Family Talk

Geneology - Louis and Lena Miller

Posted on January 1st, 2008 by Larry.
Categories: Michael & Irene Miller.

Dan Fingerman is the grandson of my cousin on my father’s side. My grandfather (my father’s father) would be his great grandfather. To his credit he has done some great research that should be of interest to all who are descended from this Miller family. This is a photograph of Louis and Lena Miller, just as I remember them. They are my father’s parents.

This is the photograph of Louis Miller from his naturalization papers.

louis_miller_naturalization.pdf

The PDF file is the actual naturalization document of Louis Miller.

Below is the entire series of emails between Dan Fingerman and myself that provides a good bit of background on the family.

Hi there:

Sorry for the delay I have recently started a new job and the holiday season is always busy. Attached are a few documents related to your grandparents Lena and Louis Miller. The first is a PDF of Louis Miller’s Petition for Naturalization. He became a citizen fairly late in life (at age 60). Also attached is an undated photo of Louis & Lena that my mother had. I’ve also cropped out the photo of Louis from his naturalization doc and attached it, I think you resemble him a lot.

Hope all is well-

-Dan

lmmiller <lmmiller@lmmiller.com> wrote:

Dan,

There is no doubt that this is the same family.

There is a lot of information about us on our family blog. What would be interesting, if you want to start making a family tree diagram and we can add who/who we know to it, I can post it on the web site. If you have any specific questions, please ask.

I would love to see the photo of Louis, my grandfather. I don’t have a picture of him. I can post this on the website as well.

Larry

From: Dan Fingerman [mailto:danfingerman@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 11:31 AM
To: lmmiller
Cc: RBeish3806@aol.com; ‘Phil’; CMEELSPA@aol.com
Subject: RE: Hi!

Hello everyone-

I agree that this is very interesting. I wouldn’t say with certainty that your father’s birth name was Isidore. I have census records from 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 for all the branches of my family and the names given for the children are sometimes off.

I am not exactly sure where things unraveled and in all honesty my Grandfather rarely discussed his siblings. I’d imagine religion may have played a part, but as you correctly said it’s not too important.

Their oldest sister was Rose, and she is Jayson’s mother. She remained close with my grandfather, but died fairly young. Again I’m not sure of the details but Artie and Irving had a falling out and didn’t speak for many years. They re-met at a wedding in Florida in the 1980s and stayed in contact for the duration of their lives. Artie died a few years ago.

Louis was definitely a house painter but on the side did reproductions and my mother has a number has a number of these in the house I grew up in. I never heard that he sang, which is definitely interesting. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a photo of him, but in one I saw he looks exactly like you.

Irving was an accountant for most of his life, and worked on founding the Suffolk Federal Credit Union. His wife (my grandmother) was Sylvia who worked as a special ed teacher for many years. They lived in Long Island and in retirement alternated between living in Florida, Long Island and upstate New York. They had two children, Gale (my mother) and Andy, who’s Bar Mitzvah you probably attended.

I do believe we are related and look forward to hearing all about you and your siblings!

Dan

lmmiller <lmmiller@lmmiller.com> wrote:

Dan,

This is very interesting. I am copying Diana, Philip and Cynthia who may have some information that might help.

There are enough similarities in your information to make me feel that you have probably found the right person and connections. However, some of it is certainly news to me.

My father, Michael Miller, as we always knew him, never told us that his given name was Isidore. However, it would not surprise me given my father’s re-invention of himself. My father divorced himself from his family. In his later years he claimed that he didn’t even remember how many siblings he had or their names. He said that this was because of a squabble that occurred at the death of his mother. The details of it are not important and of course, we only heard his side of the story.

My father was an accomplished runner, competing with the NY Athletic Club and we have a good number of newspaper clippings with photos of him crossing the finish line. I also have a box of his medals. When he was a young man he left NY and moved to Cuba and taught, and coached track, at a private school. He became fluent in Spanish and developed a close affiliation with Latin people.

He then became and Arthur Murray dance instructor, met my mother who was Catholic, and married. This marrying a Catholic was a shock to both sides of the family and I am sure it contributed to distancing him from his family.

Diana and I both remember visiting his parents. I don’t remember his mother’s name. But, his father was definitely Louis. He was painter. My father often talked about what a skilled painter he was. I am talking about house painting. However, he also painted, copied actually, the oil paintings of the masters.

We were told that he was also a very fine singer and sang both in the synagogue and was hired to sing in Christian churches.

It is not clear to me whether it was my father’s parents or their parents, who emigrated from Lithuania (or was it Latvia?).

I remember going to my uncle’s son’s bar mitzvah while my father acted as the photographer for the event. I believe that was Irving. He was a professional photographer for most of his career.

Now, what is your relationship to Jason Katz? I thought Jason was Irving’s son. I am attaching an email that Jason sent to my mother and my sister forwarded to me. This might also be a clue to our connections.

One minor correction. My father was in WWII, not one. And, yes, he was in India and Burma as an Air Force photographer.

Congratulations on your detective work. If you agree that we have the right family connections, and if you send me material on this, I will add a section to our family blog, so others can Google the relevant names.

I hope my siblings will fill in any other information that may be helpful.

Best wishes,

Larry Miller

---

From: Dan Fingerman [mailto:danfingerman@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 11:42 PM
To: LMMiller@lmmiller.com
Subject: Hi!

Hi:

I am doing some genealogical digging and stumbled upon your family blog. I believe (and forgive me if I’m incorrect) that we are distantly related.

My great-grandparents were Louis & Lena Miller. According to census records I have obtained had four children; Rose, Isidore, Aaron and Israel. My late grandfather was known as Irving despite his birth name being Israel. My family has remained in contact with many of Rose’s descendants; and late in my grandfather’s life he reconnected with Aaron, then known as Artie. My grandfather told me of a brother named Mickey who went to India during WWI; and with whom he had lost touch. I believe your father Michael is Isidore. The photo of your late father bears a remarkable resemblance to photos of my Grandfather later in his life. I also believe my mother (Gale) has a photo of Louis Miller that looks exactly like you.

Although I grew up on Long Island, I am a recent college graduate living in New York City. I decided to make use of my proximity to the City archives and have done some research there and have found old documents that trace our shared ancestry and wanted to introduce myself. I also wanted to see what you knew about our family tree, as I don’t really know much about your branch. I’d also imagine you may have some insight from your father about Louis & Lena.

I’ll wrap this up as I should get to bed, but I do hope to hear from you either way-

Dan

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Memorial for Michael and Irene Miller

Posted on August 13th, 2007 by Larry.
Categories: Michael & Irene Miller.

Philip has prepared the following obituary statement for the Croton newspaper.

The time has come to bid a final farewell to friends in Croton on behalf of Michael and Irene Miller. Residents of the village for more than 50 years, Michael, born in 1907 in Brooklyn and Irene Preston, born in 1917 in Larchmont, were married in 1939 after meeting at the original Arthur Murray Dance Studio in mid-town Manhattan where they worked as ballroom dance instructors in the 30’s. Their lives were filled with the joys of their artistic pursuits.

(Irene and Michael Miller with their children Diana, Cynthia, Lawrence and Philip at their home on Colobough Pond Rd.)

Michael was not only a consummate dancer and aficionado of Latin music but also an accomplished professional photographer. For over 30 years he was the staff photographer for Consumer Reports Magazine and later combined his photo skills and love for ballroom dance by creating See-Do Productions, a home-based business committed to capturing the talents of the world’s finest ballroom dancers. First in 8mm format and later in video, he single-handedly filmed, edited and marketed a vast library of instructional films to the ballroom dance community worldwide.

Irene, a Finch College graduate in Art History, will long be remembered in the fiber arts community as the Yarn Lady. Many may remember Irene as a source of inspiration and so much more. She opened The Niddy Noddy in the building near the Croton-Harmon Train Station in the mid-sixties know as Gallimaufry. The shop was a haven for those interested in yarn/fiber crafts attracting customers from the greater NY Metro area and beyond. She was known for her beautiful hand-dyed and hand-spun yarns and The Niddy Noddy grew over its many years to eventually consume a three-story structure at 416 Old Albany Post Road North. Irene’s many accomplishments included co-authoring The Stitchery Book with fellow Crotonite, illustrator Winifred Lubell, giving birth to the Hudson River Quilt and initiating a yearly event at Van Cortland Manor known as Sheep to Shawl. Irene was also an active 4-H leader for many years and in her later years was very active in the Croton Historical Society.

Michael and Irene moved their family to Croton from Manhattan in the early 50’s, recognizing the village as a unique and inspiring environment. Their four children, Diana, Lawrence, Philip and Cynthia all graduated from CHHS between the early 60’s and early 70’s. Residing first on West Mt. Airy the Miller’s purchased a “hand-crafted” home on Colabaugh Pond Road where they lived for over 50 years. In 2003 it became necessary for Michael and Irene to leave their country home and independent life-style for an assisted-care residence closer to Diana’s home in Pennsylvania. Having enjoyed long lives filled with their many artistic passions we fondly share with those in the village and surrounding area that remember the Miller’s that Michael, at age 97, passed away December 27, 2004 and just recently on August 5, Irene passed away at age 90.

Michael and Irene are survived by their four children, Diana Beishline of Bloomsburg PA, Lawrence of Annapolis MD, Philip of Columbus OH and Cynthia Mea of Shropshire England. In addition, the Miller’s enjoyed their 6 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. Remembrances of Michael and Irene can be shared at www.millerfamily.org and will be enjoyed by all. Thank you, Croton, for providing our family a great place we will always call home!

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Irene Preston Miller

Posted on August 5th, 2007 by Larry.
Categories: Michael & Irene Miller.

This morning, at eight o’clock, my mother, Irene Preston Miller, passed on to the next world. I think we all agree that she was prepared and ready to leave. For the past several days she had not been responsive and she had been declining in health over the past months.

She was not a woman to be confined to a wheel chair. She had always been an independent (liberated) woman before it was fashionable and had always been active in her community, in the arts, an in various forms of service.

Philip is preparing a memorial statement that I will publish when it is available. But, I thought the following additional photos might be of interest and a memory of her.

This photo was taken November or December 1941 at the Royalton Hotel.

This photo says “Finch sculpture class, 1st figure.” My mother was always practicing some form of arts or crafts, and I think it began with her training as a concert pianist, then sculpture, photography, etc.

This photo also says Royalton hotel, 1941.

This photo is of Diana and her mother and was taken at the Arthur Avedon studio in NY to send to Michael who was in India or Burma at the time during WWII.

Here is a recent photo of mom with Diana and Philip. She never belonged in that wheel chair. Now she is free.

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