24 Dec 2009

Hekelnkaemper Family History

(Extended Family)

illiam Hekelnkaemper emigrated from Germany to first live in St. Louis, Missouri. After several years there, he moved elsewhere in the state to Rolla. A few years later he made his way to Kansas, where he eventually settled in the town of Atchison and founded the first soda bottling business in Kansas.

Hekelnkaemper Family Migration to Kansas
1. Westphalia, Prussia
2. St. Louis, Missouri
3. Rolla, Missouri
4. Atchison, Kansas William H. Hekelnkaemper was born April 1837 in Westphalia, Prussia, now part of Germany. After immigrating, he first lived in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was a grocer. This is where William married his wife, Therese Houck, in 1861. Therese was born here about 1841 to parents who died during a cholera epidemic when she was about three years old. About 1861, they left St. Louis for Rolla, Missouri, and William opened another grocery. They then left here about two years later, and moved to Atchison, Kansas.

Kansas

After arriving in Kansas, William opened the first billiard hall in Atchison. He temporarily moved his operation to Seneca, Kansas, but soon returned. Afterward, William founded the Hekelnkaemper soda bottling company in 1864,^note1 which was the first business of its kind in Kansas. He must have continued with his hall as well, since he was still being taxed on it until at least 1866. William died 20 Aug 1881 in Atchison. He and Therese had the following children:

1. Laura (c.1863).
2. William G. (1864).
3. Edith (c.1866) who married Charles Shufelt about 1883.
4. Emma (c.1870).
5. Frederick W. "Fritz" (1872-1970) who married Pauline Ostertag 1901.
6. Anna (c.1874).
7. Gustave Adolph "Gus" (1877) who married Lydia "Liddie" Weik 1901.^note2
8. Frank V. (1882-1937) who married Beulah Jackson about 1906.

Notes

1. [A 1916 biography states that the bottling company was begun about 1863, but their labels stated "since 1864".]
2. [The Hekelnkaemper family is related to others in this work through the marriage of Gus Hekelnkaemper and Lydia Weik, a daughter of Christian Weik. Find more details of this family in the Weik Family History.]

Links

• William H. Hekelnkaemper {fam group, lineage, fam hist}
• Johann Christian Weik {fam group1, fam group2, lineage, fam hist}