Report of Vice-Consul R. E. Heide on the Resources, Trade and Commerce of North Carolina (1875)

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Overview

An 1875 report on the population, geography, industry, and natural resources of North Carolina, with particular attention to shipping, navigation, and the production of naval stores.

Rudolph E. Heide

Rudolph E. Heide was born in 1846 in Maribo, Denmark. After emigrating to the United States, he served as a private in the Confederate army during the Civil War. After the war he opened a business in Fayetteville as a baker and confectioner, then moved to Wilmington in 1869, where he expanded his business to sell groceries and fresh fruit. In 1870 he was appointed Vice-Consul for Denmark, Sweden, and Norway for the port of Wilmington. This report was part of his official duties in that position, in which he served until his death in 1895.

In 1876, likely aided by the contacts he made as Vice-Consul, Heide went into business with his brother, Alexander, as merchants and ship brokers. Heide’s son Henry joined them in the business in 1880.

Heide and his wife, Catherine, had six children. Rudolph Heide died in 1895 in Wilmington and was succeeded in his position as Vice-Consul by his brother.