A Look Back at 2019 and a Look Ahead to 2020

2020 is well underway. I hope you and I have a great year with lots of walls tumbling down. With the new year, it's always good to look back at the previous year and remember things we discovered, things we learned and things we can improve on.

In 2019, my biggest genealogical achievement was the discovery of the marriage record of the parents of my great-grandmother, Elizabeth Dunzinger. I already knew her father's name and his marriage record gave me her mother's name, along with her mother's parents' names, which were a complete mystery to me. This discovery gave me my great-great-grandmother, Anna Ziegelmueller and her parents Paul Ziegelmueller and Victoria Seefried.

Veteran's Day - Leo Miller World War I Service

Just in time for Veteran's Day, I've found the first information about my grandfather, Leo Henry Miller's military service during World War I. I already had the picture, medal and draft registration card but I've finally found a couple of real bits of detail.

Here is a picture of Leo around the time of his high school graduation, which was just a few years before the start of the war. His Great War Victory Medal was hung on his photo as shown here, in our home while I was growing up.

John Anthony Miller Delayed Birth Certificate

You may remember, in this post, I mentioned that I found the birth certificates for the brothers and sisters of my parents but, for some reason I could not find the birth certificates for my mom and dad. I did a search on Ancestry and saw an entry for my dad, John Anthony Miller in the Iowa Delayed Birth Certificates collection. I took a look and there it was. I find several interesting things on this certificate. You'll note that I blurred out information about a living individual and about the address we lived at at the time.

Memorial Day - WWII Draft Registration Cards

MyHeritage.com and Fold3 are currently offering free access to military records through Memorial Day, May 27, 2019. Definitely go see if you can find military records for the soldiers and sailors in your family tree! I did a quick search on Fold3 and found the World War II draft registration cards for a lot of my Panther relations. These are full color scans, front and back, of the original cards my relatives filled out, including notes written on them later. These include those of typical military service and draft age, along with the "Old Man" draft registrations of those who were born between 1887 and 1897. Here are a few I found.

Biography of Leo Henry Miller

I barely knew my grandfather, Leo Miller. He passed away when I was in my single digits in age. My family traveled to the area he lived about once per year. During those visits we spent most of our time with my mother's family since we had many cousins around our age on that side of the family and only a few on my father's side. Since starting my genealogy hobby, I've slowly learned more about him and now feel I know a lot about his life, although there are many details still missing, such as details about his military service and the interactions that had to be tense regarding the home he lived in much of his adult life. Here's what I know.

Spur of the Moment Trip to Iowa

My wife and I decided to drive to southeast Iowa at the last minute. While there, I decided to stop by the Fort Madison public library to see if I could find the obituary for my great-grandmother, Philomena Bixenman Miller. When I found it, I looked for others I may have overlooked previously. Would you believe that I didn't have the obituary for any of my Miller grandparents or great-grandparents? We also made it over to Carthage, Illinois to look for records and look around the town. Here's a time-lapse video I took of the Carthage Jail while looking at records at the Hancock County Historical Society:

Old Miller and Doran Photos Scanned

I'll take this moment to remind you of the importance of scanning in your old family photos, especially if you don't know who they are! A cousin of mine had several old family photos, several of which she didn't know who was in the photo and one just made my day when I saw it. Here they are.

First, does anyone know who the lady in the fur collar is? The closest resemblance I can find is Grand-Aunt Crescence Miller. Crescence is shown in the hat. Are these two fashionable ladies the same person?

Known photo of Crescence Miller

Is this fashionable young lady also Crescence?

Biography of Thomas Doran

There are three Tom Dorans in my family tree. This is the story of my great-grandfather.

Nancy Doran had come to America from Ireland some time in the previous ten years but did not arrive with the rest of her family. In 1850 she was living with her parents, brothers and sisters in Havorford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. Her occupation was listed as weaver. Nancy was an unwed mother when Tom was born somewhere between 1853 and 1859, likely in Brooklyn, New York.

The Death of 17 Month Old T. Patrick Miller

In this article, I described my search for information regarding the death of T. Patrick Miller, son of Leo and Julia Doran Miller. I had tried searching through property records of their home to determine where and how he may have died. In the Bixenman family history book by Sister Catherine Seeman, it was said that he died at 2 years old by drowning in a pond on the property.

During my most recent trip to Fort Madison, Lee County, Iowa, I visited the genealogy department of the Fort Madison library. While there, I was able to track down his obituary. When I found the index card, I didn't know I had found it. This is because the obituary was for Thomas Patrick Miller. I had been looking for Anthony Patrick Miller. I figured it was worth a look at the obituary just to be sure.

Father's Day - yDNA Male Miller Ancestors

In honor of Father's Day, I'm posting my yDNA, which is my direct male line, my father's father's father's etc... showing my direct male Miller ancestors.

First Generation
 1. John Anthony Miller  "Jack" was born on 16 Jun 1929 in Fort Madison, Lee, Iowa. He died on 21 Jan 2000 in Columbus, Platte County, Nebraska. He was buried on 25 Jan 2000 in St. Bonaventure Catholic Cemetery in Columbus, Platte County, Nebraska. 

John Anthony Miller - First Communion - about 1936

Veteran's Day 2015

Today is Veteran's Day. In honor of this day, I'm posting a few things about my dad's and my grandfather's military service.

While I don't know much about my grandfather, Leo Henry Miller's military service, I know he received a service medal for The Great War For Civilization.

Leo Henry Miller - Medal for The Great War For Civilization

 I know this photo is not a military photo but it is the only portrait I have of him close to his time in the service. This photo and this medal hung on the wall in our living room while I was growing up.

Sadie Rose and Hubert Kelly Doran

A reader posted a comment asking about Hubert K. Doran so I thought I'd post what I have about him and his wife.

Hubert Kelly Doran was born 25 Jan 1887 in Missouri to Thomas and Mary Ann Kelly Doran. He was one of nine children, seven of whom lived to adulthood. His siblings were Kathryn (b. 13 Nov 1882 in Hancock County, Illinois), Maurice Michael (b. 10 Sep 1883 in Bloomfield, Davis County, Iowa), an unnamed child (b. 1884 in Bloomfield, Davis County, Iowa), Mamie E. (b.24 Mar 1889 in Fort Madison, Lee County, Iowa), Julia Cecelia (my grandmother) (b. 1 Mar 1891 in New Boston, Lee County, Iowa), Nellie Margaret (b. 29 Jan 1897 in Fort Madison, Lee County, Iowa), Leo (b. Apr 1899 and died 15 Aug 1900 in Lee County, Iowa) and Cecelia (b. 23 Jul 1901 in Fort Madison, Lee County, Iowa).

Biography of Benedict Bixenman

Benedict Bixenman was born on March 21, 1829 in Treherz, Donaukreis, Wurtemburg, now a part of Germany, to 40 year old Eusebius Bixenman and his wife, 31 year old Maria Anna (Reidmiller) Bixenman. His parents had already had five other children, at least three of which were still living at the time. They were Joseph, if he was still alive, who would have been 9 years old. and 8 year old Francesca. We only know the birth date and nothing further about these two. It's possible they died prior to Benedict's birth. The rest of the children were 6 year old Johannes, 5 year old Theresa and 3 year old Leopold.

 

Benedict Bixenman's baptismal record from the church book in Treherz

Father's Day - 1940 Census

My father passed away in January, 2000. The next summer, I attended the family reunion of my mother's side of the family. While there, I spoke with my uncle, Al Dohman. He was the husband of my mother's sister. He wanted to be sure that I knew that he and my father were good friends. I thanked him for his kind words and said that I hadn't realized how good of friends they were. He mentioned that they were friends for a very long time.

Al passed away in 2011.

In 2012, the 1940 US Federal Census was released. I searched through it to find my parents, grandparents and all my various aunts and uncles. During my search, I found my father, living with his parents, Leo and Julia Miller, at 1545 Avenue L, Fort Madison, Lee County, Iowa.

Memorial Day

It is Memorial Day weekend. Be sure to take advantage of Ancestry's offer of free military lookups! You can find it here: http://www.ancestry.com/cs/us/memorialday2014.

You will need to sign in to Ancestry to view the records but you can do this with a free account. Enter your search parameters. As always, start with a more wide search. Put more details in if you get too many results.