Heinrich Friedrich Riedesel was born January 11, 1856 in Wunderthausen. He was the youngest of eleven known children of Georg Ludwig and Maria Catherine (Homrghausen) Riedesel who lived in what was known as Seimes or Weißkopfs house.

It is likely that he was the “H Riedesel” who came to New York on October 4, 1881, aboard the ship Salier out of Bremen. The age matches (25), and he was accompanied by a Georg Strackbein (age 24), almost certainly from Kurts house in Wunderthausen. His sisters Florentine and Anna Catherine lived their lives in New Jersey so they may have had little personal contact.

As of 1900 and 1910 he was farming in Woodbury County, Iowa, not far from several Strackbein families. I can find no trace of him in the 1920 Census, but he is in Osage County, Kansas, in 1930. He never married.

Henry died Intestate, and an acquaintance from Burlingame was appointed to sell his possessions and settle debts. Henry owned less than 10 acres of land and a few miscellaneous goods. The probate records suggest that he had moved to Burlingame only in recent years.  After paying outstanding debts, the executor had $32.04 to distribute to five nephews and nieces (who had to be tracked down). Both of his sisters were deceased at the time of his death, or at least by the time his meager estate was settled in December 1933.

Ancestry Report
Find-a-Grave Photo of his gravestone in Burlingame