Email From Gary Aden to Gary Aden
Email Dated 6/24/2001

          The Aden name is found throughout Europe and the British
Isles. I have eaten at a dinner house in Zurich called Adenhaus. I have
seen an advertisement for a tourist attraction in Scotland with an Aden
surname in its title. Early in my research, I thumbed through a medievil
name index in the National Library of Germany, Munich and found page
after page,  especially in Westfalia. There is even a commercial venture
seeking to sell an Aden newsletter  here in the United States. Those of
you tired of encountering the daily mispronunciations and misspelling of
our surname by others may find this news reassuring. I was even
contacted by an Ethiopian whose name was Aden. In Europe, the A is
pronounced as an ah. Where it came from remains a mystery. One of my
uncles came away from his research convinced that one of our relatives
adopted the name from somewhere he went when he joined the Crusades
about a millenium ago. I myself have retorted to those confounded by the
name by saying, "It's Aden, as in Gulf of Aden, or the Capitol of
Yemen!". They get this baffled look on their face( most know they should
know what I'm talking about, but were asleep that day in geography
class) and I walk off feeling special! Just think of it this way: Aden
is a Friesian surname deriving its roots from Ostfriesland and the
eastern Friesian islands. According to Hiyo Aden's report(1936), "The
Aden family followed the old country custom of naming the children after
their grandparents, consequenly there were six Heyo's and eight Centie's
in the list of cousins."

          When and if a relative who remained in Germany is identified,
our genealogical quest may unwittingly be the beneficiary of one of
Hitler's  directives. Specifically, the Registrar in Germany was
directed to establish a database to ascertain racial purity by
maintaining three generations of ancestoral records on then-existent
German citizens. Finally, one observer has noted that the aforementioned
towns(except Wildehausen) of East Frisia were linked  by a railroad line
according to an 1882 map from "Place of Origin, Old German Empire" that
runs in an almost circular path; whether the railroad was developed to
that extent during the time when Heye's family was there is unknown.

      IMMIGRATION AND NEW WORLD SETTLEMENT: The following references
have been examined for the purpose of documenting immigration to
America: 

          1. Glazier, Ira A., and Filby, P. William, eds. Germans to
America... 1850-1872. 26 Volumes. About 1,531,000 names. 

         2. Shenk, Trudy, et al The Wuerttember Emigration Index,
1750-1900, 6 Vols. 120,000 names, mostly 1830s-1870s.

         3. Zimmerman, Gary J. and Wolfort, Marion, comps. German
Immigrants:....Bound from Bremen to New York, 1863-1867. 3 Vols. 127,500
names. 

      None of the references listed Heye's sons, John, Eilt or Mimke,
all of whom preceded Heye's immigration. None listed Mimke's wife,
Hiskea^Hixsea Wilts^Wiltz or her parents, __(MNU) Wilts^Wiltz  & Anna
Wilts^Wiltz. Thus, we must rely on Hiyo Aden's report on the Aden
pedigree which is based on their oral accounts and question those where
evident conflicts exist. For example, Hiskea Wilts Aden is reported to
have taken the steamship Elba from Bremen to America in 1871 crossing in
nine days. This is misleading at best. There were only two ships named
the Elba and neither were in commission at this time. What might have
happened is that she and her mother took another ship from a port near
the Elba River, e.g., Hamburg, and crossed in nine days.

      Insofar as Heye and the rest of the family are concerned,
Reference one rewards and enlightens us as follows: