Early Bullers in Neumark

The previous post sought to place Heinrich and David Buller, two of the founders of the Volhynian village of Zofyovka, within the three lines descended from George Buller and Dina Thoms. After weighing all the possibilities, we concluded that they likely emigrated to Volhynia from the Neumark area in 1811.

These two were not, however, the earliest known Bullers in the Neumark area. Earlier we identified George 350 (in the Przechowka church book) and Peter 351 as residing in the Neumark villages as early as 1767, only three years after Mennonites established the villages of Brenkenhoffswalde and Franztal (see here and here). In all likelihood, George 350 and Peter 351 were members of the original group who moved from Jeziorka and elswhere in the Schwetz area to the Neumark area (Netzebruch) 120 miles to the southwest.

According to Adalbert Goertz (2001, 48; see also here), the 1767 census of Mennonite residents in these villages shows that Peter  351, his wife, and their two daughters and two sons lived at lot 16 of Brenkenhoffswalde, while George 350, his wife, and their one son and one daughter lived at lot 2 of Franztal. The census appears to be fairly complete (29 families numbering 157 individuals), so we can probably conclude that these twelve Bullers were the only ones who lived in those villages at that time.

It is here that matters start to become complicated. Thus far we have spoken only of the two villages Brenkenhoffswalde and Franztal, but in reality there was a third village nearby in which Mennonites lived: Neu Dessau. This village is sometimes overlooked because “the Mennonites in Neu-Dessau soon moved into the other two villages; by 1787 there were 266 Mennonites living in Brenkenhoffswalde and Franzthal” (Hege 1957).

All this is important because several Bullers apparently lived in Neu Dessau before its inhabitants merged into the other Neumark villages. Two lists will provide all the information that we need. The list in the first column (Goertz 2001, 48–49) identifies the residents of the thirty-two houses of Neu Dessau in 1771, shortly after the founding of the village. The list reproduced in the second column is dated seven years later, in 1778. As far as I can tell, the second column (see Goertz’s list at the end here) lists owners, not residents, perhaps for the purpose of calculating tax assessments or recording property holdings.

lot number	1771	1778
1	Peter Isaak Sr.	Peter Isaac
2	Gottfried Senkbeil	Johann Retzlaff
3	Martin Kaluschke	Johann Retzlaff
4	Witwe [widow] Mattheiin	Andreas Steffen
5	Adam Wahl	Simon Jahn (Jantz?)
6	Michael Ritter	Michel Ritter
7	Martin Werncke	Martin Wernicke
8	Martin Glesmann	Martin Glaesemann
9	Michael Rickert	Michel Wigge, Schultz
10	Peter Nachtigall	Peter Nachtigal
11	Johann Kuhnke	Johann Kunicke
12	Heinrich Decker, Pächter [tenant]	Jacob Schmidt and Buller
13	Christian Jabusch, Pächter	Jacob Schmidt
14	Gregor Jabusch, Pächter	David Buller
15	Andreas Schwand Sr.	Andreas Schwand
16	Andreas Schwand Jr.	Andreas Schwand
17	Michael Dreger	Johann Sahr
18	Peter Isaak Jr.	Peter Isaac Jr.
19	Peter (Fuss) Voot Jr.	Peter Voot Jr.
20	Johann Zibell	Johann Zibell
21	Daniel Piehl	Christian Adam
22	Andres Foth	Adam Bethcke
23	Adam Bethke	Adam Bethcke
24	Johan Dircks I	Johann Dircks
25	Johann Dircks II	Johann Dircks
26	Andreas Unruh	Andreas Unruhe
27	Peter Foth	Peter Voots Witwe
28	Christoph Schmidt	Christian Dittmann
29	Johann Philip	Heinrich Penner
30	Johann Marcus	Johann Marcius
31	Schulmeister [school master]
32	Auf Treppen M. Halb (?)

There is not a Buller to be found in the 1771 list. In fact, many of the names in the first half of that list do not sound particularly Mennonite to our ears. The 1778 list, however, records the presence of one or two Bullers in Neu Dessau. Lot 12 was apparently jointly owned by Jacob Schmidt and some Buller (the first name is omitted), while lot 14 was owned by a David Buller.

To deal with the minor question first, because lot 13 was owned by Jacob Schmidt and lot 14 was owned by David Buller, I would guess that the unnamed Buller who was half-owner of lot 12 was David. The logic is that neighbors Schmidt and Buller bought the three lots (12–14) that had been inhabited by tenants in 1771: Jacob Schmidt and David Buller each bought one lot individually, and they bought the third lot together.

The more important and intriguing question relates to who this David Buller was. Returning to our trusty Buller chart (thank you, Glenn Penner), one particular Buller looks to be a prime candidate:

According to the Przechowka church book, David 346, son of Hans 341 and grandson of Hans 340, was born in Jeziorka but was married in Franztal. There is no record in the church book of where he actually lived, only that he was married in Franztal at some point.

We know that George 350 and Peter 351 were living in the Neumark area at this time, and it would not be surprising to find their cousin David 346, who also was born at Jeziorka, also living in the Neumark area. If, as was suggested in the previous post, David 346 was born in the 1730s, he would have been of prime land-owning age by 1778, the time of the register.

Oddly (and not by design, I would add), we have come full circle from our last post. If you recall, there we searched to identify the David Buller who signed his name to the 1811 contract with the nobleman Waclav Borejko that led to the founding of Zofyovka in Volhynia; we concluded that David 346 was presumably not that David Buller.

However, now we have found another David Buller, one who lived at lot 14 of Neu Dessau in the Neumark area and who was half-owner of lot 12 in the same village, and it seems more plausible than not that Neu Dessau David is David 346. In this case, the dates and circumstances seem to match enough that we can judge this a likely identification.

This is enough for now, but this is not the last we will hear of Neu Dessau David. He will reappear in the archival record at least once more. More important, there are other Neumark Bullers to discover and, if we are fortunate enough to do so, identify within the known Buller family lines.

Works Cited

Goertz, Adalbert. n.d. Mennonite Settlers in the Neumark, Brandenburg (1767/1778). Available online here. Excerpted from Goertz, Mennoniten im Neumaerkischen Amt Driesen, Brandenburg. Ostdeutsche Familienkunde (1996): 277–83.

———. 2001. Mennonites in Amt Driesen of the Neumark, Brandenburg, Prussia. Mennonite Family History 20:47–51.

Hege, Christian. 1957. Netzebruch (Poland). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Available online here.