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MUELLER FAMILY HISTORY
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The name Mueller, of course, means "miller." Several centuries ago surnames began to be used to differentiate one Wilhelm from another, one Johann from another, etc. Sometimes place names were used, such as Steinberg, which means stone mountain. Often occupations names were used, such as miller, farmer (Bauer), tailor (Schneider), etc. Apparently then, we can assume that sometime in the past, our ancestors, or at least one very significant ancestor, worked as a miller. Since every community needed a source of flour, there were many millers, and the name arose all over the German-speaking lands. Today it is the single most common German name.

One other thing that should be said here about names is that the German people often gave their children several "given" names, any one of which might have been used as the "calling" name. For example, Johann Friedrich Christian Mueller was called Friedrich.

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OUR MUELLER FAMILY

Most of the Muellers of our ancestry that I was able to find in the church records were weavers. They lived about 50 miles north of Berlin in the area called Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Each generation seemed to have moved to a new town down the road from the place of their birth. Perhaps each village needed only one weaver.

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JOHANN MUELLER

The earliest Mueller ancestor I've been able to identify so far is the master-weaver Johann Christian Mueller who was married first in Moellenbeck, Mecklenburg-Strelitz
to 1) Anna Charlotte Steinfuehrer who died the day their baby was born, 6 January 1784.
Johann then married 2) Christina Radloff on 6 April 1784 at Moellenbeck.
Johann Mueller appears in records:
- as a weaver in Mollenbeck during the years 1782 - 1787;
- as a weaver and eigentuemer (proprietor) in Neuhof, 1792 - 1801;
- as "Weberamtsmeister" in 1831. I believe that translates to "official master weaver."

    Children, all born in Neuhof:

  1. Johanna Marie Mueller, born 6 January 1784, daughter of Anna; confirmed 1799.

  2. Maria Christina Mueller, born 22 March 1785 baptized 25 March 1785

  3. Johann Joachim Martin Mueller, born 29 August 1787, baptized 3 September 1787, died 22 April 1794. His godfather was Martin Mueller

  4. Hanna Mueller, born 2 January 1790. (Not included in the list from Herr Wacker.)

  5. Johann Friedrich Mueller, born 20 April 1792, baptized 23 April 1792.

  6. Christian Heinrich Erdmann Mueller, born 13 October 1794, baptized 19 October 1794. His godfather was Christian Radloff, worker in Cantnitz (Carwitz?)

  7. Johann Martin Mueller, born 1 April 1797, bapt 8 April 1797, died Jan 1801. His godfather was Martin Mueller, weaver in Dolgen.

  8. Hanna Louise Maria Mueller, born 15 Mar 1799. (Not included in the list from Herr Wacker.)

  9. Joachim Friedrich Theodor Mueller, born 15 May 1801, baptized 21 May 1801. This entry was not found in the LDS microfilms of the church records because, when the records were being micro-filmed, 2 pages were turned at once, and the baptisms of several months cannot be seen. (Murphy's Laws of Genealogy at work here?) Baptism date supplied by Herr M.F. Wacker of Triepkendorf, Germany.

  10. Johann Wilhelm Mueller, born 23 Jun 1804. (Not included in the list from Herr Wacker.)

Big thanks to M.F. Wacker who found and sent information about these Triepkendorf area families!

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Friedrich Mueller

Joachim Friedrich Theodor Mueller,
- born 15 May 1801, Neuhof, Mecklenburg;
- baptized 21 May 1801.
- died 3 January 1881, Laeven,
- married 8 November 1831, Moellenbeck; (at which time he was the 2nd living son of Johann Christian Mueller.)
Maria Christina Bergmann, born about 1809 in Stargard, and youngest daughter of Jacob Bergmann, laborer of Stargard, now Burg Stargard.

    CHILDREN, all born at Laeven:

  1. Updated Wilhelm Carl Johann Mueller born 22 Nov 1833 Laeven, Mecklenburg
    - died 19 April 1914, at Prenzlau, Brandenburg.

  2. Carl Friedrich Adolph Wilhelm Mueller born 23 August 1835 Laeven.
    - died 09 June 1882, Triepkendorf, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Germany

  3. Johann "Friedrich" Christian Mueller born 21 Jan 1839 Laeven
    - died 10 April 1901, Hamilton county, Nebraska, USA.

  4. Updated August Theodor Friedrich Mueller, tailor, born 26 Jan 1842 Laeven
    - died 13 Oct 1916 at Hamburg, Germany

  5. Johann Carl Theodor Mueller born 04 Aug 1846 Laeven.
    died 1 April 1847, Laeven/Triepkendorf.

  6. UpdatedFriedericka Carolina Dorothea Mueller born 15 Jun 1849 Laeven.

  7. Ludwig Carl Friedrich Mueller born 27 Jul 1850 Laeven.
    - died 14 Feb 1922, Buffalo County, Nebraska, USA.

We see here a line of weavers, each of whom moves to the next town, beginning with Johann who married and began his family at Moellenbeck, but lived at Neuhof when his son Friedrich was born in 1801. Friedrich's children were born at Laeven. Some of those children lived and died there, and one of them (Carl) moved to Triepkendorf. But two sons and a grandson left Germany and immigrated to the U.S. Two other sons moved from Laeven; the first son, Wilhelm, was an weaver-turned-innkeeper who remained in Germany, and August, a tailor who settled in Hamburg.

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I. Wilhelm Carl Johann Mueller, born 22 Nov 1833, Laeven, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Germany, confirmed in 1847
- died 19 April 1914, at Prenzlau, Brandenburg
- married 3 Oct 1862, Feldberg Carwitz, Mecklenburg, Germany, to Wilhelmine Henriette Luise Gundlach, born 4 Sept 1835, died 17 Apr 1903, Furstenhagen, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Germany
Wilhelm was a weaver at Furstenhagen until about 1880, when his occupation is shown as "Gastwirt" - innkeeper.
They had 3 daughters:

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II. August Theodor Friedrich Mueller, born 26 Jan 1842 Laeven
- died 13 Oct 1916 at Hamburg, Germany
- married Anna Hinriette Marianne Schuett, born 14 Nov 1850 and died 28 Dec 1911, both in Hamburg, Germany
They had two children:

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VI. Friedericka Carolina Dorothea Mueller
- born 15 June 1849 Laeven, Mecklenburg.
- baptized 08 July 1849, Laeven.
- married 1 November 1872, Laeven
Friedrich Carl Christian Manzel, son of Johann Manzel of Lüttenburg.
- born 23 July 1943, Lüttenburg; died 30 Sept 1917 in Feldberg, Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
They had three children: