Bullers Near and Far

When Buller Time began over four years ago, it was meant to be a place where the immediate family of Cornelius (Chris) Buller and Malinda Franz might connect or learn about or remember together a bit of our family history. Although the blog banner retains its focus on Grandpa Chris and Grandma Malinda, the blog itself has expanded to examine both Mennonite history in general as it pertains to our family and other branches of the larger Buller family tree.

Surpisingly, members of that larger Buller family have contacted the blog from time to time, but particularly these past six months. One way or another, Buller descendants are finding their way to the blog and reaching out via email to let me know where they fit in the scheme of our larger family.

Most recently—earlier this week, actually—I was contacted by a descendant of Klaas P Buller, who as a child of Peter P and Margaretha Epp Buller was Grandpa’s older brother by four years. I look forward to learning more about that branch of the family. All that I know thus far is recorded in a blog post from late 2014 (here).

Buller Time has also been contacted by relatives whose connection to the Chris Buller family lies one generation earlier. For example, information about the trunk that the Louise Epp Buller Swan estate donated to the Mennonite Heritage (see here) came from the Dale Buller family, who are descended from Abraham P Buller, son of Peter D and Sarah Siebert Buller, thus brother to our ancestor Peter P (Grandpa’s father). Earlier this year a descendant of another child of Peter D and Sarah also contacted the blog and provided a great deal of information on his branch: the Heinrich P (H P) Buller family.

The contacts go even further back in our family tree. Earlier this year Buller Time was contacted by a descendant of Elisabeth Buller and Abraham Braun. Elisabeth was the daughter of David and Helena Zielke Buller, the younger sister of Peter D Buller. Elisabeth and Abraham came to the United States at the same time and even on the same ship as Peter D and Sarah, as well as the rest of the Johann Siebert clan, and originally settled in the Henderson area, although specifically where is unknown. There is still much to learn about this Buller branch, not least where Elisabeth was buried under a “mighty India Rubber tree” on the Braun farm in Westfield, Texas (now part of the Houston metro area; see further here).

But the contacts and connections go even further back than that. Last year Buller Time was contacted by a descendant of the Bullers who had lived in the Polish village of Deutsch-Wymysle (begin here, then work your way forward) into the mid-nineteenth century, then moved to Molotschna and then Crimea, before emigrating to the United States and settling in South Dakota. This particular branch has its own family history book, which I have been able to secure and scan and will share with blog readers in due course.

All these connections and contacts remind us that, important as our immediate family may be, we are part of a much larger tribe, all of whom are worthy of our attention. This extends beyond the various families who may stumble upon this blog and encompasses all Bullers of every time and place who come to our attention. Our family includes, and our interest should thus be directed, for example, to the Bullers of Hierschau in Molotschna colony: David, Heinrich, Jakob, Maria, and Peter, according to Helmut T. Huebert’s book Hierschau: An Example of Russian Mennonite Life (see here). Beyond that, we have Bullers to find in Siberia and Bullers to locate in the Soviet Union, if any trace of the Bullers who lived there even remains. One wonders, for example, if we will ever discover what happened to Katja Buller of Kleefeld, Molotschna colony (see here). I do not know the answer to that question, but I can say that Buller Time will continue to explore both the history and the historical contexts of our family saga, as long as there are leads to follow and stories to be told.

Katja is the little girl on the right end of the front row.