The family kept growing.
Their thirteenth child was on the way.
The neighbors could hardly imagine how another baby would fit in a house that already seemed so full.
The small farmhouse had only a few rooms.
There was no question of luxury.
No extra bedroom.
No comfortable furniture.
The children’s sleeping area became the center of their entire world.
During the day, it was a place to play, study, repair clothes, and share stories.
At night, it turned into a sleeping area where twelve children huddled close together to stay warm.
The walls were thin.
The floor was hard.
The winters were cold.
But the family had something that many larger houses lacked.
A sense of togetherness.
The Muller family cabin in Otsego County from 1932: 9 people in one room | Mansfield, NY
The father who worked to exhaustion
The family survived because their father refused to give up.
Every morning, before the sun rose, he left for the farm.
