- When did George Buller and his family first live in Jeziorka?
- Were they the first Bullers to live in that village?
- Since all the Jeziorka Mennonites leased their land, in what sense was George an Eigentümer (owner)?
- What happened to George after this time?
- What happened to his family?
The Przechovka church book (hereafter PCB) provides a likely answer to the first question. The PCB lists several George Bullers, but only one fits the evidence of the census.
We begin with the first George Buller listed (PCB number 3XXXX), whose name appears above the red line in the scan below.
George’s father was our old friend *** Buller, whom we have dubbed Unknown Buller (PCB number 339 above). The following page shows 3XXXX’s children (359–364).
The column after the names gives the number of the father (here 3XXXX); several columns after that we read the village of birth. All of this George’s children were born in Konopat (Deutsch Konopat, to the southwest of Przechovka), so it is unlikely that he ever lived in Jeziorka.
The second George Buller listed (342 below) is another option. He was the son of Hans (340) and thus the grandson of Unknown Buller. One can see further below that he had two sons: George (350) and Peter (351). Neither the place of birth nor the year of birth is given for either son, so we cannot link George 342 or his sons with Jeziorka. The GRANDMA database records 342’s place of birth as Jeziorka, but it also says that he was born around 1705, which was twenty-two years before Jeziorka was founded. Needless to say, GRANDMA cannot be trusted at this point (although the 1705 date of birth is probably close).
George the third (350 above, son of George 342) has no recorded children, so there are no villages of birth listed in the PCB. Therefore, we cannot say one way or another whether this George ever lived in Jeziorka.
The fourth and last George Buller listed in the main part of the PCB is number 375 in the scan below.
The next page in the church book records that George 375 had four sons, numbers 389–392 below.
Note the place of birth for the four sons: Jeziorken, aka Jeziorka. One further observation establishes the identification of George 375 with the George Buller of the 1776 census. The census indicates (see here) that George and his wife had two sons. According to the church book, George’s sons were born in 1773 (Peter), 1776 (Andreas), 1780 (David), and 1783 (Jacob). In other words, George 375 had two sons in 1776.
In light of the fact that George 375 and family lived in Jeziorka at least between 1770 (the year of his marriage) and 1783 (the year of his last son’s birth) and that George had two sons in 1776, it seems relatively settled that George 375 is the George listed in the 1772 land register and the 1776 census of Mennonites.
When George 375 and his family first lived in Jeziorka is more difficult to determine. Looking again at George’s line (two scans up), we see that George 375 was born in Konopat (Deutsch-Konopat) in 1747 but was married in 1770 in Jeziorka. Since the first leases for the Jeziorka land presumably expired in 1767 (they were forty-year leases written in 1727), one wonders if George acquired an expired lease in order to provide both a household and a living for his developing family. The next Jeziorka post will provide further background that makes this theory even more likely.
So much for the questions about which George is listed in the census and when he began to live in Jeziorka. Were there other Bullers in the village?
Again, the PCB provides evidence. Hans Buller 341, son of Hans 340 and thus also the grandson of Unknown Buller, is said to have been married in Jeziorka in 1731. This would place him later than the original group of thirteen Mennonite families who settled the village in 1727 but close to the later group of twelve families who joined the community in 1732. All of Hans 341’s children (344–349) were born in Jeziorka, which confirms his long-term residence in the village (see below).
No other Bullers are recorded as being born in Jeziorka, and only Ancke Buller (PCB 373) is listed as being married in Jeziorka to Andres Köhn (595). Like George, Andres and Ancke are listed in the 1776 census, along with their two sons and two daughters; interestingly, the PCB has two sons and three daughters for them by 1776. In any event, we can say that Bullers lived in Jeziorka nearly from its establishment in 1727 at least through 1783.
Three questions remain, but there is too much to the story to be recounted in full here. For now, it is sufficient to address the question of how George 375 could be called an Eigentümer (owner), as he was in the 1776 census, even when all the Jeziorka Mennonites leased their land. Steve Fast, co-moderator of the Low German Mennonite Genealogy Forum, writes, “There was no bright line between owning and leasing like we understand today. The translations of the words are only generalized and not very helpful. … Mennonites who were Eigenthuemers held long-term leases (40–90 years) that could be sold, inherited, and renewed.” Although George 375 did not own the land, he did own exclusive, long-term rights to farm the land, so he was accurately and properly designated as an Eigentümer by the census taker.
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The Low German Mennonite Genealogy Forum is a bulletin board that seeks “to facilitate research into Low German Mennonite Genealogy, from the newest beginner to the most senior expert. And we want to organize the community to push the boundaries of our knowledge and share what we learn with everyone so that we can accelerate our research.” Anyone can read the discussions on the site; in fact, anyone can register to ask questions or to take part in the discussions. Feel free to browse the bulletin board at http://mennonitegenealogyforum.com/forum/index.php. The sections of greatest interest to us are those on Poland-Lithuania, Prussia, and Germany (here) and Russia and (former) Soviet Union (here).
Klassen, 2009. Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia. Young Center Books in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Zijpp, Nanne van der, and Richard D. Thiessen. 2014. Jeziorka (Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. See here.
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