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After their marriage in 1928,
Leo
and Lucille (Smith) Heiden lived at this address for a few
years. Their first child, Mary Lou (Heiden) Opfermann was born
here in 1929. They moved a few hundred yards west to
8861 Dixon Road to live with
Leo's parents, Wm Carl and Mary Heiden. Their second child, David. was born in
that house in 1935.
 In doing the research, several
references were made to people living at the "Wakefield" farm or
place. Growing up on Dixon Road nearby in the 1950s and 60s, I only knew this as the
farm owned by Jesse Barnes. Eventually, I
learned that, as shown on the 1890 Plat map below, the Wakefield
farm at that time had two houses. The one shown here where the
Barnes family lived would have the postal numbers
8750. At that time, the second house which was located on the
east end of the propert on the north side of Dixon Road no
longer existed.
Its house number,
8530 Dixon Road
would, in the mid-1960s, be assumed by a new brick house that
was built in that location. This house was next to the western
property line for the farm at
8420 Dixon
Road which was occupied over 70 years or so by many
different members of the Heiden family.
I
don't remember much before school but was told
we lived in several places because of the
Great Depression. Dad worked for different farmers and
didn't have steady work. When I was six we lived
on the west side of Grandma and Grandpa's house
on Dixon Road and lived there until William got
married and needed the house because he worked
the farm so we moved to
S. Custer Road
behind the grocery store.
 In
a conversation in 1995, Wm Frank Heiden offered the
following:
 "There was another small
house down the road on the east end of the Wakefield farm
and that is where Mary Lou was born. They had that little
house for the guy who worked the farm to live in.
Wakefield lived where Jesse Barnes lived
(to the west at 8750 Dixon Road) and they didn’t want to
work the farm. Old man Wakefield gave me a cow on the condition that
I would give them some of the milk. I used to take over a couple of
quarts a day to them.
When Wakefield died, he gave me a gold watch and he left Art a horse
and buggy. I’ve had it seventy years and I rarely carry it in my
pocket, yet it’s all worn off. Old Wakefield must have carried
it for a long time before he died.
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