August and Friedericka Heiden were both born and raised in rural areas of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany in the mid-1800s. In 1873, they and their first three children, Heinrich, Ernst and Meta boarded a ship in the Port of Hamburg and made their way to the United States. From there, they traveled on to Monroe in Monroe County, Michigan. They had five more children and eventually moved to their own farm in Raisinville Township.

As mentioned before, we do not know for sure why August and his family came to settle in Monroe County. However, around the year 2,000, we found a few pieces of evidence in a cemetery in Monroe which would appear to answer the question. Click on the Why Monroe, MI? button for more details.

We have been gathering information on the direct i.e. share DNA, descendants of August and Rika (Knaack) Heiden. The current number listed on this website is shown below and we would like to add even more. We are still missing names of many of the people born after the release of the 1995 Heiden Family book. If you can help, please send an . Thanks

On April 4, 1879, six years after arriving in America, August Heiden went to the court house in Monroe and filed papers declaring his intention on becoming a citizen of the United States. The document indicates that he had to renounce his allegiance to all foreign governments but especially to the Emperor of Germany. August became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. on November 2, 1896.

In the 1880 U.S. Census, the family was listed as living on West 9th Street in the City of Monroe.  The children are shown as Ernst (12), Willie (6) and Herman (4). "Willie" is William Carl (right) who was born in 1874 in Monroe. By this time their eldest son, Heinrich, age 14, might have been "working out" and living with his employer on a farm somewhere to bring a little more money into the family.

Since August was a brick mason and builder, he probably started plying his trade in Monroe. We don't know for sure what he was doing but the odds are good that he was gainfully employed because according to the 1896 plat book for Monroe County, August Heiden was listed as the owner of two pieces of property in Raisinville Township.

The one known as the family farm, where his youngest son, John Heiden (left) lived until his death in 1959, was at 8700 South Custer Road. August also owned a 47.3 acre piece of land on the southeast corner of the intersection of Lewis Avenue and South Custer Road. At some point in the future, it was sold and became part of the Opfermann farm on Lewis Avenue.

August and Rika's children were maturing and getting married. Ernst married Anna Knack on April 17, 1895, William Carl married Mary Rambow on February 17, 1897, Herman wed Fredareka Rambow on February 22, 1900,  Heinrich married Emma Stock on January 31, 1901, Lena wed John Koster, Jr. on February 19, 1903 and John and Agnes Brockman got marred on November 2, 1910.

The 1900 U.S. Census report has the family living at 8700 South Custer Road with unmarried 33 year old Heinrich listed as the head of the household.  Also living in the house were his parents, August and Rika and his siblings Lena (18) and John (15).

Next door to the west, August's son, Ernst (31) was living with his wife, Anna, and their children, Frank (2) and baby Edwin "Pete" who was 10 months old. Their address was 8925 South Custer Road.

Heinrich (left) got married in 1901 so the 1910 U.S. Census, showed him living with his wife, Emma at 8700 along with new children August John, William Leo, Elsie (Klatt), Dorothea (Strzesinski) and Esther (Kehrer). They also had a border, Clarence Miller, who probably was a hired hand for them.

His brother Ernst (right) continued to live in the next farm in 1910 with his wife Anna and their children, Frank (13), Edwin "Pete" (11), Walter (6), Ada (Robbins 3) and baby Elmer (14 months).

While they lived on South Custer, the children would have attended the one-room Fonia School. It was located about a mile or so away at 11411 Trost Road. One of Heinrich's daughters, Dorothy (Heiden) Strzesinski lived there in the 1950s when it had been converted to a residence after the school district was consolidated into Dundee Community Schools.

We must assume that things went pretty well for the Heidens since by the 1920 U.S. Census, Heinrich was shown as owner of a larger farm at 8420 Dixon Road about 2 miles by road from 8700 South Custer Road. However, if you walked across country, the new land was almost directly north of August's property. Heinrich and Emma were farming there with their children, William Leo, Elsie (Klatt), Dorothy (Strzesinski), Esther (Kehrer), Henry William and Libby (Murdoch).

The Dixon Road farm was the property which was rented by William Carl and Mary (Rambow) Heiden for a year after their marriage in 1897. In the 1950s, it would be the home of William Frank Heiden and his family. Later Wm Frank's brother, Arthur Heiden would live and farm their during the 1960's. At that time, it was owned by the Suchik family who lived in Detroit.

August and Rika were shown as living at 8700 South Custer Road with their youngest son, John and his wife, Agnes (Brockman) who he had married in 1910,

Two events occurred in 1922 which greatly affected the Heiden Family in Monroe County. On April 20, fifty five year old Heinrich was in the field planting some early potatoes when he keeled over and died of a heart attack. As a result, his widow, Emma, had to sell the farm after a few years and move to Monroe with her Her unmarried son, August John and two of her adult daughters, Esther and Dorothy. Later, she would move to nearby Ida, Michigan with August John and live there until her death in 1961.

The second event of 1922 occurred on September 5th  when August Heiden died at the age of 84 at his home at 8700 South Custer. They say he had been blind for the last two years of his life although the reason was never given. Perhaps he had cataracts which were less treatable at that time. He also used an ear horn.

As far as we know, Rika continued to live with her son, John, until her death on January 14, 1926 also at the age of 84.