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BELGIANS IN AMERICA:    Biographies of Belgian settlers  

NICHOLAS MULLER,- one of the oldest settlers of Jennings township, Van Wert county, Ohio, was born in Belgium November 6, 1833, and is the son of Carl and Susan (Huerts) Muller, parents of three children-Nicholas, Hellen and Katie. Mrs. Susan Muller died in Belgium and Carl next married Mary Grinling, to which union were born three more children--John, Peter and Mary. In 1854 Mr. Muller came to America and settled in Seneca county, Ohio, on a forty-acre tract of land, where he shortly afterward died at the age of forty-two year, very much respected by his new-found friends and a sincere devotee of the Catholic church.

Nicholas Muller, our subject, received a good education in Belgium, and came to America in 1852 in a sailing vessel. He landed in the port of New York, whence he went to Buffalo, in the same state, where he was employed for two years and in 1854 came to Seneca county, Ohio, to find that his father has preceded him and had died. For four years he made his homeon the farm left by his father, and then came to Van Wert county and settled on his present farm of 120 acres in Jennings township, then all in the woods, and for which he paid $1,100 of his own hard earnings. He here erected a log cabin, and        by dint of industry cleared up his farm, underwent all the hardships of pioneer life, and added to his land until he wasowner of 360 acres, of which he has given his son, Charles, eighty acres,. His marriage took place, in Seneca county, to Margaret Gremlinger, who was born in Belgium 1832, a daughter of Louis and Catherine(Rading) Gremlinger. The father of this lady died in Belgium, leaving the following children, who later came to America with their mother; Susan, Thresa, Macy, Catherine, Margaret, Nicholas and Dominie; the mother of this family died in Tiffin, Ohio. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Muller was blessed with eight children, viz: Charles, Jacob, John, Joseph, Catherine, Mary, Louis and Peter.

Mr. Muller has his farm well fenced and drained and in a fine state of cultivation; it is improved with all the necessary out-buildings, which a substantial and commodious; his dwelling is a modern brick edifice, erected in 188o, and all the surroundings denote the prosperous and thrifty, skilful and intelligent farmer, that he is. He is a devout member of the Catholic church, and contributed liberally toward the erection of the first Catholic church in Landeck, of which he was for two year, a member of the council.

In politics he is democrat, but has never been an office seeker. He is a self-made man, and well deserves the high respect in which he is held by his fellow townsmen. He was bereaved by the death of his faithful wife February 14, 1892, but finds solace in the society of his loving children, who never fail to do all in their power to make happy the declining years of their honored sire.

Source : (collective work) : A Portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert Counties, Ohio : containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens : together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Ohio.; Chicago: A.W. Bowen & Co., 1896, 1458  pgs.