FAMILY OF HENRY HEDEMAN
| The root of the family tree that went
north to Denmark
branched off at Hamburg in the Duchy of
Schleswig-Holstein in north Germany
where was born Heinrich Hedeman in the year 1823. When he
was 21 years old Heinrich came to America and settled in
the German colony in New Orleans which was prospering in the
steamboat boom along the Mississippi river. Heinrich, now
Henry, found employment on these paddle wheel steamers
which carried the river prosperity to the Mississippi
and Alabama coasts and into western Louisiana.
Twenty years later he was certified as a pilot. He
married Caroline Asche and in 1849 daughter Augusta was
born. Henrietta W. Was born in 1855 and Harry E. In 1859.
With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 steamboat traffic along the coast and upper river was blockaded by the Federal navy, which must have been disastrous to the young Hedeman family. One year later the city of New Orleans surrendered to Admiral David G. Farragut and remained under Federal control for the duration, which may have been beneficial for the citizenry. Caroline Hedeman died young and Henrietta was sent far up-river to Dubuque, Iowa to live with the Roach family. Years later she reminded her grandsons on the Mississippi coast how lucky they were to go to school without walking two miles in the snow. At the end of the war in 1865 the paddle wheel steamers went back into operation along the river and on Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi coast and Mobile. In 1870 they had competition when the New Orleans, Mobile and Chattanooga railroad started operations, but the steamers had the advantage of 40 years of service, so they continued. Four years after the trains were running, Captain Henry Hedeman renewed his master's certificate in 1874, but it was for the last time. He died unexpectedly at East Pascagoula on November 26, 1874, probably aboard his boat. East Pascagoula was the south part of the present city. Henry Hedeman's body was placed in the tomb of the Meyers family in the Valence street cemetery in New Orleans. |
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UNITED STATES INSPECTORS CERTIFICATE TO MASTERS
10th Issue as Pilot Issue No. 3
THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT Henry Hedeman has given satisfactory evidence to the undersigned local Inspectors of Steam Vessels and can be entrusted to perform such duties upon waters: Coastwise to contiguous foreign territory. He is also authorized to act in the capacity of 1st Pilot on Mississippi river between New Orleans & Pilot Station; On Lake Pontchartrain and Tchefuncta river & Atachafalaya river & bay between Berwick & sea, and is hereby licensed to act as such Master on steam vessel for the term of one year from this date. Given under our hand this seventh day of May 1874.
Signed: Inspector of Hulls Inspector of Boilers
| THE FAMILY OF AUGUSTA HEDEMAN MEYERS
Augusta married Henry Meyers, probably a steamboat captain, and made their home in Algiers, La. Their children were Fred, Augusta, Henry and Oliver. The younger children spent a few years in the German orphanage after their mother died at the age of forty. In 1923 Oliver was the first assistant engineer on the Lykes Brothers ship Emergency Aid. He hired his young cousin Charles Ernest Schmidt as an oiler for a three months trip to Rotterdam and London. |
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THE FAMILY OF HARRY EDWARD HEDEMAN He married Adre E. Foster and they made their home at Llano in central Texas. Their children were Ethel, Lea and Harry Jr. Harry Jr. died in World War I. Ethel married Dan J. Harrison who became wealthy in oil and cattle. Lea married William Bolton Lewis and lived to see her grandson practice law. Harry E. Hedeman died in 1942 at the age of eighty-three.
On 26 November died in East Pascagoula, Miss. In his 51st year
of our dear father Captain Heinrich Hedeman. He was born in
Hamburg and for 30 years lived in New Orleans.
The body was brought here and yesterday laid at rest.
Pallbearers, friends and acquaintances have been notified of this
death and participated.
The bereaved three remaining children
The shallow draft paddlewheel steamers provided travel and transportation service along the Mississippi coast for forty years or more, but they slowly yielded to the faster railway trains. It is not known when the last steamboat whistle was heard on Biloxi Bay.