The Bert Heydinger Family Website
Albert (Bert) Heydinger was born to Peter and Rose Heydinger on August 14, 1885, the very first Heydinger grandchild born in America. He attended schools and then left to begin working as a farmer all his life.
On November 30,1911, Bert married Rose Kanney and together they produced eleven children, the oldest living only eleven hours. Ten lived to reach marriageable age, with nine eventually marrying. Bert farmed his entire life, living on a XXX acre farm just YYYY of New Washington. As a sideline, Bert used to custom butcher also.
Bert and Rose were known far and wide for their hospitality. Rose's chicken dinners were legendary, as were the occasional coon roasts, pigeon feeds and oyster stews, all complemented with Bert's best home brews or cider.
Speaking of Home brews, it seems that Bert was a little TOO good at whipping up a batch now and then. We have it on no less an authority than his son Virgil that he had found a canceled check among Bert's effects, dating from back in "Revino'er Days," and in the amount of $75 made out to the sheriff of Crawford County. It seems that Bert had been a tad lax in his usual precautionary habits and was nabbed for illegal booze. It must have been an amount far in excess of that customarily used for purely medicinal purposes, hence the considerable size of the fine. Seventy-five dollars was a hefty sum during the Depression, and we do not know whether it had the deterent effect or not. Not to sweat though, as laws back then permitted a family an ample supply of wines and ciders
Basically the Volstead Act prohibited alcoholic beverages but allowed a crack in the law for wines used for sacramental purposes. A separate provision allowed families to make ten gallons of wine per year. Now here's where interpretation comes in. Did that mean a total of ten gallons of wine per family or did it mean ten gallons per type of wine? We think Bert took the latter route, for we have in our possession a book of family recipes from the Bert Heydinger family. Included in the booklet are several "recipes." in Bert's handwriting, for various wines, from the usual grape to cherry, raspberry, dandelion - even elderberry blossoms - and others. We have no records of whether the amount of religiosity increased in the family during the same period.
Another little known fact about Bert is that he and his brother Ott made a few bucks on the side in the breeding business. They owned a stallion bewteen them and actually had a brochure made up advertising the fees for the stallion's standing at stud. Was it the white Belgian that dorothy talks abouot?
If you didn't know how to play cards, you were doomed to a boring afternoon at Bert's place. He and the family always worked their way through the rigors of the Great Depression around the big kitchen table with a deck of cards and board games. It was a pleasant family life down there on the farm, despite the trying economic times.
Bert and Rose were justifiabley proud of their seven children who served in the military, most during WWII. Their prayers were answered in the safe return of all.
Rose eventually passed away on July 13, 1946, at the age of only 54 after a kidney operation, having seen only two of her many grandchildren. Bert followed Rose a few yeaars later in 1954 at the age of 69. He died on July 20, 1954, at home of dropsey. He lived long enough to see fourteen of his grandchildren. Both are buried together in St. Bernard's Cemetery in New Washington.
The Bert and Rose Heydinger children are as follows:
- Donald Peter Heydinger - Nov 8 1912 - Nov 9, 1912
- Robert John Heydinger - 1913 - 1984
- Virgil Stephen Heydinger - 1915 - 1983
- Arthur William Heydinger - 1918 - 2002
- Doris Ann Rizer - 1920 -
- Pearl Margaret Horrell - 1922 - 1999
- Russell Gilbert (Buck) Heydinger - 1924 - 1991
- Daniel LeRoy Heydinger - 1928 -
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- Alice Marie Heydinger - 1933 -
- Jerry Joseph Heydinger - 1936 - 1999
- The Bert Heydinger Family Photo Album