The last installment of the story of Aganetha Dirks Buller ended with her orphaned and placed under the guardianship of a second cousin by marriage: Daniel Unruh. We pick up the narrative at that point.
[17] But now to revert once more to mother’s early life. We left her mourning the loss of her father and orphaned now indeed. There was a big family left to be provided for, and so it was deemed necessary for her to work out. How must this change in her fortunes have affected her, a girl of only nine years, strong attached to home and her own! With these things in mind, let us follow her to the home of her first mistress in Gnadenheim. The name of the people was Kopp. They seem to have been hard-hearted and unsympathetic. She had to work very hard considering her age. She had to help her mistress in the house, do chores, and, hardest of all, carry all the straw needed as fuel for the spacious Russian fireplace. The straw piles were well made and packed solid, but it was her duty no matter in what kind of weather, to pluck it with her hands and carry it on her back to the house. She was homesick, of course, and as winter came on suffered a great deal from cold. Once in late December when it was bitter cold and the snow was deep and still falling, she labored at this hard job of carrying the straw until, numbed by the cold, and completely exhausted, she sank down by the straw pile to rest. She was so tired that she was fast fall asleep. She suddenly felt herself so comfortable and so warm as those are always said to feel whom extreme cold at last overcome. She would doubtless have frozen to death there had not somebody roused her in time. Do we wonder that she was sick at heart and soul in such a place? As the Christmas time drew near, her one desire was to visit her brothers Benjamin and Cornelius at her childhood home in Waldheim. She was finally given permission to do so, provided she would carry enough straw to last over Christmas Day. She gladly consented to this and worked harder than ever. Finally Christmas Day came and early in the morning, she set out on foot for Waldheim, a distance of four villages. She had made up her mind that she would not go back to Kopp’s. After the holiday, they came after her, but she positively refused to go with them. Mr. Unruh, her guardian, did not like this very much but could not force her to go.
But another place had to be found for her, and so for the next year she was taken to Daniel Unruh’s parents. They were, of course, more humane. But still no idling was allowed, and she again worked as hard as a girl of her age possibly could. Among other things, she had to help hoe the garden, which was a big one. This work was very tiring [18] for the back, and often when engaged in this toil, the elder Unruh would sit by his window to watch them. Being so young, the work tired her very much, and her back would ache furiously, but the minute she stopped or any of them stopped, the watchful old man would gently remind them that they were losing time. And yet these were kindly, goodhearted people, and she felt quite content. But after she had been there about one year, the wife of this elder Unruh died, and the home was broken up, so that a new place had to be found for mother. This time Daniel Unruh (guardian) hired her out for a year to his own brother at Alexanderthal. She was to get 12 Rubles the year. There was a fine prospect of a big crop, and this Unruh needed extra help in the field. Accordingly he promised mother that he would clothe her from head to foot if she would do the work of a binder in the field. But when the crop was threshed, the wheat was found to be light and far below expectations. So her boss never fulfilled his promise. She was now about 12 years old. As the mistress of the house was sickly, the main burden of the work fell on her. Of course, she had to carry all the fuel and the water. She had to get everything in readiness for the meals, build the fires, peel the potatoes, etc., and this done, help in the fields. How long she stayed here, I cannot say. Suffice it to say that in this manner several years sped by. We get another glimpse of her [when] she was about 16 years old. She was now working for a certain Abrams. They appear to have been jolly and lively people and great lovers of the dance. Consequently, large crowds often seem to have gathered there for just this pastime. As time wore on, mother, too, was drawn into these gay gatherings and had learned to dance. She had to work hard, but then she was young and full of life, and like any girl of her age, fell easily under the spell of the yodler’s music. On one such occasion after she had danced until she was perspiring freely, she left the crowd to quench her thirst at the nearby well. She quaffed freely of the cold water, and being in such an over-heated condition (from the dance), she immediately felt the ill effects of the drink in every limb. How often afterwards she had occasion to regret that bit of thoughtlessness? For from that time onward, she became sickly and, try as she might, could seemingly not recover her former health. From now on therefore she still was working out but always hired out as a sick girl, consequently at lower wages.
[19] She did not stay at this place much longer, and the one noteworthy thing that happened at her next place was that for the first time since she was thrown among strangers, her mistress took enough interest in her to see to it that she was warmly dressed. Be it said here to her honor that one of the first things she did was to go to the nearest town to buy suitable material from which to make for her warm under-clothing. For, unthinkable as it may seem to us in this day and age, mother up to that time had never worn underclothing. Far be it from us to smile at the thought. It was not because of economy that this was so, but rather because of the foolish notions of the age on the subject of dress for women. She was only the victim of the foolish idea that people had, viz., that women must not wear trousers. Trousers for women? Ridiculous! That was the sole privilege of man. Hence, dressed in the fashion of the day, the thought may well come to us how, exposed to every condition of weather, she even survived. However that may be, her new mistress, either more enlightened or desiring to go help her get well (assuming warm clothing could do it), provided her with underwear and dresses that were calculated to keep her body warm. Of course, this was a step in the right direction, yet she still felt sickly. She tried to get cured but always felt she could not afford to hire a doctor. Finally, however in great distress over her condition, she set out barefoot to seek advice from a certain Mrs. Heinz—an unlicensed doctor k-p—living in a Dorf [village] several miles away. She felt extremely downhearted at her hard lot, and as she walked along the way, the tears streamed from her eyes until it seemed to her that her heart must break. It proved to be a lucky thing for her, as we shall see.
As the good woman examined her, her attention was called to a peculiar growth that affected mother’s back. She at once surmised that it might be a cancer, and questioned mother about it. She had not known of it, with the exception that for some time, she had a peculiar crawling, itching sensation in that location. Mrs. Heinz therefore decided to find out definitely what it was. So she prepared a poultice of figs and applied it where she had lanced the growth, and verily she found the symptoms that indicated a living cancer! What was to be done? A licensed doctor was not at hand, nor yet did she feel able to afford the services of one. Mrs. Heinz therefore offered to perform the operation for three Rubles, which she could pay by working for her, provided she would keep it a secret (she had no license). This mother gladly agreed to do. So the operation was [20] performed by means of only a common pocketknife. And, as local anesthetics were unknown mother had to endure the pain as best she could. Blue vitriol was used to cauterize the wound, and the pain of it was well nigh unendurable. After the wound had healed, mother was instructed to watch very carefully for any symptoms that the cancer might still live. Twice after that she felt that the dread disease was still with her. Once shortly after her marriage and again years later in America, about the time that John was a babe, she thought that the cancer was again becoming active. In each case they fought and killed the disease by applying a home remedy that a good doctor by the name of Loewen had prescribed and which a friend of theirs—Mrs. Rickert—had advised them to try. It was so effective and so easy to prepare that I cannot refrain from mentioning it here. The remedy consisted of applications of fresh baked rye bread from which the crust was first removed. The crumbs or inside of the loaf, in suitably sized pieces, was then applied just as steaming hot the patient could possibly endure, and in this manner the cancer was killed in each case.
When mother was about 19 years old, she was working for people by the name of Dick who owned a saloon. She was still sickly. One day a traveling Hungarian doctor stopped there who offered to cure her. But mother felt too poor to being doctoring. She could not see her way clear and so was on the point of dismissing the proffered help when her boss, Herr Dick, interceded for her and begged the doctor to help her and to remember that she was a poor orphan girl. This touched the heartstrings of the doctor, and he at once prepared a little medicine for her, giving directions how to take it, and further prescribed good warm clothing for her and a good hot foot bath daily. She followed the directions and advice very carefully and forthwith began to feel better. In a short time she had completely recovered her former robust health. The good doctor had charged her just one Ruble. We may well imagine how happy she was.
After she had been at Dick’s for some time, her guardian decided to secure a change for her. She accordingly was next placed in the employ of a certain Hamm who owned a large distillery at Holbstadt. We should not attach any particular importance to the fact that she was working for saloonkeepers and brewers. These businesses in that country [21] and in that age were considered perfectly respectable, and the presence of girls and boys and women in these places aroused no comment—it was quite proper.
She had worked for these people for some time but had a hard time of it and so disliked it very much. It so chanced that one day her guardian, Daniel Unruh, stopped for his meals at this place. She complained to him of the rough treatment she was getting and of her desire to visit her brothers, who, since we last mentioned them, had sold out their holdings around Waldheim in the Colony and bought in the Crimea in the village of ?? The suggestions suited Mr. Unruh perfectly, and he hired her to work for him for 20 Rubles a year. He himself bought land near Friedenstein in the Crimea, as will be recalled, and needed mother’s help badly. Accordingly he took her with at once. She had acquired in some way or another, a splendid wooden chest that she valued very highly, but had to leave behind, because Unruh could not load it on his wagon. Several years later, it was sold for 20 Rubles. For the next year or so we find mother working for her guardian Herr Unruh, and it is in his house that we find her up to the day of her marriage.
Thus the days of her youth sped by. Orphaned when a mere child, she was cast upon the mercy of a cold and unjust world, to feel its sting and cruelty. How often she wept bitter tears in silence and alone! For there was no one to comfort, no one to console. Is it any wonder that she sometimes questioned why it was that she had to pass through so much suffering, why the cross of the world must weigh so heavily upon her? But He, who is, the Father of orphans and the widows’ God, had his purposes to fulfill. And now, in that blessed land up yonder, as she stands before His throne, she will understand. May it not be, that out of the fiery furnace of these hard experiences, grew that sweet temper, that gentle spirit, that kindly, sympathetic heart so quickly touched by others’ pain, that genial nature, that softness of speech, and that great love of home and family that characterized her life and fell as a gentle radiance—mellowing, softening, and soothing—upon all who came in touch with her? Although removed now from earth’s cares and woe, and safely beside the Crystal Sea, what an appeal these great qualities of her life have for us—how they plead with us and draw us onward, upward, and like beckoning hands, bid us follow after!
[22] We have now traced mother’s career up to her 22nd year, being in the employ of Daniel Unruh at Friedenstein, Crimea. Father, it will be recalled was at this same time working for his friend Penner in the same village. Here they had ample opportunity to become better acquainted with each other. Father was already past thirty, so he decided to marry this buxom lassie if he could. His suit was successful, and so on the 18th day of November 1865, they were married in the home of Mr. Daniel Unruh, preacher David Toems officiating at the marriage. With this event a new chapter in their lives was begun to which we would now direct our attention.
But another place had to be found for her, and so for the next year she was taken to Daniel Unruh’s parents. They were, of course, more humane. But still no idling was allowed, and she again worked as hard as a girl of her age possibly could. Among other things, she had to help hoe the garden, which was a big one. This work was very tiring [18] for the back, and often when engaged in this toil, the elder Unruh would sit by his window to watch them. Being so young, the work tired her very much, and her back would ache furiously, but the minute she stopped or any of them stopped, the watchful old man would gently remind them that they were losing time. And yet these were kindly, goodhearted people, and she felt quite content. But after she had been there about one year, the wife of this elder Unruh died, and the home was broken up, so that a new place had to be found for mother. This time Daniel Unruh (guardian) hired her out for a year to his own brother at Alexanderthal. She was to get 12 Rubles the year. There was a fine prospect of a big crop, and this Unruh needed extra help in the field. Accordingly he promised mother that he would clothe her from head to foot if she would do the work of a binder in the field. But when the crop was threshed, the wheat was found to be light and far below expectations. So her boss never fulfilled his promise. She was now about 12 years old. As the mistress of the house was sickly, the main burden of the work fell on her. Of course, she had to carry all the fuel and the water. She had to get everything in readiness for the meals, build the fires, peel the potatoes, etc., and this done, help in the fields. How long she stayed here, I cannot say. Suffice it to say that in this manner several years sped by. We get another glimpse of her [when] she was about 16 years old. She was now working for a certain Abrams. They appear to have been jolly and lively people and great lovers of the dance. Consequently, large crowds often seem to have gathered there for just this pastime. As time wore on, mother, too, was drawn into these gay gatherings and had learned to dance. She had to work hard, but then she was young and full of life, and like any girl of her age, fell easily under the spell of the yodler’s music. On one such occasion after she had danced until she was perspiring freely, she left the crowd to quench her thirst at the nearby well. She quaffed freely of the cold water, and being in such an over-heated condition (from the dance), she immediately felt the ill effects of the drink in every limb. How often afterwards she had occasion to regret that bit of thoughtlessness? For from that time onward, she became sickly and, try as she might, could seemingly not recover her former health. From now on therefore she still was working out but always hired out as a sick girl, consequently at lower wages.
[19] She did not stay at this place much longer, and the one noteworthy thing that happened at her next place was that for the first time since she was thrown among strangers, her mistress took enough interest in her to see to it that she was warmly dressed. Be it said here to her honor that one of the first things she did was to go to the nearest town to buy suitable material from which to make for her warm under-clothing. For, unthinkable as it may seem to us in this day and age, mother up to that time had never worn underclothing. Far be it from us to smile at the thought. It was not because of economy that this was so, but rather because of the foolish notions of the age on the subject of dress for women. She was only the victim of the foolish idea that people had, viz., that women must not wear trousers. Trousers for women? Ridiculous! That was the sole privilege of man. Hence, dressed in the fashion of the day, the thought may well come to us how, exposed to every condition of weather, she even survived. However that may be, her new mistress, either more enlightened or desiring to go help her get well (assuming warm clothing could do it), provided her with underwear and dresses that were calculated to keep her body warm. Of course, this was a step in the right direction, yet she still felt sickly. She tried to get cured but always felt she could not afford to hire a doctor. Finally, however in great distress over her condition, she set out barefoot to seek advice from a certain Mrs. Heinz—an unlicensed doctor k-p—living in a Dorf [village] several miles away. She felt extremely downhearted at her hard lot, and as she walked along the way, the tears streamed from her eyes until it seemed to her that her heart must break. It proved to be a lucky thing for her, as we shall see.
As the good woman examined her, her attention was called to a peculiar growth that affected mother’s back. She at once surmised that it might be a cancer, and questioned mother about it. She had not known of it, with the exception that for some time, she had a peculiar crawling, itching sensation in that location. Mrs. Heinz therefore decided to find out definitely what it was. So she prepared a poultice of figs and applied it where she had lanced the growth, and verily she found the symptoms that indicated a living cancer! What was to be done? A licensed doctor was not at hand, nor yet did she feel able to afford the services of one. Mrs. Heinz therefore offered to perform the operation for three Rubles, which she could pay by working for her, provided she would keep it a secret (she had no license). This mother gladly agreed to do. So the operation was [20] performed by means of only a common pocketknife. And, as local anesthetics were unknown mother had to endure the pain as best she could. Blue vitriol was used to cauterize the wound, and the pain of it was well nigh unendurable. After the wound had healed, mother was instructed to watch very carefully for any symptoms that the cancer might still live. Twice after that she felt that the dread disease was still with her. Once shortly after her marriage and again years later in America, about the time that John was a babe, she thought that the cancer was again becoming active. In each case they fought and killed the disease by applying a home remedy that a good doctor by the name of Loewen had prescribed and which a friend of theirs—Mrs. Rickert—had advised them to try. It was so effective and so easy to prepare that I cannot refrain from mentioning it here. The remedy consisted of applications of fresh baked rye bread from which the crust was first removed. The crumbs or inside of the loaf, in suitably sized pieces, was then applied just as steaming hot the patient could possibly endure, and in this manner the cancer was killed in each case.
When mother was about 19 years old, she was working for people by the name of Dick who owned a saloon. She was still sickly. One day a traveling Hungarian doctor stopped there who offered to cure her. But mother felt too poor to being doctoring. She could not see her way clear and so was on the point of dismissing the proffered help when her boss, Herr Dick, interceded for her and begged the doctor to help her and to remember that she was a poor orphan girl. This touched the heartstrings of the doctor, and he at once prepared a little medicine for her, giving directions how to take it, and further prescribed good warm clothing for her and a good hot foot bath daily. She followed the directions and advice very carefully and forthwith began to feel better. In a short time she had completely recovered her former robust health. The good doctor had charged her just one Ruble. We may well imagine how happy she was.
After she had been at Dick’s for some time, her guardian decided to secure a change for her. She accordingly was next placed in the employ of a certain Hamm who owned a large distillery at Holbstadt. We should not attach any particular importance to the fact that she was working for saloonkeepers and brewers. These businesses in that country [21] and in that age were considered perfectly respectable, and the presence of girls and boys and women in these places aroused no comment—it was quite proper.
She had worked for these people for some time but had a hard time of it and so disliked it very much. It so chanced that one day her guardian, Daniel Unruh, stopped for his meals at this place. She complained to him of the rough treatment she was getting and of her desire to visit her brothers, who, since we last mentioned them, had sold out their holdings around Waldheim in the Colony and bought in the Crimea in the village of ?? The suggestions suited Mr. Unruh perfectly, and he hired her to work for him for 20 Rubles a year. He himself bought land near Friedenstein in the Crimea, as will be recalled, and needed mother’s help badly. Accordingly he took her with at once. She had acquired in some way or another, a splendid wooden chest that she valued very highly, but had to leave behind, because Unruh could not load it on his wagon. Several years later, it was sold for 20 Rubles. For the next year or so we find mother working for her guardian Herr Unruh, and it is in his house that we find her up to the day of her marriage.
Thus the days of her youth sped by. Orphaned when a mere child, she was cast upon the mercy of a cold and unjust world, to feel its sting and cruelty. How often she wept bitter tears in silence and alone! For there was no one to comfort, no one to console. Is it any wonder that she sometimes questioned why it was that she had to pass through so much suffering, why the cross of the world must weigh so heavily upon her? But He, who is, the Father of orphans and the widows’ God, had his purposes to fulfill. And now, in that blessed land up yonder, as she stands before His throne, she will understand. May it not be, that out of the fiery furnace of these hard experiences, grew that sweet temper, that gentle spirit, that kindly, sympathetic heart so quickly touched by others’ pain, that genial nature, that softness of speech, and that great love of home and family that characterized her life and fell as a gentle radiance—mellowing, softening, and soothing—upon all who came in touch with her? Although removed now from earth’s cares and woe, and safely beside the Crystal Sea, what an appeal these great qualities of her life have for us—how they plead with us and draw us onward, upward, and like beckoning hands, bid us follow after!
[22] We have now traced mother’s career up to her 22nd year, being in the employ of Daniel Unruh at Friedenstein, Crimea. Father, it will be recalled was at this same time working for his friend Penner in the same village. Here they had ample opportunity to become better acquainted with each other. Father was already past thirty, so he decided to marry this buxom lassie if he could. His suit was successful, and so on the 18th day of November 1865, they were married in the home of Mr. Daniel Unruh, preacher David Toems officiating at the marriage. With this event a new chapter in their lives was begun to which we would now direct our attention.
This long extract contains more personal information than historical references, but we can clarify a few details.
1. If you recall, Aganetha Dirks’s family lived in Waldheim; the village Gnadeheim, where she went to work upon the death of her father, was located approximately 7 miles to the west, along the road that ran from Waldheim, through Hierschau, Landskrone, and Freidensdorf, then to Gnadeheim and beyond to Alexanderwohl. Thus, although Aganetha remained relatively close to her former home, with three villages intervening, it probably seemed far away.
2. The name of her employer in Gnadeheim is remembered as Kopp, but it was presumably Gerhard and Katharina Koop of Gnadenheim 20 (see the voting list here). It is interesting to learn that, when Aganetha refused to return to work for them after a Christmas visit, her guardian Daniel Unruh did not have the authority, it seems, to impose his will upon her. Although Aganetha was only eleven, she had the right to veto his decision to have her work for the Koops.
3. Daniel Unruh’s father was also named Daniel; his mother was Anna Foth Unruh. This couple lived in Alexanderthal, which was roughly 11 miles south of Waldheim (the arrow in the lower right of the map above). GRANDMA does not record a year of death for Anna; assuming the memory above is accurate, the date was around 1855. Her husband would have been sixty-two at that time, so it makes sense that the home dissolved with the death of his wife. It seems that the elder Daniel’s son Wilhelm took over the family Wirtschaft, since he is the next one to cast a vote for Alexanderthal 19.
4. The next employer is remembered only by their name: Abrams; the employer after that is known only by reputation as a kind woman; then followed another employer known only by name: Dick (or Dyck); no locations are given for any of these individuals, and we cannot guess at the locations of even those named, since there were several Abrams families and numerous Dycks who owned land in Molotschna. The Hamm who owned a distillery in Halbstadt (not Holbstadt) is the next employer identified. The city (not village) Halbstadt was located in the northwest corner of the colony. One thing is clear: over the course of eight years Aganetha worked for seven employers in multiple locations stretching from one corner of the colony to the other. She certainly did not live a settled life.
5. Eventually Aganetha made her way to the home of her guardian, although this entailed yet another move, this one the farthest of all. Aganetha’s brothers had moved to Crimea, to a village whose name was apparently lost to our narrator’s memory. Guardian Daniel Unruh thought this a good idea and purchased land in a Crimean village named Friedenstein. This village is said to have been 30 miles north of Simferopol, which would place it where indicated on the map below, roughly in the center of the Crimean peninsula. Thus the journey from Waldheim in Molotschna colony to Friedenstein, Crimea, was approximately 140 miles.
According to Theodor Brandt and Cornelius Krahn,
Mennonites began to settle here [Crimea] soon after the Crimean War (1853–1856); probably they became acquainted with it in the course of their transportation duties for the government and preferred it to the other lands under consideration for settlement situated on the Amur in Siberia. In 1860 Mennonite land seekers looked over several possible sites, and in 1862 four villages were established, which were later followed by others. (Brandt and Krahn 1953)
We should remember that the late 1850s and early 1860s were a time of acute land shortage in the Molotschna; new households were being established all the time, and there was not enough land to meet the growing demand. As a result, many Mennonites moved to other regions within Russia, and Crimea was one prime destination. If Aganetha was twenty when she and the Unruhs moved to Crimea, that would place the move about 1862, on the leading edge of Mennonite settlement of the area.
6. This portion of the narrative ends with Aganetha Dirks and Heinrich Buller married in the home of Daniel Unruh, the ceremony performed by David Toews (presumably Toems is a mistake).
We will continue with the family history a bit longer, to learn of the Heinrich and Aganetha’s life in the Crimea and, after several years, their voyage to a new life in a new world.
Works Cited
Brandt, Theodor, and Cornelius Krahn. 1953. Crimea (Ukraine). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Available online here.
Buller, William B. 1915. Life Story of Heinrich Buller and His Wife Agnetha Duerksen Buller. Parker, SD: privately printed.
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