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Family
Marriage: Children:
  1. Eleanor Alma Waber: Birth: 9 May 1911 in Chicago,Ill. Death: 29 Sep 1999 in Sacramento,CA

  2. Thomas Vedder Waber: Birth: 27 Jul 1920 in Chicago,Cook County,Ill. Death: 6 Jun 1996 in Farmington Hills,Wayne County,MI


Notes
a. Note:   BIOGRAPHY: Heres a bio on L Arthur written by my grandfather: Dear Cousins: Since we shall not be with you at this year's reunion, Jim andFaith McGregor asked me to prepare a mini-biography of my father that canbe attached to the genealogical material which will soon be deposited inthe Western Michigan University archives. It does seem appropriate thatsomeone describe the man who almost singlehandedly (and certainly wholeheartedly) developed our outstanding and historically important Waber andMiller family records on which each individual descendent can constructhis/her ongoing "tree" with confidence. Dad would want me to make a notehere that we are not really Millers but Mullers, with an umlaut. OK withtwo dots over the u which can also be rendered "Mueller". Except that thefamily long ago chose the English translation which stands by commonconsent. The important point is that when researching the European churchrecords we need to remember the German spelling. So much for my Preface.Now, with your permission, let me try to describe my father to futurereaders of the family files as well as the many younger cousins today whodid not know him. LOUIS ARTHUR WABER (1882-1979) First let it be observed that a more important genealogical project ishard to imagine. The Millers and the Wabers were part of America'shistoric mid-19th century German immigration that had great impact on ournations development. And in terms of the sesquicentenial state state ofMichigan in which they chose to settle, these are the log cabin pioneersof Van Buren County who tamed the wilderness before the state was even inits teens. It is a rare and valuable gift we are making to futureMichigan historians and a priceless gift also to Wabers and Millers ofanother century who will want very much to know when their ancestors cameto America and what their lives were like. We have L Arthur ("Uncle Art")Waber, particualrly, to thank for assembling our genealogy with greatattention to detail over a period of many years. The files speak forthemselves. But who was he exactly? L Arthur was a man of exceptional heritage. I saw none of mygrandparents (three of whom died in 1917) and his own mother died when hewas only 10. Yet I remember my mother's frequent description of herfather in law, Thomas Waber, as a kind and pleasant man. And from herletters that survive we can tell that Anna Eliza (Miller) Waber wasequally kind, pleasant, loving, and thoroughly Christian. Thomas andEliza accordingly suceeded in raising children whose loving, sharing,constructive lives were a credit to their parents. Daughter Alma, forexample, who married John McGregor and lived for so many years on the oldWaber farm after a period in Manton whose beautiful family again reflectssuch credit on the parents. Thomas LaVerne ("Uncle Verne"), a veteran ofWWI, whose son Henry (by Mabel Kingsley Waber) has always been a joy tothe family. James Warren (whose war was the Spanish American), who becamea distinguished inventor and the father of Dr. James Thomas Waber,scientist and university professor who participated in WWII's ManhattenProject. And there was Paul Miller Waber, the very enterprising farmerwho lived just down the road from the ancestral home, whose daughtersPauline and Marie (by Josie Champion) always have reflected that sameloving good nature of Thomas and Eliza. "Art" thus was blessed withsiblings who were good to their little brother and with aunts, uncles,and cousins by the dozen who knew and cared about him. All of which seemsto provide the optimum "environment" in which to raise a genealogist! However L Arthur Wabers story is not quite that simple. Like hissister and his brothers each of whom chose a unique path in life, Dad,too, was "one of a kind". Completion of primary grades at the one room"quail trap" school was followed by some further schooling in GrandRapids, where he stayed a while with an aunt, and some inKalamazoo......finally some in Chicago, where he lived with cousins for atime and graduated from Hyde Park high school and studied fundamentals ofengineering and drafting at a YMCA night school. This was quite anachievement in Dads day. Thanks to his brother Jim who got "Art" his first job with asurvey crew and then kept in close touch the rest of their lives, LAW"found himself" and developed developed rapidly into a skilled civilengineer (he participated in development of the Chicago lakefront,Medinah Country Club, building of Gary Indiana, construction of FortCuster and the Charleston (SC) Port Terminal.). Eventually, he wasestablished with the Chicago Board of Education in its public schooldesigning department--he helped design the junior high school (Parker)that I attended. It was great fun walking through the structure with Dadwhile it was under construction. Concurrently, L Arthurs enthusiasm and leadership propelled him tomasonrys 32nd degree, master of his lodge, high priest of theconsistatory, the Shriners, and guide on a three time national championTemplar drill team. And oh yes, the Steuben Club of Chicago. And a littledabbling in politics on the ward level as a booster of "Big Bill"Thompson the mayor and of Louis L Emerson, governor (I remember passingout hand bills and buttons on election day for a small fee). Always enthusiastically interested in the newest science andtechnology, Arthur Waber decided in the early 20s to see what he could dowith radio sales as a sideline. I remember our apartment on Chicagossouthside having its dining room decorated with some pretty elaboratesets, batteries, and aerials, but I have no idea how many sales, if any,Dad made. However, it was not long before he turned over what he had to afavorite nephew, James Arthur McGregor, thereby "sparking" a wonderfulworld wide career. By seeing to it that I appeared on a Chicago radiostation at age 5, he bonded me to the medium as well. Amid all his lively activities, Dad remained determined to becomewell-educated. He read voluminously on a wide variety of subjectmatter---American history, science, politics, philosophy, and was adevotee of Chicagos museums and lecture halls. At the same time he was anold fashioned romantic, courting his wife to be with flowers and originalpoems. They were a very happy and attractive young couple. And lest youthink this serious minded young German American engineer had no lighterside, Mother (Bessie Antinica Vedder) confided in us one day that Dadonce thought of a song and dance career. Not too suprisingly you couldfind L Arthur in the popular Masonic Temple minstrel shows---and even ina nursing home at age 95, he it was who chose the music and directed thekitchen band! Another strong thread woven into L Arthurs Chicago years would haveto be his pleasure in practicing photography by Eastman.....thuspreserving for us fine pictures of the original Waber log cabin and ofhis father.....and much later he managed to reproduce "tintypes" of hisparents and grandparents, a treasured "peek" at our family founders. The story of our archives requires moving their author back to hisnative state.......the Depression attended to that. LAWs engineeringcareer came to an abrupt end along with out bank accounts, and after avery difficult period it was one of the Michigan cousins (Beatrice Waber)who located a position for him with the state highwaydepartment---inspector in an Alpena gravel pit. In 1933, at age 51, "Art"literally started at the bottom and worked his way back up, as thingsimproved, to the road design department in Lansing. It was new to him,but he thrived on road design--there he remained until retirement,afterward serving as a registered engineer/consultant with Harley,Ellington, and Day, a large Detroit contracting firm. My sister, Eleanor Alma (Mrs James E Mitchell of Sacramento) and Ican certainly attest that Dads devotion to family history was lifelong.He patiently explained "who was who" among our many relatives and wherethe Wabers and Millers originated in Europe, but without the charts hebegan to develop half a century ago or more, I could never quite keepthings straight. Eleanor, having 9 years memory advantage to me, I hopewill look over her kid brother's script and send her own recollections ofDad for the archives. I'm bound to have overlooked something in my haste! In general, the story of our Waber/Miller genealogy may be said tobe the story of 25 years retirement. Arthur Waber left the employ ofHarley Ellington at age 72, still very fit and energetic, living at 515Amelia St. in Royal Oak with our mother. Her death (heart disease) notlong afterward was devastating to Dad but determinedly stayed on in theirhome and kept the property in good condition. Still, in his lifelongfashion, he kept exploring new possibilities including oil painting andthe ever present study of family history. To learn the proper techniques,he joined the Genealogical Society of Detroit. To dig deeply into thefamilys biggest question, did we have any relatives still living inGermany, Dad cashed in his and Mothers war bonds and took an incredibleLufthansa tour of Europe--basically on a shoestring, depending on ahospitable reception! As preserved in his files, and as he shared atnumerous family reunions, Art Waber "did it". The relatives were located,the church records verified, we had a past well delineated. In our owncountry, the arrivals and short stays in New York state heclarified---even to locating "Uncle Henry" who "went west" after theCivil War. Well Henrys descendants, at any rate---who were equallypleased to learn of the relatives they had understood were somewhere inMichigan! And so the family archives grew and grew, all in good order, allwith abundant artifacts and photographs. They came into my possessionwhen the county required Dads home to be sold while he was in theCambridge Nursing Home (Clawson, MI) owing to a disabling stroke.Numerous times his hope was to have the files preserved so they wouls notget dispersed among several households and thus eventually lost as far asusefulness historically is concerned. He had in mind the State Library inLansing, which is indeed a splendid repository, as is the BurtonHistorical Library in Detroit. However I felt the best solution of allwould be to place the records as closely as possible to their Van BurenCounty roots---and Jim and Faith's happy discovery of the WesternMichigan University archives in Kalamazoo is just right. I am not agenealogist, but my studies of archival administration at Wayne Stateconvinced me we have done the right thing with the life work of your"Cousin Art","Uncle Art", Eleanors and my father, L Arthur Waber, a veryreal blessing to us all. Rev. Thomas Vedder Waber 23105 Providence Dr (415) Southfield, MI 48075 7/19/87 With special appreciation to my wife, Elizabeth Mae (Schultz), withoutwhose loving and energetic help it would have been ompossible toconsolidate the files and put the many loose items in order.


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