Eugene and Remy Heydecker

Eugene Heydecker (1864 - 1943) and Remy Heydecker (1866 - 1951)

The Heydecker brothers came to Illinois in 1876. Their mother, Justine, had in 1872 and their father died in 1877 in New Orleans. Their parents were from Germany and Alsace-Lorraine, and Eugene claimed birth in New York and Massachusetts in different census reports.

Eugene lived with Charles and Emma Schooner of Pine Rock, Ogle County in 1880. In 1893 Eugene married Nellie Miller, and they had three children, Bessie, Louis and Chester (Chester died as a boy). Eugene was renting a farm in 1900. In 1920, Eugene and Nellie relocated to Beaver, Kansas, but in 1930, Eugene returned to Rochelle, Illinois and a divorced man. In 1940, he lived with a niece in Rochelle (Remy's daughter Carrie). Eugene's son Louis wrote this recollection on Ancestry.com.

Eugene Heydecker was an orphan boy from New York; raised by the C.A. Schoonhoven family of near Chana, IL. My parents lived on a farm owned by the Schoonhovens. My sister Bessie, brother Chester and I were born on that farm in Illinois. In 1906 we came to Winfield, Kansas. We came by train with all our belongings in a boxcar, including six horses. Also, my mother had a favorite white rose (which some of the Schoonhovens had brought earlier from Pennsylvania) and a Christmas cactus that we brought.

Remy Heydecker (1866 - 1951) was sent to Illinois along with his brother. When Remy reported the nativity of his parents, he said they were from France, which was true as to their mother. Remy married Dora Benner in 1888 and settled in Rochelle, Illinois. They had four children: Carrie, Gertrude, Leon and Vernie. Remy was a grain elevator operator in Rochelle in 1900 and in 1920 he was a City Clerk. His education at the Rockford Business College had benefitted him and suited him for this important city office.