large
family have ties to the home
county.
We have identified over 80
homes, farms and places of
interest to the Heiden
family in these three
townships. These are shown
on a map of the area along
with details of who lived
where from about 1890 to the
current day. Some families
moved a lot. We have nine
dwellings where
Arthur and Mildred (Roggerman) Heiden lived for
example. |
Our
branches of the Heiden and Rambow family trees lived
in the northeast area of Germany which was known at
the time as Mecklenbur
One
of August's sons, Herman (1876-1957) decided to move away from Monroe
County to start out on his own. One report says that this is because his
family doctor advised his wife that they needed to move north to lessen
her asthma attacks.
Of the first generation of
Heidens born in America,
only one child of August and
Rika Heiden lived outside
Monroe County. In 1915,
their son,
Over
the twentieth century, the
members of the Heiden family
have disbursed to many parts
of the United States. There
are also a small number of
other people with the same
surname who may be related
somewhere in the past. After
all, there are still
branches of our most distant
relative, Friedrich Heiden
(born 1755) to explore. We
know that our line of his
family has over 800 direct
descendents. So, who knows?
