Wilhelm was the child of Christoph Ludwig Friedrich "Ludwig" Heiden and his first wife who was German. He was born July 16, 1853 and his baptism was on August 7, 1853.

Ludwig, who had moved from Germany to Sweden was a younger brother of August Heiden's mother, Maria Heiden. Therefore, he was an uncle to August and his half-sister, Fredericka (Heiden) Schmidt.

On January 27, 1883, Ludwig sent a letter to his nephew, August Heiden in America containing this information. "Wilhelm is a tailor and lives in Gorlitz, Silesia." Wilhelm would have been August's first cousin.