{"id":841,"date":"2009-11-04T01:01:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-04T07:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/finding-emil\/"},"modified":"2013-07-22T18:27:36","modified_gmt":"2013-07-22T23:27:36","slug":"finding-emil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/finding-emil\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Emil"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve written about my Emil MILLER brick wall before (Brick Wall – Emil MILLER\/MULLER<\/a> and German Brick Walls<\/a>).\u00a0 There are so many possibilities, as there are several variant spellings (Miller, Muller, Mueller, Moeller, Millar, etc.) and there happen to be many of them living in Chicago during the same time period.<\/p>\n

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Background<\/strong><\/h6>\n

Emil MILLER was born about 1862-1864 in Germany.\u00a0 He married Hulda WACH on 8 August 1886 in Chicago.\u00a0 Together they had three children, all born in Chicago:\u00a0 Heinrich \u201cHenry\u201d Frederick (b. 1887), Emil Charles (b. 1889), and Ida (b. 1891).<\/p>\n

Hulda is located in the 1900 census with daughter Ida, listed as a widow, living at 362 Rhine in Chicago.\u00a0 This is apparently across the street from her sister, Alvina WACH Trapp, living at 365 Rhine with her husband and two children.\u00a0 There is a 1900 census recording for an Emil, Emil, and Henry Miller, along with a Mary Cherwinsky (as mother-in-law).\u00a0 The addition of this person, along with Hulda\u2019s notation as a widow, have made me question whether this is my Emil, Emil, and Henry (see full explanation in the Brick Wall – Emil MILLER\/MULLER<\/a> post).<\/p>\n

Moving Forward<\/strong><\/h6>\n

Over the last week or so, I\u2019ve been spending a lot of time on Footnote, now Fold3<\/a> looking at the Chicago city directories.\u00a0 There are many possibilities for my Emil, but nothing matches any of the information I had (which isn\u2019t much).\u00a0 So I decided it\u2019s time to go to the map and try to figure out the most likely candidates based on relative location.<\/p>\n

I had already plotted Hulda\u2019s location on Rhine (which is no longer there, as the expressway now runs over that area).\u00a0 Yesterday, I decided to take a closer look at their marriage license and see if they were married by a Justice of the Peace or a pastor.\u00a0 Turns out, they were married by a pastor, so I went to the 1886 Chicago directory to see if I could find the church the pastor belonged to.\u00a0 Fortunately, I found a listing for Trinity West Chicago Church (Evangelical Lutheran, German) where Rev. Richard Schiele was a pastor, located at 9, 11, 13 Snell.\u00a0 By all indications, Snell is now Ada St., so I plotted it on the map.\u00a0 The same church was were Emil and Hulda\u2019s son Emil was christened in 1889, although by Rev. Robert Fahner.\u00a0 Rev. Fahner also married Hulda\u2019s sister, Alvina WACH and William Trapp in 1894.\u00a0 Emil and Hulda\u2019s sons were both married at the church:\u00a0 Henry in 1909 (Trinity Luteran, 360 N. Ada, Rev. Robert Fahner) and Emil in 1915 (Trinity Lutheran, 742 N. Ada, Rev. Robert Fahner).<\/p>\n

Again, none of the addresses for Emil\u2019s matched the Rhine address, so I began to plot all the Emils I found that were is some close proximity to the church.\u00a0 Many of them were within a few miles, but for ones that were either too far north or south, I did not plot them, assuming they are not relevant (I can always do this late, but I\u2019m trying to narrow the field).\u00a0 I started with 1886, since that was the year Emil and Hulda were married, and moved forward in time (through 1899), plotting relevant Emils along the way.\u00a0 (This is not an easy task as many of the streets either no longer exist or have changed names, but I digress.)<\/p>\n

I found five strong candidates that were within one mile of the church.\u00a0 One in particular kept calling to me, so to speak, although I had no idea why since I didn\u2019t have enough information.\u00a0 So I decided to start tracing Hulda\u2019s sister, brother, and mother (in that order) to see if I could place any of them in the any of the households where an Emil Miller resided.\u00a0 As I already mentioned, I trace her sister Alvina with husband William back to 1899 at the Rhine address.\u00a0 There are a few possibilities for them prior to 1899, but still not enough information and nothing tying them to Emil.\u00a0 Hulda\u2019s brother was a bust, except that it placed him in 1904 at the same address listed for his mother in the 1900 census.<\/p>\n

It was on to Hulda\u2019s mother, Amelia (aka Emilie) WIETZKE Wach Schultz.\u00a0 As I traced her, I learned her Schultz husband\u2019s first name, as she was listed as the widow of Fred (aka Frederick) an address I had placed her in the 1900 census (1498 Milwaukee Avenue).\u00a0\u00a0 (Note:\u00a0 I already knew her Wach husband\u2019s first name was Henry, and Schultz was her second husband).\u00a0 I\u2019m almost certain that I placed her at 38 Newton in 1894, 1898, and 1899, as the Milwaukee address was not listed and again, she was listed as the widow of Fred.\u00a0 The earliest I find her (again, widow of Fred, not listed at either of the other identified addresses) was at 19 Clarinda in 1892.\u00a0 This makes sense since the censuses all seem to indicate her and daughter Mildred SCHULTZ immigrated in 1891.\u00a0 Then it hit me\u2026I\u2019ve seen this address before.<\/p>\n

I had plotted 29 Clarinda for an Emil MILLER in 1888, 1890, 1891, 1892, and 1895.\u00a0 The interesting part is that in 1890, the listing was for 19 Clarinda.\u00a0 Now, this certainly doesn\u2019t prove that this is the same address, since Emil was listed at 29 Clarinda in 1892 and Amelia was listed at 19 in the very same directory.\u00a0 But the fact that in one year it read 19 Clarinda gives me some hope.\u00a0 Plus, this is the one that kept calling to me and now I know why (sometimes that intuition is really trying to tell you something!!).\u00a0 And, it is the address that is the closest to the church, during the time period when son Emil was christened (1889).\u00a0 It also makes sense that Amelia and her daughter Mildred might be living with family, as they had likely just arrived from Germany shortly before. And, here\u2019s the kicker.\u00a0 Remember the 1900 census I found for Emil, Emil, and Henry?\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t you know that the address was 29 Clarinda.<\/p>\n

Keep Pushing Forward<\/strong><\/h6>\n

Again, none of this proves anything at this point.\u00a0 But it does provide some clues for further research.\u00a0 In particular, it is very likely this is my family, given the address for Emil and mother-in-law, Amelia, but it could be a coincidence.\u00a0 With this potential match, I need to explore several things, in particular, the 1900 census where I find an Emil, Emil, and Henry, along with an unknown mother-in-law.\u00a0 In this sense, I still have the same questions I posed in the post over a year ago, Brick Wall – Emil MILLER\/MULLER<\/a>, specifically, was Hulda not really a widow and Emil was in fact alive, and if so, who is this mother-in-law, Mary?\u00a0 Here\u2019s what I plan to do:<\/p>\n