Müller (Muller, Miller) family

A common Mennonite family of Swiss origin, Müller signifies that the early bearers of the name were employed in or owners of a mill. There are a large number of Anabaptist-Mennonite Müllers, who are obviously not all descendants of a common ancestor. Müllers from various parts of Switzerland were among the earliest Anabaptists in 1525-1533. Among these 16th-century Anabaptist Müllers in Switzerland the following are named: Elsi Müller of Basel, Hans Müller of Medicon, and Heinrich Müller of Meisterschwanden, who emigrated from Switzerland to Moravia. Hans Müller of Grüningen was imprisoned for his faith in Zürich from 1635 until 1638. Van Braght's Martyrs' Mirror names Catharina Müllerin and Ottilla Müllerin and Ulrich Müller. Just Müller (Jobst Möller) died as a martyr at Jena, Germany, in 1536.

In the 17th century the Müllers were found in Aargau and in the Thun region of Switzerland. During the 17th and early 18th centuries many of them left Switzerland because of persecution. Some of them settled in South Alsace; others were members in the congregations of Les Bulles and Montbéliard. As early as 1660, Hans Müller of Magenheim in Alsace signed the German translation of the Dordrecht Confession, which was approved in the same year at Ohnenheim. Other members of the Müller family immigrated to the Palatinate, Germany. In 1671 Hans Müller, then 80 years old, and Michael Müller (b. 1640) settled in the Palatinate. A number of Müllers have served as preachers in Mennonite congregations in Alsace and in the Palatinate; the Dutch [[Naamlijst der tegenwoordig in dienst zijnde predikanten der Mennoniten in de Vereenigde Nederlanden|Naamlijst]] of 1766-1802 names seven of them. In 1936 there were 69 Müllers in 14 Mennonite congregations in Germany; twenty-three were in West Prussia, 13 in Northeast Germany, and 33 in South Germany. They were most numerous in Tiegenhagen (ten), Neudorferhof (nine), and Regensburg (nine).

Shortly before 1740 some Amish Mennonites with the name Müller emigrated from Switzerland to the United States. Other Müllers moved from Alsace to North America in the 1740s. Abraham Müller was a preacher of the Conestoga Township congregation in 1793. Joseph Müller, a Hutterite preacher from Moravia, visited the Mennonite congregations in West Prussia around 1780. Heinrich Müller was an elder of the Hutterite congregation at Lewar, Austria (now Romania) beginning in 1742. At Einsiedel, Galicia, Jacob Müller was an elder from 1786 and Johann Müller from 1799.

In the 17th century a Swiss Müller family settled in the Palatinate, Germany. Christian Müller, born at Gerolsheim and married to Barbara Stauffer, lived in Wallertheim, Palatinate, as did their son Heinrich Müller (1715-95), a farmer and a preacher (ordained 1771) of the congregation. Johannes Müller, son of Heinrich, continued the Wallertheim branch of this family, whereas another son, Christian Müller (1752-94), moved to Krefeld. He was a tailor and was married to Elisabeth Schmidt. One of his sons was Samuel Muller,who became a Dutch Mennonite minister and professor, and who spelled his name, as all his descendants did, without the umlaut. Another son of Christian Müller of Krefeld was Johannes Müller (1786-1853), who moved to Amsterdam and founded a bookstore annex to a publishing house. Dr. Johann Peter Müller was a son of this Johannes Müller.

The Muller Dutch Mennonite family is descended from Samuel Muller. Some of his children were Christiaan Muller (1813-96), the Mennonite pastor of Koog-Zaandijk from 1838 until 1868; Elisabeth Muller (1815-1885), married to Pastor A.M. Cramer, Frederik Muller (1817-81), the founder of a well-known bookstore and print shop at Amsterdam (his daughter Henriette was married to Pastor A.K. Kuiper); Hendrik Muller (1819-98), a merchant in Rotterdam and a member of the Provincial States of South Holland and the First Chamber of the States-General (1881-98); Pieter Nicolaas Muller (1821-1908), a banker and literary man; Femina Geertruida Henriette Muller (1826-1909), founder of the union of kindergartens in Amsterdam. Among Samuel Muller's grandsons were Pieter Lodewijk Muller (1842-1904), professor of history at the universities of Groningen and Leiden; Samuel Muller Fzn (1848-1922), state archivist and historian at Utrecht; Jacob Wybrand Muller (1858-1945), professor at the universities of Utrecht and Leiden; Samuel Muller Hz (1852-1915), a noted historian; Hendrick Pieter Nicolaas Muller (1859-1941), an ambassador of the Netherlands in Bucharest and Prague; Samuel Cramer, a minister as well as a professor at the Amsterdam municipal university and the Mennonite seminary; Gerrit Kalff, professor of Dutch literature at the University of Leiden. Frederik Muller wrote a study on the Amsterdam Mennonite Singel Church.

See also Miller

Bibliography

Braght, Theileman J. van. Het Bloedight Tooneel of Martelaers Spiegel. Amsterdam, 1685: 813, 820.

Braght, Theileman J. van. The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs Mirror. Scottdale, PA, 1951: 1111 f.

Doopsgezinde Bijdragen (1863).

Geiser, Samuel. Die Taufgesinnten Gemeinden. Karlsruhe: Heinrich Schneider, 1931: 148, 155, 163, 242, 378, 385.

Gratz, Delbert L. Bernese Anabaptists and Their American Descendants. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1953: 38, 47, 48, 87.

Hoop Scheffer, J. G. de. Inventaris der Archiefstukken berustende bij de Vereenigde Doopsgezinde Gemeente te Amsterdam I. Amsterdam, 1883-1884: No. 1248.

Muller, J. W. Das Geschlecht Müller aus Gerolsheim. Amsterdam, 1950-51.

Naamlijst der tegenwoordig in dienst zijnde predikanten der Mennoniten in de vereenigde Nedgerlanden. Amsterdam, 1731, 1743, 1755, etc.

Ned. Patriciaat XIX (1930- ): 152-62.

Peachey, Paul. Die soziale Herkunft der Schweizer Täufer in der Reformationszeit. Karlsruhe: Heinrich Schneider, 1954: 113, No. 96; 118, Nos. 191-95; 121, No. 263; 134, Nos. 561-65.

Winkler Prins Encyclopedia, 6th ed. 1952: 61-64.

Author(s)	Nanne van der Zijpp
Date Published	1957

Cite This Article

MLA style

Zijpp, Nanne van der. "Müller (Muller, Miller) family." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Web. 22 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=M%C3%BCller_(Muller,_Miller)_family&oldid=119365.

APA style

Zijpp, Nanne van der. (1957). Müller (Muller, Miller) family. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 22 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=M%C3%BCller_(Muller,_Miller)_family&oldid=119365.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 768. All rights reserved.

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