JOHN R. HEIKEN.
In the fall of 1871 there might have been seen moving slowly across the prairie from Illinois to Iowa, the old-fashioned "prairie schooners," in which so many families came to this state about that time. The journey from Illinois to Iowa overland, via the "prairie schooner," required about three weeks in those days. In these present days, of course, a trip could be made in a single night, but railroads were not so numerous then as they are now. In one of the typical vehicles which crossed the prairie in the fall of 1871 was the family of Peter and Marie Hillers Heiken, both of whom had come to America from Germany, where the former was a laborer. With this family was a son, then about eighteen years old, John R. Heiken, who has become in recent years one of the largest landowners in Audubon county. The Heikens, after coming to America in 1867, had located first in Whiteside county, Illinois, and had again, after renting land for four years in Whiteside county, packed up their belongings and proceeded westward. Arriving in Audubon county late in the fall of 1871, the Heiken family settled in section 29 of Oakfield township, where Peter Heiken purchased eighty acres of land and where he engaged in general farming. From year to year he increased the acreage of this farm until, in 1899, when he retired and moved to Atlantic, Iowa, he owned three hundred and twenty acres. He died in January, 1902, leaving a widow, who is still living at Atlantic.
Peter and Marie Heiken had eleven children, nine of whom are now living: John R., the subject of this sketch; Maggie, Ida, Roy, Jennie, Anna, Ine, Harry and Peter.
John R. Heiken was thirteen years old when he was brought to America by his parents and had, therefore, attended school in his native land, having been born November 27, 1854, in Oldenburg, Germany. His education was completed in Illinois and, after leaving school, he worked for a time with a construction gang on the Rock Island railroad. After being engaged in railroad work for two years, he started farming with his father, with whom he remained until he was twenty-six years old. At that time, he rented one hundred and twenty acres of land and in 1884, when he was thirty years old, purchased one hundred and twenty acres, which became the nucleus of his great fortune in real estate. The fourteen hundred acres of land which he owns in Audubon county he now rents and, aside from the supervisory interest he takes in the cultivation of this land, he devotes practically all of his time to several business enterprises in which he is interested, one of which is the elevator at Gates, Iowa. He is also interested at several places in the implement business.
On February 22, 1882, Mr. Heiken was married to Bertha Knopp, the daughter of Theodore and Annie Knopp. Mr. and Mrs. Heiken have five children living: Louise married George Hansen and has four children, Florence, Merrill, Leroy and Imo; Horace married Anna Knopp; John and Grover are at home and Lillian is a senior in the College of Liberal Arts at Highland Park College, Des Moines, Iowa.
Religiously, Mr. and Mrs. Heiken and family are members of the German Lutheran church. Mr. Heiken is a Democrat in politics and has always been interested in educational affairs and served thirteeen years as a member of the school board in Oakfield township. At present he is a director of a lumber yard and of three different banks.
John R. Heiken deserves great credit for his progress as a farmer in this, his adopted, country. He has assisted in the great work of improving the soil and in increasing its production of grains and live stock. He has assisted in many ways to promote the development of the county and today is regarded as one of its leading citizens and business men, a man of remarkable intuition, having been the founder of the town of Gates. Mr. Heiken has always been highly respected and enjoys today confidence and esteem of the people of Oakfield township.
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Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, September, 2019 from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 716-718.
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