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.
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.
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:
- Johanna Marie Mueller, born 6 January 1784, daughter of Anna; confirmed 1799.
- Maria Christina Mueller, born 22 March 1785 baptized 25 March 1785
- Johann Joachim Martin Mueller, born 29 August 1787, baptized 3 September 1787, died 22 April 1794. His godfather was Martin Mueller
- Hanna Mueller, born 2 January 1790. (Not included in the list from Herr Wacker.)
- Johann Friedrich Mueller, born 20 April 1792, baptized 23 April 1792.
- Christian Heinrich Erdmann Mueller, born 13 October 1794, baptized 19 October 1794. His godfather was Christian Radloff, worker in Cantnitz (Carwitz?)
- Johann Martin Mueller, born 1 April 1797, bapt 8 April 1797, died Jan 1801. His godfather was Martin Mueller, weaver in Dolgen.
- Hanna Louise Maria Mueller, born 15 Mar 1799. (Not included in the list from Herr Wacker.)
- 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.
- Johann Wilhelm Mueller, born 23 Jun 1804. (Not included in the list from Herr Wacker.)
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:
-
Wilhelm Carl Johann Mueller born 22 Nov 1833 Laeven, Mecklenburg
- died 19 April 1914, at Prenzlau, Brandenburg. - Carl Friedrich Adolph Wilhelm Mueller born 23 August 1835 Laeven.
- died 09 June 1882, Triepkendorf, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Germany - Johann "Friedrich" Christian Mueller born 21 Jan 1839 Laeven
- died 10 April 1901, Hamilton county, Nebraska, USA. - August Theodor Friedrich Mueller, tailor, born 26 Jan 1842 Laeven
- died 13 Oct 1916 at Hamburg, Germany
- Johann Carl Theodor Mueller born 04 Aug 1846 Laeven.
died 1 April 1847, Laeven/Triepkendorf. - Friedericka Carolina Dorothea Mueller born 15 Jun 1849 Laeven.
- 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.
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:
- A. Bertha Henriette Auguste Mueller, born 29 Dec 1863, Furstenhagen
- married 1) 6 Oct 1888 at Furstenhagen to
Ferdinand Karl Hermann Louis Lehmann, born 18 Nov 1862, died 5 Dec 1909, both at Prenzlau, Uckermark, Brandenburg, Germany
- married 2) 29 March 1912, at Prenzlau, Brandenburg to
Karl Ludwig Wilhelm Thilo, born 5 March 1845
- B. Agnes Louise Mathilde Mueller, born 20 March 1865, Furstenhagen, died 1 Dec 1938 at Prenzlau
- married 5 May 1891 at Furstenhagen, to Johann Samuel Reich Johann Samuel Reich, born 7 May 1864, Tirschtiegel, Meseritz, Posen; died 15 Jan 1939, at Prenzlau
Agnes was a godmother in Triepkendorf in 1870 for Anna, daughter of Ludwig and Ida (Kupferschmidt) Mueller
- C. Ida Wilhelmine Luise Mueller, born 16 Jan 1868 at Furstenhagen; died 10 Jan 1941 at Prenzlau
- married 6 May 1891 at Furstenhagen to Johann Karl Bentzin, born 11 July 1864, at Triepkendorf; died 30 July 1940 at Prenzlau
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:
- A. Anna Henriette Wilhelmine Mueller, born 15 June 1878 in Hamburg and died 14 Dec 1885 in Hamburg
- B. Karl August Julius Mueller, born 20 Mar 1887 in Hamburg
- died 22 January 1964 in Ahrensburg, Stormarn, Schleswig-Holstein
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:
- A. Pauline Ernestine Marie Bertha Manzel, born 9 November 1873, baptized at Federow, Mecklenburg-Strelitz
- married 4 Apr 1893, at Bredenfelde, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, to Hermann Friedrich Wilh Jahncke,
- B. Ida Ernestine Louise Wilhelmine Manzel, born 20 March 1875, at Speck, baptized at Federow, Mecklenburg-Strelitz
- married 18 Nov 1892 to Johannes Joachim Heinrich Moeller
- C. Martha Marie Sophie Friederike Mansel, born 20 April 1877, baptized at Federow, Mecklenburg-Strelitz
- married to August Weidemann
In the Triepkendorf baptismal records, I found:
"Maria Christina Mueller, an out-of wedlock child,
- born 22 Mar 1867, bapt 07 Apr 1867,
daughter of Friedericke Wilhelmine Caroline, daughter of weaver Mueller of Triepkendorf."
(I remember hearing from Fred Mueller that his father had mentioned a sister who had worked for a military man, and because of her, this military man had arranged for her brothers to be excused from military service. I have found no verification for this family story, but when I found the out-of-wedlock child, I wondered if there was some connection to the military man.)
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