Knaack - Knack - Kanak - Knaak - Rika (Mrs August) Heiden and her daughter-in-law, Anna (Mrs Ernst) Heiden had similar maiden names. Both have been recorded in different documents as having one of the four spellings above for their maiden name.

In researching Rika's background, the old German church records most frequently spell it Knaack. In America, we find the occasional Knaak or Kanack. Since Knaack appears to be the accepted German spelling, that is what we will use...for now.

Anna in her newspaper obituary is listed as Knaack also. However, tracing her back into Germany finds her father's name is Knack and her Social Security application has her maiden name as Knack. Also, relatives who attended her funeral service all wrote their names as Knack. Anna originated from a different part of Germany than Rika, too. So, it would appear that Knack is the proper spelling.