Dad’s lineage on his mother’s side,
goes back to Miles Standish, while on his father’s side it traces to German
farmers in Alsace, France. He was a
twin, the fifth of ten children born in Batavia, NY, to Lennie Mann and William
Francis Miller, eight of whom survived infancy.
His mother died when he was eight, after which his oldest sister kept
order in the household. Schooling ended
at the age of thirteen when he had to earn money to help support the
family. Following his father’s
footsteps, he worked in construction, eventually having his own business as a
bricklayer and mason contractor. He
spent part of The Great War as a Naval Seaman in England, building barracks for
the troops. Marriage to Wilhelmina
Henrietta Goebel in 1922 brought two sons, Frederick and Robert, raised during
the Great Depression. He was a hunter
and fisherman, providing the family with pike, bass, pheasant and rabbit to
feast on. During his short life (77
years) he built houses for his sons, entertained 13 grandchildren, was active
in the local Spiritualist Church, shoveled snow off miles of sidewalk and
almost survived prostate cancer. There
are many structures in Batavia and Rochester, NY, that bear the fruits of his
labor, and his family sorely misses him.
