Alexanderwohl 7

The previous post established beyond reasonable doubt that Martin and Anna Unrau Kornelsen (or Cornelsen) were the original settlers of Alexanderwohl 1. Nevertheless, several questions remained: What other evidence do we have that supplements what we know about these original settlers? Why are Anna’s grown sons associated with their stepfather’s house? Finally, how closely are Peter and David Buller related to our particular family line? These questions provide this post’s goal and organizational structure.

1. Immigration Records

We find the Kornelsen family not only in the 1835 Molotschna census but also in passports and visas issued by the Prussian and Russian governments. We have consulted these records in earlier posts (most recently here, in the Benjamin’s Father series), via a resource created by Peter Rempel. Martin Kornelsen and family are listed three times in that work, as follows:

1819 passport: Martin Kornelsen [written Knels] Mennonite from Konopatz with his wife, 2 sons, 3 daughters. Passport from Marienwerder issued on July 5, 1819. (Rempel  2007, 137)

1820 visa: Martin Kornelsen from Konopath, his wife Anna 32 (b. ca. 1788), step-sons Peter Buller 11 (b. ca. 1809), David Buller 7 (b. ca. 1813), step-daughter Anna Buller 9 (b. ca. 1811), daughter Maria 5 (b. ca 1815), Helena 1 (b. ca. 1819). Passport from Marienwerder issued on July 11, 1820. (Rempel  2007, 172)

1820 record of settlement: Martin Kornelsen (Мартин Корнелсел), whose family consists of 3 males and 4 females. Settled in Russia in the year 1820. They had no cash. They brought possessions valued at 405 rubles, 50 kopeks, 1 wagon, no horses and no cattle; wagon, horse or head of cattle cost 110 rubles. The local administration suggested providing financial aid for the purchase of 2 horses, 2 head of cattle at a sum of 210 rubles, and also for building a house and establishing the household, at a sum of 589 rubles. (Rempel  2007, 175)

The progression of documents is instructive. Frst an immigrant had to secure a passport that gave permission to leave Prussia; note that this passport was granted a full year before Martin and family actually left (see * note below). However, the passport was not sufficient in and of itself; the actual journey could not be undertaken without a visa in hand, which Rempel tells us elsewhere was issued from Danzig on 7 August 1820. The passport(s) was issued (I believe) by the Prussian government; the visa and settlement report came from the Russian government, who kept careful track of the number of people who immigrated, their financial condition, and, of great importance, the amount of money they were loaned to establish their household.

Worth noting is that Martin and family made the journey with a wagon but no animals to pull it. From this we can infer that the wagon was probably more like a cart that was pulled by family members all the way from the Schwetz region in Prussia/Poland to the Molotschna colony in New Russia/Ukraine, a distance of some 900 miles. With Peter the oldest child only eleven years old, the majority of the burden presumably fell on Martin and Anna, who would have been glad to arrive at their new home, Alexanderwohl 1—keeping in mind, of course, that there was no actual house there until they were able to construct it. Their story was no doubt replicated, with some variation, with all the other new residents of Alexanderwohl, who shall be the focus of our attention in subsequent posts. For now, we turn to the question of why Anna’s grown sons were associated with their stepfather’s house in 1835, when Peter and David were in their mid-twenties.

* I do not understand why there was an 1819 passport and an 1820 passport, followed by an 1820 visa. Perhaps the first passport was good only for a year, and a new one had to be secured before a valid travel visa would be issued?

2. Census Organization

As we will see time and again, multiple names are listed for the same Wirtschaft in Alexanderwohl, sometimes even more than the three names listed in this instance. A brief review of the information provided in GRANDMA for Peter and David Buller will help us to understand why this is.

The entry for Peter (GM 32781) includes a comment beneath his genealogical data that notes: “The 1835 Molotschna Census entry for Alexanderwohl #1 says that he moved away from there in 1830. He is listed at Liebenau #3, where it says he came to Russia in 1820.” For understandable reasons, this information is not included in the census index; it is recorded, however, in the full version of the census that has been microfilmed and translated (see the previous post). Nevertheless, the index does include two listings for Peter David Buller and thus reflects the reality of his past and current living situation. (We first noted this here.)

Buller, Peter David (b. ca.1809): Liebenau 3
Buller, Peter David (b. ca.1809): Alexanderwohl 1

What are we to make of this? What the index implies and the census records is both where Peter had lived previously and where he was living in 1835, when the census was taken. In other words, the census was not merely a way of counting people or locating them at a specific point in time. Rather, the Russian censuses recorded, to some extent, the history of people, including movements from one locale to another and even a death that had taken place years before the census. The census was the Russian government’s means of keeping track of people (not in a sinister way) so that they knew not only who lived where at a particular time but also what had happened in their subjects’ lives from the time of the last census.

One result of this more expansive use of the census was that one household, such as Alexanderwohl 1, could appear with multiple names. As a result, we cannot simply equate a listing in a household with actual residence in that house. We need the full census, notes and all, in order to gain the full story about any person of that day.

What, then, about Peter’s younger brother David? The GRANDMA entry for David (GM 32783) also has a note, but it is not as clear: “In the 1835 Molotschna Colony Census for Alexanderwohl #1 he is listed with his stepfather, Martin Cornelson. Notes added to his entry in the 1835 Molotschna Census state that he moved to Hierschau in 1848.” At first blush, it seems that David was still living with his mother and stepfather. Why, then, was he listed in the census at all? To my knowledge, the census does not list all adult males, only heads of households (or perhaps families). 

The answer may be found in additional information provided in his GRANDMA entry, which states that he married Maria Nachtigal on 26 October 1835. One wonders if his 1835 marriage played any role in him being listed on the census, even if he (and his new wife?) did not have his own place. The later notes about him moving to Hierschau in 1848 were presumably added in anticipation of the next census.

Both the census notes and the two listings indicate clearly that Peter had left home by 1835; the fact that David is listed only once thus implies that he probably was still living at home, although he was in the process of starting his own family through his marriage to Maria Nachtigal. Details aside, the most important takeaway from this section is the reminder that the mere listing of a name on the census tells us little; each name must be examined within context and in light of other evidence before any conclusions about the person listed are formed.

3. Family Relationships

Finally, what relation are Peter and David Buller (and their sister Anna) to our family line? Recall that these two Bullers were named Peter David and David David, which tells us their father’s name: David. We have actually encountered David senior before (here): we noted that he was born in 1780 to Benjamin Heinrich Buller, married Anna Unrau in 1808, and died in 1813. In other words, David’s two sons were grandsons of Benjamin Heinrich Buller (who lived in Alexanderwohl 16 the last years of his life).

If our (Glenn Penner’s) reconstruction of our family line is correct, our ancestor Benjamin Benjamin Buller was David Benjamin’s younger brother, which would mean that Benjamin’s son David (father of Peter D, father of Peter P, and so on) was also the grandson of Benjamin Heinrich Buller, which would mean that our ancestor David was the cousin of Peter David and David David. Confused? The chart below shows the line of Peter and David Buller on the left and our line on the right. Both are descended from Benjamin Heinrich Buller through different brothers, which makes generation 3 cousins.

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So ends our investigation of the original settlers of Alexanderwohl 1. We will pick up with Wirtschaft 2 in the next post and see how far we can get. I do not imagine that we will go into as much detail with all the original settlers and their families, but we do want to pay close attention to all the Bullers who lived in that Molotschna village.

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.