One of the “treasures” discovered in Aunt Agnes’ attic back in 1972 was a box that contained several letters that had been sent by relatives in Germany to Rika (Knaack) Heiden. The first letter was dated May 21, 1923 and the last one came in October, 1925. They were hand written in the old style German script and, for someone not fluent in German, it was even difficult to distinguish individual words. They were postmarked from Rostock, Germany but the names of the authors, Marie Dohmstrich and Emilie Dahme, meant nothing to anyone in the family in 1972.

In the mid-1970's, a friend who had a degree in German tried to translate them. He could only get the “gist” of the letters since the handwriting was so difficult to read. The result was a very general summary of what was said but there was so much that he could not translate that there were large gaps left.
 

During the summer of 1995, the grandmother of one of my wife’s fifth grade students agreed to make a word for word translation. Mrs. Ida Blum, who is originally from Germany, took the letters and, about a month later, she had completed the work on five of them. Unfortunately, due to an illness, she was unable to complete the task so fellow members of the German American Club of Jackson stepped forward to finish the task for her. Lisa and Lee Ann Frank led the way with help from Peter and Margaret Rusche and Helga Fridd. We owe these people a debt of gratitude since the stories and information held by the letters opened a few more doors in the search for the Heiden family.

The first thing we learned was the identity of the people who wrote the letters and their relationship to our family. Several letters were signed, “Marie Dohmstrich, geb Schmidt” which means that her maiden name was Schmidt. From other sources, I had learned that August Heiden’s half-sister had married a man named Schmidt. They had three children, one of which was named Marie.

Another letter written by Marie’s daughter, Emilie Dahme, says that her mother was 54 years old in March, 1923. Again, this checks out with the birth date for our relative, Marie Schmidt. Therefore, it was clear that the letters were written by August Heiden’s niece. He is the “Good Uncle” mentioned in several of the letters. Since he had died in 1922 before the first letter was written, he was always mentioned in the past tense.

Another revelation was that the people in Germany were also corresponding with Elizabeth Laas who I think was known here as Miss Libbie Laas (in picture). She lived in Toledo and was a regular participant at the early Heiden Family Reunions. One letter was written by a Hella Schmidt and it states that Elizabeth had given her Rika (Knaack) Heiden’s address in 1923. This provided another link between the Lass’ and the Heidens.

One or two of the letters mention their sorrow at the death of Rika’s son. Of course, this is Heinrich "Henry" Heiden who died April 20, 1922. One indicates that they thought Ernest was dead also but he did not pass away until 1950. Concern is also expressed for the “Dear sweet Auntie’s” health and this is warranted since Rika (Knaack) Heiden was in her late 70's at the time. She died in 1926 at the age of 84.

Marie Schmidt mentions her brother August several times. Marie’s full name is Marie Rudolphine Johanne Auguste. Considering the system used for naming people back then, it seems reasonable to speculate that August Heiden may have been a godparent of his half-sister’s children.

One letter is from a person who signs her name as “Hella Schmidt” a 28 year old person from the town of Klaber. She mentions that her father is 64 which would have made his birth date in 1859. This does not match with any of the birthdates of the Schmidt offspring. So, I do not know for sure who this person was or her relationship to the Heidens. She also mentions a Wilhelmine Hanneman but that name does not appear elsewhere in family records either.

Marie Schmidt (right) lived in the town of Ribnitz-Damgarten and her daughter, Emilie, lived in the port city of Rostock about 30 miles away. August Schmidt lived in Mamerow and Hella Schmidt wrote from Klaber, two towns that were also home to many other Heiden ancestors. These towns were probably about 40 to 50 miles away from Ribnitz-Damgarten.

The letters themselves are often quite sad and reflect the horrible times that Germany and our relatives were going through during the time between the World Wars. In recent decades, we spent a lot of time talking about inflation but what they experienced back then was unimaginable to us. Prices often doubled from day to day. By the end of the 1920's, it took a wheel barrow full of money to buy a loaf of bread.

From what they write, it is apparent that our relatives were not able to keep up with it all. They sought help from their “rich” American relatives and it appears that August and Rika helped whenever and however they could. Hard currency in the form of U.S. dollars was nearly as valuable as gold when compared to the almost worthless German marks. One dollar bought a lot of food and other essentials.

The letters were sent over fifty years after August and Rika left Germany for America in 1873. Even so, they give a strong glimpse into the reasons why they were willing to make such a drastic move. Those left behind had little opportunity for advancement and were barely holding on following the end of World War I.