matthewkmiller on Family Tree Circles
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Category: Miller
A Little Progress on the Millers/M?llers in New York
While I have not tracked them back to Germany yet, I have made progress on my father's father's father's family.
The Bixenman Family History book, by Sister Catherine Seemann had the most information so far found on the M?ller family. It spoke of the M?ller siblings, Charles (my great-grandfather), Gottlieb, Anna, Sophia, and Rika. It said Anna married a man with the last name of Quenzer and they were involved in a dry cleaning business in New York. It said Sophia married a man with the last name of Schmalzl and Rika married a man with the last name of Susenberger.
We have detailed information about the Charles Miller line since he is my great-grandfather.
The book said the siblings were all born in Germany and came to America. It said Charles was born in 1852, came to American in 1872 and lived in New York for a while before moving to Missouri where he met and married Philomena Bixenman. My father said that my grandfather said that my great-grandfather wouldn't talk about his history or family but that he came to America to escape service in the German military. He was afraid that if he talked about it, they'd track him down as a deserter. He said he thought he still had relatives in Germany but didn't know where.
This is all we knew about my great-grandfather's siblings. I have now found a bit more.
I found Gottlieb M?ller in New York. He was born on May 29, 1868 and in about 1896 married a Rebeca (b. Aug 1867 in Germany). Their children (all born in New York) were Katrina (b. May 1897), Bertha Ann (b. Sep 1899) and Harold T. (b. 1905). Gottlieb owned a laundry cleaning business, apparently with his brother-in-law, whose last name was Quenzer. The business was called "Quenzer Bros and M?ller", which later went out of business, and "Quenzer & M?ller" at 1401 Madison Ave, New York was opened. His business partner for the second business was George Quenzer. This was in business from at least 1910 until 1919 for sure. He was not in this business in 1900 and the building that is there now was built in about 1920. A restaurant called "One Fish Two Fish" was at this location recently but is now closed and the building is vacant. They apparently opened a second location at 7th Ave and 168 Lenox Ave. In 1900, he was a brewer with a brewery wagon living at 116 E. 57th Street, New York. In 1910, he was a dry cleaning business owner living at about 1408 Madison Ave, New York. I'm not 100% of the address. His business was definitely at 1401 Madison Ave but the census has an entry four above his that specifies 1408 Madison Ave but nothing next to his or anyone else's name. I found his naturalization index entry which specifies his arrival in the US as into the port of New York in 1893.
Anna M?ller married a man with the last name of Quenzer but I haven't been able to narrow down his first name yet. The Bixenman book specifies that she married a Quenzer that was involved in the dry cleaning business so I'm pretty sure he was Gottlieb's partner but can't be 100% certain about it as he may have been one of the Quenzer brothers who dropped out of the business when it was reestablished as "Quenzer & M?ller".
Sophia M?ller married Joseph Schmalzl. She was born in about 1871, he was born in about 1866. Their children were Otto (b. abt 1895), Catherine (b. abt 1897) and Joseph Jr. (b. abt 1899). I don't know for certain if it was them but there was another entry for a laundry business for "Schmalzl Bros" at 322 Lenox Ave, New York and a "Schmalzl, Jos." at 421 Grand Ave, New York.
I haven't found anything new about Rika M?ller Susenberger yet.
If you have any information on any of these families, I'd be happy to hear from you!
Completed Project
I just republished the Bixenman Family History book, Volume 1. Thank you Paula for sending me good copies of the original book. I've received the first copy of the book and verified it looks good. You can order it here.
This makes two major projects I've finished in the past few months. The next major project is to take the research already completed on my wife's genealogy and put it into a database so we can use it for various future projects. First though, a break from genealogy for a bit to work on things around the house. What? Real life exists? Yes, there is a life outside of genealogy. Time to work on it a bit.
First Family History Blog Entry
I'm not sure if I want to try to keep up on a genealogy blog but thought I'd give it a try. Just my thoughts on what I've been doing lately and challenges I'm having.
My genealogy work load is through the roof right now. Granted, I don't do it for a living and I don't do anyone else's genealogy so it's just what I feel I need to work on for my own family tree. I just have so much in the works that I'm having difficulty keeping up. Here's a list off the top of my head:
1. Second edition of my Panther family history book. I put out the first edition almost exactly one year ago and I've gotten new information that really needs to be in there. The updates are: a) a CORRECT picture of the ship my great-grandfather came to America on. The one in the first edition is, not only wrong, but very wrong. This is the main reason I want the second edition put out. b) An old family photo from the village he was from that no one knew who was in it. My second-cousin sent me a letter she's had in her possession for a while that tells us exactly who it is. c) New information about the history of the ship my great-grandfather's brother came over on. I need to get this put out because the city manager of the village my ancestors are from is ordering 6 copies of the book and I want to be sure they have all the correct information. This is high-priority, like in the next week. The person who gave me information about the ships also appears to have a schedule/ad from the shipping company my great-grandfather use from the approximate timeframe. It actually advertises for the voyage my great-grandfather took to America. The problem is that I've had difficulty getting together with the person who has this. It's just that my work schedule is inflexible at the moment and she's only available during certain times. I can't decide how to arrange my priorities at the moment. I really want to include this schedule/ad but I really need to get the second edition published ASAP.
2. Republishing my father's family history books. Someone put out my father's paternal grandmother's genealogy about 12 years ago but there are no copies available any longer. It's a two-volume set of hardcover books of about 450 pages each. I got my hands on a set about 6 months ago and I scanned them in using a very quick handheld scanner, except I got good scans of the photos. The person that put out the original books stated in the introduction that she is not copywriting the books and anyone can use the information any way they choose, but should just include acknowledgement, so that is not a problem. Besides, I'm just doing an on-demand publication for my immediate family because I truly want a copy of the books for myself and some of my siblings might also. I've got about 300 pages done. I'm having to retype the text and insert the photos. Once I get 100 pages into it, with photos, Word starts responding quite slowly so I'm having to split the books into several sections. I hope to have volume one done this year. The second volume will likely have to wait until next year.
3. My wife's genealogy. The good news is that the research for her family history is complete. We borrowed a copy of one of the books from her brother. I'm working on entering this into a database on my computer. Once this is done, there is a book put out for her grand-uncle when he became a US Senator and her mother was born and grew up in Germany and has an extensive family history on her side. I just need to gather everything into a database so we can work with the information.
4. Original research. Recently found two new sets of great-great-grandparents. I'm hot on the trail to jump the pond to track their families back to Ireland. One of my great-grandmothers has always been a mystery. I MAY have figured out where she was born. I'm just waiting to hear back from their local genealogy society from the query I sent them a few weeks ago.
1940 Census
Looking through the 1940 Census. Found my father and most of my aunts and uncles that married into my mom's family. Found my dad (John A. Miller) and my uncle (Aloysius Dohman), both 10 years old, living about 8 blocks from each other. I knew they were good friends but didn't know for how long. Appears they were likely friends their whole lives.
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