The Frau Erica Texts
An index of biographies, memoirs, histories, recipes, and oddments The Frau Erica Project has lots of text files — long and short, English and German — all of them linked from the appropriate family pages. That means, however, that some readers might not discover things of interest that are available elsewhere on the site. This index gathers most of those text files, sorts them by genre, and provides links (usually a name). Style point: The Frau Erica archive tries to use birth names for everyone. Authors are listed here by birth name, sometimes with married name appended after a slash. Adelheid Nickel, for example, is alphabetized under ”Mueller/Nickel, Adelheid.” Frau Erica herself, mother of many Muellers, appears under the Rickmeyer name. There are 93 of these text files in the archives. To narrow your search, select: Biography | Memoir | History | Literary Work | Letters | Recipes | Oddments || All Files
Histories and Anecdotes
Bigelow Spoons Heirlooms twice engraved
Nana — Molly McMillan — wrote this small history of a dozen golden spoons that became Bigelow family heirlooms in 1909. Emigration rationale Emigration rationale: Why did Fritz do it?
One overriding, unresolved question for the Frau Erica Project is the important one: Why did Fritz do it? There is no clear statement of purpose in the archive, but there are some important themes and clues. Hedder, Helen Helen Hedder: Oma bails them out
Around the turn of the century, Helen Hedder Mueller lent substantial funds to her husband’s parents. She waited almost 30 years for repayment. Hedder, Hermann Hermann Hedder, purveyor of wood and coal
Hermann owned a wood and coal service in Chicago with office and yard at 403 West Chicago Avenue. Heirlooms Ann Dorris’s pearl daisy brooch
A father’s 1853 wedding gift to his daughter made another appearance nearly a century later — for his great-great-great-granddaughter’s baptism. It arrived with a handwritten note from infant Allison McMillan’s maternal grandmother. Heirlooms Allison McKibbin’s engagement ring
The diamond solitaire has been in the family for four generations — originally as an engagement ring, then as a solitaire necklace — and has resided in Minnesota, Europe, Rhode Island, and currently in Richmond, Virginia. Heirlooms Moneybelt and Tobacco Box
Johanne, short and stout, wore the money belt full of gold coins when she and Fritz emigrated. The wooden tobacco box, a cube about six inches on a side, was owned and used by Fritz’s father Georg in the late 18th century. McMillan Manufacturing McMillan Manufacturing Company
In September 2002, Molly Bigelow McMillan wrote a short history of McMillan Manufacturing, corporate predecessor of McMillan Electric Company. Mueller Erbschaft Klaus Mahler’s Erbschaft
Long after Wilhelm and Adelheid were dead, the Muellers received an inheritance from the estate of Adelheid’s uncle Klaus Mahler. Mueller, Erich E.A. A minister sues his congregation
Erich E.A. Mueller, a failed entrepreneur and self-styled “Christian socialist,” testified against Rev. C.L. Janzow, who was suing his congregation for defamation. Mueller, Rev. Ernst Opa makes a bad investment
In 1940, Opa Mueller was convinced to buy 10 shares in a North Carolina mica mine. He never saw his money again. | 
