With a new year comes new opportunities to explore our shared history within the Mennonite world. As hinted last week, we will soon turn our attention to Franztal, the first Molotschna village called home by a member of our broader Buller family. Before doing so, however, we should take a moment to look back on the year just ended to reflect on what we covered and discovered during 2018.
1. According to the Blog Archive to the right of the main page, last year saw the publication of 128 posts, an average of 10.7 per month, or one post every 2.85 days. This annual output was the second highest of the five calendar years of Buller Time’s existence, following only 2016’s even 200 posts.
2. Those 128 posts consisted of just under 144,000 words, which means that the average length of the posts was 1,125 words. To put this into perspective, the text alone of 2018’s blog posts, not counting any figures or photos, is roughly equivalent to a 360-page academic book.
3. The topics covered were fewer in number this year than in years past, as we focused our attention on specific questions. More historically oriented series on the Przechovka church and Molotschna colony included the following:
- Alexanderwohl
- Moving to Molotschna
- Molotschna Livestock
- Przechovka Emigration
More family-focused series and posts also received attention
- Other Bullers (the HP Buller family)
- Peter P and Margaretha’s House
- Peter Buller’s Baptism (Peter D)
- David and Helena’s Children (Elisabeth, Benjamin, Helena)
- South Dakota Bullers (distant relatives)
4. During 2018, Buller Time posts were viewed 7,694 times, an average of 21 times a day. This is, to be sure, a paltry number when compared to most other websites and blogs. However, it is an increase of nearly 6 percent over 2017, which is an encouraging trend in and of itself. Beyond that, I find it a little remarkable that a blog devoted to the family of Chris Buller and Malinda Franz received over 7,500 page views in a single year—not bad for a bunch of landless hicks from Molotschna!
No one can say where 2019 will lead us. All we know for certain is that we are unlikely to run out of questions to pose or evidence to ponder in the near future. Thank you to all those who have provided resources to plumb and encouragement to write—and especially to Buller Time’s faithful readers (thinking especially of you, Dad) who make the time and effort all worthwhile.
No one can say where 2019 will lead us. All we know for certain is that we are unlikely to run out of questions to pose or evidence to ponder in the near future. Thank you to all those who have provided resources to plumb and encouragement to write—and especially to Buller Time’s faithful readers (thinking especially of you, Dad) who make the time and effort all worthwhile.
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