Heitman,Heitmann,Heightman,Britain,Germany,North America

I have traced my ancestors back to two villages in Lower Saxony, Germany, called Nartum and Gyhum. These two villages are midway between Bremen and Hamburg. My earliest known ancestor was Johann Hinrich Heitmann. He was born in Nartum on 13th April 1794. His family later moved a few miles away to Gyhum. I haved visited Gyhum and have spoken to direct descendants there, who told me there are relatives in the USA. My ancestors moved to London in the 1850's. There were two brothers; Freiderich Heitmann and Peter Heitmann (I believe there was another brother who went back to Germany). They worked in the sugar industry in East London, and also became licensed victuallers, living in the East End, mainly Cable Street,Cannon Street Road and Christian Street, in the Whitechapel and Stepney areas.

Please note there are several different spellings of the surname - Heitman, Heitmann Heightman,Heidemann as I have cousins in Great Britain who all spell their name with these variations for different historical reasons.

I would like any information of any family connections in Germany, United States of America, Canada and Australia. Please e-mail me with any information you may have.