A Dutch visitor to Poland 2

In addition to the travel diary included in the previous post, Hendrik Berents provided several lists of names of people in the Schwetz area.  These lists have been a primary source for researchers in Mennonite geneaology and history, and they continue to help us to identify the inhabitants of that eighteenth-century community.

Looking toward Świecie (Schwetz), Poland, today

Interestingly, Berents did more than record the names of the Mennonites whom he encountered on his visit to the area; he also included a list of names by someone who preceded him by several years: Ale (or Alle) Derks. As Glenn Penner explains, “the exact year of the Derks visit is unknown,” but “a comparison of the list below with the Przechowka records would suggest 1714 to 1716” (see here). Berents included and updated the Derks list, using a cross to identify those who had died between Derks’s and Berents’s visits.

We begin with the first section of the Berents list as provided by Glenn Penner, who kindly granted permission to post this information (for the complete assemblage of lists, see here). For fun, see how many names you can decipher—and how many Bullers you can spot.

List of Names of Mennonite Families in the Environs of Schwetz

Andries Weedel	Trijntie Richers his wife
Hermen Vrien†	Saartie Wedels
Hindrik Onrouw†	Widower
Benjemijn Weedel	Saartie Raatslafs
Tobias Raatslaf	Eefke Spaarlinkx
Aaltien Adams	Andries Raatslafs widw.	is one household
Abraham Onrouw	Boetsie Ijsaäks, now Onrouw	}
Cornelis Richers	Trijntie Antsen	}
Abraham Richters†	Elske Bekers	}
Hans Voet Widower		} in one house
Jurjen Boeler†	Dijna Toomske	reside in the new school

   Jacob Raatslaf has not been written in and is now dead already. [annotation by Hendrik Berents]

Hendrik Voet†	Marike Swegelers	}
Peter Raatslaf	Saartie Smits	}
Hans Raatslaf Widower		} in one house

   remarried the widow of Abraham Rigger [annotation by Hendrik Berents]

Hans Raatslaf	Trijntie Weedels	}
Cornelis Voet	Saartie Bollers	} in one house
Tobias Spaarlink	Trijntie Raatslafs	}
Ijsaak Spaarlink	Grietie Onrouw	} in one house
Peter Bekker	Trijntie Raatslaf

   The hired hand is dead; Antje Keuns is dead. [annotation by Hendrik Berents]

Hans Frein	Grietje Voets†	}
Sijmon Wedel	Marike Riggers	} in one house

 
The list continues with Konopat and Schönsee, among other villages. Of particular interest for us is the mention of Hans Boller and Boeiste Onrouw in Konopat. Beyond that, several entries for Konopat indicate that Lutherans lived alongside these Mennonites. Interestingly, the Schönsee part of the list rates some of the people’s homes as “bad housing” or “very bad housing.”

After reproducing and annotating the Derks list, Berents provides his own list of households for the Schwetz area. According to Glenn Penner, Berents lists only baptized individuals, so children are not counted. Included below is the Przechovka portion of this list. (The names with asterisks had passed away by Berents’s second visit to the area in 1733.)

Sijmon Wedel, Merijke Riggers his housewife	2
Andries Wedel, Trijntje Riggers his housewife, Saartje widow	3
Jacob Wedel, widower, Antje Koppers* widow	2
Benjamin Wedel*, Saartje Raatslaf his housewife, Trijntje Wedel*, Peter Wedel, Aaltjen Schellenberg's* widow, Adam Raatslaf	6
Abraham Onrouw, Boetsje Ijsaäks his housewife*, Berent and Boetsje Raatslaf, Boetje Jansens	5
Cornelis Riggers*, Trijntje Jansen* his housewife, Derk* and Mertje Riggers, Lijsabet Wedel	5
Dijna Tomas, Marijke Swegelers his widows, reside in the school	2
Hans Raatslaf, Elske Berents*, Heijn Riggerts*, Lijsabet Buijlers, Peter Smit, Trijntje Bekkers	6
Peter Raatslaf, Saartje Smits*, Eefke Voets, Antje Jansen*, Hans Raatslaf, Hendrik Onrouw	6
Jeurijen Nagtegaal, Antje Riggerts, Elsje Riggerts*, Trijntje Buijlerts, Benjamin Wedel, Jeurijen Buijelerts	6
Tobijas Spaarlink, Trijntje Raatslaf, Marijken Wedels*, Jan Jansen, Ijsaäk Spaarlink*, Grietje Onrouw	6
Tobijas Raatslaf*, Eefje Spaarlink, Pieter Smit, Jan Riggerts, Boetsje Bekkers	5
Hans Vrij*, Boetsje Voets*, Trijntje Riggerts	3

Berents continues with Konopat and other locales nearby. In those sections of the list we encounter both Saartje Boelers and the Hans Boeler who was married to Boetstje Onrouw in the Konopat list above.

So, how many Bullers did you spot? How many different spellings of the family name? The next post will explore one of these Bullers and tie up the loose end mentioned a few posts back. For now, we puzzle over one observation about the spelling of those who appear to be Bullers.

It is understandable that the Dutchman Berents would spell the names according to his own phonetic and orthographic background, so we should not expect him to spell the last names as those whose last names he was recording might have spelled them. However, one would at least expect him to spell the same name consistently.

How, then, are we to explain the listing in this last section of Lijsabet Buijlers, Trijntje Buijlerts, and Jeurijen Buijelerts in Przechovka versus Saartje Boelers and Hans Boeler in Konopat? The simplest explanation would be that Berents was hearing different surnames at this point, not spelling the same surname differently. Further, the simplest explanation of the different pronunciations would be that these names represented different, probably unrelated, family lines.

We do not have enough evidence to know whether the “obvious” explanation is the correct one, let alone to suggest that either the Buijelerts (I take the lack of a -t- in Lijsabet Buijlers to be an error, not evidence for a different pronunciation) or the Boelers were part of our larger family. For now, as so often, we end with questions for further exploration. (Step 1: Compare Berents’s spellings of all the names listed, first and last, to assess the level of his consistency and to identify any spelling or phonetic similarities either to Buijelerts or Boeler.)

That investigation will take time, so in the meantime I invite you to pore over all the possible Bullers given in this post to see if you can spot a remarkable piece of evidence about a Buller whom we have discussed on more than a few occasions.

Sources

Hulshoff, H. Ch. 1938. Bezoekreis van Hendrik Berents Hulshoff aan de Doopsgezinden Gemeenten der Oude Vlamingen in Pruisen in Polen in 1719. Bijdragen en Mededeelingen van het Historisch Genootschap 59:32–82. This is a standard article on the Berents diary. It is available online here in Dutch but can be translated to English by your browser or at translate.google.com.

Penner, Glenn H. Przechowka, West Prussia, Memberships lists for 1715 and 1733 from the Travel Diary of Hendrik Berents Hulshoff. Available online here.

Zijpp, Nanne van der. 1956. Hulshoff, Hendrik (1664–1745). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Available online here.