This is one of those families that falls into the "distant relative" category as they relate to the Heidens of Monroe County. As shown in the graphic below, they were descendants of Maria (Dreier) Roggelein who was the aunt of Rika (Knaack) Heiden.

Maria's daughter, Dorothea (Roggelein) Laas and her family came to the U.S. in 1867 and settled in Monroe, Michigan. In 1873, her first cousin, Rika, with her husband, August, and their first three children came from Germany and also made their way to Monroe. Although we do not have any direct confirmation, it would appear that the arrival of both families into the same town would be more than a coincidence.

The insert below shows some of the history of the family name. In various documents in Germany, it is given multiple spellings. The Americanized version came to be Regelin.  Frank Regelin and his family lived near the Heidens in Raisinville and Dundee townships.

 

Ruggelin - Ruggelein - Roggelin - Roggelen
 Roglin - Roggelein - Roggelien -  Regelin

The spelling of this family's name has appeared in many different forms over the years and throughout the documents. Most of the people in rural Germany in the late 19th century were illiterate and relied on church pastors to write their names into the record books. Often, the pastor simply spelled a name phonetically to the best of his ability or just spelled it incorrectly without reference to earlier entries by another cleric.

The birth, census, marriage and death records for what we will call the Regelin family have been recorded in at least the eight variations listed at the top of this page. The dates and places match for each person but the name may be spelled differently on various forms. We will give most weight to instances where the person actually signed his or her name. Also, names chiseled onto headstones are usually creditable.

If you have some personal knowledge about this name, please send an .