The death of David Buller 3

The final two Rundschau pieces mentioning or alluding to David Buller can be dealt with together, since they relate more to David’s son Heinrich than David himself. (Thanks again to Glenn Penner for supplying scans of all the Rundschau pages.)

The 11 April 1906 issue contains another letter from Peter and Anna Warkentin, who appear to have been the Waldheim correspondents for the Rundschau. During the course of a long letter they include an announcement of a recent wedding:

Samstag, den 19. Februar war in Waldheim beim Heinrich Buller eine hochzeit, sein Sohn Heinrich verheiratete sich mit Elisabeth Unruh von Hierschau. Noch eine Anmerkung: Da dieser Freund Buller oft bei mir die “Rundschau” liest und nach Berichten von seinen lieben Freunden aus Amerika sucht, so möchte er gerne Berichte, oder besser richtige Adressen von seinen Freunden haben. Buller ist ein Sohn des David Buller, welcher im Jahre 1904 im November starb.

Saturday, February 19, there was in Waldheim at the home of Heinrich Buller a wedding, as his son Heinrich married Elisabeth Unruh of Hierschau. One more note: since this friend Buller often reads the Rundschau with me, looking for reports of his dear friends from America, so he would like to have reports, or better, correct addresses of his friends. Buller is a son of David Buller, who died in November 1904.

This letter adds nothing to our knowledge of David’s death, but it does add one more piece to the David Buller family puzzle. Not only was David’s son Heinrich married to a woman named Aganetha, as we learned in the previous post, but he and his wife had a son named Heinrich, who married Elisabeth Unruh of Hierschau, the village just to the west of Waldheim.

We will return to Heinrich and Elisabeth Unruh Buller in due course, since the Grandma database offers additional information about them and their family that clarifies a comment in the Buller Family Record. Somewhat surprisingly, however, Grandma does not know that Heinrich the husband of Elisabeth was the son of Heinrich and Aganetha, the grandson of David Buller. I will see if that can be corrected.

The last David-related Rundschau letter originated not from Russia but from Lehigh, Kansas, a small town roughly 5 miles west of Hillsboro and 25 miles north of Newton, that is, right in the heart of the Russian Mennonite part of Kansas. In this letter, which was published on page 2 of the 2 May 1906 issue, Anna Ratzlaff responds to Heinrich Buller’s request for information about family and friends. She begins:

Werte “Rundschau”! Die Ursache meines Schreibens ist die Anfrage von Heinrich Buller, Waldheim, Rußland, nach seinen Freunden. Lieber Vetter, zuerst danke ich für den Bericht, in dem Du die Todesnachricht von Eurem lieben Vater brachtest, später haben wir noch erfahren, daß unsere liebe Tante Karl Schmidt auch schon in die Ewigkeit gegangen ist. Lieber Vetter, ich will Deinem Wunsche gemäß kurz von uns berichten. Ich bin nämlich die jüngste Tochter von Eurem verstorbenen Unkel Jacob Ratzlaff, die liebe Mutter und ich wohnen seit vorigen Herbst in dem Städtchen Lehigh, sind gefund, außer daß die Mutter schon seit mehreren Jahren etwas Reißung hat. …

Esteemed Rundschau! The reason for my writing is the request of Heinrich Buller of Waldheim, Russia, regarding his friends. Dear cousin, first, thank for the report, in which you brought news of the death of your dear father, later we have also learned that our dear aunt Karl Schmidt has also gone into eternity. Dear cousin, I would like to report briefly about us. I am the youngest daughter of your deceased uncle Jacob Ratzlaff, dear Mother and I have found ourselves staying in the town of Lehigh since last autumn, except that Mother for several years has been somewhat torn [?].

Anna continues with notes about her family, all of whom can be identified in the Grandma database. Anna herself is 8825, while her father Jacob is 8816 and her mother Eva Voth is 8793. Anna speaks of her sister Helena (8823), who married Johann Goertz (8828), son of Heinrich Goertz (36876), and Helena and Johann’s seven children (all in Grandma). Anna’s brother Heinrich (8826), she reports, married Elisabeth Warkentin (8862), daughter of Peter (22108), and together they had one son who had already died (8864) and a number of daughters.

Anna closes her letter with a request:

Nun, lieber Vetter, möchte ich bitten, uns, wenn auch nur kurz—ein langer Brief wäre erwünschter—Nachricht von unseren Verwandten zu geben, wie gerne hätte ich schon längst gewußt wie viele Vettern und Nichten ich dort drüben hätte. Noch eine Bitte: In welchen Jahren sind unsere Großeltern gestorben und wie alt sind sie geworden? Haben dieses vergeffen, möchten es aber gerne wissen. Einen herzlichen Gruß an alle lieben Verwandten, Anna Ratzlaff

Now, my dear cousin, I would like to ask for us, if only briefly—a longer letter would be more desirable—to give a message from our relatives, how much I would have already known how many cousins and nieces I have over there. One more request: In which years did our grandparents die and how old did they become? I have forgotten this but would like to know. A cordial greeting to all dear relatives, Anna Ratzlaff

Not only is the German convoluted and, as a result, the translation questionable, but we have now apparently gone far afield from the Buller family. Perhaps so, but we do not want to forget that this Ratzlaff family is of interest to us because David Buller seemingly had a sister previously unknown to us who married into this branch of Ratzlaffs. Perhaps there is more to learn about her, and thus also David, by following the Ratzlaff trail to see where it leads.