Title: Frederick Ewing McMillen Reminiscences
Inclusive Dates: 1951

Creator:

• McMillen, Frederick Ewing, 1882-1959

Call Number: Whitewater Mss CD

Quantity: 0.2 c.f. (1 archives box)

Repository:

Housed at the University Archives & Area Research Center, Harold Andersen Library, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Whitewater Library / Whitewater Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

405-page memoir by Fred McMillen describing his childhood in Walworth County, Wis., and his naval career, from his admission to the Naval Academy in 1900 to his retirement in 1946. The first chapter includes some genealogical information regarding the McMillen and Ewing amilies. Also included are inscriptions of World War I letters from McMillen to his family.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-whit00cd

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McMillen was a Walworth County, Wis., native who served in the U. S. Navy from 1900 to 1946. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1904. From 1907-1909 he sailed on President Roosevelt's World Cruise. He took part in the occupation of Haiti in 1915-1916 and later served in World War I. In 1924 he helped manage the Navy contingent at the Paris Olympics. During World War II he was Chief of the Navy Field Branch at Cleveland. He retired in 1946 with the rank of Rear Admiral. Rear Admiral McMillen died September 17, 1959.

The first chapter of McMillen's memoir consists of a detailed genealogy of his ancestry. His grandparents were married in Wisconsin, and his grandfathers served in Wisconsin regiments during the Civil War. The second and third chapters describe his early years, growing up and living on farms around Lyons, Heart Prairie, and Whitewater, as well as in the towns of Elkhorn and Whitewater. There are many detailed stories of Walworth County in the 1880's and 1890's, especially of Whitewater, plus stories of visits his family made to Madison and to the Chicago Exposition of 1893.

The material concerning his naval career contains interesting details about many high-ranking naval officers, and on the history of both the Pay and Supply Corps. Included are transcribed letters to family members while at sea, including some written during World War I.

The memoir ends in 1951; this memoir was never published.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Dr. Fred E. Schneider, Grand Forks, N.D., 1999.

Processing Information

Processed by Anthony Sanders, February, 2000.