Fanny and Emil Heineman

Fanny Butzel of Peekskill, New York married Emil Heineman in 1861. Emil, already by then a successful clothier in Detroit, purchased a grand home on Woodward Ave., at Adelaide, which Heineman purchased for $20,000 in 1862. At that time, the city’s wealthiest patrons lived in elegant homes along Woodward Avenue. Fanny and Emil’s home was no exception. Known for its gardens and parlors, Emil also had a recreation room on the third floor where he installed the first billiard table in Michigan, which was used by such notables as Governor Lewis Cass, U.S. Senator Zachariah Chandler, Governor John J. Bagley, and many others.

Fanny Heineman was a woman of great culture. It was her custom to conduct frequent soirees at her home for poets, writers and artists. She served as president for some thirty years of the Detroit Ladies' Society for the Support of Hebrew Widows and Orphans in the State of Michigan, popularly known as "The Frauen Verein." She and Emil were the parents of David E., Solomon E., Flora (Mrs. Charles Thurnauer) and Emelia (Mrs. Benjamin Peritz).

Emil Heineman died in 1896 and his wife in 1911. Both are interred in the Heineman family plot in Beth El's Section of Woodmere Cemetery.

Learn More: Detroit Ladies Society for the Support of Hebrew Widows and Orphans, Civil War, Magnus Butzel


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