My visit with great aunt Stella Miller

So yesterday I went to visit Stella at her home in Webster. She has lived there for over 30 years, right across the street from where Aunt Connie lived for a number of years. She had everything organized for me. I brought my laptop and software to show her what I had collected so far and to also make it easier to record new information.

The first thing she showed me was a family tree, hand written on 3 sheets of paper, she had received from "Mrs. Miller" (Stacia Kozlowski my Great Grandmother and wife of Alexander Miller). Much of what was written down I had found through various census records, but there was information there that I did not have. I need to go back now and fill all this in. She then showed me a picture of the Kozlowski family. This is the picture that I posted up on facebook. Without even checking the names, I guessed correctly which young man was Peter Jr. (Kerry's Grandfather). There is such a resemblance to Louis the lineage is unmistakeable.

Peter P Miller -Technical Sergeant/Tail Gunner, Air Corps

We talked a bit about Peter (pictured above) as I was interested in his military service record. In the process of this discussion I learned that many of the Miller boys, 5 in all in fact, were enlisted men in WWII. They were Ziggy, Walter, Joseph, Peter, Alex and Felix.

Peter was a Technical Sergeant in the Airs Corps and was an aircraft Mechanic and Tail Gunner. He spent most of his time strapped to the seat in a canopy on the underbelly of a B17 Bomber, a Flying Fortress. He was part of the 12th and 15th Air Force, 301st Bomber Group, 352nd Bomber Squadron. He was assigned to Manuel Formosa's crew (and flew missions with other pilots) flying a total of 65 missions in all, receiving credit for 51.

On his second raid over Regensburg, 31 planes left and only 7 came back. He was awarded the Air Medal with 8 Oak Leaf Clusters. A stone with his name engraved in it makes up part of the verterans war memorial in front of the the Webster town hall. I was there today to check it out.

The Name Change and Other Assorted Tid-Bits

Before Peter and Stella were married in 1945, he made a point to tell her that his last name was really Kozik. He wanted to make sure that she knew that before they were married. He recalls that it was his Grandfather Wojciech Kozik and not his father Alexander, that changed the name after arriving in the states. Stella told me that he (Wojciech) held a good rank in the Polish Army, but was forced to leave Poland after becoming involved in a "duel". This duel resulted in the death of the other man (bad for him, good for us) and resulted in him being kicked out of the army. He worked for a period of time in the Pennsylvania coal mines before coming to Webster, Massachusetts.

Now I don't know how much of that recollection is fact, how much is exaggerated, or how much of it is just plain fantasy. I do know that I did find an immigration record for an Alexander Kozik whom passed through Ellis Island, New York on his way to stay with his father Wojciech who lived in Webster, Mass in the year 1900.

I'll write a follow-up, and include additional pictures of the Miller Boys. In closing, here is one of the few pictures that I have ever seen of my grandfather Stanley with is beautiful wife Mary of the day of Stella and Peter's wedding. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do..

Walter M Miller

I decided to try and locate Walter Miller's service records and any other military related information. Stella told me that Walter was killed in Africa and that little piece of information proved to be very useful.

I searched the Military Records Collections on Ancestry.com and located Walter's Enlistment Record. Like so many other brave men of the time, he enlisted for service. He enlisted out of Fort Devens, Massachusetts on October 24, 1942 where he received Service # 31186469 and was assigned to the Army Corps group as a private.

Walter was part of the Allied push in Northern Africa. I plan to do additional research into his particular unit to understand exactly what they were responsible for and where they were doing their fighting. It's difficult to get records released from the goverment unless you're next of kin. Mania would be the only one able to make this request as Walter was never married and therefore had no children.

Walter is in fact buried in Africa at the North African American Cemetery in Carthage, Tunisia.



He died from his wounds on October 28, 1943 (only 1 year and 4 days after enlisting) in the hospital in Tunisia, and now rests at Plot E Row 7 Grave 2. Walter received the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster medal.


You can find this information by following this link and searching on "Miller Walter". Look for Walter M Miller, PVT 31186469 towards the bottom of the first page of returned results.
Here is the link http://www.abmc.gov/search/wwii.php

A wonderful video and downloadable PDF brochure of the cemetery, its history, and great information on the importance of the battles that were taking place in Northern Africa at the time can be found here. This is a great history read.... http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/na.php

I also sent the cemetery administration an e-mail request to take some digital photographs of Uncle Walter's gravesite to have as part of our collection.

Happy reading.

Found Alexander Kozik (MILLER) immigration record

So I think I'm getting to the bottom of the name change...

If you follow the link above (the Ellis Island site is free you just need to register) and look at line 23, you see a record for an Alexander Kozik, age 24, on his way to Webster, Ma.

He arrived in 1900. What makes me think this is him? A few things;

1) In all census records for him (1910, 1920, and 1930), he indicated that he arrived in 1900.
2) He lived in either Dudley or Webster his entire life.
3) The immigration record indicates Austria as his homeland (Poland, or Galacia, was part of Austria in one of the many separations of Poland.)
4) His father's name is George. I know this because it's listed as such on his marriage certificate. (to Stacia Kozlowski)
5) In the immigration record, it indicates that he is going to stay with his father who lives in Webster Ma. His father's name is Wojciech. This is George in Polish.

What I didn't realize is that his father was already in country. This is something that I will need to verify. I should be able to locate his death record, immigration record, etc...

The search continues.....

Spoke to my Grand Aunt-in-law today

While filling details on the Miller family this afternoon, I came across the obit for my Grand Uncle Peter Miller. The obit mention that he leaves his wife Stella, whom I just assumed passed away as well. I did a WhitePages search for her and sure enough, found her still at the address that was listed in the obit. I just got off the phone with her...

After catching up for a bit we started talking about the Miller family.

Peter, her husband, was a tail-gunner in WWII. He flew missions in and around Italy. his obit states that Peter was a decorated war verteran. I wonder what medals he aquired while in service. My Dad had an airman's flight jacket back when I was about 10 years old which was from an Uncle that was a gunner in a bomber. This was Peter! I mentioned that my Dad had this jacket and my aunt told me that it couldn't be his because she has it up in the attic! I'm positive that the jackert my dad had was from an Uncle that was a gunner in a bomber during WWII. I can't wait to see this jacket. Unfortunately the jacket that we had in our family was cut up by my cousin when he was staying with us. Too bad, I would have like to have had this jacket for history sake.

I asked about my grand-uncle Walter whom died in WWII. I always thought Walter was the owner of this jacket (as it turns out now, this was Peter's). She told me he died in Africa and that Peter had the chance to visit with him in the hospital before he passed. He found out about his brother from a fellow serviceman that mentioned to him that while in Africa he ran across a Walter Miller that had recently been wounded and placed in the hospital.

I then asked her the million dollar question: What was Alexander Miller's real last name?

Without hesitation, and with great conviction she said "Kozik". After asking her to spell the name, I now feel quite sure that this was the name that I've been searching for. My Great Aunt Mania also said "It was Kozak or Kozik or something like that" when I had the chance to ask her.

Stella was quite sure that this was the name and that it was explained to her that it was difficult to obtain a job in the early 1900's as a Polish alien, so changing the name made it much easier to get "in the door" and get a job.

I am going to visit Stella on Tuesday after work. She has many pictures and lots of family information to share. I expect to have pictures and documents scanned and imported into the database. I can't wait....

More on Tuesday - right now I'm going to look for Aleksander Kozik in the immigration records.

Focused on Blanchet Line Tonight

Wow. What nice progress this evening. I focused on the Blanchet line, and ended up locating marriage records as far back as my 12th Great Grandfather.

All of this was found by starting with Hospice Blanchet and finding Marriage records on the following site:

http://bms2000.org

I have a subscription to this site, which allows me to view the details of the record. These details include the date of the marriage, the location, the bride and grooms mother and father.

Once you have the father and mother (which lists her maiden name), you can easily search for their marriage record. You continue in this manner until you run out of search hits.

While adding the information to the tree, Family Tree Maker is busy looking for matches. Several were found in OneWorld.

I plan to go back now and look for the actual Church Record in the Druid Collection to add as additional details and source information.

Searching French-Canadien ancestry is pretty easy once you know where to look....