FOREWORD

Ever since I was a child, my father's family, the Millers, interested me greatly, and I wanted to learn more about them.

I suppose my interest was created by the many stories m.1 father told of his childhood days, that he spent with his mother and nine brothers, whom he loved very much and held in the highest esteem.

He was only three years old when his father passed away, so he remembered very little about him, but honored his memory from what his mother and brothers told him of his father.

This history starts with our grandparents Johann Joseph and Barbara Elisabeth Miller. They had ten sons, no daughters, which always fascinated me. This, and I being the tenth and youngest child, of the tenth and youngest son, probably was another one of the inspiring factors for my research.

I also realized that we knew so little of the family that others, as well as myself, maybe interested to learn more of our ancestors and present relatives.

Although we may never meet in person, I feel that this history will give us a feeling of family closeness. Also to do honor to our ancestors who helped mold our lives.

I began my inquiries in 1949, but made little progress. It was not until 1960 that I really found time to continue my research.

I contacted the relatives that I knew personally, and aroused their interest, so that they started to get their immediate family records for me.

We then decided to hold our first Miller Reunion on June 3, 1962 at the American Legion Hall in Shelby, Texas and we were very pleased with our first attendance of eighty-seven. At this meeting we voted to have the reunion every year on the first Sunday in June at the same place; also elected officers - Hortense Howard, Pres. and Burdine Schulz, Sec.

But our greatest problem still remained - to find out more of the lives of our grandparents, Johann Joseph and Anna Barbara Elizabeth Miller in Germany and the town from which they came.

Not anyone, not even the oldest descendants remembered anything about them, other than after their arrival in America.

My daughter, Ann Mumme, and I had been working together for several years on a number of our other family genealogy and had obtained the services of a professional genealogist in Germany so we decided to go to Europe to further our research, and to search for some clue on the Miller family. On June 10, 1964, Ann and I, accompanied by my husband, Leonard Howard, left for Europe.

We visited this genealogist, and had a lovely visit with him and his wife, but a disappointing one as to the Miller research. He said that the Miller name was so common, that unless we knew the exact town from which they came, it would be impossible to find them.

It was not until several months after our return from Europe, that I found the passenger ship list of our grandparent Miller that gave me my first clue.

I immediately contacted this genealogist, and he was able to get the church record from the Lenterode church of our ancestors as far back as 1745. He also obtained the address of some of our Miller relatives residing in West Germany. I started corresponding with them immediately.

This is my greatest regret that I did not know of them while I was in Europe. I learned through our correspondence that we passed through their town, and we spent the night only about ten miles from their home.

To these relatives: Mrs. Marie Kolken, her mother, Mrs. Bertha Oberthur, and Marie’s aunts, Mrs. Johann Jacob and Mrs. Walburga Dolle, do I wish to express my sincere thanks and gratitude for their information and the pictures of Lenterode.

I also wish to express my appreciation and thanks to each and every one of you for your kind cooperation in supplying me with the needed information of your respective families. Without this I could not have gone on.

If there are any errors or omissions of dates or occupations, it is because I couldn’t obtain them or didn’t receive them in time, as this book was ready for printing when I received so many requests to enter the occupations.

Especially do I wish to mention the untiring help of Mrs. Joy Talbert, Mrs. Joe Fitzgerald, Mrs. Burdine Schulz, and Mrs. Ann Mumme and to Mr. and Mrs. Bennie Mueller for their help, and letting me make my headquarters at their home so often during my research. Also to Mrs. Vivian Huebner and Miss May Olive Miller for drawing the family tree. My thanks and appreciation to all.

I only regret that no pictures were available of Joseph and Barbara Mueller and of two sons, Christian and Frederick. I also regret that clearer pictures of some were not available.

As you will notice, the spelling started as Muller, then Mueller and later Miller. Regardless of how it is spelled, if they appear in this book, they belong to this family.

This booklet has been so arranged that pages of changes may be added as becomes necessary as the years go by.

I sincerely hope that someone in each coming generation will carry on in keeping the Miller history up to date.

For my part, this particular effort has been interesting to compile, while time consuming, as I searched through the records of libraries, State Archives, churches~ even through cemeteries, nevertheless, it gave me great pleasure.

May this information afford knowledge and pleasure to others.

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