Bullers and Buhlers

The previous post reviewed the various surnames that Gustav Reimer connected to Buller, that is, Büller, Boller, Boeler, and Buijler. Not all of these are certain (I doubt that the last one has a connection with Buller), but they presumably are more likely than names listed elsewhere. Or are they?

The entry above Buller in Reimer’s list is Buhler, which offers some interesting information.

The names associated with Buhler include Buler, Bollart, Buller, Bolla, Bullaert, Buhlert, Boular, von Bulaer, Bulaert, Buylaert, von Bulart, von Bular, and Bulaert (listed a second time because the name is cited in a second source).

As with the Buller entry, Reimer indicates via abbreviation where each name is attested. Buler, for example, is listed in KbD = Kirchenbücher der Mennonitengemeinde Danzig (the church book of the Mennonite congregation at Danzig). The same abbreviation is used with six additional names, which begins to hint at the primary location of the Buhler grouping.

The surname Buhlert has only a date given, 1681, which Reimer explains refers to the Verzeichnis der mennonitischen Einwohner in Danzig 1681, that is, a directory of Mennonite residents of Danzig (the Danzig area, since noncitizens such as the Mennonites were not permitted live within the city). Reimer also adds that the directory is found in the Danzig State Archives.

The two names that are identified with “Salv” are associated with the St. Salvador congregation of Danzig. The name of the church indicates that it was a Catholic church, not a Mennonite one, but the recording of data about non-Catholics in Catholic records was common in that day. Most important for our purposes is the location of this church—and record of Buhler-related surnames—in Danzig. Finally, the one name identified via year only (the second listing of Bulaert with 1586), is found in a signature list of a letter from West Prussian Mennonites in the record books of the congregation at Heubuden, a village approximately 25 miles southeast of Danzig.

Unlike the Buller group, which is attested in the villages of Schönsee, Jeziorka, Deutsch-Kazun, and Montau-Gruppe—all villages along the Vistula River 80 or more miles south of Danzig—the Buhler group was tightly packed all around Danzig.

Why is this significant? It raises the possibility that not all Bullers in Poland/Prussia derived from the same basic family group. The Danzig Bullers and the Schwetz Bullers (for lack of a better term) may have shared a name without sharing any common ancestors. The case is not closed on this, of course, but Reimer may be correct to keep the Bullers in the church book of the Mennonite congregation at Danzig separate from those whom we assume to be our Bullers.

Fortunately, the story does not end here. Modern science, specifically, DNA testing, has evidence to offer as well, but that is a topic for another post.

Source

Reimer, Gustav. 1963. Die Familiennamen der westpreußischen Mennoniten. Schriftenreihe des Mennonitischen Geschichtsvereins 3. Weierhof: Mennonitischen Geschichtsverein.