Genealogy Records of Bill Muster (1926-1989)
by Nori Muster

Summary

My great-grandfather John Muster (1830-1887) came from Switzerland and my great-grandmother Barbara Burkhart Muster came from Colmar, France, but her family originated in the Swabia region of Germany.

The Confederates captured my great-grandfather in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. They took the boat he was on with other soldiers of the Indiana Volunteers.

John and Barbara married after the Civil War, and their first child, William N. Muster (1868-1926), was my grandfather. He was the first of eleven children.

William Muster was a constable, then a postal carrier, who delivered mail in his surrey cart. He sustained injuries in a surrey cart race and died after several weeks.

William and my grandmother Emma Moldenhauer (1886-1934) were only married for about five months when he died. Their son, my father, William N. Muster (1926-1989), was born six months after that.

Emma was apparently estranged from the Muster family, so my father never knew about his ancestors. I found them all later thanks to the Internet and helpful relatives and researchers. This is information I've collected on my father's ancestors.





John Muster
Civil War ancestor (1830-1887). The Muster family comes from a Swiss national who enlisted in the Indian Volunteers at the start of the American Civil War. His first born after the war was my grandfather. My grandfather was eighteen years older than my grandmother, which accounts for skipping a generation, and to have a grandfather born at the end of the Civil War.

Muster-Moldenhauer and Miller Genealogy
John Muster's first son, William, married Emma Moldenhauer in 1925. William died within a few months, and Emma gave birth to their son, Bill Muster (my father), in 1926. Emma's first husband was Mr. Miller, and their son was Edward Miller, our late Uncle Ed. My father and Uncle Ed remained friends for life. I still stay in contact with Ed's family.

Molitor Family
Bill Muster grew up as an orphan in foster families around Chicago after age nine. From ages fifteen to eighteen, he lived with the Molitor family in Chicago.

Census Records and Other Documents for the Muster and Mouldenhauer Families
These records show the merging of the Muster and Mouldenhauer families, when John and Barbara's oldest son, William, married Emma Mouldenhauer Miller in 1925.

The Bill Muster Birth Certificate Mystery

The Bill Musters of Los Angeles
Bill Muster's then-wife Paula, and two children, Nori and Bill (1950s & 1960s)

Obituaries for Bill Muster, 1926-1989.





Here's a nifty gif that explains how to count your cousins. It's from the public domain, so please take a copy!

chart

Here's a brief synopsis:

1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc., refers to how many generations back you have a common ancestor:
     First cousin - share the same grandparents.
     Second cousin - share the same great-grandparents.
     Third cousin - share the same gg-grandparents.

Times "removed" notes your generation distance from each other:
     First cousin - your generation, you share the same grandparents.
     First cousin once removed - your first cousins' children.
     First cousin once removed - your parents' cousins.
In other words,
Once removed - your parents are their grandparents, or vice-versa.
Twice removed - your parents are their g-grandparents, or vice-versa.





Other Branches of My Family Tree

I've researched all sides of my family. Everything above is about my father. Here's what I've found about my mother's family, the Runge-Christiansens, and my stepfather's family, the Hasslers. Funny coincidences: Both my father and stepfather's ancestors came from Switzerland. I believe John Muster came from western Switzerland, while we know the Hasslers came from the Hassler Valley in northern Switzerland.

Hassler Family Genealogy
Chronicles of the Hassler, Howland, Mercer and Ward Families in America - Hassler family complete genealogy, including dates and names. Don Hassler compiled and added to this chronicle his father, Earl Hassler, started in 1932 (391 pages). This is the primary family genealogy book for the Hassler family.

Runge and Christiansen Ancestors of Paula Jean Hassler
My mother's mother's side, the Christiansens, were from areas north and south of the Germany-Denmark border.

My mother's father's side, the Runge family, are from Germany and trace the family line back to an unknown solidier who lost his life in the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813. It was the Prussians, Austrians, and Russians against Napoleon. Jerry Froehlich is the keeper of Runge genealogy; last names include Runge, Dicke, Froehlich (Froelich), Fiene, Bietz, Pluz (or Plutzer, Plutzow). The unknown Prussian soldier was the father of Caroline Maria Plutzer (1813-1907).

Don Hassler combined the Christiansen and Runge genealogy in this file, in honor of Paula Hassler, my mother. Click the link above to see the Runge and Christiansen Ancestors.

Christiansen Family Stories
A collection of stories, photos, documents and audio recordings
Website by Steve Christiansen

Runge Genealogy

This includes the family tree, Descendants of Friederich & Freidericka Runge, Wisconsin pioneers, additional information about the Arizona branch of the Schilke family, Runge Cousins Reunion Minutes 1959-1971, and my photos from the 2016 and 2018 Runge Cousins Reunions.

Brushes & Blueprints: Memoirs By Gerald William Froehlich - architect, artist, Runge Cousin, and family genealogist, wrote this memoir over many years. This is the updated 2019 publication.





A statment on why it's my great-grandfather, and not great-great-grandfather who fought in the Civil War

The other Muster relatives of my generation are the g-g-grandchildren of John Muster. I was born in 1956 and many of them are slightly older than me, born in the 1940s. My connection to the family tree skipped a generation, and here's how it happened:

John Muster was born in 1830 and his wife Barbara was born in 1848, so he was eighteen years older than her. Their first child was my grandfather, William Muster, born just after the end of the Civil War in 1868.

My grandfather was eighteen years older than his wife, Emma. So he would have been fifty-eight when my father was born. (William Muster died six months before Bill Muster, my father, was born.) My grandmother was thirty-nine when my father was born, pretty old for a woman to have a child in 1926.

So because my grandfather was the first child of John and Barbara Muster, and because he would have been fifty-eight when my father was born, that's where the generation got skipped. My grandfather would have been old enough to be a grandfather when his first and only child (my father) was born.





Let it be known if you're related to me, you are also distantly related to all the people on all these pages! Seems a little overwhelming, doesn't it? There's so many of them!



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