South Dakota Bullers 8

In recent posts we have had occasion to examine (to the extent that we are able) a Polish civil record for the marriage of Benjamin Heinrich Buller and Agatha Goertz and another record for the birth of their second son Heinrich. This post will explore in even greater detail a third civil record that both confirms the account in Life Story of Heinrich Buller and His Wife Agnetha Duerksen Buller and supplements it with information not previously known. We begin with the relevant paragraph from the family history.

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)

We noted in the previous post that Heinrich was Benjamin and Agatha’s second son, their first having apparently died in infancy. We do not know the name of that first son, since Heinrich recalled only the name of a sister Julia.

However, thanks again to resources provided by Glenn Penner, we are able to fill in another gap. If you recall, earlier we noticed a second child listed after Heinrich in the GRANDMA entry for this family: Wilhelm.

The Deutsch Wymsyle church lists below do not record this son, so how can GRANDMA be certain that he existed?

The answer, once again, relies on the evidence of a Polish civil record, in this case a record of death. 

The handwriting in this record is much easier for amateurs to read, especially since the key names are helpfully underlined. In line 3 of the body we see Benjamin Buller, and this time it is written just as we would spell it. Five lines below we read Wilhelm Buller, and two lines farther down we see again Benjamin followed by Angetha Gortzaw and Buller at the end of the line. Note also Wilhelm Buller repeated three lines below that. 

If you look carefully you can make out several other names: Piotr Buller in line 5 and two lines up from the bottom, Benjamin Buller in the third line up, and Peter Buller in the very last line. One might wonder why the same name is spelled Piotr twice and Peter once. Note that the last instance is in a different hand; in fact, the last one is Peter Buller’s own signature.

Those general observations are easy enough to make, but there is more: Glenn Penner had this record and several others translated, so we can read it in full for ourselves (see number 15 here).

It happened in the Mennonites’ commune in the village of Wymyśle Niemieckie on 16 May 1840 at 8am. Personally came Benjamin Buller, komornik [farmer who does not have his own house], 33 years old, residing in the village of Brześzin and Piotr Buller, komornik, 25 years old, residing in the village of Wymyśle Niemieckie and stated that on 15 May of the current year at 8am died a male child named Wilhelm Buller, 1 year old, residing in a village of Brześzin, commune of Sannik. Son of Benjamin Buller and Agnetha nee Gertz, a married couple of Buller, komornik in the same village. This child left behind his parents who were mentioned above. After being convinced about [the] death of Wilhelm Buller this document was read to those present and witnesses. The first witness Benjamin Buller is a father of this child and stated that he does not know how to write. The second witness Piotr Buller signed this document.

Preacher P. Ratzlaw

Note also two notes in the right margin: the notation “Nr 5, Brześzin,” which is the village where Benjamin and Agnetha lived; and a statement that Wilhelm died on 15 May 1840.

Based on Heinrich’s recollection, we might add a daughter Julia to the two sons; there were likely still other children, since the couple’s first son was born in 1833, Heinrich was born in 1834, Wilhelm was born in 1839, and Agnetha did not pass away until 1843, at the age of thirty-four. Just how many children the the couple buried cannot be known, but one suspects that it may have been a substantial number.

So ends the Benjamin Buller portion of the family story. We will pick up with his son Heinrich’s life in the following post and stay with him for some time. I can say at the outset that Heinrich lived quite an interesting and eventful life. His life story is worth reading, in my view.

***

Note: I discovered after writing most of this post that I had covered much of the same material over two years ago (see here). Thankfully, nothing here disagrees with what I wrote earlier. 

Work Cited

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