Heinrich, we have a problem!

A funny thing happened on the way from Brüttisellen to Lushton (see here for the last post in that series): we lost Heinrich Buller. Allow me to explain.

Last year I was excited to learn that the GRANDMA database (which collects pertinent information about all known Mennonites) included Heinrich Buller, who not only was probably our ancestor but obviously was the same individual as the Heinrich Bühler whose story is told in The Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren (see further here). The approximate time and location of the births are identical, and other sources seem to confirm that these individuals were one and the same.

Some time ago for reasons that I no longer recall, I went back into the GRANDMA database, asked for record 273782 (Heinrich’s number above), and was surprised to see an entry for one Anna Zinn. Where was Heinrich? I tried several other search approaches, and Heinrich was nowhere to be found.

I wrote the GRANDMA staff and asked if they could explain, although I had a feeling that I already knew the explanation (people do not disappear from geneaological databases for no reason). They politely replied that Heinrich Buller 273782 has been removed from the database because there is no documentary evidence that he ever existed. He may be nothing more than a plausible fiction.

You are probably feeling some of the dis-ease that I did then, so let me be clear about what we are and, more important, are not saying.

1. There is no documentary evidence for the existence of a Heinrich Buller (note the spelling!) who was born outside of Zurich, Switzerland, in the late seventeenth century and lived for part of his life in Deutsch Konopat, Prussia (Poland).

2. There is documentary evidence for the existence of a Heinrich Bühler who was born outside of Zurich, Switzerland, in the late seventeenth century.

3. Whether or not Heinrich Bühler ever lived in Deutsch Konopat is at present unknown. Horst Penner says that he “probably” did, but the documentary evidence proving that claim is lacking.

So what is the truth of the matter? We simply do not know. I happen to think it plausible that the Hutterite Heinrich Bühler did emigrate to Deutsch Konopat, where he established a sizeable family whose last name sometimer thereafter began to be written Buller. That’s my story for now, but I do not know if I’ll be sticking to it.

In the end, although it is disconcerting not to find Heinrich Buller in the GRANDMA database, nothing really has changed. It is just as plausible now as it was earlier to work from the hypothesis that all the Molotschna–Prussian Bullers descended from the Hutterite Heinrich Bühler. As long as we remember that we are dealing with hypotheses, we can freely and confidently explore all the data that we can uncover. Who knows? Maybe someday documentary evidence of Heinrich Buller (aka Bühler) will come into the light of day.

Source

Penner, Horst. 1978. Die ost- und westpreußischen Mennoniten in ihrem religiösen und sozialen Leben, in ihren kulturellen und wirtschaftlichen Leistungen. Teil 1: 1526 bis 1772. Weierhof: Mennonitischer Geschichtsverein.