South Dakota Bullers 7

In the last post we briefly reviewed Benjamin Heinrich Buller’s life as a day laborer and examined the Polish civil record of his marriage to Agatha (or Agnes) Goertz. This post picks up the thread of the story with the couple now married. I repeat the second paragraph of the Benjamin section to set the scene.

Here also in the process of time, he married one Agnes Goertz by name, and on the 21st of July 1834, their second son was born to them, whom they called Heinrich. This son was our father. All the other children by this wife died in their infancy it appears—a sister by the name of Julia being the only child father can recall, and she died when only four years old. (Buller 1915, 8)

1. According to William, the author of Life Story of Heinrich Buller and His Wife Agnetha Duerksen Buller, Heinrich was born 21 July 1834; according to the Deutsch Wymsyle church records the date was 25 July 1834 (see here). At present, we cannot say which of the two is correct, although the scan below presumably contains the answer, since it is the official record of Heinrich’s birth (or so I am told).

Like most governmental documents, these birth records follow a set pattern. Another example from 1840 offers a good sense of the typical elements.

It happened in the Mennonites’ commune in the village of Wymyśle Niemieckie on 17 June 1840 at 6am. Personally came Benjamin Foth, [komornik–farmer who did not have his house or just a poor farmer], residing in a village of Wymyśle Niemieckie, belonging to commune in Czermno, 33 years old in the presence of witnesses Piotr Buller, komornik, 25 years old and Karol Konke, komornik, 24 years old, both residing in the village of Wymyśle Niemieckie and presented to us a female baby who was born in his house #11 on 11 June of the current  year at 7am from his wife Ewa nee Ratzlaw, 25 years old. This child in the presence of witnesses was named Maryanna. This document was read to those present and it was signed by father and witnesses Buller and Konke. Benjamin Foth, Peter Buller, [Kardel Kondke], Preacher Piotr Ratzlaw. (A side note stated that a child was born on 11 June 1840; Glenn Penner had this and other records translated and posted online here).

Based on my tenuous understanding of these records, I suggest that we can identify the name of the father, Beniamin Bulla (Benjamin Buller), in lines 3 and 4 and the name of the child born, Henryk (= Heinrich), six lines up from the bottom. I cannot identify the mother’s name, although it is tempting to read Gorz one line up from Henryk. I cannot tell who served as witnesses, and I have no idea what dates might appear in the document. 

With so many unknowns, we should exercise caution, but the weight of evidence favors this being the birth record of Heinrich Benjamin Buller. After all, according to GRANDMA there was no other Heinrich Buller born in 1834 than the one who is the subject of this series, the one who lived in the same area as where these records were filed. Therefore, until additional evidence indicates otherwise, we will assume that this is Heinrich Benjamin’s birth record.

2. One additional detail is worth noting: William refers to Heinrich as Benjamin and Agatha’s second son. Given what is reported in the second half of the paragraph, it seems safe to conclude that their first son died in infancy. This is actually a good place to end this post, since the one that follows will introduce one more civil record that relates to the topic just mentioned.

Work Cited

Buller, William B. 1915. Life Story of Heinrich Buller and His Wife Agnetha Duerksen Buller. Parker, SD: privately printed.