Charles F. Heimke

Charles F. Heimke, chief engineer of the power plant of the Buffalo & Niagara Falls Electric railway, is a native of Mt. Clemens, Mich., and a son of William and Justine (Brendenburg) Heimke, who still reside at Mt. Clemens; the father is a farmer. There were four children in the family, the only one now living besides the subject of this sketch being William A., a farmer, who also makes his home at Mr. Clemens.

Charles F. Heimke resided at Mt. Clemens until nineteen years of age. At the age of eighteen he began life on the lakes as seaman on the towbarge Seminole, and succeeding that employment was deckhand on the steambarge Canisteo, on which he remained three seasons, the last two as fireman. He next served as fireman of the steamer F. R. Buell one season, then as oiler one season on the steamer J. H. Wade. During 1892 he was first assistant of the steamers P. J. Ralph and Mark Hopkins, and in 1893-94 of the steamer J. H. Wade. The season of 1895 he was ashore, engaged in business in Cleveland, and during the season of 1896 he was first assistant engineer of the side-wheel passenger steamer City of Toledo, on the route between Toledo and Port Huron. That steamer was built for the route between Toledo and Put-in-Bay, and ran there several seasons as the successor of the old Chief Justice Waite, but during the World's Fair in Chicago was under charter and ran out of that city. She was later purchased by Parker & Millan, of Detroit, for the route above mentioned. On November 15, 1896, Mr. Heimke was appointed assistant engineer of the power plant of the Buffalo & Niagara Falls Electric railway, and on March 20, 1897, was promoted to the position of chief engineer, which he still retains. He is a member of the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association No. 2, of Cleveland, Ohio.

Mr. Heimke was married, at Lockport, N. Y., August 29, 1895, to Miss Matilda Swenson, and they reside at Tonawanda, that state.

Return to Home Port

Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.