Henrik Heikel (14 January 1808 – 14 March 1867) was a Finland-Swedish educator and priest.

Henrik Heikel
Portrait of Henrik Heikel, before 1868
Henrik Heikel, before 1868
Born(1808-01-14)14 January 1808
Oulu, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire
Died14 March 1867(1867-03-14) (aged 59)
Occupation(s)Lutheran priest, educator
Notable workLärobok i geometrien
SpouseWilhelmina Johanna Schauman
Children11, including

Life edit

Heikel was born in Oulu, Finland in 1808. He began his studies in 1823, receiving his master of philosophy degree in 1832.[1] Heikel became a lecturer in philosophy and natural history at Åbo Gymnasium, now Åbo Academy, in Turku (Swedish: Åbo) in 1835 and vicar of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in Pedersöre in 1861.[2] Heikel took a great interest in many public affairs and held a position in the Diet of Finland in 1863–1864 and 1867.[3] He donated funds for the establishment of a children's school in Turku. At his own expense he set up a home for the deaf in Pedersöre in 1861, which was later taken over by the state.[4][5] During the last famine in Finland he lent 30,000 marks to peasants. As an educator he published Lärobok i geometrien ('Textbook in Geometry'), containing six books of Euclid's Elements and practical applications (3rd edition 1871).[6]

Heikel married Wilhelmina Johanna Schauman and had eleven children.[7] His children included Viktor Heikel, a gymnastics teacher and educator;[7] Felix Heikel, a bank manager and politician;[8] and Anna Heikel, an educator and head of the school for the deaf founded along with her father.[7] He was also the uncle of philologist and historian Ivar Heikel and grandfather of ethnologist Yngvar Heikel.[9]

Relationship with the Baptists edit

Heikel and his family also have a place in the history of the Baptists in Finland. In 1859, a number of members of the growing Baptist movement faced hearings in front of the Bishop's Chapter at the Turku Cathedral.[10][11] Among the Lutheran clergy present was Heikel, who took an interest in the Baptists' beliefs and spoke to them to learn more, although he did not convert. After moving to Pedersöre in 1860, he and his family maintained a connection with the Baptists in Åland. After Heikel's death in Helsinki in 1867, both his son Viktor (co-founder of the Nya svenska samskolan) and daughter Anna were baptized in Stockholm by the Baptists. After Anna's return, she began to hold meetings and share material on Baptist teachings. The family received a visit from a Baptist pastor who had been at the hearing with Heikel ten years earlier; they held meetings and his preaching led to more conversions to the movement.[12][10]

Heikel's daughter Anna was also director and teacher of the Home for the Deaf, which operated until 1932.[4][13]

Sources edit

  This article contains content from the Owl Edition of Nordisk familjebok, a Swedish encyclopedia published between 1904 and 1926, now in the public domain.

References edit

  1. ^ "923-924 (Nordisk familjebok / 1800-talsutgåvan. 6. Grimsby - Hufvudskatt)". runeberg.org (in Swedish). 1883. Archived from the original on 26 June 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  2. ^ "Banbryterskor". Balder: Opartisk nykterhetstidning för alla (in Swedish). 6 (11). Finlands svenska nykterhetsförbund. 15 March 1906. Archived from the original on 28 June 2021.
  3. ^ Pekonen, Onni (2014). Debating "the ABCs of parliamentary life" : the learning of parliamentary rules and practices in the late nineteenth-century Finnish Diet and the early Eduskunta. Jyväskylä. ISBN 978-951-39-5842-8. OCLC 954246523.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ a b "Till minne av Dövstumskolan i Pedersöre-Jakobstad". svenska.yle.fi (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 28 June 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  5. ^ Jossfolk, Karl-Gustav (2001). Bildning för alla : en pedagogikhistorisk studie kring abnormskolornas tillkomst i Finland och deras pionjärer som medaktörer i bildningsprocessen 1846-1892 (in Swedish). Svenska skolhistoriska föreningen i Finland, (Nord Print). Helsingfors: Svenska skolhistoriska föreningen i Finland. ISBN 952-91-3442-8. OCLC 58384770.
  6. ^ Linnström, Hjalmar. "328 (Svenskt boklexikon. Åren 1830-1865 / Förra delen. A - L)". runeberg.org (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 26 June 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  7. ^ a b c "HEIKEL, Viktor". Biografiskt lexikon för Finland (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  8. ^ "255-256 (Nordisk familjebok / Uggleupplagan. 11. Harrisburg - Hypereides)". runeberg.org (in Swedish). 1909. Archived from the original on 12 July 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Ivar Heikel 1861-1952 i Uppslagsverket Finland". www.nykarlebyvyer.nu (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  10. ^ a b Sundqvist, Alfons (January 1954). "Glimpses of the Baptist Work in Finland" (PDF). The Fraternal. 91. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-08-04.
  11. ^ "Baptisti.fi | Historiaa". Suomen Baptistikirkko verkossa (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 28 June 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  12. ^ "De första baptisterna i Finland" (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 7 March 2016.
  13. ^ "Heikel, Henrik (1808 - 1867)". Kansallisbiografia (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 28 June 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2021.