Searching for Benjamin’s Father 8

We are nearly ready to take up the question whether Benjamin Heinrich Buller was the father of our own Benjamin Benjamin Buller, who was the father of David, the father of Peter D, the father of Peter P, the father of Grandpa Chris. Before we do so, however, we have a few more details to cover.

We begin with a portion of Glenn Penner’s suggestion about Benjamin (see here for the full version):

I believe that not long after Benjamin 2 moved to Volhynia, his father Benjamin 1  [Heinrich] (who would have been a widower of about 70 or more years) left for South Russia with his daughter Catharina and her husband Johann Ratzlaff (and the majority of the Przechowka congregation).

The part we want to highlight from this is the mention of Benjamin Heinrich being with his daughter Katharina (aka Trincke) and her husband Johann Ratzlaff. According to the GRANDMA database, Johann and Katharina were recorded as living at Alexanderwohl 16 in the 1835 census, the same plot at which we found Benjamin in the previous post in this series. 

As noted earlier, the 1835 census also reports that Benjamin died in 1830. This raises the question, of course, whether they lived with Benjamin or he with them prior to his death. Asked more simply: Who owned Alexanderwohl 16: Benjamin or Johann and Katharina? A short detour will lead us to a likely answer.

It is reasonable to think that Benjamin, Katharina, and Johann all emigrated to Alexanderwohl at the same time, but we cannot document that and thus do not know it to be true. In fact, the Przechovka church members populated Alexanderwohl over the course of several years, 1821–1824, although by far the largest number arrived that first year, leaving in 1820 and founding the village in 1821.

We believe that Johann and Katharina were part of the first group. According to Peter Rempel, the couple received their visa from the Russian General Consulate in Danzig. He translates the record entry as follows:

Johann Ratzlaff from Przechowko, his wife Katharina 45 (b. ca. 1775). Passport from Marienwerder issued on July 11, 1820. (2007, 173)

Granted, we cannot be certain that this couple is Benjamin’s daughter and her husband, although the GRANDMA database knows of no other possibilities. Given the location from which they left, the year of migration, and the names of the husband and wife, it is highly likely that this is who we think it is.

Assuming that to be true, it is important to note that Benjamin is not listed, which might imply that he was traveling separately, perhaps even at a completely different time. Another record provides more detail but leaves the same impression. This entry is appears in a record of households founded in Russia in 1820:

Johann Ratzlaff…, whose family consists of 1 male and 1 female. Settled in Russia in the year 1820. They had no cash. They brought possessions valued at 401 rubles, 5 kopeks, 1 wagon, 1 horse, 2 head of cattle; wagon, horse or head of cattle cost 264 rubles. The local administration suggested providing financial aid for the purchase of 1 horse at a sum of 50 rubles, and also for building a house and establishing the household, at a sum of 589 rubles. (2007, 176)

Benjamin is not listed or counted here; furthermore, he does not appear in any similar records in the Rempel book. This absence is probably insignificant, apart from the fact that it leaves us in the dark as to when Benjamin emigrated. Odds are that he was a member of the large church migration, not the smaller groups of families that followed in the years after.

So much for what we do not know. What can we know? There is an important clue in the second entry above that answers the question with which we began. Johann received financial aid to purchase a second horse “and also for building a house and establishing the household.” This implies rather strongly that Alexanderwohl 16 was not Benjamin’s plot or house but rather Johann and Katharina’s. If they had not been plot owners, they would not have received a government loan to build a house.

Little by little we have added details to Benjamin’s life from beginning to end. On the basis of this latest evidence, we know not only that he died in 1830 but also that he spent the last decade of his life in the home of his daughter Katharina and her husband Johann Ratzlaff. But where in Alexanderwohl was that home? The next post will answer that question with surprising specificity, after which we will finally (!) turn to the question about a possible connection between Benjamin Heinrich and our own Benjamin Benjamin, father of David.   

Work Cited

Rempel. Peter. 2007. Mennonite Migration to Russia, 1788–1828. Edited by Alfred H. Redekopp and Richard D. Thiessen. Winnepeg: Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society.