FAMILY STORIES

south bluffs overlooking the Platte River. They've planted over 400 fruit trees, large raspberry patches, asparagus bed, strawberries, and vegetables. Three children include: Scott G., born Oct. 8, 1969, Ryan J., born May 1, 1973, and Kori J., born Feb. 9, 1976.

   Gordon's parents were: Glen Gordon and Bobbi Jean Miller of Valley, Nebraska and he had one sister. Susan's parents were: Christian (Chris) Bryce Krause and Carol Jean (Rasmussen) Krause. She was one of ten children born in Fremont, Nebraska.

   Gordon's hobbies include; hunting, fishing, woodworking, gardening, scuba diving, reading, and rock and fossil hunting. Susan enjoys sewing, needlepoint, reading, and gardening.

   The children attend District 11 and Bergan schools.

   Henry Miller married Lena Beulter. Six children were born. They were John, Lloyd, Elmer, Lucille, Glenn, and Donald.

   John Miller married Lena Thoms. They had one daughter, Joyce E. Egr. John Miller lived on the farm for forty years (formerly the Nicholas Miller farm). John later moved to Yutan. Their son-in-law and daughter live there now with three sons, Dean, Darin, and Danny.

   Lloyd Miller married Marie Thoms. They had five children, Kenneth, Harold, Allen, Robert, and Judy. Kenneth, who married Arline Milton, passed away after they moved to Tekamah. They have four children, Ronnie, Connie Jacobs, Gregg, and Jody. Harold, who married Marjorie Rood, has four children, Scott, Heidi Dokulil, Julie Divis, and Jim. They live in Wahoo. Allen, married to Cheryl, has three children, Holly, Brant, and Todd. They live in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Judy married George Nygren. Their three children are Jane Marie, George, and Aaron. They live near Ashland.

   Henry's second son, Elmer, married Pauline Quick. Their children are Merline, Wayne and Anita.

   The fourth child Lucille, (deceased) married Donald Buck. Their son, Larry, and his family live near Yutan.

   Henry's fifth child, Glenn, married Pat Scott. There are five children. Nick married Kathy Sims. Their children are Niki, Brian, and Kate. Mitchell married Terry Walin and has one child, Chris. Later, he married Shari DeLancey and they had two sons, Justin and Kurt. Annette married Robert Thorson. Robert and Sarah are their children. Terry married Mary Konecky. They have one son, Adam. Jill is at home.

   Donald Miller, Henry's sixth son, married Darlene Sowards. They have two boys, Steve and Tom who live in Omaha. Submitted by Mrs. Elmer Miller

   Morris E. Miller, son of Emma Helsing and Olaf Miller, and Edith E. Grimes, daughter of Edith Cottrell and Dennis Grimes, were married on August 28, 1924. They started their married life on the farm of Edith's father, Dennis Grimes, near Wann, Nebraska in Marble Precinct. The farm consisted of 160 acres. They farmed this land for seven years. Four children were born, Shirley Mary, Kathryn Louise, Helen Maureen and Donald Charles. Morris and Edith are Catholic and all the children were baptized and received their first eight years of education at St. Wenceslaus. Later, they attended Wahoo High School, all graduating from there.

   Shirley married William Lorenz and four children were born to them.

   Kathryn Louise married Clarence Eugene Owens and has two daughters. Elizabeth Ann married Dr. Douglas Ludens. They have one daughter, Melissa Ann. Their dental office is in Yankton, South Dakota. Mary Kathryn is married to James Medeck who is in the furnace and air-conditioning business in Yankton, South Dakota. They have two children, Kristen Marie and James Ryan. Mr. and Mrs. Owens own and operate a grocery, variety and meat store in Tyndall, South Dakota.

Mr. and Mrs. Morris Miller

   Helen Maureen is married to Donald D. Syverson. Three children were born: Donald D. Jr., Patricia Louise, and Jayne Maureen. All graduated from Wahoo High School. Don Jr. is in partnership with his father who is a partner of Syverson and Syverson Construction. They have built many homes including Harold Lampert's, Richard Breunig's, Bob Valdez's, the St. Wenceslaus Convent, Bowling Alley, plus numerous other homes and remodeling projects. Patricia Louise received a Biology Scholarship from the College of St. Mary where she graduated with a degree in 1982. She is presently a student at College of St. Mary and Bergan Hospital in Omaha and will graduate May, 1983 with a Medical Technology Degree. Jayne Maureen is married to Steven C. Banghart and they just recently became parents of Bryan Charles who was born March 2, 1983. They live in their newly-remodeled home in Colon.

   Donald Charles Miller married Peggy J. Knisley. Don is employed by the SCS in the engineering department. They reside in Grand Island. They have two children, Virginia and Don Jr. Virginia is married to William Mooney and has three sons, Travis, Shawn, and Jeremy. Don Jr. married Sherre Sharp and they have two children, Joshua and Julie. Don is employed by OPPD. Sherre teaches second grade in the Beatrice school where they live.

   The Millers moved from the farm to Wahoo in 1931. The depression was in full bloom at this time.

   The Morris Millers are now retired at their home at 1757 N. Linden. They celebrated their Golden Anniversary in 1974. They were blessed with four children, ten grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren. They feel they have lived a full life enjoying their children's success and the love of all their grandchildren and their families.

   Born 1843 in Schleswig-Holstien, Germany, Nicholas Miller received an excellent education in Germany and came to the United States in 1868 when he was twenty-five years old. He lived in Omaha for a while and at one time owned the property where the Douglas Courthouse stands. He came to the Clear Creek area in 1878 and bought land in Marble Precinct from John Peters. After farming for a couple years, he started a creamery. He had two sons who would pick up the whole milk from the farmers one day, take it home and separate it, then return the skim milk the next day, picking up the whole milk again. They churned the cream to make butter, keeping the butter and cream cool in the spring that ran the whole year around. The butter was put in big tubs and was taken to the Union Pacific Depot at two in the morning to be shipped to the Hayden Grocery Store in Omaha. It stood where the downtown Brandeis Store now stands. This continued for about fifteen years (1880 to 1895) until farmers began buying their own separators.

   Nick Miller married Marie Hanson. She passed away in 1896. Mr. Miller lived to be 89 years old, living on the same place. Five children were born to them.

   Katherine (Kate) married Herman Hirsch; three sons Lester, Fritz and Archie.

   Henry Miller married Lena Beulter: John, Lloyd, Elmer, Lucille, Glenn, and Donald.

   Mame married Robert Batten: one daughter, Beulah Ramsey.

   William married Clara Stamp: one daughter, Dorothy Nunn.

   Fred Miller married Lena Heldt: Verna Eichner, Clara Ohm, Venice Busch, Robert, Mary Ann Simons, James and Joe. Mrs. Elmer Miller

   I feel that I am truly a part of Saunders County, as my grandparents, Lorenda and Daniel Burt, homesteaded in Saunders County. They lived in a sod house near Colon, Neb. My grandmother smoked a cob pipe and lost her husband, Daniel, in the war, leaving grandmother with 5 children to raise. She not only paid for the homestead, but accumulated several hundred acres. After all, it is generation after generation that makes up a family tree with a set of grandparents as the roots.

Lorraine and Roland Miller

   I, too, was born and lived in Saunders County. I married Roland Miller in 1934. We weathered the depression years. After 7 years, we moved to where Roland was born, 2½ miles southeast of Leshara, in 1946, to his parents' place, who were Charles and Lizzie Miller. They are of German descent and his father came from Germany when he was 7 years old. He, too, lived in Saunders County all his life.

   We are still living on the same place (1982). In addition to farming, Rollie served as Lt. in the Guard Force at Mead Ordnance Plant for 7½ years and managed the Leshara Alfalfa Plant. I was bookkeeper there at the time. Now it was time for the children to go to Midland College. To help defray the expenses, I took a job as bookkeeper at the Conrad Seed Corn plant in Fremont, where I worked for 13 years. The Company dissolved so I went to work as bookkeeper again at Don Peterson & Assoc., where I have been for 17 years. Jerome, the oldest son, is a Civil Engineer and his wife, Alfredia, a school teacher in Lincoln, Nebr. Our daughter, Sharon, and her husband, Dean, are school teachers in Lincoln. Our youngest son, Ronald, lives one mile west of us. He is a counselor at Tech High School in Omaha and his wife, Amy, is a school teacher at Mead, Nebr. As a doting old granny, I have to say we have 8 of the most wonderful grandchildren in the world.

   Rollie and I both have a real estate license. He went into selling and I into property management.

   As a family we do a lot of camping and fishing. We call that the good life. We think Saunders County is truly God's Country. Everyone should leave something worthwhile in this life, and after teaching Sunday School and Confirmation for 35 years, I hope I have sown some spiritual seed on some good ground. By Lorraine Miller

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   Scott Alan Miller was the son of Mrs. Pat Miller and the late Vernis Miller of Weston. He was born August 27, 1961 and died on September 30, 1978. Scott had one brother, Gayle, and three sisters, Kristy, Lori, and Tammy.

Left to Right: Scott Alan Miller -- Kurt Allen Woita

   Kurt Allen Woita, son of Mr. and Mrs. Roger Woita, was born April 10, 1955 and died July 8, 1972. Other members of this Weston family include Richard, Cindy, Gwenn, Russell, Kim (Steve) Otte, Becky, Jeffrey, and Stacy.

   Scott and Kurt were cousins. Submitted by Dorothy Burwell

   William McCoy, ancestor of David Mills, was born off the coast of Newfoundland enroute to America from Northern Ireland. He married Eunice Carswell of Oswego County, New York. Their daughter, Elizabeth (Betsy) McCoy, married Joseph Mills of Washington County, New York. Their son, James Mills, married Emily Lytle of Vermont or New Hampshire. Their son, David Henry Mills, was named for two Carswell brothers who escaped from the British during the American Revolution.

   James Mills and Emily Lytle Mills moved to a farm near Peoria, Illinois from Washington County, New York. They had ten children. One son, David H. Mills, moved from Peoria to Cass County, Nebraska in 1867. Five years later he moved his family to western Saunders County near Valparaiso where there was range land for cattle. Seven years later he moved to a farm two and one-fourth east of Wahoo on the cemetery road.

   In Illinois, David Mills had married Phoebe Jane Newlon, daughter of Edward and Susan Frink Newlon who had gone from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania to Ohio and on to Monmouth, Illinois. They were married by Thomas Mott Stevenson, President of Monmouth College, where the Newlon girls had gone to school. Jane had been the guest of her cousin, Elizabeth Peters, in Peoria while she worked for the Sanitary Commission during the Civil War and had met the Mills family at the Peters home there.

   David and Jane's children were Edward Henry, Susan Elizabeth, Alice Grace, Clark Cresswell, and Mary Caroline Taylor. Edward Henry, Susan, and Grace died as young children from diphtheria. Clark Cresswell died at age 20 from tuberculosis, leaving Mary (Mamie) as the only surviving child.

   David and Jane moved to Weeping Water in the early 1900's. When Jane Mills died in 1917, David Mills returned to Wahoo where he died in 1926. All of this family, including Mamie, David, and Robert Ewart, are buried on the Mills lot in Sunrise Cemetery. Submitted by Flora Ewart

   George Miners (Gerhard Meiners) was born in Hanover, Germany in 1845 and came to America in 1869. His wife, Helena Wempen, was born in Oldenburg, Germany in 1847. They were betrothed in Germany. After stopping in Illinois, George came to Saunders County in 1870. He worked for the railroad, laying track and sent Helena passage money.

George Miners Family

   The couple was married in Ashland and immediately went to a homestead that had been taken by English people who were homesick. They sold George their claim in the 80 acres for $50. The farm was near the Gerkes in Sec. 24, Center Precinct. The Gerkes had known the Miners in Germany.

   The English couple had no suitable clothes to return to England, so George and Helena traded their good clothes for a cow, chickens and seed. George broke prairie with an ox.

   Helena was alone when their first baby was born. She put a dish towel on the soddy roof so Mrs. Gerke would see and come. The cow got loose and went to Gerkes. Mrs. Gerke knew she was needed at the Miners' soddy, but by the time she got there, Helena had already delivered her own baby. The child died, and George and Helena buried him on the fence line. There were no cemeteries.

   Helena liked her sod house. It was cool in summer and warm in winter. She made little curtains and planted flowers in tin cans. The floor was dirt, but Helena swept it clean. Snakes were a problem. Five Miners children were born in the soddy.

   George and Helena wanted a son so they could name him William (Wilhelm) for George's father. So, they named three baby boys "William" before one lived.

   The prairie fires were the greatest fear. George always kept a firebreak plowed.

   The grasshoppers were terrible. George went to Ashland for lumber. He got the mail. The hoppers ate most of his letter that he had in his shirt pocket before he got home. They ate sparrow soup.

   There were few trees on the prairie. Helena dug up small ones from the creek and planted them as windbreaks.

   Indians were not fierce. They did stop to beg. The Miners' cow died. Indians watched George skin the cow. Then they made a fire and roasted the meat and took what was left with them.

   Itinerant German Evangelical preachers held services in homes. George and Helena helped build a small church near their home.

   The family did their shopping at Killian's Store in Wahoo. Helena bought bolts of dress goods and made all seven girls dresses alike.

   The children attended Krinklaw School. One daughter graduated from Wahoo High School.

   The family relied on Dr. Chas. Way Sr. He came to the farm in a buggy.

   George raised and fattened cattle. They were driven to Wahoo to be shipped to South Omaha on the train.

   George and Helena moved to Wahoo. They spent winters in California, and their children farmed the 700 acres that George had bought.

   Thirteen children were born to George and Helena; nine grew to adulthood. They were Minnie (Fred) Behrens, Anna (Herman) Koenig, Lena (Christ) Neben, Lizzie (Harry) Widman, Will and Fred Miners, Emma (Emil) Miller, Margaret (Floyd) Negley, and Clara (Fred) Essert. Lena, Emma and Clara lived in Cass County. The others spent their lives in Saunders County.

   George and Helena are buried in Marietta Presbyterian Cemetery. Submitted by Maxine Cline

   George Miners was born Sept. 11, 1914, the son of William and Nellie (nee Craig) Miners. His grandfather, also named George Miners, was a German immigrant farmer who, during his lifetime, acquired more than 700 acres of farmland near Wahoo, Nebraska, and was the father of 13 children.

George and Nadine Miners and Bill

   George was a good student at school, and though he received the Regents' scholarship upon graduation from Mead High School, he chose a career in electronics. In May, 1941, he was employed by KOIL radio station in Omaha, Nebraska, and later owned a radio and television repair shop in Wahoo. In 1966, he was employed as a television engineer by educational television station KUON and worked at the transmitter site, 15 miles southeast of Wahoo. He was forced to retire on June 12, 1980, because of a type of paralysis.

   Nadine Miners was born Nov. 26, 1920, in Omaha, Nebraska. She moved to Wahoo with her parents at the age of 4½ years and has lived in Wahoo ever since. She graduated from Wahoo High School in 1938, and began a career as a waitress in several Wahoo cafes. For the last 25 years, she has worked at Fairview Cafe. She and George were married Feb. 4, 1942.

   Nadine's father was George L. Smersh Sr., the son of Theo. J. Smersh, a well-educated man, who knew eight languages, and was a druggist in Brainard, Nebraska for fifty years. Her mother was Libby Novak, daughter of Joe and Kate Novak of Brainard. George and Libby were married for 62 years, having been childhood sweethearts, and lived over 50 years of their married life as residents of Wahoo. She liked oil painting, quilting, reading, and playing games. He was a talented piano player who enjoyed ragtime and turn-of-the-century tunes and played for dances in the area.

   Nadine's three brothers were all in military service. George "Layton" Smersh Jr., now retired in Omaha, Nebraska, served in the Coast Guards. Howard Smersh, now retired in Ogallala, Nebraska, served in the army. Randolph Dale Smersh, the first man from Wahoo to be killed in W.W.II, was awarded the purple heart and other medals.

   George and Nadine Miners had two children -- William (Oct. 5, 1942) and Nancy (Jan. 18, 1949). Both graduated from Wahoo High School. Bill received his B.A. degree in 1964 from Nebraska Wesleyan University and taught high school chemistry and mathematics for 6 years. Nancy attended John F. Kennedy College in Wahoo.

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