Jacob Buller Confusion

I was all geared up to share additional background information about Jacob Buller of Alexanderwohl 9 (see here), a record that was previously available but that I had somehow overlooked. But while I was collecting additional details based on information given in the 1835 census, I stumbled upon an error in GRANDMA that we need to sort out. This post is the working out of the information that we have in order to make sure we arrive at the correct conclusion.

The error itself is straightforward: GRANDMA locates two different Jacob Bullers at Alexanderwohl 9:

Only one of them can be the Jacob Buller of Alexanderwohl 9, so which is it?

The census leaves little doubt, since it identifies the owner of Wirtschaft 9 as Jacob Peter Buller. Thus the first Jacob Buller listed, whose father’s name was Peter, is the one in the census; the second Jacob Buller was the son of George and thus not the owner of Alexanderwohl 9.

If that were the only mistake, it would be a simple matter to have GRANDMA remove the note about Alexanderwohl 9 from the Jacob George Buller entry. However, it appears that the mistaken census connection has created additional errors. Specifically, it seems that Jacob Peter’s wife and children have been erroneously associated with Jacob George. This is about to become confusing, so hold on and pay close attention.

1. The 1835 census lists Jacob Peter Buller and his wife Elisabeth, who is identified in the children lines as Jacob’s third wife. We mentioned the possibility of a third wife in the earlier post, but it was only by dumb luck.

After bearing him eight children (Anicke, Eva, Heinrich, Lencke, Elscke, Maricke, Jacob, and Sara), Jacob’s first wife Elscke Wedels died in 1809; he remarried, but his second wife, Ancke Pankratzen, passed away in 1813. Consequently, Jacob apparently emigrated as a single person (unless a third marriage took place but was not recorded), accompanied by his two youngest children, who turned twenty-five and eighteen in 1821. (here)

If you recall, the earlier post was written before we had the 1835 census in hand, so we did not know that the census itself told us about a third marriage.

2. Note further that GRANDMA lists only two marriages for Jacob Peter Buller; the third marriage, to Elisabeth, does not appear in the entry for Jacob Peter Buller. However, the census offers clear and contemporary evidence that Jacob did marry a third time to someone named Elizabeth. Further, Jacob and Elisabeth had, according to the census, four sons named Benjamin, Peter, David, and Andreas and a daughter named Eva.

3. One of GRANDMA’s many useful features is the ability it offers to search for two people in a defined relationship, such as husband and wife, father and son, or mother and daughter. In this case a search for a woman with the first name of Elisabeth and her daughter named Eva Buller led to five possible matches, but only one of them was for the right time frame, that is, with a birth year for the daughter around 1818, as indicated on the census. The Elisabeth and Eva that GRANDMA pointed out can be seen in the second record provided above, the one for Jacob George Buller. As you glance up at that record, note the names of the last four sons as well.

To recap, Elisabeth, Eva, Benjamin, Peter, David, and Andreas are all associated with Jacob Peter Buller in the 1835 census, but GRANDMA mistakenly has them listed with Jacob George Buller. It is an easy mistake to make, given the similarity of the names, but it is almost assuredly a mistake. The Przechovka church book does list both Jacob Bullers and Elisabeth Ratzlaff, but, importantly, it does not associate any of them. Jacob Peter Buller is PCB 377, but only his first marriage is recorded; the second and third are not. Jacob George Buller is PCB 392, and no wife is recorded for him. Finally, Elisabeth Ratzlaff is PCB 1128, and no husband is recorded for her. 

The only evidence we have is that offered by the census, which states unequivocally that someone named Elisabeth was married to Jacob Peter Buller and bore him at least five children. GRANDMA appears to have the association of the mother and her children right; however, the wrong Jacob Buller is given as the father. Elisabeth Ratzlaff and the last five children (Benjamin, Eva, Peter, David, and Andreas) should be moved to Jacob Peter Buller. The first son listed for Elisabeth Ratzlaff, likewise named Jacob, appears to be yet another error, but one that we dare not pursue at this moment (perhaps in a future post).

To recap briefly, the evidence indicates that Jacob Peter Buller’s third wife was Elisabeth Ratzlaff and that together they had one daughter (Eva) and four sons (Benjamin, Peter, David, Andreas). We do not know at present what happened with David George Buller. This might seem a minor thing, but I imagine that it matters greatly to the descendants of David Jacob Buller who ended up in the Hoffnungsau Mennonite Church in McPherson County, Kansas.