Yesterday, the name Heise was included in the story. Today, you get to read about two more surnames that begin with “Hei”. It begins with the birthday of Hulda Christine Heitmann, who was born on September 10, 1894. Hulda was the last child of Joachim and Anna (Ruhkopf) Heitmann. She was baptized at Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob, Illinois. An image of her baptism record from that congregation’s books is displayed below.
Hulda is found in the 1900 census for the first time. She was 5 years old at the time. I will add at this point that Hulda’s father was also a charter member of Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob. However, Joachim died in 1896 when Hulda was just 2 years old. So, we never see Hulda in a census with her father. It appears in this entry that her older brother, Henry, at the age of 16, was the farmer in the family.
In 1910, at the age of 15, Hulda was still living with her mother, and this time, her brother, August, was a farmer.
Now, we will turn our attention to Hulda’s future husband. His name was Edward Leo Heins, the son of Lueder (Leo) and Anna (Versemann) Heins. Edward was born on March 6, 1891 and baptized at Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob. His baptism record is pictured here.
Edward is also found in his first census in 1900. Edward is listed as being 10 years old, but I figure he was only 9. His father was a farmer.
Next, we find Edward in the 1910 census at the age of 20. His father had died in 1908, so we see 3 of the 5 sons in this entry listed as farm laborers, including Edward.
That leads us up to the marriage of Edward Heins and Hulda Heitmann. However, there is a bit of a mystery here. A later obituary says this couple was married on May 13, 1916, but I could find no documentation for this marriage. I have every reason to believer that these two were married at Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob. However, there is no record in that congregation’s books for this event.
In 1917, Edward Heins had his World War I draft registration completed. It gives his address as Gorham, Illinois and says he has a wife and child.
Our German Family Tree lists 7 children born to this couple, 3 boys and 4 girls. All of their children were baptized at Christ, Jacob. When the 1920 census was taken, we find this Heins household. At that point in time, they had 1 son and 1 daughter. One of Hulda’s sisters lived in their household.
Next, we find the Heins family in the 1930 census. The household had gotten larger, including 6 children this time. One more son would be born in 1932.
The last census we can view is the one taken in 1940. Edward was a farmer in all his census records.
I do not know when the photo shown below was taken, nor who the people are in the photo, but it is a photo of Edward and Hulda’s home.
Edward had his World War II draft card filled out in 1942. He was 51 years old when this form was completed.
I can also show this photo of Edward Heins.
The photo below includes both Edward and Hulda.
Hulda Heins died in 1958 at the age of 63. We can take a look at her obituary.
Edward Heins died in 1964 at the age of 73. His obituary is where we find a marriage date of May 13, 1916.
Edward and Hulda Heins are buried together in the Christ Lutheran Cemetery in Jacob, Illinois.
Assuming these two were married at Christ, Jacob, this couple would be another pair that were born, baptized, confirmed, married, and buried while being members of the same congregation.
I have to give some credit to Lynn Heins, who helped provide some of the photos included in this post. Lynn’s husband has connections to Edward and Hulda’s family. She is also helping to organize a Heins family reunion later this month, and Gerard Fiehler and I have been invited to tell the story of the German Lutheran immigration to their gathering. Gerard and I are honored to be able to share our ancestors’ story to these fine folks.
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This morning, a truckload of shelving units was unloaded at our museum. The shelving was donated to us by Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Not long ago, Faron Bartens, a one-time intern at our museum, spent some time as an intern at Ft. Wayne. During his time there, he found out they were going to dispose of these shelves, and he put in a good word for our museum. Long story, short…all we had to do was go get them and they were ours. Kent Grebing, along with Duane and Carol Wunderlich, made the trip to Ft. Wayne to pick up the shelves. The truck was unloaded by a group of volunteers this morning. With a new basement in our new addition, we will certainly find ways to utilize these new shelving units. Our thanks go out to Concordia, Ft. Wayne, and all those who helped in this process. Here are some photos.
lutheranmuseum.com 