Müllers (of Don)
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Müllers (Millers in Russian sources) are a family of German descent from Russian nobility in the Don Cossack semi-autonomous province of Imperial Russia. They trace their descent from Johann Müller (b.c.1647), oberoffizier (senior officer) at the court of Frederick III (1657–1713), first King of Prussia (as Frederick I of Prussia from 1701), in Königsberg, capital of the Duchy of Prussia.[1] Duchy of Prussia was then part of the personal union between the Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia (Brandenburg–Prussia) under the Hohenzollern royal dynasty.
Origins
editNothing, so far, is known about Johann Müller and his wife. His two sons, Johann and Georg Müller, were among the foreigners invited to join the royal court of Peter the Great (1672–1725) as part of his project of modernisation and Europeanisation of Russia. Upon arriving in Russia sometime after 1682, Johann joined the Artillery while Georg became kapellmeister of Peter’s court orchestra (likely military).[2]
Relocating to Don Province
editAfter 1703, Peter’s court, including the Müllers, relocated to Saint Petersburg. Georg’s son, Abram Müller (1710–1757), first became a physician at the court of Elizabeth, Empress of Russia (1709–1762), but then, in 1735, volunteered to join the Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739). When the chief physician of the Don Cossack military forces, also fighting in that war, fell in battle, Abram joined Don Cossacks and later became the chief military physician for Don and Astrakhan Cossack troops. He died and was buried in Yenotaevskaya fortress near Astrakhan in 1757. Protestant originally, Abram and his descendants became Orthodox Christians.[3]
Abram’s son, Ivan Müller (1745–before 1820), served as a prime major in St Petersburg’s Border Guards, but, after his father’s death, also joined Don Cossack troops (St Petersburg 5th battalion) in 1772. Since then, most of Ivan’s descendants continued to pursue careers in the military.
Founders of Millerovo
editBy the imperial decree of Catherine the Great (1729–1796) in 1786, Ivan was granted lands in the Don province, where he founded the present-day town of Millerovo.[4] In 2001, a monument of Ivan Müller, the founder, was installed in the town.[5] Today, Millerovo is the administrative centre of Millerovsky District, Rostov Oblast, Russia. The town and district coat of arms includes a mill referring to the Müller family's German origins.[6]
Contemporary descendants of this Müller family live in Germany, the United States, Britain, and Russia.
References
edit- ^ Miller-Antich, Oksana. "Millers in Russia [Millery v Rossii]" (PDF). Family tree.
- ^ Ibid. https://donataman.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Milleri-v-Rossii.pdf.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Miller-Antich, Oksana. "The Miller Family of Don Cossacks [Rod Donskih Kazakov Millerov]".
- ^ Millerovsky, Konstantin. "Short Historical Note about the Town of Millerovo [Kratkaya Istoricheskaya Spravka po g. Millerovo]".
- ^ "Millerovo. Monument of I.A. Miller [Millerovo. Pamyatnik I.A. Milleru]".
- ^ "Millerovsky District Coat of Arms".
See also
edit- Millerovo, Millerovsky District, Rostov Oblast
- Millerovsky District
- Prussia
- Brandenburg-Prussia
- History of Germans in Russia, Ukraine, and the Soviet Union
- Russian nobility
- Grand Embassy of Peter the Great
- Government reform of Peter the Great
- Don Cossacks
- Black Sea Germans
- House of Hohenzollern
- Azov campaigns (1695–1696)
- Millerovo regional museum [1]