[1] He attended the district school in nearby Brecksville where he entertained his fellow students with all manner of performances, giving an early indication of his acting talents.

Although his output was varied, he is largely remembered for the Swedish immigrant trilogy, Ole Olson (1889), Yon Yonson (1890) and Yenuine Yentleman (1895).

[1] A newspaper account told of his field research in the "Little Scandinavia" of northern Wisconsin, where large numbers of Swedes, Norwegians and Danes had settled.

"[5] The author Willa Cather gave a decidedly negative review to Heege's Rush City in the Nebraska State Journal while conceding that Yon Yonson had been a "very good comedy".

After the playwright's death, the American Dramatists' Club passed the following resolution: "That in his demise the stage has been deprived of one of its truest dialectic disciples, an actor of refined quality, a pronounced genius in the depiction of Swedish and Scandinavian character, and a cheerful, charitable spirit.