Heisel History

The Heisel ancestors were of Teutonic descent and possibly lived in Bohemia or Bavaria prior to 1618 (in what is now Southeast Germany/Western Czech Republic).

The Teutonic Knights were a military and religious order founded in the late 1100's by German merchant crusaders of noble birth that served to defend the roads to Palestine during the Third Crusade in 1190. In 1229, the Knights embarked on an extensive campaign in Prussia. They expanded their territories eastwards from Germany and supported their colonization by building fortresses as they moved. Except for some church territories, the Knight's empire stretched from Prussia to Estonia on the Baltic coast, and they transferred their headquarters from Transylvania to Prussia, where they became the armed vanguard of the German eastward expansion. In West Prussia, the knights built various cities and castles, the fortress at Marienburg being the most famous as it was the seat of the Order's grand master. Under the protection of the Order's fortified castles, German farmers colonized the rich lands and developed the soil's potential, while the Slavic tribes were converted to German Roman Catholicism. However, after a number of military defeats against the Polish and Lithuanians in the 1400's, and after the last grand master Albert of Hohenzollern adopted Lutheranism and secularized the order and its territories in 1525, the Order was ousted from Prussia, and they concentrated on their possessions in the Holy Roman Empire.

It's likely that the variation of the Heisel name, along with Heiss, Heise, Heisler, Heyse, and others, was established during this time when the Order retreated from Prussia and resumed life in Southeast Germany within the Holy Roman Empire. It was also later in the 1500's that the Lutheran-based Reformation swept through most of Germany, which converted many of the Heisels to Lutheranism. The variation Heisel, possibly others as well, translates to "little house" in an old dialect of German.

When religious persecutions against Protestants began to take place by the Holy Roman Empire in 1618, initiating the Thirty Years War, the Heisel ancestors (assuming they were Protestant) fled to East Prussia, specifically the region of Masovia of modern-day Poland. They stayed there for about 200 years. The inviting and religiously tolerant policies of Frederick William I (1640-1688) and his descendants made the region a hospitable place to live, farm, and build families.

However, political unrest later occurred in Poland in the form of two major uprisings, one from 1830-31 and another from 1863-64, as people were sick of high taxes, imposts, levies, and other burdens that were imposed upon the land as a result of the Congress of Vienna and Russia taking full control of the Polish kingdom and destroying their constitution. Between these two uprisings, a large Baptist movement began, which started with the efforts of German Baptist missionary Johann G. Oncken, who traveled to East Prussia, which was primarily Lutheran, to share the gospel. After establishing many churches, one of which was in Stolzenberg (modern-day Kaliningrad, Russia), Wilhelm Weist, the pastor of that church, crossed the border into Poland in 1858 with the goal of baptizing many Baptist converts, one of which was the newly converted Gottfried Alf, a school teacher from Mentnowo who came to trust Christ and ask for salvation on his own. After becoming baptized, Oncken ordained Alf, and he began establishing many new missions of the Stolzenberg church within Poland. Alf felt he was the head of a revival movement intended to reach everyone, no matter their religious or ethnic background. This didn't sit well with the Lutherans, and Alf and members of the Baptist movement were often persecuted, beaten, imprisoned, thrown out of towns, and had their Bibles, tracts, money and belongings taken. Despite this, Alf continued preaching and created congregations in Adamowo and Kicin as well as various mission schools. Many other Baptist congregations grew as well, including those at Rumy and Ortelsburg (modern-day Szczytno), which is the area where the Heisels had been living, presumably for the past 200 years. Because of the work of Gottfried Alf, Weist, Oncken, and others, the 4 Heisel brothers (John, Gottlieb, Ludwig, and Fred), and probably others, were converted to Baptists.

Starting in 1862 and continuing through the second Polish uprising to 1865, many of Alf's Baptist converts and congregations began to leave Poland for Russian Volhynia (modern-day Western Ukraine) for a number of reasons. Many hoped for greater religious freedom and to spread the Baptist message as missionaries to the Russian people who were primarily of Russian Orthodox faith. Others wanted to buy cheap unimproved land due to Russian Tsar Alexander's invitation to immigrate to that area. Also, there were many cholera outbreaks in East Prussia around that time which also factored into people leaving. So, for all these reasons, a very large group of East Prussians, the Heisels included, left their centuries old homeland for Russian Ukraine in 1865 in covered wagons. It took seven weeks for them to reach their destination. Despite Volhynia being an untamed and uncultivated wilderness with nearly no roads, Alf's congregations quickly established churches in the towns of Horstschick (Horschyk), Sorotchin (Sorochen), Neudorf (Solodyri), and Toporitsche (Toporysche), all of them within the Zhitomir oblast (county) of Volhynia. The church at Toporysche was called the Church of the Masuren as the particular dialect those members spoke was Polish Masuren (from the region of Masovia). The Heisels lived in this area of Ukraine from 1865 to 1888 and were leading members within the churches at Neudorf and Toporysche. Many church members, including the Heisels, were able to pool their funds and invest in multiple large estates in the area and became land barons. Today, many of the original churches established by Alf's converts are either destroyed, dilapidated, or have been converted to Orthodox churches; however, the church at Neudorf became so large that it became known as the "mother church" and was the start of the modern-day Evangelical Baptist Union of Ukraine.

Then starting in 1887, many of the close-knit families, including the 4 Heisel families, began to emigrate out of the country. It's possible this was done for political reasons as there were yet more shakeups in Prussia with Wilhelm II (German emperor and Prussian king) preparing to take the throne, or they may have just been looking for new mission and/or land opportunities. John Heisel's daughter's family (William and Mary Mattrisch et al) was the first to emigrate to America. Then in 1888, John, Gottlieb, Ludwig, and Fred decided to come to America as well. It's unknown how many branches of the Heisel family decided to stay in Ukraine and Poland.

They all traveled to Hamburg, Germany with their families (not all at the same time) then traveled to New York by ship. They all arrived at Castle Gardens in the battery in New York, which was the primary landing depot before Ellis Island was finished in 1892. From there, they took a train to Chicago, then continued north on the Northwestern line through Milwaukee, Green Bay, then finally stopping at the Coleman train depot. There were a number of reasons they chose that part of the country to settle. First, they were following William and Mary to Pound, who had come nearly a year before they did. Second, there was a similar Prussian culture gathering in Northeast Wisconsin. Thirdly, Wisconsin was selling land so cheap, they were almost giving it away, and at that time, the train line only went as far as Ellis Junction (Crivitz) or possibly Wausaukee; however, Coleman and Pound were slightly more developed, so Coleman was essentially the end of the line where a lot of the land was being sold.

At that time, the primary occupations in town were in either lumber or farming. John's family and Gottlieb settled on the Eastern side of White Potato Lake and worked as farmers. Ludwig and Fred settled closer to Pound where they farmed and had their own businesses, Ludwig as a shoemaker. A couple of them were also influential in the coordination and foundation of the Baptist churches in Pound, first with the Union Church (now First Baptist Church), then later with the First German Church (now Pioneer Baptist Church). Most of the Heisels born outside the United States applied for citizenship in 1895 or later at the Marinette County Courthouse, a couple of them at the Brown County Courthouse.