Polish/Prussian Bullers: Jeziorka 1

Ten to eleven miles west-northwest of Schwetz (modern Świecie) lay the village of Jeziorka (aka Jeziorken, Kleinsee, and modern Jeziorki). Jeziorka was located far enough from the Vistula River that it was not within the river valley itself (the red A in the map); according to the Polish Wikipedia article on the village, Jeziorka was the only Mennonite village in the Vistula area that was not in the actual valley (see here).

Unlike many other Mennonite villages of that time, Jeziorka did not have a pre-Mennonite history; rather, it was established in 1727 by a group of thirteen Mennonite families from the Przechovka area. Five years later the village added twelve Mennonite families from Culm (Chełmno), roughly twenty-one miles to the southeast. According to Peter J. Klassen, all these settlers “were granted a lease for forty years by the owner, Hedwig von Steffens-Wybczyriski” (2009, 86). Herbert Wiebe agrees in broad terms but clarifies that the lease was made with Frau (Mrs.) Hedwig von Steffens-Wybczyriski with the consent of the guardians of her children (Wiebe 1952, 30). Wiebe adds that the lease was for 1 Hufe (1 Hufe = 30 Morgens = ca. 41.5 acres) of meadow and 19 Morgens (= ca. 26 acres) of arable land that had been damaged by soldiers.

Nanne van der Zijpp and Richard D. Thiessen note that a church was erected early on, in 1743, but the residents of the village “never formed an independent congregation, but were in one congregation with their brethren in Przechovka and Konopath.” The Przechovka church is, of course, the one with which our Bullers were associated.

Today, nearly three hundred years later, the village still exists in a loose form (the houses on each side of the road in the center of the photograph below) and is reported to have around 150 residents, though that seems doubtful.

As we noted previously, Bullers lived in Jeziorka during the latter part of the eighteenth century. For example, both the 1772 land register (see here) and the 1776 census of Mennonites (see here) list a Georg(e) Buller as living in Jeziorka. The 1772 register simply gives his name and location, but the 1776 census adds important details. At the time of the census George had a wife and two sons, and he was a farmer and Eigentümer (owner) whose financial status was schlecht (low).

Still, there are more questions than answers at this point. When did George Buller and his family first live in Jeziorka? Were they the first Bullers to live in that village? Since all the Jeziorka Mennonites leased their land, in what sense was George an Eigentümer (owner)? What happened to George after this time? What happened to his family? Is is possible that George was a direct ancestor of ours?

Fortunately, the Przechovka church book and other historical sources will allow us to fill in some of the details, but that is a task for another post.

Sources

Klassen, Peter J. 2009. Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia. Young Center Books in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Wiebe, Herbert. 1952. Das Siedlungswerk niederländischer Mennoniten im Weichseltal zwischen Fordon und Weissenberg bis zum Ausgang des 18. Jahrhunderts. Wissenschaftliche Beiträge zur Geschichte und Landeskunde Ost-Mitteleuropas 3. Marburg: Johann Gottfried Herder-Institut.

Zijpp, Nanne van der, and Richard D. Thiessen. 2014. Jeziorka (Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. See here.