Editing Max Heindel (section)

== Early life ==
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Carl Louis von Grasshoff was born in [[Aarhus]], [[Denmark]], into the noble family von Grasshoff, which was connected to the German Court during the lifetime of Prince [[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]]. His father, Francois L. von Grasshoff, migrated to [[Copenhagen]] as a young man and married a Danish woman of noble birth. They had two sons and one daughter. Their older son was Carl Louis von Grasshoff, who would later adopt the pen name of Max Heindel. When he was six years old, his father died, leaving his mother with three small children in difficult circumstances. Max Heindel's infancy was thus lived in genteel poverty. His mother's small income was dedicated to private tutors for her sons and daughter, so that they might eventually take their place in society as members of the noble classes.

Heindel left home at the age of sixteen to learn engineering at the ship-yards of [[Glasgow]], [[Scotland]]. As Chief Engineer of a trading steamer, he traveled extensively, and eventually found himself working on one of the large passenger steamers of the [[Cunard Line]] operating between [[United States|America]] and [[Europe]]. From 1895 to 1901, he was a consulting engineer in [[New York City]]. During this time, he married and had a son and two daughters. His wife died in 1905.