Early
Memories of
Author: Heath, May Francis
Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company;
JOHN
DEITRICH HEUER
For more than half a
century a most familiar figure here in the village was one whom everyone
addressed as "Dick"; John Deitrich Heuer; he was born in Germany, Nov. 10, 1864, coming to
America at the age of four years, with his parents, who settled at Kalamazoo
and later lived in Niagara City, N. Y., where Dick was confirmed in the German
Lutheran church at the age of eighteen. He then came to Saugatuck where he
engaged in the fishing business for many years, living on the west side of the
river.
At the age of 25 he was
united in marriage to Anna Ohlheiser and to this
union were born eight children, seven of whom grew to manhood and womanhood,—viz:—Kittie, William, Gertrude,
Edith, Pearl, Joseph and Shelby.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Heuer were original characters in the village activities,
and were more than popular with the summer tourists, and they were given more
than local fame by the brush of F. F. Fursman, whose
portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Heuer have been exhibited
in the Chicago Art galleries. Both lived to more than the allotted "three
score years and ten" as Mr. Heuer lived to be 78
years and Mrs. Heuer to 82, though each had their
share of physical suffering.