52 Ancestors in 2022 - Week 9: Females

It’s already Week 9 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge! The prompt this week is ‘Females’. That is a wide-open prompt! There are a lot of females in my family tree!

Since I am female, I decided to follow my female line back as far as I can and write about that ancestor. In this case, that is my maternal grandmother’s mother, Mara Miller Janco. I know very little about Mara. She was only 43 years old when she died. Here are some of the things I do know about her.

Mara was born June 1, 1869 in Tot Aradać, which was part of Hungary at that time. Aradać was later part of Yugoslavia and today is located in Serbia. The only evidence I have for Mara’s parents, is a handwritten note from her daughter, my grandmother. The note indicates that Mara’s parents were Jano Miller and Mara Janosik.

Mara’s death certificate indicates that her parents were John Miller and Susie Johnrush. The informant was not related to Mara and the Jancos had been in the country only a short time. They probably spoke little or no English, and what they did speak was likely heavily accented. The informant may have mistaken Janco for Johnrush. 

 

Grandma told me that she assumed that her grandfather was English, based on his surname. However, because Aradać was part of the Austria-Hungary empire, I've often wondered if perhaps he was German or Austrian with the surname 'Müller'. 'Müller' is sometimes pronounced very similar to the English 'Miller'.

 

Mara arrived in the United State at the Port of Baltimore in March 1911. She was accompanied by three of her seven children. Her husband had come earlier in 1907. An older daughter was already married and remained behind in Europe. A younger daughter died as a young child while still in Europe. I’ve not yet found records for the immigration of her oldest son.

At the time of her immigration, Mara had only six children. Her youngest daughter was born approximately one year later, on May 1, 1912, in Peoria, Illinois. Mara died of tuberculosis just a few months later on January 5, 1913. She is buried in Peoria, Illinois.