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Familien Møller i Strømsveien 53

I august/september kom vi i kontakt med Mary Swanson og hennes gode nabo  Jim Miller i Minnesota, USA. De ønsket å finne Jim Miller's familie i Norge. Her kan du lese den første etterlysningen. Denne ble fanget opp av Historielagets Laila Christiansen, og letingen begynte. To av familiens 3 sønner emigrerte til Amerika. Max og Ulf Ragnar. Den tredje sønnen, Odd Elith, ble i Norge, var bosatt i Strømsveien 53 hele livet, men  døde allerede på midten av 1930-tallet. Hans kone ble boende i huset, sammen med svigermor Louise Møller, født Larsen.

Folketellinger og adressebøker forteller oss at Møller-familien bodde her i hvertfall til 1959-1960. Familien har en liten familiegrav på Østre Gravlund.

Historielaget har også tidligere blitt kontaktet i forbindelse med denne familien, den gang var det angående post-piloten Max Miller. Det var bilde av Strømsveien 53 som den gang ble etterlyst. Litt om denne post-piloten kan leses her

Max Møller/Miller er nevnt på flere internett-sider som omhandler de tidligste post-pilotene og flyene til US Air Mail. Artikkelen nevnt over er skrevet av Max Miller selv.

Nedenfor kan du lese "livshistorien" til den ene av Møller-guttene. Ulf Ragnar. Den er skrevet av Mary Swanson og Jim Miller.

So far I have this history of Ulf Ragnar Moller (O. Ray Miller in the US)....

Ray Miller was born 20 July 1897 in Oslo, Norway...mother's name: Louise Larsen, father's name: Octavius Moller.  Ray immigrated to the United States at the age of 16 yrs, on board the Oscar II leaving Oslo / Christiania on 18 April 1913 and arriving at the port of New York on 30 April 1913. The Oscar II was a steamship built in 1901 in Scotland  for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. and served the Copenhagen to New York route. It carried 1,170 passengers including 900 in third class...one of whom was Ulf Ragnar Moller. After arriving in the United States, Ulf Ragnar was processed at Ellis Island where he purchased a train ticket to Minnesota. 

At the time of Ray's immigration, his mother was a widow and lived in Oslo at Stromsveien 53, II. She was listed as Ray's nearest relative on the ship's manifest. Ray was listed as able to read and write and in good health. 
His occupation was listed as "sailor," but it is assumed he was not part of the Oscar II crew since he was listed as a passenger not a crew member. Each passenger had to have a final  destination in the US and Ray listed his final destination as Mahnomen, Minnesota and his uncle Gilburt C. Gulrud. The actual relationship between Gilbert Gulrud or Carl G. Gulrud as he is also known, and Ray Miller isn't known, but the Gulrud and Miller families were related in some way.

Concerning Olf Ragnar's change of name in the US: Ulf Ragnar Moller unofficially changed his name to Olf Ray Miller or O. Ray Miller or Ray Miller after he immigrated in 1913. His reason for doing so, according to his naturalization papers, was because Ray Miller was "easier to pronounce." Americanization of names was a common practice.

Ray served in the US Army during World War I between 1916 and 1919. He served in France during WW I. 

Ray married and raised a family in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He married Mary Cecilia (surname ?) in 1939 in  Minneapolis. He and his wife had two children, a daughter, Marilyn, who is deceased, and a son, James (Jim) Miller born in 1943. Ray worked as a printer / pressman for McGill Lithography in Minneapolis for many years. He died 10 Dec 1942 in Minneapolis at the age of 45 yrs, 4 mo. & 20 days of a heart attack. He is buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis. Fort Snelling Cemetery is maintained by the US government for burials of former military
personnel and their families.