Henrik Heikel (14 January 1808 – 14 March 1867) was a
Finland-Swedish educator
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
and priest.
Life
Heikel was born in
Oulu
Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...
, Finland in 1808. He began his studies in 1823, receiving his
master of philosophy degree in 1832. Heikel became a lecturer in philosophy and natural history at Ã…bo Gymnasium, now
Ã…bo Academy
Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; 16 ...
, in
Turku () in 1835 and vicar of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in
Pedersöre in 1861. Heikel took a great interest in many public affairs and held a position in the
Diet of Finland in 1863–1864 and 1867. 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.
During the
last famine in Finland he lent 30,000 marks to peasants. As an educator he published (Textbook in Geometry''
'), containing six books of
Euclid's ''
Elements
Element or elements may refer to:
Science
* Chemical element, a pure substance of one type of atom
* Heating element, a device that generates heat by electrical resistance
* Orbital elements, parameters required to identify a specific orbit of ...
'' and practical applications (3rd edition 1871).
Heikel married Wilhelmina Johanna Schauman and had eleven children.
His children included
Viktor Heikel, a gymnastics teacher and educator;
Felix Heikel
Karl Felix Heikel (3 June 1844 – 20 May 1921) was a Finland-Swedish banker and politician. He was the son of priest and educator Henrik Heikel, brother of educators and Finnish Baptist pioneers Viktor and Anna Heikel, father of insurance direc ...
, a bank manager and politician; and
Anna Heikel, an educator and head of the school for the deaf founded along with her father.
He was also the uncle of philologist and historian
Ivar Heikel
Ivar August Heikel (16 January 1861 – 8 October 1952) was a Finnish philologist and intellectual historian. He was the nephew of priest and educator Henrik Heikel. He was also the cousin of gymnastics teacher Viktor, educator Anna, banker and ...
and grandfather of ethnologist
Yngvar Heikel
Yngvar Sigurd Heikel (19 April 1889 – 1 September 1956) was a Finland-Swedish ethnologist.
Life and work
Heikel was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1889 to gymnastics teacher Viktor Heikel. Among his family are aunt and uncle Anna and Felix H ...
.
Relationship with the Baptists
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.
[Sundqvist, Alfons (January 1954)]
"Glimpses of the Baptist Work in Finland"
(PDF). ''The Fraternal
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
''. 91. Archived fro
the original
(PDF) on 2019-08-04. 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
Ã…land. 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.
Heikel's daughter Anna was also director and teacher of the Home for the Deaf, which operated until 1932.
Sources
References
{{authority control
1808 births
1867 deaths
People from Oulu
19th-century Finnish Lutheran clergy
Swedish-speaking Finns
Deaf culture in Finland
Educators of the deaf