I Say Miller, You Say Muller

I'm hot on the trail of relatives on my Miller line. Charles Miller, aka Karl Müller was my great-grandfather. Sister Catherine Seaman's Bixenman family history book lists his siblings as brother Gottlieb, who was partner with a man named George Quenzer in a clothes cleaning and dying business in New York City, Annie, who married a man named Frederick Quenzer, who was involved in a clothes cleaning and dying business in New York City, Sophia, who married a man named Joseph Schmalzl, who owned a clothes cleaning business in New York City and Rika (possibly Fredrika), who married a man whose last name was Susenberger. The name of one of the brothers is unknown. There were a few Quenzer brothers involved in clothes cleaning businesses in New York at the time.

The Müller siblings. Charles is front center. The rest, in unknown order are Gottlieb, Annie, Sophia and Rika. The name of one brother is unknown.

1915 Polk New York Corporations Directory

I found Gottlieb in the 1900 US Federal Census with wife Rebeca and children Katherine (3 years old) and Bertha (9 months old), in the 1905 New York State Census with wife Rebeca and children Katie (8 years old), Bertha (5 years old) and Harold (3 months old) and in the 1910 US Federal Census with wife Rebeca 42 years old, daughters Catherine (12 years old) and Bertha (10 years old) and son Harold T. (5 years old), and in the 1920 census, Gottlieb with wife Rebeca and children Catherine (22 years old, a high school teacher), Bertha (20 years old, a clerk), and Harold (14 years old, attending high school) and finally in the 1930 US census, it appears that Rebeca had passed away and Gottlieb remarried. It lists him with wife Selma and son Harold, 25 years old. It lists Harold as a subway engineer.

I found the birth record for Harold Theodore Muller on March 5, 1905 to parents Gottlieb Müller and mother Rebeca Pieneng at Family Search.


I found the obituary of Major Harold T. Muller, who died in 1974. It states he was born in Brooklyn in 1905. The problem is that it says his father was Edwin Muller.

I sent a letter to someone who I tracked down to apparently be his grandson

The 1930 census when he was 25 years old lists him as a subway engineer. His obituary says he joined Troop K of the State Police in 1928. However, it also says he served until his retirement except for the years 1929-1931. Could these two gentlemen be the same person? Could he have left the Police force for a short time and worked on the subway? I don't know.

If you are the person I sent the letter to, I'd like to speak with someone in your family that knows a bit about your family history. I believe we are related. I look forward to hearing from you! Edit: I received my letter back as undeliverable. I know they're out there. I just need to find out how to contact them.

--Edit
Now, since first posting this entry, I've continued to do some more research and I've broken through the Miller brick wall! I found the death record for Gottlieb Muller here: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WL7-DWG and it lists his parents names as Gottlieb Muller and Anna Marie Liebrich! His Find-A-Grave memorial is here: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Muller&GSiman=1&GScid=159046&GRid=117366027& . I'll be hunting them down over the next few weeks and will post when I learn more! In the meantime, time for the genealogical happy dance!

--Matt