Miller Archives

The Millers of Lusk visit Whitney - ca. 1944

2012-02-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

Mildred and Alex Miller and family -- Jeanette, Connie and Bruce -- in about 1944.

Every now and then we come across a photograph that effectively captures the activities of our Miller ancestors. Sometimes it's just a standard pose, and occasionally it's a creative bit of 20th century photo journalism at work!

This photograph shows the Alex Miller family while visiting Alex's parents, Pete and Dora Miller, in Whitney -- probably around 1944 or 1945. A frequent backdrop is shown -- the Whitney elevator building that was adjacent to the Chicago & Northwestern Railway tracks. At left you can see the wooden bench that sat outside the house, which was actually owned by the Whitney Irrigation District. For many years, Grandpa Pete Miller was the "ditch rider," keeping tabs on irrigation gates that regulated water flowing from Whitney Lake.

Although Alex and family had lived in Crawford, it was in Lusk, Wyoming, that they finally chose to settle, building and living in a basement home for many years before adding on an upstairs.

We understand that dwelling in Lusk is still in the family, occupied by a grandson of Alex and Mildred Miller.

A new glimpse of grandpa Pete Miller

2011-07-14T23:09:00.004-07:00

Sharing photographs has long been a joy of ours, and rummaging through a large number of photos shared by cousin Dori Derrick Savage during the recent Miller Family Reunion has been particularly enjoyable.

That's when we happened upon the photograph here of grandpa Pete Miller, taken in 1955 in Whitney, Nebraska. He was 69 years old and appeared to be healthier and more robust than he would be during the subsequent two years. Despite medical treatments in Omaha and Denver, he would not survive the cancer that afflicted him. He died June 2, 1957 at the age of 71.

While there were several other people included in the original photograph shown here, we were so taken by grandpa Pete's smile and laid back manner, we thought we'd focus just on him. We'll include the original photograph -- along with several other new ones -- in the Miller Gallery in coming days.

By the way, this picture was taken in front of the small stucco house that sits on Missouri Street, just across the street west from where Connell Oil Company did business in Whitney for so many years. It was the final residence for Pete and Dora Miller, the German-Russian immigrants who sought...and found....a new life in the United States.

54 Miller family members gather for reunion

2011-06-29T21:39:00.014-07:00

It's been about as wet a June as old timers in Nebraska can remember. And Miller family members got a good sampling of all that rain last weekend when we gathered in Chadron for a family reunion -- the first in 23 years. But Mother Nature did give us a respite on Saturday (6/26/11) for the picnic at Wilson Park in Chadron; it warmed up nicely and we enjoyed sunshine for the entire afternoon.

And while the weather was a topic of considerable conversation, it was really memories of years-gone-by that dominated the conversations among cousins from Washington, Texas, California, South Dakota, Kentucky, Wyoming, Colorado, and Oklahoma. Ironically, none of the participants was from Nebraska, which provided the nostalgic setting for the reunion.

Some of the Wyoming and South Dakota Millers were able to drive in and then return home that same day; others arrived as early as Wednesday (6/23/11) to camp and enjoy the beautiful surroundings of Chadron State Park. There were young and old (gulp) alike, and as nearly as we could determine, everyone had a great time getting reacquainted -- and, yes, even acquainted -- with Miller relatives.

The main event was the picnic at Wilson park, the same location that many of our parents and cousins gathered back in 1988. Of all those aunts and uncles, only aunt Charlotte Miller of Metaline Falls, Washington remains, and she was unable to make the trip to Chadron for this reunion.

All five children of Alex and Mildred Miller attended the 2011 Miller Reunion in Chadron.
They were among these 10 grandchildren of Pete and Dora Miller who came to the reunion from eight states. Shown (L-to-R) are: Linetha Miller Davis, Larry Miller, Judy Bird Callaway, Pete Miller, Mike Miller, Charlene Miller, Bruce Miller, Jeanette Miller Gleed, Jerry Miller,
and Connie Miller Merchen.

In all, some 54 descendants/family members of Pete and Dora Miller showed up for the gathering. They included children or grandchildren of these Miller aunts/uncles: Marie, Alex, Fannie, John, Bertha, Fred, and Albert. Nearly all of the group showed up for a group photo, which you'll find in this 2011 Miller Reunion gallery.

Judy Newman Miller of Metaline Falls put together color-coded name tags that helped folks identify each other, and Brad Miller of Wheat Ridge, Colorado, brought a box full of reunion T-shirts, complete with a QR code that some of the younger generation might be able to put to use (or even some of us geezers with smart phones.) That QR code links to this web site.

Country Kitchen of Chadron catered the event with a nice spread of roast beef and chicken, along with potato salad, cole slaw, and rolls. Kids had fun playing soccer and badmitton, while the older folks visited.

There were lots of pictures taken, too, and we attempted to get shots of each family group, as well as a composite photograph of everyone. We missed a few, but there were also lots of candid shots taken throughout the afternoon. We'll be posting many of those images in our new 2011 Miller Reunion gallery, and we'd like to include any photos that you'd like to share. Just drop us an E-mail.

About a dozen Miller cousins gathered at Warring Memorial Church on Sunday morning for the 9:00 o'clock service. That's the same church that was so much a part of Grandma Dora Miller's life. It's a beautiful little church, but struggling to keep alive and vibrant. We Millers nearly outnumbered the regular congregation. Especially delightful was the social gathering in the church basement after the service. It was a time when older cousins could visit with local folks -- like Mary Daniels -- who well remember Pete and Dora Miller and their children. The pastries the church ladies provided were very tasty, surpassed only by the wonderful conversations that took place between Miller family members and Whitney citizens.

A few cousins wandered around Whitney, trying to recapture memories of the village in happier times -- when the Millers lived here, and there was a vibrant sense of community. There once was a high school, pharmacy, bank, lumberyard, movie theatre, filling stations, grocery store, newspaper, and a hotel. You'll find more about Whitney in a companion web site named Whitney Reflections. A community band once provided entertainment for area residents, and Whitney Lake was a hub for recreational activities. Now, almost all of that is gone, and the lingering water tower casts a long shadow over a community that is struggling to survive. The school closed its doors last month after 125 years in Whitney, and although it's already been explored, we believe that the lonely bank vault on a downtown corner contains the secrets and memories that many of us want to recapture -- but never will.

The enormous rainfall in Nebraska has pushed the weeds and cactus out of control, so it was a bit tricky navigating around the Whitney Cemetery after we left the church. But we found the stones for Dora and Pete Miller and other family members buried in the cemetery about a mile north of Whitney alongside Nebraska Highway Spur 23A.

Charlene Miller of Lusk, Wyoming, created a beautiful wreath that was placed on Pete and Dora Miller's tombstone by Paul Miller and Karen Galey Miller.

Most of the group journeyed westward to have lunch at Fort Robinson State Park, another locale that undoubtedly was frequented over the years by Pete and Dora and many of their 11 children.

It's a "fer piece" from Alaska to the Lower 48!

2011-06-28T13:34:00.005-07:00

Since the Miller Family Reunion took place last weekend in Chadron and Whitney, we've had a chance to visit with a few folks who attended -- and others who weren't able to be with us.

Then a few days ago, we received a note from cousin Debra Derrick Marsh in Anchorage, Alaska, who said she missed being able to attend the reunion and acknowledged that the "the distance between us and the States sadly makes it difficult to be a part of family events."

Thanks to Deb Marsh of Anchorage for sharing this family photo. In the back row (l-to-r) are:
Jack Marsh, Lindsay Marsh and Riley Marsh; in front of them are Whitney Gobbi, Debra
Derrick Marsh, and Madeline Duran; in front of them are Jack Duran, Piper Gobbi, Nicole Duran, and Aidan Duran; in front are Justen & Ryan Gobbi, baby Zoe Duran, & John Duran.

Deb's parents, Dick and Kathy Derrick, lived in Alaska for many years before returning to the states. Deb and her family remain in Alaska, as does her brother Rik. Sister Dori and family -- from Rapid City -- were able to participate in the reunion. Perhaps next gathering, we'll have them all!

Deb was also kind enough to send along information about Rik, who returned to Alaska in 2004 after living in Colorado area for several years. She says he's "loving every minute of it!" Working as a night manager for a local Safeway store allows him to enjoy his days in the outdoors -- especially hiking and rock climbing.

Rik's in the process of writing short stories, detailing his many climbing and guiding adventures. He is the dad of Kirsten and Christopher, who live in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

During the reunion, we were tickled pink that so many cousins came from so far away to join us -- but there were others just simply unable to make the trip. So Deb's sharing of photographs of her family is extra special.

Perhaps it will spur other cousins who were unable to attend to share recent family photographs with us. We'll be more than happy to include them on the Miller Archives web site.

Not only our Alaska cousins, but more from Washington, California, and Texas couldn't make it. Some of them have new grandchildren, spouses, etc., and it would be fun to catch up with them and their activities!

So let us hear from you. E-mail your photos and information to galeymedia@gmail.com. Thanks!

Three sisters...three sad stories

2011-06-24T10:12:00.001-07:00

Over these past many weeks, we’ve been trying to provide a thumbnail sketch of the Miller family. That effort has come in the form of a series of short narratives – accompanied by a few pictures – of each child of Peter and Dora Miller, our German-Russian ancestors who came to the new world in search of a better life.

By all accounts, they found it, although it was not always a bed of roses.

The Miller children (L-R): Marie, Caroline,
Alex and Hank. (1916 - Chicago, Illinois)

And this final installment is a composite summary of three Miller children we’ve not yet discussed at any length: Caroline, Fannie, and Evalyn. In fact, we have very little information about them, but will share here a bit of what we know.

First, an acknowledgement of Pete and Dora’s second daughter, Caroline.

Of the 11 Miller children, the least is known about this little girl – the fourth child – born when the family lived in Chicago. Caroline was not yet five when the family moved to a farm just outside of Watertown, South Dakota. Two of her younger sisters were born in South Dakota: Fannie in April of 1919, and Bertha in April 1921.

In about 1922, the family moved from Watertown to Bayard, Nebraska. Caroline died just a couple of weeks before Christmas, on December 12, 1922, and we believe the family was already living in Scotts Bluff County by that time. Unfortunately, we have no documents that confirm this, but we’re hopeful of learning more about her untimely death in the days to come.

The picture above is the only known photograph of Caroline.

Fannie at about age 8, holding little sister Pauline.

Fannie Miller was born April 22, 1919 at Watertown, South Dakota. She started school near Bayard, Nebraska, and would have continued her schooling in Whitney after Pete and Dora moved there in 1927. As we’ve sifted through the many class pictures in our photo gallery for Whitney School, we’ve not yet been able to find a photo that identifies Fannie – nor have we identified her in any of the unlabeled school photos.

Nonetheless, we are optimistic that we’ll yet find a photo of Fannie in a class picture, perhaps in one we’ve yet to obtain. We added several to our collection as a result of the June 2011 Whitney School Open House, and we hope to further expand our collection in the coming months.

Fannie was nearly 10 years younger than sister, Marie, and she surely looked up to her older sister over the years of her short life. As Fannie grew into her teenage years, she was – like her brothers and sisters – somewhat confined to the “small town” environment of Whitney. But that would not stop Fannie – and the others – from frequent trips to nearby Crawford or Chadron, where there were more stores, more people, and more activities that would be inviting to young people.

Fannie and Lettie

By all accounts, Fannie was a bright and vibrant young lady. She made friends fast, and became good friends with Lettie Maiden, who would one day marry her brother, John, and become her sister-in-law.

In January of 1936, when she was 17 years old, Fannie gave birth to a baby boy, Jan Richard, in Milford, Nebraska. Tragically, while Jan was still an infant, Fannie was involved in a serious automobile accident that left her paralyzed.

While a passenger in a car on U.S. 20 headed from Crawford to Whitney, the vehicle went out of control on a curve and crashed into a ditch. Fannie’s neck was fractured in three places. Initially treated in the Bootjer hospital in Crawford, she was transferred to Sister’s Hospital in Hot Springs, South Dakota a few days later.

Bedridden, Fannie was soon beset with many complications. Despite considerable medical attention to a broken vertebrae, Fannie succumbed to those complications and went to an early death in March of 1939. She was just a few weeks from her 20^th birthday.

Jan was raised by his grandparents Pete and Dora Miller. Two of his aunts, Evalyn and Pauline, were just six and nine years older than Jan, so he was very much like a younger brother to all of Pete and Dora’s kids. In fact, we recall Jan frequently calling grandma Dora, “mom.” Our story about cousin Jan is recounted in an earlier narrative.

Evalyn Miller - undated

And finally, a brief recounting about the youngest child of Pete and Dora Miller – Evalyn Ruth.

Born in Whitney on June 8, 1930, most of Evalyn’s siblings were already teenagers. Her oldest sister, Marie, was 20 years and was married within just a few months of Evalyn’s birth.

As was the case with her sister, Fannie, we’ve been unable to locate a school photo that identifies Evalyn. Part of that problem can be attributed to a short education. Evalyn dropped out of school – probably around the 8^th grade.

For a time in her teen years, she stayed with her brother John and family in Chadron, where she also took in ironing and probably had a job or two around Chadron.

We know virtually nothing else about Evalyn during this time period.

But by early 1951, she had met a young Airman stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City. His name was John Snyder, who was originally from Minnesota. They were married on August 26^th in Rapid City, South Dakota. Both were 21 years old and – according to their marriage registration – both had been divorced.

When “Johnny” Snyder’s military service ended with a disability of some sort, the couple settled in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Twin daughters were born to Evalyn and Johnny in the 1950’s. Marlene and Darlene Snyder were among the few twins we know of born in to the Miller family.

The Snyder twins - Marlene and Darlene

Johnny’s disability prevented him from ever really working full time, and the trail of the Snyders through the rest of the 1950’s and 1960’s is largely unknown. His health deteriorated and Johnny Snyder died in February 1969 before his daughters were fully grown.

Evalyn later married a man named Ivan Wilson. By most accounts, it was not a happy marriage. Ivan and Evalyn lived in Arizona, where Evalyn died on February 8, 1984 at Camp Verde. She was just 53 years old.

Virtually nothing is known about Evalyn’s daughters, Marlene and Darlene. Some of the Miller family in Texas recall Marlene living in the Houston area for a while – married and with two children. That was many years ago, and we’ve been unable to locate them regarding the Miller Family Reunion, which is now just days away.

A reminder that the Miller Gallery contains a wide variety of historical and contemporary photographs of Pete and Dora Miller – and many of their children and later generations.

As you happen across any errors of fact in the photo captions – or in the narratives contained in Miller Archives – we hope you’ll e-mail us corrections and additional information. And, of course, we’d welcome any interesting photographs that you’d like to share with us.

We anticipate that we’ll have a barrage of new photos to post following the 2011 Miller reunion in Nebraska, so come back and visit this site in coming days. You may find someone you know!

Remembering Fred Miller...

2011-06-23T08:46:00.000-07:00

Fred Miller was born near Bayard, Nebraska on June 29, 1923, the eighth child of Peter and Dora Miller. With three older brothers aged 6, 10 and 12, there’s little doubt that young Fred quickly learned to be self-reliant. Hand-me-down clothes were a way of life, and there surely were times when Fred had to defer to his older brothers.

But when it came to meal time, Fred recalled that no one in the family ever went hungry.

“We didn’t eat like kings. We usually had pancakes for breakfast and some kind of cereal. We had meat twice a week – maybe three times a week. We had eggs….we always had milk. We didn’t want for anything. Maybe clothes sometimes.”

Most of Fred’s memories of growing up center around the Whitney area, to where the family moved in about 1927.

None of the Pete and Dora Miller family completed high school. Fred went through the eighth grade before dropping out to help with chores, including the grueling task of thinning sugar beets – a task almost universally disliked by the people who had to do it.

But when the kids were of school age, getting them clothed and ready to go was a chore. Fred remembers that each fall the family would place a catalogue order with Montgomery Ward or Sears – sometimes both. Since neither Pete nor Dora could write in English, so it was usually older sister Marie’s job to complete the order form and send it off to the store. A large shipment would usually arrive just about the time school started each year.

Of course, having clothes was no guarantee that the kids would show up at school. Hiding in the lumber at the Whitney lumberyard was sometimes a favorite alternative to sitting in a desk at school for Fred and his buddies. When the family lived outside of Whitney, the kids would have to carry their lunches to schoolhouses in the country. Potatoes were a favorite fare.

Marjorie Vogt, a first grade teacher, would have one of the boys put more coal in the stove, placing the potato in the ash pan to bake the potato. After about an hour, they’d wipe off the ashes, wash the potato with some water, and then enjoy a baked or mashed potato.

Grandpa “Pete” Miller subscribed for many years to a German language newspaper, the Detroit Free Press. When the newspaper discontinued its German language edition, he bought a German Bible.

“It was huge,” Fred said, “and he would read that Bible every night.”

Fred remembered that when the Miller children were small, the family did not often attend church. Without knowing what day it was, he’d sometimes find himself at the Stone family house up near the school.

Charlotte Flock marred Fred Miller in 1942.

“They’d be getting ready to go to church, so Dolly Stone would ask, ‘You want to go to church with Bill?' I’d say sure, so I’d go to church with them.”

Responding to the suggestion that Pete Miller was strong willed and stern -- and that Dora Miller was far more reserved and quiet, Fred Miller laughed and responded, “Oh, no. I’d much rather have taken a beating from dad than mom!”

Charlotte Flock was born in the small eastern Nebraska community of Loretto. Her family also lived in Bartlett and Spaulding before moving to Chadron, where she met Fred Miller in 1941.

Early in their courtship, Fred and Charlotte – like all Americans – were rocked by the news on December 7, 1941 that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The United States went to war.

Fred and Charlotte were married in Chadron on June 2, 1942. Among other places, they lived in Chadron for a time, and Fred remembers working at the old Chadron Bakery that was then located on West Second Street. Fred and Charlotte lived upstairs, where the rising heat from the bakery ovens kept their apartment toasty warm. Fuel oil – like many other items – was hard to come by in those war years.

In April of 1943, as the United States continued its buildup of forces, Fred Miller – like hundreds of thousands of other young men – found himself entering service. He was sworn in to the Army Air Corps at Fort Logan, just outside Denver, Colorado, on April 8, 1943.

Just a few months later, on July 24, Fred and Charlotte’s first child, Jean, was born in Chadron.

In addition to Fort Logan, Fred was assigned to military installations at Kearns, Utah; Indianapolis, Indiana; Fresno and Glendale, California; Ephrata and Moses Lake, Washington; and March Field, California, where he was discharged on Armistice Day 1945.

Returning to Dawes County at war’s end, Fred and his growing family lived in Chadron, and he took a job at the Chadron bakery until there was a “blowup.” Fred decided to move to Washington, where Charlotte’s sister and family lived. He would pick apples, which he did for about a month, and then a job opened up in Metaline Falls. While daughter Jean was born in Nebraska, Fred and Charlotte's other children were all born in Washington. Pete was born in Wenatchee in 1945; Wayne in Ione in 1948; and Charlie Bob in Ione in 1950.

While Fred held a variety of jobs over the years – including working in the apple orchards in the region – most of his working career was spent at the cement plant in Metaline Falls. He began on May 5, 1949 and remained until there more than 36 years, retiring on June 29, 1985.

In retirement, Fred enjoyed camping and spending time with his kids and grandchildren, most of whom lived fairly close. He enjoyed fairly good health right up until his death on December 29, 2005 following a heart attack.

Charlotte Miller continues to live in their home overlooking the beautiful Pend Oreille River in Metaline Falls, Washington, where she and Fred raised their family.

Their children help Fred and Charlotte Miller celebrate their 60th anniversary in 2002.
L-R: Pete Miller, Charlie Miller, Jean (Miller) Roark, Fred & Charlotte, and Wayne Miller.

Daughter Jean married David Roark, and they live in Spokane, where they owned and operated a grocery store until their retirement several years ago. Their children included Kevin, Kerry and Robert. The store is still in the family, operated mainly by two of their sons. David works 2 days a week and fills in when needed and Jean still keeps the books.

Son Pete married Judy Newman and they remained in Metaline Falls, where Pete also worked for the cement plant for many years. When the plant closed, he took a job at the nearby power dam operated by the county. Pete and Judy have two children, Paul and Rhonda.

Second son Wayne Miller enlisted in the Air Force, and his tour of duty took him to a variety of places, including an overseas assignment in Germany for 7 years. He married Christina Schutte, and they have two children, Christopher and Charlotte. After he retired from the military, Wayne and his family returned to the eastern Washington area, and he works for the U.S. Post Office in Colville, WA.

The youngest in Fred and Charlotte’s family is Charles Robert (Charlie Bob), who also worked at the cement plant in Metaline Falls for many years. He married Linda Wallace, and they have two children, Chad Donald and Amie Lavone. Linda passed away in July of 2010. Charlie lives in Ione.

Remembering John Miller...

2011-06-22T10:55:00.005-07:00

John Miller at Whitney School
in the early 1930's.

John Miller was the fifth of eleven children born to Pete and Dora Miller, and the last one born while the family was still living in Chicago. He came into this world on June 27, 1917. When he was about a year old – sometime in 1918 – the family moved to Watertown, South Dakota. After about four years, they moved to Scottsbluff County in Nebraska, near Pete’s older sister, Eva Behm, and her family.

It was in the “valley” area of the Nebraska panhandle that John began school, and he shows up on the attendance rolls at the Spring Creek School in Scotts Bluff County. He probably attended school for three or four years – before Pete and Dora made their final move, which took them northward to the Whitney area of Dawes County. John continued school for a few years and even was awarded a perfect attendance certificate by his 6^th Grade teacher, Eva Cunningham. But within the next couple of years, John would drop out of school to help with family chores and work in farm fields around Whitney.

The Whitney years were the “growing up years” for John Miller. In later life, he would recount a variety of incidents that reflected the active life of a Depression-era teenager. From sneaking in to the Whitney movie theatre after hours to thread the projector and watch films – to tossing a goat into a local restaurant, there was no shortage of pranks.

Lettie Maiden and John Miller were
married in January of 1938.

Although there’s no certainty as to when they met, John Miller and Lettie Maiden probably got acquainted at one of the dances held on the Maiden place northeast of Chadron in the mid-1930’s. John’s older sister, Marie, was married to Bill Derrick, a cousin to Lettie. They shared a common grandmother, Dora Derrick Maiden, who lived on the Maiden homestead.

Their subsequent courting led to a small marriage ceremony on January 13, 1938 in the Newland Baptist parsonage on Ann Street in Chadron. Lettie’s sister, Nettie Maiden, attended the bride, while Art Gehrke was best man. A newspaper account said that John was “well and favorably known in this vicinity.” A wedding luncheon was served at the home of Lettie’s parents, Bill and Leota Maiden, before the couple set out for a short honeymoon in the Black Hills.

While Lettie was employed by Dr. C.E. Masters, a local optometrist, John took on a variety of jobs. Farm hand, road construction, and filling station attendant were among many of his jobs.

“We picked up jobs doing whatever we could,” he said in later years, putting into context the rigors of trying to make a living during the difficult years during and following the Great Depression.

John and Lettie had three children: John Elgar, born in October 1938; Linetha Faye, born in January 1941, and Larry Dean, born in June 1943.

By this time, John Miller was working for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad as a Machinist’s Helper.

When World War Two broke out, many area men were called to serve. John Miller was on the list and scheduled to report for active service when the war ended in 1945. Those orders were cancelled.

With "Rusty" in 1960.

John continued his work at the C&NW roundhouse and eagerly took on correspondence courses and other training that would allow him to become a full-fledged machinist for the company. He honed many skills while working for the railroad, including welding, and he also took on additional responsibility as a foreman. He was an officer for the local chapter of the International Association of Machinists, an interesting role given his disdain for unions in later years.

Despite opportunities for further promotions – which would have required relocating to Rapid City – John chose to stay in Chadron, where his children had started school. While there were brief forays into other opportunities – like part ownership of the 146 Café on Main Street in Chadron and doing contract work for the 1880 Train for tourists in the Black Hills – John remained with C&NW for more than 38 years, retiring in 1980.

Vacations were few and far between for this Miller family, but there was one trip to Yellowstone Park in about 1950. Travel was not frequent for John and Lettie until all their kids were grown and gone – and until John retired from the railroad and Lettie from the U.S. Job Corp camp near Chadron, where she had worked for several years as a cook.

John Miller died on October 12, 1994 at the Chadron Community Hospital. He had been in failing health the last few years of his life and was 77 years old at the time of his death.

Lettie Miller passed away just over three years later on January 28, 1998 in Chadron. She was 77 years old.

The 50th wedding anniversary photo of John and Lettie Miller .
Taken in January 1988 - Chadron, Nebraska. Behind Lettie and
John are their children: John Elgar, Larry, and Linetha.

The children of John and Lettie Miller: older son John and his wife Cheryl have lived in Lemon Grove, California, for many years; their daughter Linetha and her husband Bruce are on a ranch outside Madill, Oklahoma; and younger son Larry and his wife Karen live in Spearfish, South Dakota.

Bertha Miller found a home in Texas

2011-06-20T21:00:00.007-07:00

Bertha, Albert and Fred Miller

Bertha Miller was born April 12, 1921 in Watertown, South Dakota, but the family lived there only a short time before moving to western Nebraska. By the time her parents Pete and Dora decided to move to Whitney in 1927, Bertha was school age and started school there. As did many of the other Miller children, she dropped out of school at an early age. Years later, she remembered working in Chadron at the old Niles Hotel, which used to sit on the east side of First and Bordeaux Streets.

Bertha moved to Texas in early June of 1941, traveling with “Bobbi” Derrick and her husband, as well as Grandpa and Grandma Derrick. She said Bobbie had asked her jokeingly to come to Texas – and she did! Bertha recalls that when they arrived on a Friday evening, it was pouring down rain.

“I wished to God that I had never left.” But Bertha stayed, and fell in love with her adopted home state.

Louis and Bertha Bird

Among one of her earliest jobs in Texas was working for Dairy Land, a company that packed ice cream in those small cups which then were shipped out to military bases. She often told the story about how she and her girlfriend would write their addresses on the lids of some of those cups that went out to soldiers and sailors around the world.

Eventually, Bertha took a job as a waitress in a downtown Houston restaurant. While working the night shift, she got acquainted with a local cab driver, Louis Bird. Their courtship resulted in marriage on May 20, 1947.

Louis and Bertha had one child, Judy, who was born on New Years Day 1949. For many years, the Bird family lived out on the north edge of Houston, Hage Street. Among other things, it allowed the family to have a large garden plot. It was a hobby Bertha avidly pursued.

Louis Bird was a truck driver for most of his working years – driving routes only in Texas, so he could be near his family. He retired from Brown Express; he died in 1974.

By the 1980s, Houston had grown so much that the Bird “rural” neighborhood was surrounded by housing developments and businesses. It was clear that Houston was one of the fastest growing cities in the country.

Her daughter Judy remembers that Bertha loved to work in the garden, growing and canning vegetables – taking great pride in her Texas pecan pickles and jellies. She also enjoyed planting and caring for a wide variety of flowers.

Bertha Bird died April 17, 1989 in Houston, just five days after her 68^th birthday.

Judy (Bird) Callaway holds her granddaughter, Aubree, flanked by daughter
Lori (left) and Chacy (right -- in red). Chacy is Aubree's mommy. The fellow
standing behind at left is Kerry Callaway, Chacy and Lori's father.

Bertha's daughter married and had two daughters, Chacy Callaway – born in 1974 -- and Lori Callaway, who was born in 1976.

For some 21 years, Judy worked at Chase Bank in Houston, while raising her girls as a single mother. She took severance from Chase in January 2000, but continues to live in the Houston area.

Judy's older daughter, Chacy, graduated from Sam Houston State University and teaches elementary school. She and her husband, John, live in Magnolia.

Lori went to the University of Houston and briefly pursued a career in broadcasting in Idaho Falls, Idaho. However, she soon returned to Houston and – like her older sister -- now teaches elementary school in the Houston area.

You'll find higher resolution versions of all the photographs shown here -- and many more -- in the Miller Family Gallery.

Remembering Albert Miller...

2011-06-17T14:53:00.001-07:00

Albert Miller, USMC

Albert Miller was born near Scottsbluff, Nebraska on October 25, 1925. He was the youngest boy born to Peter and Dora Miller

Albert surely spent his most formative years growing up in and around Whitney, Nebraska.

While his older brother Fred served in the Army Air Force during World War Two, Albert signed up for a tour of duty with the U. S. Marines. He joined on December 3^rd, 1943 and traveled to San Diego, California, where he completed boot camp and was then trained as a 90 mm anti-aircraft gunner crewman. Shortly after training, he was shipped out to Hawaii and then on to Midway Island in the Pacific for the rest of his tour. A couple of years later, on April 8, 1946, he was released from active duty at the Treasure Island Naval Station near San Francisco.

He then went home to Nebraska.

Five months later, on September 14, 1946, he married Edca Kiron Shafer, who had been born in Albion, Nebraska. When they married, Al was 20 – Edca was 19. Interestingly, Edca’s mother, Mary Dussel Flock, was an older sister to Charlotte Flock, who married Albert’s brother Fred. Thus, Edca’s aunt Charlotte was also her sister-in-law!

Albert & Edca Miller - 1980

Despite their roots in Nebraska, Albert and Edca moved to Washington state in 1948, landing in Malott, where they picked apples until the end of harvest. Then it was on to Metaline, where they lived in “sheep sheds.” Albert worked at the old Diamond Match/National saw mill at Sulivan Creek and also at the Grandview Mines.

A short time later, moved to Metalline Falls and went to work in the Lehigh cement plant. He later moved to nearby Ione, Washington. It was there that Albert and Edca Miller would raise their family. Their children were Cecelia Lou, Betty Jo, Albert Michael and Mary Dot. Cece and Betty Jo were born in Nebraska, while Mike and Mary were born in Washington.

When Lehigh workers went on strike in about 1954, Albert Miller bought the Carnation milk route that ran from Spokane to Metaline Falls. It was a distributor-owned business that he operated for more than 32 years.

Sadly, Edca died on September 14, 1981, their 35^th wedding anniversary. She was just 54 years old. Al continued to work for a few more years, retiring with a disability at age 62.

In 1988, Al attended the 1988 version of the Miller family reunion at Wilson Park in Chadron.

Albert Miller died in Spokane, Washington on June 25, 1997. He was 71 years old.

This photo was taken in 1980 not long before Edca Miller passed away in September 1981.
In back (l-to-r): Mary Dot, Albert, Edca, and Cece. In front: Betty Jo and Mike.

Thanks to cousin Mike Miller for sharing photos and information with us. Mike is retired as a communications electrician for Seattle City Light, working his last several years at the Boundary Dam project near the Canadian border north of Metaline Falls. He lives in Ione.

About Albert and Edca’s children: Cecelia lives in Ione, while Betty Jo Traphagen resides in Green Valley, Arizona. The youngest in the family, Mary Dot Kilbourne, lives in Sequim, Washington.

You'll find a variety of photographs in the Miller Family Gallery.

Reunion less than two weeks away!

2011-06-11T16:17:00.000-07:00

Some 54 Miller "cousins" from eight states are signed up for the Miller Reunion picnic in Chadron, Nebraska. The grand event is just two weeks away (6/25/11) and will be held at Wilson Park in Chadron.

It's been a few decades since such a reunion has been held. The last one was also at Wilson Park back in 1988. We don't know for sure how many showed up for that event -- but we believe this will be a record. If you're planning to attend -- but haven't yet registered for the picnic -- please click on the box at right and sign up. We need to give the picnic caterer a count of people by next Friday (6/17/11). Be sure to include names of people in your group, since we want to make up name tags!

Whitney water tower

Sadly, all of the children of Peter and Dora Miller, our German-Russian grandparents who lived for so many years in Whitney, Nebraska, are now gone. The old Miller house in Whitney is a mere shadow of its former self -- weeds have grown up around the single remaining portion of the structure, which is used as something of an office for a trucker. Much of his equipment is strewn around the lot.

But if the condition of the house is a bit of a disappointment, there are plenty of other things to help stir memories of bygone years.

Between the cemetery and "downtown" Whitney, the old water tower (shown above) casts its shadow over the most inhabited area of the little Dawes County village. That's the neighborhood south of the old U.S. Highway 20. While a newer water pipeline now serves Whitney residents, the tower remains as a vivid reminder of days gone by.

The long-time home of Bill and Marie (Miller) Derrick still stands, too, appearing much the same as it did right after Dick Derrick fixed up the exterior of the structure several years ago. Next door, the house built by Dick and Kathy Derrick remains -- now occupied by a couple who work in Crawford.

"Old" Whitney School today

Across the street from the old Derrick homes are two school buildings. One is dubbed the "old" school -- the other is the "new" school. Nonetheless, both schools have been closed permanently. Earlier this month, a "Whitney School Reunion" was held in the newer building. We've posted a few stories and photos about the school on a web site entitled Whitney Reflections. Closure of the facility marks the end of 125 years of education in Whitney. Nearly all of the Miller children went to school in the "old" school building. The Chadron Public Schools, which now control the property, is trying to sell both building -- but we've heard no news about their fate. We suspect the old building will be torn down. The newer structure could serve as a nice community center or for some other purpose, but it's not clear that there's much support for that.

Perhaps the least changed aspect of Whitney is Warring Memorial Church, on the corner south of the old school. Although the entry has been relocated -- and it now has easier access for folks needing assistance -- the church is still a vibrant part of the community, conducting Sunday services and other events. A few cousins attending the reunion plan to attend services on Sunday (6/26/11) -- but they'll have to rise early to do it. The pastor also preaches in Harrison and Crawford, so the Whitney service is at 9:00 a.m. only. Local folks have invited us to join them for coffee in the church basement after the service. They'd like to know just how many of us might show up, so they'll be prepared! Please drop us an e-mail if you think you might join us. Older cousins will remember that this is the church that Grandma Miller attended and cleaned for many years!

Undated photo of the Whitney Church

We're hoping for good weather so that a visit to the cemetery can be included. Of course, the cemetery is open all the time, but a visit to the Whitney Cemetery after church on Sunday could be capped off with a nice lunch at the Fort Robinson State Park about 20 minutes away. If you've not been to Fort Robinson lately -- or ever -- we think you'll find it's worth a visit!

While we've lingered on a bit here about houses, buildings, and "things," perhaps the most exciting part of our Miller Family Reunion is the most enduring: a chance to get acquainted and reacquainted with cousins from all over the country. Interestingly, not a single Miller descendant (at least, that we know of) lives in Nebraska -- let alone in the Whitney area! Many third, fourth, and fifth generation descendants of Pete and Dora Miller have never met one another. For others, it has been many years since we've met and enjoyed fellowship.

Those, of course, will be the most enduring remembrances of this celebration. Just imagine how pleased Grandpa and Grandma Miller would be to know that so many of their family have been able to come together for this occasion -- a fitting tribute to them and their children.

We look forward to seeing you later this month!

Remembering Marie...eldest child of Pete & Dora Miller

2011-05-19T10:48:00.003-07:00

Marie Sophie Miller was born just a week before Christmas 1909 in Longmont, Colorado, to Pete and Dora Miller. Pete was 22 years old, and Dora was less than three weeks from her 18^th birthday. For the Millers, it must’ve been a joyous occasion – the birth of their first child!

More problematic for Pete and Dora was the matter of making a living that could sustain the young couple and their new baby. Certainly, there was the sugar beet industry in and around Longmont, a packing plant, and a variety of manual labor jobs. Undoubtedly, Pete Miller tried his hand at many of them.

Miller home at 4504 N.
Kasson Way in Chicago

However, it wasn’t long before the wanderlust that had drawn Pete and Dora to

America

began working on them. Sometime in February of 1910, Pete and Dora moved the family to Chicago, leaving behind Dora's father, Conrad Eckerdt, and the stepmother with whom Dora never got along. Marie was less than two months old when the family went to Chicago. It was there that Marie started school, probably in the near northside ethnic neighborhood that was heavily populated with German-Russians. Marie – some 60 years later – remembered that she and her half-brother Alex attended school in a “large school building with three floors and a basement,” not far from their house.

She also remembered some of the social life of the neighborhood. Even their home on Kasson Way in Chicago was vivid in her memory, and she became very excited when shown a picture of the house, looking remarkably the same, more than six decades later.

“We had to play inside the fence…there was a store there on the corner. And I had to go there every day to get grandma and grandpa’s German newspaper, and sometimes they’d give me a penny and I’d get a penny ice cream cone or a penny’s worth of candy!”

Dora Miller is standing at left in back; Marie
is next to her with a bow in her hair.

“There’d sometimes be three, four, or five families; we’d go from our home to visit other people’s homes. We’d get there and the men folks would play cards and the women folks would just visit. Or dad would play the accordion – he played the accordion. And then they’d get together and they’d dance.”

But the time in school at Chicago didn’t last, as Pete and Dora packed up their belongings and five children and migrated to Watertown, South Dakota, where the sugar beet company gave them jobs. That was in about 1918 – near the end of World War I. Marie was eight years old when they moved. In a short three or four years, the family would move again – settling finally in the panhandle of Nebraska.

Marie was almost a teenager by the time the family arrived in the North Platte Valley, a region inhabited by lots of other German Russians. There is no evidence, however, that Marie graduated from school before the family moved to Whitney in 1927, when she was almost 18 years old – a time when most young persons would be finishing their schooling.

The Derrick family had found their way to Nebraska sometime around the beginning of the 20^th Century after living in Illinois and Wisconsin. Bill Derrick was born in Chadron on 18 December 1902. He was still in the region by the time the Millers arrived in 1927.

Bill’s grandfather, John C. Derrick, led a very colorful life. Probably born in Delpht, Holland, he was married three times and raised nine children in places as diverse as Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri. The two children with his second wife were Ernest Walter – Bill Derrick’s father – and Dora Ellen, who married William H. Maiden. This led to the interesting double relationship between Bill Derrick and Lettie Maiden. They were not only cousins, but when Bill married Marie Miller and Lettie married John Miller, they also became brother/sister-in-laws. In the process of collecting information about the Miller and Maiden families, we’ve collected many photographs and considerable information about the Derrick family, much it assembled by Joseph William Derrick, a half first cousin to Bill Derrick.

Bill Derrick’s father, Ernest Walter, was also married three times. As fate would have it, his first bride was a maiden – Sara Jane, who was a first cousin once removed to William H. Maiden. On June 13, 1900, Ernest Walter married Mary Eva (Mamie) O’Leary in Long Pine, Nebraska. By the late 1920s, Joe and Mamie Derrick owned a café in Whitney. It’s probably there that Marie Miller and Bill Derrick first became acquainted in about 1929. In fact, Dick Derrick remembers his mother saying that she worked in the café for a while.

Dick Derrick with parents Bill and Marie.
Likely taken in about 1946 or 1947.

The Miller family had lived in Whitney about three years, when – on August 30, 1930 – Marie Miller and Bill Derrick were married in Whitney. Not only did Bill and Marie “share” a number of relatives, they also shared a common birthday – December 18.

On May 31, 1931, their first child was born. Richard Warren Derrick was born in Whitney, where he attended school until enrolling at Chadron Prep where he started high school. However, before he graduated, he enlisted in the U. S. Marine Corps and was shipped out for basic training. It was only a few months later that the Marine Corps found out that he wasn’t old enough to serve in the Marines, and he was sent back home.

Shirley Ann Derrick

A second child was born to Bill and Marie Derrick on January 18, 1941. Shirley Ann Derrick was the only daughter – and was about 10 years younger than her brother. Tragedy struck on June 12, 1949 when Shirley and one of her neighborhood pals, Sandy Rankin, were swimming at Whitney Lake. Both of the children drowned in one of the worst such incidences at the lake. Shirley was just eight years old.

Dick remained in the Chadron area and went to work for the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad at about the time his father was retiring. He married Kathleen Higgins in 1954. They raised three children: Debra Dianne, born in 1955; Richard Walter, born in 1958; and Dora Dionne, born in 1971.

In July of 1968, Dick and Kathy Derrick moved to Alaska where he went to work for the Alaskan Railroad. It was the beginning of a lifelong change in the Derrick family. Their ties to the 49^th state became stronger when Debra married Jack Marsh and they raised their family in Alaska.

Bill and Marie Derrick - March 1979

Even Bill and Marie Derrick – not able to do a lot of traveling – made the trek to Alaska twice to visit their son and his growing family.

After Kathy Derrick was diagnosed with multiple scleroris, she and Dick moved back to Nebraska in 1983. They had lived in Alaska for some 15 years. It was a God-send to Bill and Marie – then well into their 70s and less able to get around. Son Dick would run them to Chadron or Crawford, as might be needed, for shopping or a doctor’s appointment. Too, they were able to visit and provide some comfort to Kathy, as her condition continued to deteriorate.

In December of 1991, when Bill was 88 and Marie 81 years old, they were interviewed by Omaha World-Herald reporter Gabriella Stern for a story she was writing about the problems of elderly citizens in rural areas of Nebraska. The poignant article touched upon the plight of several representative senior citizens. The Derricks told of the isolation that comes with being unable to get out of the house on their own – and how that lack of independence contributed to making them old. The story and their picture was published on Sunday, February 24, 1991.

Just over a year later, on April 2, 1992, Bill Derrick passed away in Chadron. He was 89 years old. Less than a year after that, on February 25, 1993, Marie Derrick died at the age of 83.

In December 2001, Kathleen Derrick passed away.

Nearly three years later, in July 2004, Dick Derrick – son of Bill and Marie Derrick, and husband of Kathy Higgins Derrick – died at his home in Whitney.

You'll find more photos of the Marie Derrick family in our Miller Gallery.

Remembering Alex -- eldest son of Pete and Dora Miller

2011-05-06T10:27:00.001-07:00

Alex Miller was the second child born to Pete and Dora Miller – and the first boy. He was born July 1, 1911. Like his older sister, Marie, Alex was born in Chicago. While we know the Millers lived on Kasson Way in the "Windy City," we know very little about those years. Alex likely attended school on the near north side of Chicago in the ethnic neighborhood occupied by numerous German families – many of them German-Russians.

Sometime around Alex’s eighth birthday, the family moved to Watertown, South Dakota for a few years, before finally moving to the high plains of western Nebraska in about 1919. He quit school after the fourth grade in the Scottsbluff area. When Alex was about 16, Pete and Dora Miller moved to Dawes County. Alex continued working – and would soon meet Mildred Saxton, who was to become his wife.

Although she was born in Merriman, Nebraska, Mildred Saxton’s parents were also from Dawes County. In fact, it’s reported that her father, John Elsworth Saxton, was born at Fort Robinson in January of 1891 during an Indian uprising. After marrying Gertrude Emelia Everson in Chadron and -- like the Millers -- raising nine children, the Saxtons were still living in Crawford by 1931 when Alex and Mildred met.

Alex was quite a bit older than Mildred.

A young Alex Miller

“I was 12 years old and he was 20,” wrote Mildred later in life, recalling the circumstances under which they met at the rooming house operated by the mother of Rachel Hiatt, Mildred’s good friend.

“One evening, Rachel and I started playing cards in the lobby. He was sitting there smoking, when Rachel asked him if he’d like to play Hearts. He did and won the first game. He didn’t know how to play before.”

It was two years later, while attending a Revival Meeting at the Opera House in Whitney, that Mildred became acquainted with Fannie and Bertha Miller.

“I asked them if they knew an Alex Miller. They said yes – he was their brother!”

But it would be another two years before Alex and Mildred began courting. Those were the Depression years and work was hard to come by. Although he’d had several farm labor jobs, Alex decided he wanted to strike out on his own. His destination: Saginaw, Michigan.

Since Alex still didn't know a lot about Mildred Saxton, he probably didn't know that her grandfather was from Michigan. But Alex did know that his mother had relatives in Michigan. In fact, his mother’s half brother, Alex Eckerdt, had made a surprise visit to the Millers in Whitney in the summer of 1931. Alex Eckerdt and his family lived in Flint, Michigan, and another half brother of Dora’s, Henry Neuwirth, lived in Saginaw. Perhaps that was the only incentive Alex Miller needed to make the trek northeastward.

In any event, Alex Miller lived and worked for a short time in Saginaw. He first drove a truck, but in May 1935 he was issued a chauffeur’s license, and he began driving a cab. Click on the image at left to see a larger version.

However, by the next winter, Alex was back in Nebraska, staying with Bill and Marie Derrick in Whitney. His sisters, Bertha and Fannie Miller, were in a New Year’s Day church service when Mildred Saxton gave them a note for Alex. Later, when she saw Alex driving around Whitney, they met and began dating.

Four months later, Alex Miller proposed marriage. Mildred remembered that she accepted, but told Alex that she needed to finish her sophomore year at Crawford High School. Her parents were apparently unhappy about Mildred not completing high school, so she and Alex agreed to marry in July. Alex went back to Michigan and worked for a few months, and Mildred finished the school year.

Within three months, Alex arrived back in Nebraska driving a 1931 Model A Ford, which he soon traded for a 1933 Ford Victoria -- he was to be a long-time Ford Motor fan.

Alex and Mildred were married July 1, 1936 at the parsonage of the Methodist Church in Whitney by long-time Methodist pastor Reverend C. Curtis Norlin. It was Alex’s 25^th birthday, and the marriage was witnessed by Mildred’s sister Eva and her husband, Chet Brown, who had just married two months before.

Alex went to work for the Liggett Company as foreman of a rock crushing crew that provided gravel for the many gravel roads that criss-crossed the region during the Depression years. While working in the Gordon area, the rock crusher threw a stone in Alex’s face, chipping a front tooth, and it was replaced with a gold crown, which he brandished for the rest of his life.

Alex and Mildred lived in several places: Rushville, Hay Springs, Gordon, Chadron and Whitney, while Alex worked at a variety jobs, including hauling straw on a horse-drawn hay rack, picking corn, and even topping sugar beets – a job he’d often done in his younger years – and had hoped to avoid as an adult!

The tough economic times forced Alex to sell his Ford Victoria to his younger brother John, who drove it while courting Lettie Maiden.

Alex and Mildred's first child, Jeanette, was born in Crawford in 1937, and her brother Bruce came along late the following year of 1938, while the Millers were living in Chadron. After working in Rushville and then back to Gordon, Alex had a chance to again work for his old boss George Rowe, who owned some heavy equipment and needed help at a gravel pumping company along the North Platte River at Bridgeport, Nebraska. World War Two had begun, and the government needed gravel, which was shipped from Bridgeport to near Edgemont, South Dakota, for the Army to build a munitions storage facility at a place that became known as “Igloo,” for the igloo-looking mounds that contained the munitions.

Undated photograph of Alex and Mildred Miller with their children.
Standing (L-to-R) are Bruce, Jeanette, Charlene, Jerry (seated) and Connie.

Alex and Mildred moved to Bridgeport in May 1942, and Connie was born on June 23. By the following spring, however, that job ended, and the Millers returned to Dawes County, and Alex took a job with a building crew in Crawford. This would be his opportunity to learn bricklaying from a couple of Alliance bricklayers who were also on site. He enjoyed the work and soon learned the trade, taking a major job in Chadron for what would become a large implement dealership building on the south side of

U. S.

highway 20 on the west edge of Chadron. That building still stands today.

When the company Alex was working for won a building contract in Lusk, Alex started commuting, and did so for nearly a year. He was still commuting up and down U.S. Highway 20 when daughter Charlene was born in 1949. Finally, the family moved to Lusk in June of 1949, and Alex went to work for Oscar Bostrom -- and later for Frontier Lumber.

Alex & Mildred - ca 1984

Alex and Mildred bought property at 822 South Oak and built a basement home in which they lived for 16 years. Son Jerry John was born in 1954. Alex and Mildred went into business themselves, creating the Miller Construction Company. Alex honed his bricklaying skills by building many fireplaces, homes, and Main street store fronts. Eventually, son Jerry would learn the trade and help his father with the business.

We've included a few photographs of the Alex Miller family in this posting. You'll find many more photos in our Miller Gallery.

Alex and Mildred were members of the Open Bible Standard Church of Lusk for many years, and she recalled Alex accepting Christ has his personal Savior while at a church camp in Custer, South Dakota. Alex Miller died at home on April 15, 1985. He was 73 years old. Mildred Miller passed away in January 2007 at the age of 87.

Miller Reunion less than two months away!

2011-05-05T23:45:00.000-07:00

The good news is that we have heard from lots of Miller family members who tell us that they'll be at the reunion next month in Chadron. Latest additions to the list are members of the Jan Miller family from Kentucky. There'll be Alex Miller family members from California, Wyoming and South Dakota, and a pretty good sized entourage from Washington state representing the Fred and Albert Miller families. And Marie (Miller) Derrick family members are planning to come from Alaska and South Dakota.

Other cousins are coming from Oklahoma, California, and Texas.

That's far from the complete list, but it's an indication of the broad interest -- and wonderful commitment -- among cousins in all parts of the country.

Right now, we're estimating about 50 people, but with more than six weeks left before the event, that could change significantly. Please, if you've not yet responded to our Picnic Survey, please click on the box to the right and respond to the questions so we'll have an accurate count of folks who plan to be at the Miller Reunion Picnic in Wilson Park at Chadron on Saturday, June 25th!

A few cousins who live close to Chadron will be making a "day trip" for the picnic, but most will be camping at Chadron State Park or Fort Robinson State Park, staying in cabins at one of the parks, or have made reservations at an area hotel or motel. Alas, we know of no Miller family descendants who remain in Dawes County, so we're all having to "bunk" commercially.

By the way, the picnic should be a top-notch event -- allowing families to visit while enjoying some great food. The event is catered by Country Kitchen in Chadron, and they have a great reputation around the Chadron area. There'll be roast beef amd chicken, potato salad, baked beans, bread and butter, tea and lemonade. Country Kitchen will provide all tableware. The cost is $11 per person, which we think is an excellent rate, but we must tell them how many people will be eating, and we need to provide them with that number by Friday, June 17th. Please take a moment and respond to our survey. If you've already done that, Thank You!

Judy Miller from Metaline Falls, WA has volunteered to make name tags, so let us know the names of folks in your group so all will have name tags. By the way, you can use that same survey form to the right. Just put names in the "Comment" box.

We hope you're as excited about this event as we are. If you have special requests, ideas, or comments, please send them along to either Pete Miller or Larry Miller.

Thanks!

Remembering Pauline (Miller) Pollock Murray

2011-04-27T15:36:00.001-07:00

Pauline (Miller) Pollock Murray
Age 16

It’s been nearly four years since we lost aunt Pauline Pollock Murray. She died June 8, 2007 at Port Arthur, Texas. She had lived in nearby Vidor, Texas, most of her life and reportedly never overcame an ear infection and a subsequent case of pneumonia when she died at age 79.

Pauline Louise Miller was the tenth of eleven children born to German-Russian immigrants Peter and Dora Miller, who had moved to Whitney, Nebraska in 1927 from the Scottsbluff area. Pauline was born on October 19^th of that year, and she was the first of only two Miller children born in Whitney. Younger sister Evelyn was born about three years later.

As is true for most of the Miller family, little information remains about their years in the small Dawes County community of Whitney. Pete and Dora Miller moved several times after they met and married in Longmont, Colorado in 1909. Their residences included Chicago, Illinois; Watertown, South Dakota; Bayard, Nebraska; Scottsbluff, Nebraska, and perhaps another place or two in the North Platte River valley region around Scottsbluff. They were among several German-Russian families from "the valley" to move to the Whitney area after creation of Whitney Dam and the irrigation district that brought new opportunities to the region.

The old Whitney School was built in 1922

Pauline was 12 years old when she participated in a Whitney Grade School operetta entitled “The Golden Whistle,” in which she portrayed the Fairy Queen. It was performed in the Whitney School on March 15, 1940. Interestingly, the building in which that operetta took place still stands – but its future appears bleak. The adjacent newer Whitney School will close permanently at the end of this school year, marking the first time in 125 years that there's been no school in Whitney. The Chadron Board of Education, which now governs all public schools in the county, intends to sell off the property. Rumors have abounded for years that the “old” Whitney School – shown here – would be torn down. That prospect now appears imminent.

Bertha and Pauline
Undated

By the way, you'll find a picture of Pauline as the Fairy Queen, along with several other photos of Pauline and other Miller family ancestors/descendants, in the Miller Family Gallery.

As she approached her teen years, Pauline wanted to go to Texas, where her older sister Bertha had gone some years earlier. One family story says that Pauline's mother was reluctant and unwilling to allow her young daughter to make the trek, but that older sister Bertha suggested to Pauline that she simply cry while asking Grandma Miller for permission to go. It apparently worked!

After making the move to Texas, Pauline met and then, in 1948, married Olen Pollock. They would have four children – Paulette, Mike, Sharon, and Linda. All of the children and their families have remained in Texas.

Of all the children of Pete and Dora Miller, we doubt that any were any more a person of faith than Pauline. As with most families, the Pollocks certainly had challenging, rewarding, sorrowful and joyful times. It was revealing to me that after her divorce from Olen, they both found a civility with one another that served the family well.

But good fortune smiled upon Pauline and she married again – to Mitchell Murray, who had grown up in Louisiana. Like Pauline, he also had four grown children. Mitch and Pauline wed in February 1971 at Vidor and made there home there for many years.

After Mitch passed away in 1997, Pauline remained in their home for a while, but eventually moved to a nice retirement complex on the edge of Vidor.

This photograph of Pauline and her children was taken in May 2000.
Standing left to right are Linda, Mike, Sharon, and Paulette.

Shortly after aunt Pauline passed away in 2007, we wrote the following:

“I believe it was her strength of character and Christian faith that kept the family close. She told me after Mitch died, that she found great solace and joy in having her children near and so supportive of her and -- just as importantly -- one another. They have helped each other through good times and bad, and they were there for their mother as she ended her stay on earth.”

Grandma Miller was surely looking down and saying, "Well done, my loving daughter."

Remembering Jan Miller...

2011-04-07T23:45:00.001-07:00

One of the faces missing from the Miller Reunion this summer will be cousin Jan Miller, who died seven years ago this month.

At this writing, we don’t know if any of Jan’s family will be attending our June reunion, but we hope they might be able to join us. In any event, we thought it would be good to revisit a few memories and photos of this outstanding cousin. While other older family members likely have more vivid memories of Jan, let me offer a few observations.

If ever there was a good example of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps,” we think Jan would be near the top of the list.

Friends and sisters-in-law
Fannie Miller & Lettie Miller

Jan was the only child of Fannie Miller, whose own life was cut short as the result of an automobile accident on U.S. Highway 20 just outside of Crawford, Nebraska, in September of 1937. The injuries left her paralyzed and unable to care for her infant son, who would be raised in Whitney, Nebraska, by his grandparents, Pete and Dora Miller

Fannie was hospitalized in Crawford – and later at Hot Springs, South Dakota. There are few photos of Fannie Miller, but the ones we've found show a smiling young lady who was remembered by many as a very personable and outgoing person. While she responded some to treatments over the 18 months after the accident, she would not survive. She died at the Crawford Hospital in March of 1939, just a few weeks shy of her 20^th birthday.

A young Jan Miller

Jan grew up in Whitney under the watchful eye and loving care of Dora and Pete, whom he would call “Mom and Dad.”

By all accounts, Jan was a good student – and a rather popular one. He attended school in Whitney, but ended up completing his education at Chadron Prep.

But by the early 1950’s, Jan was ready to get out and experience the world. And that he did!

He enlisted in the Army and was off to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he would attend jump school and become a paratrooper.

"Mom Miller" and Jan Miller
probably taken about 1957-58

Alas, we know little about his military assignments, but we recall that he once said he had been stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Likely, that’s part of the reason he ended up living in Kentucky.

On May 19, 1956, he married Janette Haney, and they soon began their family. Except for short times spent in Indiana and Pennsylvania, the state of Kentucky would be home for the Millers.

Both daughter Jan Rose and son Jerry Don were born in Hammond, Indiana – Jan Rose in 1957 and Jerry Don in 1960. Younger daughter Joni Renee was born in 1964 in Princeton, Kentucky.

By the mid-1960’s, Jan and Janette Miller and their family were firmly ensconced in Eddyville, the county seat of Lyon County, Kentucky.

We recall visiting Jan and family in 1964 when we were traveling through on our way to a Navy base in Florida. At that time, the Millers were living in a rental house on the edge of town, while their new home was being built. Our visit was short – but very enjoyable.

It still brings a chuckle when I recall later telling a southern friend that I had visited a cousin in Eddyville, Kentucky. This friend apparently knew that Eddyville was a well-known location across the region. He grinned and asked what my cousin was “in for.” It seems that Eddyville was – and is – home to the Kentucky State Penitentiary.

Jan shared stories with us about working in the mills around the region, but it wasn’t too much later that he changed careers and became an insurance man. By all accounts a successful one.

Cute Hillary Chambers and
her grandpa, Jan Miller

Some 30 years later, in the 1990’s, we were on a business trip not far from Eddyville, so we rented a car and went to visit Jan and Janette, this time in that new home they had built in the 1960’s. It was a delightful visit, and this time we were able to see their kids and some of their grandchildren, too. We've added just a few photos from that visit in our Miller Gallery. It was clear to us that Jan’s life was built around his family. It was a great visit.

Jan and Janette came back to Nebraska for the last Miller Reunion in 1988, a special treat for so many cousins, aunts, and uncles who’d not seen him for many years. Many of them had never met Janette.

Jan quit smoking in the mid-1990’s, but a variety of health issues began to plague him. A trip to the doctor for sinus problems in 1999 resulted in the detection of a large tumor that could be removed only by a delicate surgery. It was an unbelievably large 22-pound malignant tumor. Unfortunately, it was not Jan's only bout with internal tumors. Some time later, another tumor – about the size of a football – was removed.

Jan and Janette Miller

We visited with Jan by telephone a few times during this difficult period. It was clear that his strength was sapped, but his spirits seemed high.

At one point when his health issues had subsided a bit, Jan was well enough to travel back to Nebraska for a school reunion at the Chadron Prep School. As we have occasion to visit Nebraska, we still have folks from around the Whitney area ask about Jan..

Despite a valiant fight, Jan Miller succumbed to his many health issues and died on April 22, 2004. It was his mother’s birthday.

Reunion Time! Park shelter reserved for June 25th

2011-01-23T21:36:00.003-07:00

The surviving children of Pete and Dora Miller
gathered in Chadron for the 1988 Miller Reunion.

Another step has been taken in plans for the Miller Family Reunion scheduled for next summer in Nebraska.

We've reserved the Wilson Park Shelter in Chadron for all day on Saturday, June 25th. That's the same location where the Millers gathered 22 years ago, when we had our last reunion. Of course, we've lost many loved ones since that time, and this may well be the last time that many of us will see one another for a good long spell. So, we hope that all "cousins" and "in-laws" will plan to join us for this informal get together from Friday, June 24th through Sunday, June 25th.

Cousins Pete Miller in Metaline Falls, Washington, and Larry Miller in Spearfish, South Dakota, have sent postcards out to a couple of dozen folks in an effort to collect addition names/addresses/phone numbers and e-mail addresses of as many of our family members as possible. We've found that many addresses we have are incomplete, phone numbers have changed, or e-mail addresses no longer work. We want to make sure that even the most distant cousins know about our gathering and have an opportunity to attend! We'll do a more complete mailing with further information in February.

Marie Derrick and Bertha Bird - 1988

Please call or e-mail us with your contact information -- and tell us how we can reach others in your family branch who should know about the reunion.

Larry (605) 722-6018 ~ dakotamillers@gmail.com

Pete (509) 446-3915 ~ pjmiller@povn.com

At this writing, there is no specific agenda -- but lots of ideas. For many of us, just having a chance to visit with family we've not seen for a long time will be the primary goal. It's also an opportunity to visit Whitney, which was home to our parents/grandparents for more than half a century. A visit to the Whitney Cemetery would be in order, since many of our ancestors are at rest there. Please let us know your ideas and suggestions regarding the reunion.

And bring your cameras, there's bound to be
some fun -- and tomfoolery!

There's lots to see and do around the area, too! Two of the most beautiful state parks of Nebraska are within 30 minutes -- Chadron State Park and Fort Robinson State Park. Both offer cabins and camping, as well as a variety of recreational activities the whole family can enjoy. There's also hiking, biking, golf, and trail rides. Fort Robinson has a great museum, and there are also fine historical museums in both Chadron and Crawford.

And you might want to bookmark this web site, since we'll continue to provide updated information here, including lodging options, recreational activities, and other reunion-related tips.

Mark your calendars and plan to join us for the Miller Family Reunion, June 24-26!

Help us plan for the reunion...

2011-01-17T21:46:00.015-07:00

From the Czar's army....to America

2011-01-16T20:36:00.005-07:00

He was buried 100 years ago in Mountain View Cemetery on the north side of Longmont, Colorado. But there is no tombstone. No marker. Nothing that tells us much about this German-Russian immigrant who escaped the hard life of Russia for new opportunities in America.

Conrad Luke Eckerdt
Undated photograph

This man, Conrad Eckerdt, was born July 12, 1858 in the German colonies along the eastern “wiesenseite” (meadow side) of the Volga River. We don't know exactly where he was born, but the discharge documents from his service in the Russian Army listed the village of "Splavnukha" as home. The Germans living there called the colony “Huck.” Conrad's parents were listed as Lewis (Luke) Eckerdt and Lizzie Liesmann, and he had at least one brother, Philip.

The German colonists were largely a segregated group, preferring to remain unto themselves; however, the changing requirements of the Czar's rule discontinued the exemption from military service that German colonists had long enjoyed. So it was in 1880 that Conrad Eckerdt entered the Russian military. He was 22 years old and was described by one of his acquaintances as a "good-sized" man, and he would serve five years in the Czar's army.

Conrad Eckerdt
Army discharge document

On March 6, 1885, Private Eckerdt, who had worked as a "Staff Helper" in the 96th Reserve Battalion, was discharged to the army reserve. He returned to Schwed, and that's probably where he met Maria Dorotea Wilhelm. There are no documents listing a date of marriage for the Eckerdts, but they were supposedly married by the Lutheran pastor from nearby Rosenheim parish sometime between 1885 and 1890. Their first child, Alexander Eckerdt, was born on October 1, 1990.

Some years later, Eckerdt was described by acquaintance Fred Gorr as a "pretty good carpenter," so he may have pursued that kind of work upon his return to Schwed. However, Gorr also remembered that at some point, Conrad Eckerdt worked at a flour mill for an uncle named Kriegel.

In January of 1892, Conrad and Maria had their second child -- Dora. There are no documents to substantiate it, but family hearsay indicates that Maria Dorotea died giving birth to her daughter.

So Conrad was left to raise his two young children alone. But at some point between 1892 and 1900, he remarried. His new bride was the widow Helena (Lena) Neuwirth, who also had a son, Henry. Conrad and Lena remained in Schwed for the next few years before packing up and leaving Russia in early 1905, headed for America. They made their way to Bremen, Germany – probably by train – and then sailed from Bremen on March 29, 1905, destined for the United States.

There are lingering family stories that some of the colonists from Schwed -- like so many immigrants at the turn of the 20th century -- were not allowed to enter the United States because of “pink eye,” but that was not the case for the Eckerdts.

They arrived in Galveston, Texas, on April 20th aboard a ship of the “Missler” line. Arrival documents indicated that their destination was Denver and that “Dorothea Schneider, 18,” accompanied the family. She was listed as a niece to Conrad Eckerdt.

Peter & Dora Miller
Wedding photograph
March 21, 1909

Marie (Miller) Derrick, a granddaughter to Conrad Eckerdt, remembered being told that the family was met in Galveston by an unnamed uncle, who escorted them to Longmont, Colorado. It was there that Conrad would would find work in the sugar beet fields of Boulder County. And it was also where young Dora Eckerdt would meet another “Volga Deutsch” immigrant, Peter Miller. They married on March 21, 1909. He was 23 years old. She was 21.

According to the Longmont Call newspaper, Pete and Dora were married at the Longmont City Hall, which served as the temporary worship site for the Evangelical Peace Lutheran congregation organized in 1907 under the leadership of Rev. Wm. I. Busch. It was Pastor Busch who married the couple. Pete and Dora's first child, Marie, was born in December of 1909, and they soon moved to Chicago, Illinois.

Alex & Marian Eckerdt
2006 - Au Gres, Michigan

Conrad and Lena Eckerdt remained in Longmont, however. Just two years after his daughter had married, Conrad Eckerdt, who suffered from diabetes, succumbed to heart disease and died. It was December 26, 1911.

His obituary in the Longmont Ledger of December 29,1911, said “Mr. Eckerdt was a Russian by birth. He was not feeling well and was going to the depot to take a train for Denver to see if he could get relief, when he was taken down. Friends took him in a carriage to go to his home, but he died on the way.”

Conrad Eckerdt was just 52 years old when he died.

His widow, Lena, would eventually move east, settling in Michigan., where numerous Eckerdt and Neuwirth descendants continue to live. At right are Alex Eckerdt, Jr. and his wife Marian, whom we had the great pleasure of meeting during a visit to Michigan in the fall of 2006. Alex is a grandson of Conrad Eckerdt.

Reaching across the sea -- finding a cousin?

2010-09-28T22:13:00.004-07:00

In recent weeks, we've had the good fortune to make contact with a lady in Reutlingen, Germany, who may very well be a "cousin" to our Miller clan from western Nebraska.

Lydia Leis, who works as a translator, writes us that her family emigrated from Kazakhstan to Germany in 1991. Her great-grandparents were Johan Friedrich and Elizabeth (Steinbrecher) Miller. Both were born in our ancestral village of Unterdorf on the "bergseite" of the Volga in 1869.

While there is no picture of Elizabeth, we were delighted that Lydia forwarded us this undated photograph of her great-grandfather, Johann Friedrich Miller. Johan's father was Philip Miller, but there is no additional information about him.

Lydia's charts show that Johan and Elizabeth Miller had six children: Eva, born in Unterdorf in 1895; Peter, born in Unterdorf in 1897; Alexander, born in 1902; David, born in 1904; Heinrich, born in Unterdorf in 1906; and Friedrich, also born in Unterdorf, but with no listed date of death. David was Lydia's grandfather. He married Rosalia Stenger, who was born in Baku, Aberbajan, located on the west side of the Caspian Sea. Both David and Rosalia Miller died in 1980 -- her place of death is listed as Zelinograd, Kazakhstan.

David and Rosalia had two children: Leo, born in Unterdorf, and a daughter whom they named Rosalia. She was born in Kazakhstan, so the family may well have been displaced there during or prior to World War Two, but we can't be certain. Perhaps Lydia will share this information with us if and when it is available.

Lydia Leis was also kind enough to send us a photograph of her grandfather, David Miller. His older sister, Eva (Miller) Bornhoef, is with him in the photo, and we've posted it in our Miller Gallery. Eva died in Germany in 1977.

We are hopeful that further examination of family records and photographs might allow us to learn more about the Miller families of Unterdorf. There were several, and we suspect that most of them were related. Only time -- with avid research, and a bit of luck -- will tell.

Remembering "Uncle Hank"

2010-06-03T13:43:00.005-07:00

Henry Miller was born August 31, 1913, while the Miller family lived in Chicago. Before he was old enough to enter school, the family moved to Watertown, South Dakota, where Hank probably began school. However, it’s likely that his most formative years were growing up in the Scottsbluff area.

Pete and Dora lived at several location in “the valley,” and that’s where they lived as son Hank became a teenager. Although we don’t know, he may well have endured the kind of anxiety that many youngsters have when they’re uprooted from family and friends. Although the distance from the Scottsbluff to Whitney is not that far – in the late 1920s it was a formidable distance. Too, there were numerous aunts, uncles and cousins in Scottsbluff. Most likely, this was not a move that pleased Hank

By the time Pete and Dora settled north of Whitney, Hank was about 14 years old. By all accounts, he was a gregarious and fun-loving youngster. His brother Fred – who was about 10 years younger than Hank – remembers a time when a group of Whitney fellows were having a card party at Claude Stewart’s house, next to where the old Post Office was at the main intersection in Whitney. Among the group were Ralph Grant, Claude Stewart, Al Schmechel and his father-in-law, as well as Hank. It seems the group ran out of beer and “…they elected Hank to run to Crawford to get a case of beer.” On the trip back, so the story goes, Hank swerved to miss a mule by the road, and his car tipped over onto its side. Not injured, Hank sent word on to Whitney with a passing motorist. When the fellows arrived to help, Hank was sitting on top of the car drinking the beer.

Hank didn’t date girls much, according to his brother Fred. However, at some poinet in the early 1930s, he and Clarence Connell became acquainted with the three Field sisters, whose father was a railroad section foreman at Horn, north of Crawford. Clarence ended up marrying Mary Field, and – much to the surprise of many – Hank began dating Leora Field. Brother Fred recalls that Hank and Leora were planning to get married, when a horrible accident changed everything.

It was one day in about 1936 when Leonard “Red” Schmell approached Hank and asked him if he’d tighten the rods in Schmell's old Chevrolet. Hank agreed, and they headed to the grain elevator, where there was a hoist.

This was an air hoist that was used to help off-load wheat from trucks. The vehicles would drive in and the front wheels would set up on a platform, and a little air compressor would raise the truck and dump the wheat.. They put Schmell’s car on the hoist so Hank could get under the car and complete the work.

“He was just about done with it, and he crawled down under there, and that hoist came down on him – broke his back,” remembers Fred Miller.

Hank Miller would never walk again. He was 22 years old. He called off the wedding.

For some years, Hank was able to get around a bit on crutches, but he essentially spent the rest of his life in bed or in a wheel chair. For 20 years after the accident, Hank lived with his parents. With their passing, he lived for some time with his brother John and family in Chadron, before moving to the nursing home in Chadron. That is where he lived for the final years of his life.

Surely there were moments of anguish and despair, but Hank didn’t wear those emotions on his sleeve. He would often get out and about to family picnics and other gatherings and displayed a quiet but wry sense of humor.

Hank also found a place as a “fix-it” handyman at the nursing home. Since his days as a teenager, he had been interested in radios. His friendship with Bob Galloway, another Whitney resident who was an amateur radio operator, would lead to a life-long interest in shortwave radio listening.

Hank Miller died in Chadron, Nebraska on March 12, 1984. Like both his mother and father, he was 71 years old when he died.

Here's the scoop: Miller family reunion planned

2010-04-10T21:55:00.019-07:00

From California and Texas to Washington and the Dakotas, Miller Family members will be congregating next year for the first family reunion we've had since the 1980s......and you're invited! Of course, we're also hoping to see cousins from Alaska, Kentucky, Michigan, and elsewhere.

Mark your calendars for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 24-25-26 of 2011. Tentatively, we've planned for the reunion to focus on Wilson Park in Chadron, although we can easily shift the site to either Fort Robinson State Park or Chadron State Park. Both are within 30 minutes of Wilson Park. And it's just a stone's throw away from the village of Whitney, Nebraska, long-time home to Pete and Dora Miller, our German-Russian ancestors who were directly responsible for most of us being here!

It was mostly our moms and dads and a few cousins that gathered in Chadron, Nebraska for the last reunion at Wilson Park in Chadron more than two decades ago -- so we're due!

This will be a wonderful chance for "cousins" to get together to meet and get reacquainted with relatives not seen for many years. Sharing photos, memories and stories will be punctuated with lots of fun things to do for the entire family in the beautiful "Pine Ridge" region of northwest Nebraska.

While details are not yet in place, we ask that you mark JUNE 24-25-26, 2011 on your calendars, and start making plans now to join in this celebration of family.

Importantly, if you can offer ideas and suggestions for this reunion, please let us hear from you. Just e-mail us with comments, questions, etc. We're in the process of gathering names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of all our Miller relatives. Please send your information (and that of any others who might be interested in the reunion) to cousin Pete Miller in Metaline Falls, Washington or cousin Larry Miller in Spearfish, South Dakota.

We'll soon be posting information about camping and lodging facilities in the Chadron/Whitney/Fort Robinson area, along with phone numbers and web sites where you can get further details.

We'll post more reunion information on this site in the weeks and months to come, so please check back from time to time!

"Cousins" reunited in 1979

2010-01-30T13:27:00.012-07:00

While we’re tempted to say this was a gathering of German-Russian “cousins” – and a couple of them are – there’s really a mixture of relationships reflected in this August 1979 photograph.

It was taken at the home of Katie (Steinbrecher) Behm in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Shown left-to-right are: Pauline (Behm) Greenhalgh, Marie (Behm) Hergenrader, Marie (Miller) Derrick, and Katie (Steinbrecher) Behm. Click on the photo to see a slightly larger image, or visit our Miller Gallery.

Pauline and Marie – both born in Unterdorf, Russia – were the daughters of Pete and Eva (Miller) Behm. Marie (Miller) Derrick was a cousin to Pauline and Marie. She was born in Longmont, Colorado to Pete and Dora (Eckerdt) Miller. Pete Miller and Eva (Miller) Behm were siblings. At right is Katherine “Katie” (Steinbrecher) Behm, who was married to Alex Behm, an older brother to Pauline and Marie – shown on the left here. So…..Katie was a sister-in-law to Pauline and Marie (Behm), and a wife of the first cousin to Marie (Miller) Behm.

Confused? So were we for a while, but it’s finally beginning to make sense after all these years!

Sisters Pauline and Marie Behm were both born in Unterdorf, Russia. Marie was born in October 1901, some five years before the family chose to emigrate to the United States. By late 1906, the family was settled in Longmont, Colorado, where sister Eva (Behm) Lei was born in March of 1908. But within two years, Pete and Eva Behm pulled up stakes and returned to Unterdorf, and that’s where their daughter Pauline was born. By late 1911, they chose to return once more to the United States.

Such migration was surely a formidable task, even in the best of times. But we believe that Behm’s were not a well-to-do family, which makes their adventures all the more remarkable.

Remembering...

2009-12-01T01:00:00.001-07:00

Pete Miller visiting the gravesite of his dad, Fred Miller, in late June of 2009 in a cemetery near Metaline, Washington. Born in Bayard, Nebraska in 1923, Fred died four years ago this month (12/05) at his home in Metaline Falls. Eighteen months later, his only surviving sibling -- Pauline -- passed away in Texas. They were the last two of the 11 children born to Peter and Dora Miller. Our on-line Miller family charts list other members of this German-Russian family and some of their ancestors.

Meeting Molly - born in Unterdorf!

2009-10-13T11:56:00.009-07:00

One of the exciting prospects for learning more about our Miller family migration from Germany to Russia – then to North America – came last summer, when we had a chance to meet Molly Miller Both. It was during a trip to Washington state to visit family in the Metaline Falls and Seattle areas.

One of the few remaining “Miller” family descendants to be born in the Volga-Russian village of Unterdorf, Molly now lives in Marysville, just north of Seattle. While Molly and I had corresponded a few times over the past decade, we were unable to establish a firm link between our families.

However, with fewer than 100 families living in Unterdorf at the beginning of the 1900s, and with both families named Miller, it seems likely that there is a connection. While there’s still no documentation that confirms such a linkage, some aggressive sleuthing in the weeks and months ahead may well uncover something. At least, that’s our belief, and we’re proceeding optimistically.

Molly Miller was born in January of 1926 in Unterdorf, Russia, her family having survived the political upheavals and famine that cursed the Volga region in the early 20th century. That's Molly on the right, when she was about four years old. Our patriarch of the Miller line in western Nebraska, Peter Miller, was born in Unterdorf in 1886 – some 40 years earlier. By the time Molly was born in 1926, Peter and Dora (Eckerdt) Miller were in the North Platte River valley region of the Nebraska panhandle. Chances are, they were making plans or were already on their way to a new home in Whitney. Molly’s family would migrate to Canada, where she grew up, later meeting and marrying Nick Both.

Molly is convinced that our Miller families are related, and I agree. But we’re still searching for the proof.

Until we discover that elusive document, we delight in discovering a new “cousin.” Our visit with Molly and Nick Both at their home in Marysville was a joy, and it was a bonus to meet a few other other members of their family. Much to our delight, Molly also agreed to a short video interview, which we did on the spot!

One of the rewards of genealogy is bringing together long lost relatives. Even if those elusive documents confirming such a kinship are never uncovered, we’re so pleased to meet one of the few remaining “Unterdorfers” -- a lady we’d be proud to call “family.”

Surviving the Titanic

2009-08-02T13:24:00.005-07:00

More than 10 years before the White Star Steamship Line launched the SS Titanic in 1912 for its destiny with an iceberg in the North Pacific, White Star built another vessel that was the biggest steamship at the time.

Like the Titanic, the SS Celtic was built in the Harland & Wolf shipyards in Belfast. With twin screws, it was twice as long as a football field and her displacement was more than 20,900 tons – more than any other steamship. Celtic was launched in 1901 and would provide long and significant service to her owners.

Our interest in knowing more about the SS Celtic emerged some years ago when I learned that my grandfather, Peter Miller, voyaged to the new world aboard the Celtic – likely in steerage, but aboard her, nonethess.

The year was 1906, and Pete Miller was traveling with his older sister, Eva Behm, and her family from Liverpool to New York City. They’d likely already endured a long train ride from Saratov, Russia to a port on the Baltic – then probably gaining passage on a ship to England. They all had made the collective decision to leave their homes in Unterdorf, Russia, not far from the Volga River, to find new lives in America.

They arrived at Ellis Island on September 30, 1906 and would make their way to Longmont, Colorado. Eventually, the Behms would settle in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Pete Miller met Dora Eckerdt in Longmont, where they were wed in 1909, later moving to Chicago, then Watertown, South Dakota, before settling in the Nebraska panhandle, where they raised their family and spent the rest of their lives.

As for the SS Celtic: she survived well beyond the Titanic disaster. The Celtic was particularly noted for her steadiness in rough weather. In 1928 she was converted to a cabin class liner; shortly thereafter, she ran aground in the fog near the entrance to Queensland Harbor in Australia, ending her seagoing days. She was converted to scrap in 1933.

A "mini" reunion of Millers

2009-06-28T19:37:00.001-07:00

It was a few years back -- in June of 2006 -- that three Miller cousins got together in the City Park at Spearfish, South Dakota, for something of a "mini-reunion."

Left-to-right are: Pete Miller of Metaline Falls, Washington, son of Fred and Charlotte Miller; Jeanette Miller Gleed of Rapid City, South Dakota, oldest daughter of Alex and Mildred Miller; Connie Miller Merchen of Rapid City, South Dakota, middle daughter of Alex and Mildred Miller; and Larry Miller of Spearfish, South Dakota, younger son of John and Lettie Miller.

The last large gathering of this Miller family was in Chadron, Nebraska in 1985. Or was it 1988? Or....? Perhaps we're due for another one, eh?

Millers find a home in the Pend Oreille

2009-06-23T09:17:00.003-07:00

Pete and Dora (Eckerdt) Miller came to the United States from Russia and were married in Longmont, Colorado in 1909. They ultimately chose Whitney, Nebraska, as their home, but their children would make their homes in other locales -- ranging from Wyoming and Arizona to Washington and Texas.

We've visited most of these places and must confess that we've become especially smitten with one of them.

The beautiful Pend Oreille River Valley north of Spokane, Washington, is home to many of Pete and Dora's descendants.

In the photograph above is their grandson, "Pete" Miller and his wife, Judy, who guided us up to this overlook above Metaline Falls, Washington, which they've called home most of their lives -- and the place they chose to raise their family. Pete's brothers, Wayne and Charlie, aren't far away, and their sister Jean and family live just to the south in Spokane. Their mother, Charlotte Miller, still lives in the family home nestled on a hill above the river. Pete's cousin Albert "Mike" Miller and his wife, Cheryl, live in nearby Ione.

It's easy to see why two of Pete and Dora's sons -- Fred and Albert -- chose to settle in this region after they left military service following World War II. There's nowhere in the country any more beautiful, and it's hard to imagine a better place to raise kids.

I suspect that if Pete and Dora Miller were to peek down from above today, they'd find great joy in seeing the wonderful lives many of their descendants have found in this part of the country. It's a far cry from the wind-swept plains along the Volga River where they grew up. I think they'd be very pleased.

A family death....a family gathering

2009-06-06T11:22:00.005-07:00

One of our favorite photographs, this shot was taken in Whitney, Nebraska. We earlier thought it was taken when Dora Miller died in February of 1963; however, cousin Bruce Miller in California suggests it was more likely in June of 1957, upon the death Pete Miller. Grandma and Grandpa Miller had moved from the irrigation company "ditch house" near the railroad depot in Whitney to the small house just north of the Post Office, then on the northwest corner of the intersection of Division and Missouri Streets. The Post Office is just to the right and out of view in this photograph. .

In this photograph are three of Pete and Dora's sons; left-to-right are: Alex Miller of Lusk, Wyoming; John Miller of Chadron, Nebraska; Louis Bird of Houston, Texas; and Fred Miller of Metaline Falls, Washington. Louis Bird was married to Pete and Dora's fourth daughter, Bertha.

In the background on the left, the tops of both the old lumber yard and the Baldwin building are visible.

A place named Unterdorf

2009-01-03T21:39:00.008-07:00

Early in my genealogical research, I was confronted with the sad fact that our family surname, Miller, is about as generic a name as you'll find within the German language. Many folks have speculated that our name was originally Muller (probably with an umlaut), and that's likely accurate, although there's no verification one way or the other. Miller, Muller, and Mueller are all surname candidates!

My grandfather, Peter Miller, was born in Unterdorf, Russia in 1886. When I was able to verify that information, I was ecstatic. When I learned that Katie Behm, the wife of my grandfather's nephew, Alex Behm, had created a map of Unterdorf, I was excited at the prospect of learning exactly where my grandfather had lived in the "old country."

Alas, while I guess I had known it, I conveniently overlooked the reality that every family seemed to name their boys the same: Pete, Alex, John, Henry, Fred, etc. There was not a lot of variety. Thus, with so many Miller families in Unterdorf, I haven't been able to pin down exactly where my grandfather lived before migrating to the United States with his older sister, Eva (Miller) Behm, and her family in 1906.

While I've not been able to update it much over the past year or so, I have expectations of significantly enhancing my Unterdorf website in coming months. Of course, that's done largely through the benevolence of people like you -- folks who may have new information about this small village not far from the Volga in Russia and the families that lived there.

Shown above is a contemporary aerial photo of the Unterdorf region. For the many years that I've been tracking the Peter Miller and Dora (Eckerdt) Miller families, I've had hopes of one day setting foot on the same soil that Grandpa Miller walked. With each passing year, that becomes less likely, but I've not given up hope. And perhaps by the time I make the trek, I'll know more about this little village and the circumstances that drove its citizenry to seek opportunities in the "new world."

The Millers in the Windy City

2008-12-15T17:44:00.007-07:00

From about 1910 until about 1918, Peter and Dora Miller and their young children lived on the near north side of Chicago, Illinois.

In 1978, while attending a meeting in Chicago, I hired a cab to take me to 4504 N. Kasson Avenue, where -- according to their oldest daughter Marie -- the family had lived. Since the Miller's were not wealthy, I fully expected to find a run down neighborhood -- or perhaps a parking lot or new building.

Much to my surprise, this was the home that I found at that address. It was an older but very nice neighborhood, and I took several pictures. Still thinking that I might have written down the wrong address, I was eager to see what aunt Marie said. It was quite a delight to see her face light up when she saw the photographs. She acknowledged that there had been modification to the structure, but there was no doubt in her mind that this was the place!

Four of the Miller children were born in Chicago: Alex, Henry, Caroline and John. I was delighted to add this to my sparse collection of Miller ancestor photographs.

She does it again!

2008-11-03T23:06:00.005-07:00

Not realizing that he might be entering a world surrounded by art, John Miller kneels down on his San Diego, California, patio to show off a beautiful painting created by sister Linetha Davis of Madill, Oklahoma.

It was a surprise gift for John’s 70th birthday, but wife Cheryl has already laid claim to at least partial ownership of the piece, since she first saw a photograph of the scene on the web many months ago. It's a South Dakota barn on the north edge of Spearfish.

They’ll just have to share!

The oil painting is the latest out of Davis Gallery in Madill, where Linetha lives with her rancher husband, Bruce. She took up painting seriously in just the last year or two, and she’s been doing a remarkable job – winning awards and selling her work. You can see some of her many other offerings at the Davis Gallery website.

Thanks, Sis!

2008-06-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

Pete and Dora Miller moved to the northwest Nebraska village of Whitney in 1927. For a half century, they lived there and raised their family there. Today, there are no Miller or Miller descendants in Whitney or Dawes County, but this little community still tugs at our heartstrings and conjures up lots of memories. In the last few years, I've started a web site, Whitney Reflections, that tries to tell the remarkable story about the people who started this community and helped it thrive for many years. And that's why I was truly touched when my sister, Linetha, presented me with a wonderful painting of the Whitney water tower for my birthday.

The tower still stands on the south edge of Whitney and remains something of a landmark for this little village that has a very interesting history. I can think of no birthday present I've ever had that has given me any more pleasure. Thanks, Linetha!

Unveiling the Mystery of 99 Years

2008-03-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

SHE was born in 1892 in Schwed, Russia, in the "Wiesenseite (meadow side)" area of the Volga river valley. HE was born four years earlier -- in 1886 -- down river and on the other side of the Volga in the "Bergseite (hilly side)" village of Unterdorf.

Much of this lower Volga region was inhabited by Germans who'd been there since shortly after Catherine the Great became empress in 1762; in the following year she issued a manifesto inviting Germans and many other Europeans to help populate the outlying reaches of the empire.

Despite their close proximity in the old country, Dora Eckerdt and Peter Miller were not to meet until after the turn of the century, when they migrated with their families to the United States. Peter landed at Ellis Island with his older sister, Eva Behm, and her family. Dora came by way of Galveston with her father and stepmother.

They both ended up in Longmont, Colorado, where they met and then married in 1909. For more information about Pete and Dora Miller and their family, visit the Galey & Miller Family History site.

The photograph above is one of the few of Pete and Dora in their younger years. Taken on March 21, 1909, this wedding picture has been a fun topic of conversation for many years. Their daughter, Marie (Miller) Derrick, first told us the story that had been shared with her by her mother.

And what was that topic? The lovely veil worn by the bride -- before it adorned the young Mrs. Miller's bridal gown -- had been a window curtain!

A lovely veil, by any other name, is still a lovely veil. For a few other Miller family pictures, click here.

A Dakota Reunion

2007-08-25T08:41:00.000-07:00

Reunions are always fun -- but this one was particularly special for the Savage family. Shawn Savage returned home to Rapid City on July 27, 2007. He was greeted by his wife, Dori and their two boys, Dylan (left) and Austin (right). Shawn had been deployed to Al Udeid, Qatar for six months -- part of the support team for B-1 bombers based at Ellsworth Air Force Base. Reflecting on this photograph, I can't help but think of how proud Dori's parents and grandparents Derrick would be of this fine looking family! Dori (Derrick) Savage is a granddaughter of Marie (Miller) and Bill Derrick.

Goodbye to a Favorite Aunt

2007-06-25T10:03:00.001-07:00

In the early 1940s, a wide-eyed teenaged girl from western Nebraska set out on a journey south that would transform her life. And six decades later, we say good-bye to Pauline Murray, who passed away Friday, June 8, 2007, in Vidor, Texas. Slight of stature for as far back as I can remember, I am told she was unable to bounce back from an ear infection and a serious case of pneumonia. She was 79 years old.

I was a pre-schooler when Pauline Miller took off for Texas. She was the youngest surviving member of my dad's siblings -- all first generation Americans of German-Russian parents who came to this country shortly after the turn of the century. I don't remember Pauline from her Nebraska years -- only a few infrequent visits that she made back to Whitney, Nebraska to visit my grandparents while they were still alive. The photograph here was taken when Pauline was 16 years old.

It wasn't until the 1990s that I really got to know aunt Pauline. By that time, she had married, raised her family of four children, divorced, and re-married. Karen and I were living in Mississippi, but it wasn't far from the east Texas town of Vidor -- just outside Beaumont -- where Pauline lived most of her adult life. So we had an opportunity to stop and visit them a couple of times.

What a delight those visits were! Not only did I get to see Aunt Pauline, but I also was able to finally get better acquainted with most of my Texas cousins, whom I'd never really known. Paulette required special care outside the home, and I've not met her. However, I have gotten to know Mike, Sharon and Linda and several of their children.

Like most families, their lives have been challenging, rewarding, sorrowful and joyful. It was telling for me that after her divorce from Olen Pollock, aunt Pauline and Oren found a civility with one another that served the family well. Pauline later married Mitchell Murray -- a very good match!

I believe it was her strength of character and Christian faith that kept the family close. She told me after Mitch died, that she found great solace and joy in having her children near and so supportive of her and -- just as importantly -- one another. They have helped each other through good times and bad, and they were there for their mother as she ended her stay on earth.

Grandma Miller was surely looking down and saying, "Well done, my loving daughter."