Neu Dessau David

We can offer a little more information on the David Buller of Neu Dessau, whom we think—but do not know!—was David 346 in the Przechowka church book (see the previous post). But first, a map will help us see where Neu Dessau was located in relation to the other two villages in the Neumark area.

Brenkenhoffswalde (underlined on the left) was roughly 2 miles west of Franztal (underlined left of center). Neu Dessau (underlined on the right) was a little more than 5 miles east of Franztal. As one can see, the three villages were located close to one another, which no doubt promoted interchange between the Mennonite families who inhabited them. Now, on to David Buller.

1. The size of David’s property

The 1778 list that Adalbert Goertz posted here (see the bottom of the page) also indicates the size of the landholdings for each owner. The measurements are given in Morgen (the larger unit) and square Ruten (the smaller unit). The exact size designated by the unit Morgen varied from time to time and place to place, but the most likely measure in use within Prussia at this time was 1 Morgen = .63 acres. The Rute (or Ruthe = rod) was likely 3.766 square meters (i.e., a little bigger than a 12 x 12-foot square).

The Goertz list reports that the property associated with lot 14, which was owned by David alone, was 40 Morgen (the largest landholding of any lot in Neu Dessau); the property of lot 12, which David owned jointly with Jacob Schmidt, was 38 Morgen, 6 Ruten. All told, then, David owned a little more than 59 Morgen, or roughly 37.2 acres. That may not seem big by today’s standards, but it was comparatively large in David’s context.

2. The sale of David’s property

Thanks again to Adalbert Goertz (1999; see here), we know significant details about David’s sale of the property: when, to whom, and for how much he sold it. According to Goertz, “the church records are all lost for this area and deed records of the … court at Driesen … in the Polish archives at Gorzow Wielkopolski … are the only sources available” to researchers. The “Grund- and Hypotheken-Acten (Deed and Mortgage Books)” are valuable not only for recording the transfer of property from one person to another but also for often providing a fifty-year land title history (i.e., history of ownership).

The entry that concerns David Buller begins (it seems) by listing the buyer of the property and the prior owners (this is my best guess):

Possessor: Carl Ludwig Machus
2. Ferdinand Kruegersche Eheleute
3. Wilhelm Schulzsche Eheleute S.66,75.
Schulz, Franz, Conrad Eigenthümer S.1021
der Eigenthümer Ewald Schmidt in Neu Dessau, Sch. 134

Carl Ludwig Machus is the person who purchased the property from David Buller. The rest of the list is less than clear, but we can make the following observations and guesses. The -sche ending corresponds roughly to our -’s, and the word “Eheleute” refers to a married couple, so perhaps the combination indicates that Ferdinand Krüger and his wife, for example, owned the property before David, and Wilhelm Schulz and his wife owned it before them, and so on.

The part of the record that interests us most is clearer, although some details remain uncertain (the quote below revises the German to more current spellings):

Da heute gesetzten dato ein aufrichtiger und unwiderruflicher Kauf geschlossen, es verkaufet (der Einwohner und Mennonist) David Buller aus Neu Dessau sein daselbst habendes Gut um und vor fünfhundert und siebentzig Reichthaler an den Wirt und Einwohner aus dem Netzbruch Ludewig Machus und lasset Verkäufer demselben zwei einjährige Kälber auf dem Gut und bewohnet sein Gut bis zu dem 1.ten May 1780 und träget davon so lange er dasselbe bewohnet alle darauf fallende Abgaben und Flichten. Käufer hat demselben zehn Reichthaler darauf gegeben und verspricht dem David Buller, wenn er das Gut auf den gesetzten Termien räumet, die völlige Bezahlung der 570 Rthlr. Dass nun dieser Kauf Contract fest und aufrichtigst von beiden Theilen gehalten werden soll, so haben sich dieselben eigenhändig unterschrieben.

This could be translated (paraphrased) as follows:

From this day forward by the closing of a a valid and irrevocable purchase, David Buller, a resident of and Mennonite from Neu Dessau, having the right to do so, in consideration of 570 Reichsthalers, hereby sells to the landlord [or proprietor?] of the Netzebruch, Ludwig Machus, and sends the same seller two one-year-old calves to live on the estate until 1 May 1780, and to sustain them as long as he inhabits the same and keeps all duties and obligations. The buyer has given the same [seller] 10 Reichsthalers and promises to David Buller, if he removes his goods by the set date, the full payment of 570 Reichsthalers. That this purchase will be maintained firmly and sincerely by both parties, the same have personally signed [it].

What is going on with the two calves is not obvious, since what the text seems to say does not make a great deal of sense, namely, that David would retain the property until 1 May 1780 and would keep two calves of Machus’s there. Perhaps the thought is that David can breed these calves and keep the calves they produce? Or maybe it is simply a matter of Machus needing someplace to keep the calves and David agreeing to care for them until Machus took possession, all negotiated as part of the sale price.

Whatever the case, the gist of the transfer seems clear: Machus gave David a down payment of 10 Reichsthalers (a silver-based coin of the Prussian Empire), with the promise of full payment of 570 Reichsthalers if David vacated the premises by 1 May 1780.

The transaction was then made official with the date of the sale and the necessary signatures:

Driesen on the left; the shaded area to the upper right of center is the
location of Neu Dessau. No obvious signs of the village remain.

So geschehen Neu Dessau d.5.ten Juny 1779.
+++ David Buller
+++ Ludewig Machus
gez.Michael Wegert Schultz
gez.Martin Wareke Gerichtsmann

Thus enacted in Neu Dessau on 5 June 1779
David Buller
Ludwig Machus
witness: Michael Wegert, mayor [presumably]
witness: Martin Wareke, court official

Finally, the property itself is described:

Südliche Nachbarn sind Michael Scarade und Joh.Daniel Grams.
Nördlicher Nachbar ist Kunicke nunc Christian Dittmann.
Die Colonie des Ludw.Machus in Neu Dessau, beträgt vom Haupt Netzwall ... Summa 59 Morgen 114 Ruten, davon sollen die Söhne erhalten, als
Christian Heinrich Machus, 2/3 der Colonie etc.
Joh.Gottlieb Machus excl.Fahrdamm, 1/3 der Colonie etc.

The neighbors to the south are Michael Scarade and Joh. Daniel Grams.
The neighbor to the north is Kunicke now Christian Dittmann.
The colony of Ludwig Machus in Neu Dessau totals from the main Netzwall ... 59 Morgen and 114 Ruten, which the sons [of Ludwig Machus] receive as follows:
Christian Heinrich Machus, 2/3 of the plot [?] etc.
Joh. Gottlieb Machus excluding the roadway, 1/3 of the plot [?] etc.

Presumably this was much clearer to those living in Neu Dessau. One thing to note is the amount of land that David sold: 59 Morgen and 114 Ruten, which is the same total given in the discussion of the size of David’s property (i.e., 40 Morgen owned individually + his half of the 38–Morgen plot owned with Jacob Schmidt).

The original bill of sale was executed in Neu Dessau, then recorded in the governmental offices in Driesen. Goertz also provides access to that record:

Copia vidimate, Original ohne Stempel.
Kund und zu wissen sey hiermit, dass zwischen dem Einwohner und Mennonist David Buller, Verkäufer am einen, und dem Einwohner Ludwig Machus aus dem Netzbruch, Käufern, am andern Theile, nachstehender unwiederruflicher Kauf unterm 5.Juni a.c. vor den Gerichten zu Neu Dessau verabredet, dato aber vor dem Justiz Amte geschlossen und vollzogen worden. Es verkauft und überlässt nehmlich gedachter David Buller sein in Neudessau zwischen Jacob Schmidten und Johann Kuhnicken einbelegenes Erbzinsgut nebst Zubehör an Gebäuden, Landung, Gärten und Wiesen sowie dasselbe in seinen Grenzen und Malen belegen, an gleichfalls gedachten Käufer dem Ludwig Machus um und für fünfhundert und siebzig rthl etc. etc.
Amt Driesen d.23.July 1779

Certified copy, original without stamp.
Know and let it be known herewith that between the resident and Mennonite David Buller, seller, on the one hand, and the resident Ludwig Machus from the Netzebruch, buyer, on the other hand, below arranged an irrevocable sale on 5 June of the current year in the court of Neu Dessau, thus finalized and concluded before the judicial office. It sells and leaves the aforesaid David Buller of Neu Dessau property between Jacob Schmidt and Johann Kunicke and its attached leaseholds and their access to buildings, landing, gardens, and pastures as well as its boundaries and landmarks, to the aforesaid buyer Ludwig Machus, and for 570 Reichsthalers … [details of the sale follow].
Driesen office, 23 July 1779

The regional record does not add any new information, but it does help us clarify at least one detail from before: the reference to the neighbor to the north was to Johann Kunicke, and the property is correctly located between him and Jacob Schmidt. It is also clearer in this record that the purchase was of the village lot and the associated rights to the village farmland, as the mention of gardens and pastures makes clear.

Where David went after selling his Neu Dessau property is a mystery. His name never appears in the citizen lists for Brenkenhoffswalde and Franztal in the years that follow, so we cannot say whether he left the area, moved to another village, or something else. Interestingly, no other Buller appeared in Neu Dessau before David, and no Buller was associated with the village after he left. In spite of all this uncertainty, we are not yet done with David. There remains one historical record related to him from this time that deserves its own post, which it will receive in the next day or three.

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.

———. 1999. Court Records from the Grund- and Hypotheken-Acten of Neu Dessau, Amt Driesen, Neumark: Erbzinsguth Neu-Dessau, Kreis Friedeberg, Brandenburg. Available online here.