There are many things that we know about August and Rika (Knaack) Heiden (left) but one key fact that is still to be discovered is exactly why they left Germany.

Economic conditions in northern Germany were very bad during this time in history but to leave one’s ancestral home and sail across the ocean to a new, unknown homeland was still a monumental decision. It was also probably an irreversible one since people often spent their last mark or pfennig paying for the trip. There would be no turning back for most of them.

We also do not know the exact date that August and Rika (Knaack) Heiden left the Port of Hamburg on their journey to America. We do know that papers were prepared in Germany in April of 1873 in which they had to denounce their citizenship and be granted permission to leave Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

They made the trip on the German freighter, S.S. Saxonia, which from the picture above, appears to have been a combination of steam and sail powered. The drawing is a representation of the Saxonia found in the book, Ships of Our Ancestors. Odds are that it was not a luxury craft and it is likely that August, Rika and their children were not in the “First Class” section.

The voyage itself may have taken as little as a week or up to two weeks or more depending on whether they used steam power or saved money by setting sails once they left port. Either way, it would be safe to think that the Heiden’s were very happy when they were able to see dry land again. The harbor and the skyline of New York City must have been a welcome sight as they approached on June 4, 1873.

The Statue of Liberty would not have greeted our ancestors since it was not dedicated until 1886.

Most people think of Ellis Island when they hear a discussion of 19th century immigration. However, Ellis Island did not begin functioning until 1892 so the Heidens, Fred Milhan and a year later, the Rambows, entered through another facility. Castle Garden Emigrant Depot (pictured to the right) was in use from 1855 to 1890 and the largest ethnic group that passed through during those years were the Germans.

Each ship that entered the port had to present a list of passengers and cargo to the port authorities for clearance. These lists have been compiled and are on record at the National Archives in Washington D.C. The copy of the captain’s log sworn to by C.D. Brandt, Master of the Saxonia, upon landing in New York includes August and his family listed as passengers numbers 303 to 307. There were probably around 400 to 500 people on board during this trip.

Also listed was a man named, “Heiden, Christ., age 56, and Sophie, 28, his "daughter” but we do not know what, if any, relation they might have been to our branch of the Heiden family. We will continue to look into this in the future.

There were four documents in the old wooden box which came from Agnes Heiden in 1972. They appear to be related to the impending emigration of August Heiden and his family. One of them contained the names and ages of the entire family.

Click Here for more information including translations of these documents.

In the early 2000s, my cousin and godmother, Mary Lou (Heiden) Opfermann (right) mentioned to me that there were some old Heiden relatives' graves in the Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery near where she lived in Monroe, Michigan.

I visited the cemetery and, as I wandered around, I stumbled across two artifacts which helped to clarify two of the "family stories" about the history of the Heiden family.

There was always a family story that one of the children of August and Rika Heiden (right) died aboard the S.S. Saxonia which was bringing the family to America from Germany in June of 1873. She was allegedly buried at sea but that was not mentioned in the ship's records of the voyage.

On my visit to the cemetery, I found an old, somewhat faded, headstone which showed that their child, Meta, actually made it to America but died in Monroe shortly thereafter. The family arrived in New York on June 4, 1873 and Meta died on June 16th some 12 days later and was then buried in Zion Lutheran Cemetery.
 

The second family "mystery" that nobody could answer was exactly why August and Rika Heiden landed in New York and then quickly made their way directly to Monroe, Michigan. We did know that the family arrived in New York on June 4, 1873 and from the cemetery findings, we discovered that their 2½ year old daughter Meta died on June 16th only 12 days later in Monroe.

On the visit to the cemetery, I found another vital clue in the form of the headstone of Mina M. Laas just a few feet away from the resting place of Meta Heiden. The Laas child, according to the headstone was born on August 16th and died on November 6th, 1869.

Even more important was that her parents' names were shown as "J.& D. Laas". It turns out that Dorothea (Regelin) Laas (left) was Rika Heiden's first cousin and she was married to Johann Laas. They emigrated to America in 1867 and settled in Monroe just six years before the Heidens arrived. They are listed in the 1870 U.S. census for that location.

It would seem more than a coincidence that these first cousins would end up so close to each other after journeying 3,800 miles across the Atlantic from Germany and 580 miles from New York to Michigan. Also, the fact that Meta died only 12 days after her arrival in America and she is buried alongside the Laas' child in the local Lutheran cemetery is compelling evidence.

Finally, all the members of the early extended Laas family participated in the Heiden Family reunions for much of the 20th century. Caroline (Laas) Brown (right), Rika (Laas) Burmeister and several other Laas' are prominently mentioned in the minutes and pictures of the early reunions. Most of them lived in the Toledo, Ohio area and one of them, Charles Laas, Jr., came all the way from Texas for several of the summer events.

So, although we have no absolute evidence, it would be logical to think that Rika's cousin came to Monroe and encouraged her to follow. This was a common way that these things happened back then to help friends and relatives through this challenging process.
 

August and Rika Heiden were not the only people from the tiny town of Gross Wokern, Germany who set their sights on a new life in America and, more specifically, on Monroe County, Michigan. Members of the Heiden, Rambow and Milhan  families ended up settling within a few miles of each other in Raisinville Township after emigrating. Their lives would intertwine more deeply as the years progressed.

Carl "Fred" Milhan, (right) the older brother of Wlhelmine (Milhan) Rambow, came to America aboard the S.S. Hammonia which departed from Hamburg on April 23, 1873 about six weeks before August and Rika boarded their ship. Fred came to Monroe County and, after living in Monroe for a short time, built a log cabin on a piece of land at 7800 South Custer Road where he would live until his death at 100 years of age in 1950.

In 1874, Heinrich and Wilhelmine (Milhan) Rambow, their children, Frederick (4 years old) and Bertha (Burgard) (1 year old) along with three of Wilhelmine and Fred's younger Milhan siblings journeyed to Monroe County. Their mother, Maria (Möller) Milhan was also supposed to accompany them but she died on April 10, 1874 only a few weeks before the ship left for America.

The Rambows spent a few years living in Dundee Township and then purchased a farm on 7400 South Custer Road about a mile east of Fred Milhan's farm and a couple of miles east of August and Rika's home at 8700 South Custer. They would spend the rest of their lives at those addresses. The Rambow's youngest son, William, would be living there when he died in 1965. Agnes Heiden, wife of August and Rika's youngest son, John, would live in their house until her death in 1981.

August Heiden is reported to have built the house where the Rambows lived in Raisinville Township. Later, two of August's sons, William Carl and Herman, would marry two of Heinrich's daughters, Mary and Fredareka respectively.
 

For more detail pictures of the headstones, Click Here.