Born in Angelbachtal, Baden-Wurttemberg in present-day Germany, Friedrich Franz Karl Hecker studied law at the University of Heidelberg and became one of the leaders who championed democratic reforms in the 1848 uprisings in Germany. Like many other forty-eighters, he eventually immigrated to the United States and settled on a farm near Summerfield in the fall of 1848. A strong abolitionist, he helped found and organize the Illinois Republican Party in 1856. During the Civil War, he commanded the 24th and 82nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry regiments. He died on March 24, 1881, and was buried in the Summerfield Cemetery.