Digging Up Family

Sooner or later, it's only natural for an archaeologist to "dig" through old photos, letters and legal documents to learn more about his own roots. Bits and pieces of Windmiller family history have trickled down to me for as long as I can remember. Yet, only lately have I become the unofficial repository of all things Windmiller.

Several years ago, I was half listening to the radio, when a short anecdote sponsored by the American Heraldic Institute caught my ear. If you send a post card with your family name and your own return address and telephone number, the name may be the subject of a future program! I sent in my card and completely forgot about it until one day, I received a phone call from the institute. "Windmiller" was too scarce a name to warrant air time, but the caller was intrigued and wanted to share the results of his research. Accordingly, the Windmiller name originated in Europe probably by the 1400s when windmills were in common use. The name refers to a miller or someone who lived in or near a windmill.

This news gave credence to the family story that one of our ancestors made gun barrels from machinery set up in a windmill. It could have been my great grandfather, Karl Martin Windmuller. Karl was 32 years old when he emigrated to California in 1858. He could have spent his earlier years working at a windmill. We do know that he was born on February 24, 1826 in Cjarsehitung, Prussia. A German friend of my cousin Marshall Windmiller was unable to locate Cjarsehitung, but suggested it once existed in what is now Lithuania. According to my great uncle Louis, fondly referred to as L.D.W., Karl sailed from Europe, crossed the Isthmus of Panama on rugged trails by mule and burros, then transferred to a steamer for San Francisco. He took a second steamer up the river to Sacramento and then traveled overland 22 miles to Folsom. Karl spent the next year searching for gold.

When he'd made his grubsteak, he sent for his fiancee, Wilhelmine Freidericke Roskowska. Wilhelmine was born in Wilhelmsbruch, Prussia on January 23, 1837. Apparently, Wilhelmsbruch is also known as Unislawice, today a small village of 320 in north-central Poland. Wilhelmine took the ship, Roland from Bremen to New York, arriving November 18, 1859. The Reverend F. Mooshake officiated at the couple's wedding in San Francisco on December 19, 1859. Wilhelmine was 22 and Carl (Americanized name) was 33. Carl's religion was listed as Lutheran, though archives at the Leo Baeck Institute of New York illustrate a Windmueller family tree beginning in 1690 and suggests that the family was Jewish. The only surviving European artifact brought over by the Windmillers is an etching, above, showing the town where Carl was born, according to family legend. Stories of our ancestors in the Old World did not survive beyond my great grandparents' generation.

In California, the name "Windmiller" recalls tales of the dry diggings around Folsom, Living Spring Ranch, schooling at Mormon Island and Prairie City, a near shoot-out, cattle drives to the Sierra summer range near Wrights Lake, tragic deaths, farming at Elk Grove during WWI, pioneer aviation and more.