52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 27
Prompt – Independent
My great grandfather was born in South
Russia on April 18, 1835 and his name was David Peters. On January
5, 1859 he married Katherina Mueller also born in South Russia on
February 13, 1836. It is her family name of Mueller / Miller which I
want to focus on in this blog. This is not my research but research
done by Jake Buhler, a president of The Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan and published in The Saskatchewan Mennonite
Historian in October of 2010. He traces eight generations of
Mueller's from 1665 to 1916. As a descendant of this family, I find his history of this family fascinating. It is about religion, persecution, death,
daring escapes and travel to new countries. Ultimately all to gain
independence to practice their religion whatever that looked like. .
The first couple of generations of the
Mueller's is traced back to 16th century Austria. It was
a time of Martin Luther reformation. Austria was predominantly
Catholic and their empire was ruthless with any dissenters from the
Catholic faith. During this period in 1665, Michael Mueller (FIRST
GENERATION) was born. He married a Maria Unknown Unmarried name
and they had one son – Peter Mueller (SECOND GENERATION).
He was born on 25 Sep 1694 in Unteramlach, Spittal, Austria.(In
today's map this is 163 Kilometres south of Salzburg, Austria.) He
married a Dorothea Santner. As Jake Buhler said they likely lived
their life as devout Catholics. They had one son that we know of
named Peter Mueller (THIRD GENERATION) who was born in
Unteramlach, Austria on November 20, 1721 As mentioned before at that time Austria was
Catholic. He was born a Catholic and therefore likely baptized as a
infant. This Peter was likely a day laborer. In his 30's Peter fell
into a group of dissidents who were not happy with the Catholic
church and protested. In 1755 the protests got them exiled to
Transylvania, Romania where they lived with the Lutherans. Still
dissatisfied with the religion he found several small groups of
people who followed Jacob Hutter and were ultimately Hutterites.
Peter and 58 other Catholic individuals joined him and 1762 was
re-baptized as a Hutterite in Alwinz. The next year he married
Elizabeth Innerwinkler and they had 3 children.
On October 3, 1767, under persecution
again Peter and Elizabeth along with 78 other Hutterites fled in the
night to Prisiceni, Wallachia, near Bucharest where they joined other
Hutterites.
Jake Buhler explains what happened
next.
"But on November 27, 1769, mercenaries destroyed the colony and tortured five Hutterites, including Peter Miller, using hot
irons. Peter died a painful death. Five months later
his wife Elizabeth Innerwinkler and their three children
joined 66 other Hutterites in their escape to
Wischenka, Russia."
They established a Hutterite colony in
Wischenka Russia. Peter (FOURTH GENERATION) grew up in this colony, was baptized at 14
and for ten years was chief tailor in the colony. At 22 in 1791 he
married Susanna Stahl. They had 7 children. In 1802 the Wischenka Hutterite colony broke
up and the family went to nearby Radichev and established another
colony. Peter and Susann Mueller lived out their life here and
died in their early 40's leaving behind their young family.
The FIFTH GENERATION Mueller was
Andreas Mueller and was born July 9, 1798. He was only 10 when his
mother died and his father died three years later. It is unknown who
raised this family. In 1818 the blacksmith caught fire and destroyed
the whole colony. The land was sold and the monies was distributed
among the 25 families. In 1820 at the age of 22, Andreas, his
brother, and few others moved 350 miles south to Chortitza and joined
the Mennonite colony. Three years later he married Katharina Lehn
and they had 3 children of which only Isaac survived childhood.
SIXTH GENERATION Mueller was Isaac Mueller and was born June 19, 1824 He was 4 when his mother died
and 12 when his father died. At the age of 19 he married Gertruda
Wall. As is common in Mennonite Colonies Isaac lived in her village
called Neuhorst. At age 26 Isaac purchased a windmill to grind grain
and became a miller by trade. Isaac and Gertruda had 11 children. It
was during their lifetime that the Russians were rescinding the Mennonites
freedoms promised by Catherine The Great and in particular the ability to abstain from military service. The very
poor Chortitza Mennonite Colony had hoped they could arrange and alternative to
conscription to military service. This did not work out. In 1875
Isaac Mueller organized a group of 198 to move to Manitoba. Jacob
Buhler explains the trip as follows:
"Their first stop was in Hamburg where 268 Bergthal Mennonites joined
Isaac’s group. They landed in Quebec City on July 20,
1875 on the SS Quebec. Isaac took them by train to
Collingwood, Ontario, by steamer to Duluth,
Minnesota, by train to Moorhead, Minnesota, and finally by
riverboat to Fort Dufferin, Manitoba."
Upon arrival the land promised along
the US Border had not been resolved and they waited in barracks. Isaac Mueller was elected Obervorsteher (literally a head master but more like a mayor or superintendent of the colony. And it was
his job to take care of all civic duties and he set about organizing
the villages, building church and school, assisting in getting loans
and set up a local self - governing system. All of this was done by late
1875 despite not having formal approval of homesteads from Canada. He
worked as counsel for 12 years as the go between of government and
the colony. He was nick named “Kaiser” by non – Mennonites. By
1886 he stepped down having served the colony during the ups and
downs of establishing the colony within The Dominion of Canada. In
1912 Isaac Mueller died in obscurity.
Several of Kaiser Mueller's sons moved
to Hague – Osler Reserve. Among them was Peter Mueller (SEVENTH GENERATION) who was
born in Russia in 1860, immigrated with his parents in 1875, and in
1878 was baptized and a few months later was married to Maria
Doerkson. In 1900 he took out a homestead of a 1/4 section that
borders Osler. He almost lost this homestead because it was too rocky
to clear, but he sent letters to the government who eventually relented. On this
land he built a 60 foot barn and fenced in the slough and pasture
area to raise horses and cattle to sell to the new immigrants. He
also owned a small Massey Harris dealership in Osler. By 1910 he sold
his homestead.
Maria and Peter had 12 children. Their
son Isaac (EIGHTH GENERATION) was born in 1879 in Manitoba and married Maria Vogt. Isaac
and Maria moved to Saskatchewan in 1903 and settled in Warman 3 years
later. Isaac like his father had a flare for commerce. According to Jake Buhler Isaac set up;
"Miller, Friesen and Co., General
Merchants. By 1908 he was selling real estate and
insurance, and offering loans. In 1908 he was on the first
Warman school board, and sat on the Warman Board of
Trade. He also managed the Saskatchewan Trading
Company, which sold farm equipment."
Isaak Mueller was excommunicated from
the Old Colony Mennonite Church after some unspecified trouble.
Maria and Isaac moved to British
Columbia in 1910. In 1916 Isaac was tragically killed by of all
things a falling tree!
Muellers (Millers) started out as loyal Catholics and by the 3rd generation had gone from disgruntled Catholic to a Martyred Hutterite. The 4th generation of Muellers remained Hutterites but due to persecution kept on the move seeking their own independence and religious freedom. The 5th generation Muellers became Mennonites. 6th generation Muellers became a leader of the newly immigrated Mennonites in Manitoba. The 7th and 8th generation Muellers were entrepreneurs possibly leading to their excommunication from the Mennonite Church.
Wendy
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