Our branches of the Heiden, Rambow and Milhan family trees lived in the northeast area of Germany which was known at the time as Mecklenburg-Schwerin (now Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). Other than town names, we really don't know much about how they lived but we have pulled together some historical perspective on the life of people in this part of Germany during this point in time. This may be found in 19th Century German Customs topic.

We don't know for certain why, but August and Rika (Knaack) Heiden and their first three children made their way 3,800 miles from Germany to New York harbor and then about 600 miles to Monroe, Michigan in June of 1873.

August was a brick mason by trade and the family settled in the City of Monroe for a few years. However, within a couple of decades, August and his two sons, Heinrich (Henry) and Ernst (Ernest) all owned acreage in Raisinville Township a few miles west of Monroe.

All but one of August's children lived their entire life in Monroe County. One son, Herman, found his way 150 miles north to Isabella County and raised his family in that area. William Carl and Mary (Rambow) Heiden had 13 children and all of them except one lived in Monroe County. Their daughter, Hilda (Heiden) Fuller, lived in Battle Creek, Michigan in Calhoun County about 105 miles away from the home farm in Raisinville Township.

With only a few exceptions, August Heiden's children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren lived at least part of their lives in Raisinville, Dundee or Ida Townships. Of course, more recent generations have been increasingly likely to disperse far and wide around the United States but many of the members of this very large family have direct ties to the home county.

We have identified over 110 homes, farms and places of interest to the Heiden family in these three townships. These are shown on a map of the area along with details of who lived where from about 1890 to the current day. Some families moved a lot. We have at least nine dwellings where Arthur and Mildred (Roggerman) Heiden lived for example.

Of the first generation of Heidens born in America, only one child of August and Rika Heiden lived outside Monroe County. In 1915, their son, Herman Heiden (left) moved about 150 miles north to Isabella County, Michigan. There, he and his wife, the former Fredareka "Reka" Rambow raised their four children.

Although almost all of the early generations of the August and Rika Heiden family stayed in Monroe County or Isabella County, several lived in other parts of Michigan. Also a few people with the surname are scattered around the state who, as far as we know now, are not directly related to the Monroe group.

We are still in the process of creating this section and hope to have it completed during 2026.

Over the twentieth century, the members of the Heiden Family have disbursed to many parts of the United States. There are also a small number of other people with the same surname who may or may not be related somewhere in the past.

After all, there are still branches of our most distant relative, Friedrich Heiden (born 1755) to explore. In addition to his son, Johann, who was August Heiden's grandfather, Friedrich had at least two other children, Mina and August Heinrich Heiden born in 1781 and 1783 respectively.

 We know that our line of his family has over 600 direct descendents. So, who knows?

We have gathered information on miscellaneous Heidens throughout the country whether we know they are related or not.