Ralph Heiden - I also have some papers here from the German government that gives August and his family permission to leave Germany. It is for August and his wife, Rika, and three children, Heinrich, Ernst and a little girl, Meta.

Helma (Heiden) Nickel - Meta was the one that died on the ship on the way over. August and his family arrived about a year before William was born on April 1, 1874. [See note below]

Jeanie & Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - We always heard that she died on the boat and was buried at sea.

Ralph Heiden - Unfortunately, the ship’s records do not show that happening. Normally, if someone died on the ship, that would be noted and there is nothing on the list to indicate that Meta died on ship. The ship’s list that I have shows August Heiden's age 34, a mason.

Norma "Jeanie" Heiden - A mason? Oh, you mean a bricklayer, not a member of the Masons.

Ralph Heiden - Yes. It also lists Rika, 31, his wife, Herman, 6 years old, male, Ernst, 4 years old, a male, his children, and Meta, 9 months, his baby.

Helma (Heiden) Nickel - Herman? That should be Henry.

Ralph Heiden - You’re right, it is Heinrich (right). But there was no mention of anyone buried at sea.

Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - We all heard the story that a baby was buried at sea.

Ralph Heiden - That would seem logical since there doesn’t appear to be a record of her here in Michigan. At least not that I have found so far.

Later research discovered that Meta made it to America but died on June 16, 1873 only 12 days after they arrived from Germany. She was just 2 years and 5 months old at the time of death and is buried at the Zion Lutheran Church cemetery in Monroe, Michigan.

Norma "Jeanie" Heiden - Ma’s grandmother, Miller (or Möller), died in Germany before they came over to America. According to Ma, she was old anyway and did not know for sure if she wanted to come over here. Of course, that’s the Rambow’s side. (See below)

Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - August landed in New York? How did they get to Monroe? [Heidens to Monroe]

Norma "Jeanie" Heiden - Normally, they had someone over here sponsor them.

Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - Did the Rambows come on the same ship?

Helma (Heiden) Nickel - The Rambows and Milhans came over about the same time.  [See note below]

Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - It seems that they all came over about the same time because they knew somebody here. I’ve also got the cedar chest (left) that Ma’s mother (Wilhelmina Rambow) brought over from Germany. Ma used it as a hope chest.

Ralph Heiden - When I got the ship list originally, back in 1974, I contacted a lady in Washington D.C. who, for a fee, looked it up in the National Archives.

Now, there are some books that list all the ship logs for the mid-1800's that left Germany for the U.S. I contacted a person on the computer network, Prodigy, and they looked it up for me and found the same information that appears on the information I had.

They also found at least one other Heiden that came over on the ship but I did not recognize the name.

According to reports from the Rambow family, Wilhelmina (Mrs Heinrich) Rambow's mother, Marie (Möller) Milhan was planning to accompany them to America. Unfortunately, she died just before the family was due to leave Germany in April, 1874.

Her three young children, Fredericka, William and Chrisopher Milhan came to America and Monroe County with their older sister, Wilhelmina. An older brother, Fred Milhan, had made the journey one year earlier and they all eventually settled within about a mile of each other in Raisinville Township.

Norma "Jeanie" Heiden - Did August Heiden have any brothers?

Ralph Heiden - Not from what I could find out. He did have a half-sister, however.

One of the other things that I got from Aunt Agnes was a bunch of letters from Germany to August and Rika (Knaack) Heiden back in the 1920's. Most of them were signed from a Maria Dohmstrich from Rostock, Germany. That is only about 30 or 40 miles away from the little towns where our ancestors lived.

On some of the letters she adds “geb. Schmidt” after her name which means that her maiden name was Schmidt. Well, it seems that August’s half sister (left) married a man named Schmidt and had a daughter, Maria.

So, the letters are from August’s half-sister’s daughter. His niece. She was born in 1866 so she would have been in her sixties at the time the letters were written.

My great-grandmother, Rika, must have sent them the occasional five dollars. That was a huge amount back then because of the inflation going on in Germany at the time. They really appreciated it.

Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - I didn’t know that our grandma was a Knaack.

Jeanie & Helma (Heiden) Nickel - Yes, she was.

Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - So, Maria Heiden never married Kannseyer?

Ralph Heiden - No, and who knows why. From what I’ve read, they were having a population problem in Germany so they made it very difficult for people to get married. But, people being what we are, they went ahead and had children anyway. A very large percentage of the births during the mid-1800's were out of wedlock.

But they never did get married. When she died in 1874, she was still listed as Maria Heiden.

Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - So, how many children did she have?

Ralph Heiden - Just the two as far as I know. August in 1838 and the daughter, Fredericka, in 1832. She was the mother of the one who wrote the letters.

Ralph Heiden - Do you remember much about your Grandfather, August Heiden (left)?

Helma (Heiden) Nickel - Not too much, of course, he died in 1922 and Grandma died in 1926. I can just remember that he couldn’t hear well and used a horn to hear people talk to him. We would go over there on Sunday afternoons and he’d always want to know the text of the sermon. Somehow, he would always seem to know just what the sermon was about.

Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - That is surprising because I would have expected the Rambow side to be religious ones. But you said that Grandpa Heiden very religious.

Ralph Heiden - Here is a picture of August Heiden.

Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - Grandpa Heiden looks like a happy guy. Looks a little like Ralph.

Ralph Heiden - Here are some other pictures of August and his children. I have several of their marriage pictures too. We must have got our height in the family from the Rambow side.

Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - Uncle Fred Rambow used to come over and play cards all the time. Uncle Fred would say, “My luck is terrible” and get up and throw his leg over the top of the chair. Then he would say, “Now we will play cards!’ He was very tall.


In the picture, Mary (Rambow) Heiden (Ma) has her back to the camera. Her husband William Carl (Pa) is to her left and brother Fred Rambow is to her right. Across the table is Fred's wife, Emma (Westphal). The picture is from the late 1950s. Click on it to see a larger version.

Ralph Heiden - Here is a picture that says it is great-great-Grandma Heiden.

Later research determined that it was actually a picture of August's half-sister, Friedericka Schmidt.

Norma "Jeanie" Heiden - Let’s see a picture of her. So that’s where this all got started!

Ralph Heiden - A lot of the information I have came from the Mormon Church records. They have a belief that, if you can find who your ancestors were, they can be baptized after death into the Mormon religion.

That’s why they went all over the world microfilming old church records. If you know what church your ancestors attended, you can get the microfilm from Salt Lake City. The problem is that the records are in old script writing and the microfilming is not always readable.

Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - Pa always said they came from Mecklenburg. Is that a county or what? When we were in Germany we saw a sign for town called Heidenfahrt!

Ralph Heiden - Mecklenburg is a region of Germany. The Heidens came from tiny little towns called Gross Wokern, Mamerow, Klaber and a bunch of others.

Now, where did your grandfather, August, live here in Monroe County?

Helma (Heiden) Nickel - August always lived on South Custer where Uncle John lived. That’s the only place they lived as far as I know. The same with the Rambows. [See Note Below]

Later research showed that August Heiden and family lived on West 9th Street in the City of Monroe according to the 1880 U.S. Census. We don't know exactly when the bought the property on South Custer Road. The 1890 census reports were destroyed by a fire.

I also saw the town of Heidenfahrt on a map of Germany. It translates into Heathen Journey or a journey to a heath.

Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - Was our Grandma Heiden (Mrs. August Heiden, left ) a very “jolly” type person, Helma?

Helma (Heiden) Nickel - She was very quiet. Most of the people back then were that way, I think.

Mildred (Roggerman) Heiden - And they seemed to be very old when they reached fifty or sixty back then.

Helma (Heiden) Nickel - Our Grandma Heiden was very quiet and I don’t really remember much about either of them. They spoke mostly German around the house so that we never got to know them very well.

Ralph Heiden - What did the family do on the farm during a typical year?

Helma (Heiden) Nickel - In the fall, Pa (right) would tell us that when we got home from school we would have to help pick up the potatoes he would dig that day. In the spring, we would go out and pull the wild mustard out of the wheat fields.

Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - In one bedroom upstairs we had some red material, it wasn’t carpet, on the floor that was put down with little tacks. They had a special tool to take up all the tacks. Then you took it out in the yard and “beat the daylight” out of it with a carpet beater. After it aired out a bit, you took it back upstairs and tacked it down again.

Mildred (Roggerman) Heiden - We used to have those rugs made in strips and sow them all together. We would take them all apart and then sow them back together after they were cleaned.

Ralph Heiden - Who built the house at 8861 Dixon Road which became the family homestead?

Helma (Heiden) Nickel - Grandpa Heiden (August) (left) was a mason and he built on the dining room and kitchen after Pa bought it. Before moving there, they lived down on South Custer Road at the Abby Place and the Albright place.

Mildred (Roggerman) Heiden - Abby’s was right on the corner where Dixon Road and South Custer come together.

Helma (Heiden) Nickel - Edna and Carl and Leo went to school down there at the King School. They rented those houses before moving to Dixon Road. (See below)

Ralph Heiden - Did Lee and Lu live where Jesse Barnes lived?

Helma (Heiden) Nickel - No I don’t think so. Carl lived there. I don’t think Mary Lou lived there.

Ralph Heiden - What about the doctor? Did he make rounds and stop by the farm periodically?

Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - I remember Dr. Kelly. You had to call him to come out. He didn’t come to our house very often.

Helma (Heiden) Nickel - Pa would get those kidney stones. He would just lay over the couch in such misery. The doctor would come and give him a shot. He would just be sick the next day and lay around.

Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - Were the Rambows on the ship list that you got, Ralph?

Ralph Heiden - No but I don’t have the complete list. I only have a copy of the first page with the details about the ship and then the page that lists August Heiden and his family. They were passengers number 304 through 308 so there were probably 400 or more people on the boat. I will check it out.

Wilma (Heiden) Bicking - It is funny that they lost that baby, Meta and didn’t name some other children after her later on.

Norma "Jeanie" Heiden - Helma, is your middle name, Meta?

Helma (Heiden) Nickel - No, its Nettie. That was Nettie Spohr, they were a neighbor and she stood up for me. She and Aunt Emmie and Uncle Heinrich "Henry" Heiden were my Godparents.

The Rambows came to America in April, 1874 on the ship, S.S. Thuringia about one year after the Heidens arrived in 1873 on the S.S. Saxonia.

Ralph Heiden - Do you recall any stories about your grandfather, August Heiden ?

William Frank Heiden - About all I remember of him is going over to their place on South Custer and he would be sitting in that old high back chair.

Marie (Heiden) Tommelein - And he had that earphone in his ear so he could hear.

William Frank Heiden - Other than that, I really don’t remember anything else about him.

Ralph Heiden - We always heard a story about when they came over that a little daughter died on the ship. Well, Myrna (Drake) Bishop who is Bertha (Heiden) Drake’s daughter and granddaughter of Herman Heiden, was told that the little girl lived through the voyage but died here and is buried in Monroe. Mary Lou did some detective work and found that she was buried in Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Monroe on June 16, 1873 only 12 days after they landed in New York.

Marie (Heiden) Tommelein - And there was a gravestone for her?

Ralph Heiden - Yes.

Mildred (Roggerman) Heiden - There was a Laas baby buried next to her too.

Ralph Heiden - That’s another question. I keep hearing about the Laas’ but nobody really knows what relation they were to the Heidens.

Marie (Heiden) Tommelein - They were always there at the reunions.

William Frank Heiden - I think it was Bill Laas (right) from Texas. They came every year.

Marie (Heiden) Tommelein - There was Miss Libbie Laas. I don’t think she ever got married but I can remember her being there.

William Frank Heiden - Maybe they came over from Germany together or something. There had to be some connection. They were always big at the reunions along with the Burmeisters.

Mary Lou (Heiden) Opfermann - Since Meta was buried next to a Laas, it makes you wonder if they had some early connection.

Marie (Heiden) Tommelein - Did the Laas’ come over on the boat with August?

Ralph Heiden - No. The one (Laas child) that is buried at Zion Cemetery was buried in 1869, four years earlier. So, they were already here.

Here’s an idea that I’m starting to wonder about. August, my great grandfather, had a half sister. In the 1920's, her granddaughter sent a series of letters to August’s wife, Rika.

I finally found an elderly German lady who could read the old script writing and is translating those letters word for word. I have about 5 or 6 of them done now.

In one of the letters, they say that they were corresponding with Elizabeth Laas (Libbie Laas). So, perhaps, the Laas’ are descendants of August Heiden's half-sister. They would be a distant relative but still related. I don’t have any evidence to draw that conclusion but it might be that way.

Mary Lou (Heiden) Opfermann - That could be the connection.