Letters from Waldheim 5

Nearly a year after Heinrich’s letter written 27 February 1907 (see here), he again put pen to paper and jotted a quick update to family and friends eager for news from the old country, Russia.

The last we had heard, Heinrich had been battling some sort of abscess on his left and then right hand; his mother had also been suffering from headaches. Of course, health concerns were far more serious for those afflicted by the scarlet fever that was rampaging through Waldheim. Heinrich’s last letter also mentioned the severity of the winter as well as their plans to move to Siberia the following year.

The letter on which this post will focus builds naturally from all that we have read thus far, although it also supplies another piece or two for our broader family puzzle. As usual, text will be followed by translation. But first, let us not forget that we are able to read these letters only due to the kindness of the Mennonite Heritage Centre of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and their Archivist, Conrad Stoesz.

Waldheim, den 5. Feb. 1908. Einen herzlichen Gruß an den Editor and alle Freunde! Will ein wenig durch die liebe “Rundschau” schreiben. Der Gesundheitszustand ist bei uns nicht sehr gut. Ich bin schon seit vor Weihnachten leidend und soll noch eine Opperation [sic: Operation] durchmachen. Meine Bitte ist, daß mir der Herr möchte beistehen und Kraft zur Heilung geben. Ich danke Dir, Abraham J. Ratzlaff für Deine erwiesene Liebe, daß Du uns ein Lebenszeichen geschrieben hast. Du frägt nach meiner Geschwistern. Wir sind nur noch zwei, ich und Sarah, Frau David Nickel; die sind schon in Sibirien und wir gedenken, wenn es des Herrn Wille ist, den 7. April von hier dorthin abzufahren, allwo wir gedenken unser Heim zu gründen. Wir haben hier jetzt viel Schnee, aber nicht sehr kalt.

Nebst Gruß an alle Freunde und Leser verbleibe ich Euer in Liebe,

Heinrich D. Buller.

Those of you who grew up speaking Low German may be able to pick out some words in Heinrich’s letter. I think you know what “Schnee” is, and you may know what “Weihnachten” refers to. The words “Operation” (misspelled in the original) and “Editor” mean the same in English as they do in German. At any rate, the letter as a whole reads as follows:

Waldheim, 5 February 1908

A warm greeting to the editor and all friends! I wish to write a little through the beloved Rundschau. Our state of health is not very good. I have been suffering since before Christmas and still must go through an operation. My prayer is that the Lord will stand by me and give me strength to heal.

Thank you, Abraham J. Ratzlaff, for your proven love that you wrote us a sign of life. You ask about my siblings. We are only two, me and Sarah, Mrs. David Nickel; they are already in Siberia, and we plan, if it is the Lord’s will, to depart April 7, from here to there, where we intend to establish our home.

We now have a lot of snow, but it is not very cold.

With greeting to all friends and readers, I remain your in love,

Heinrich D. Buller

This short letter provides us additional information about Heinrich and family but also leaves us with several questions.

1. Heinrich writes that there are only two siblings: Sarah Buller Nickel and himself. This statement is apparently in answer to a question from Abraham J. Ratzlaff. In fact, we know that Heinrich’s half-brothers David and Benjamin were still alive at this time, so he seems to be speaking either of only the siblings still in Russia or full siblings.

2. We know from the Buller Family Record that David Buller’s daughter Sarah married a Nickel, but now we know his first name: David—another piece of the puzzle.

3. Importantly, the letter reveals something new about David and Sarah Buller Nickel: they had already moved to Siberia when Heinrich wrote. This no doubt explains why neither the Buller Family Record nor the Grandma database knows much about Sarah (and what it does list is largely wrong).

4. As far as Heinrich’s journey to Siberia is concerned, we now know that the date had been set: 7 April 1908. (Thus, the guess in this post that the family went to Siberia much later is proven wrong.) One wonders how Heinrich’s operation plays into his plans to travel 2,500 miles in two months. It seems that perhaps his malady was not as serious as the word operation might imply. Was it possibly the same abscess problem on his hand of which he wrote earlier?

5. One thing that stands out in this letter, in comparison to the earlier ones, is Heinrich’s spirituality. Here he asks the Lord to stand by him during his operation and to give him healing. A little later he acknowledges that he and his family will travel to Siberia only if is the Lord’s will. Heinrich shows a little more of his character; he becomes a little more real to us.

6. In addition to questions about where in Siberia/Kazakhstan (?) David and Sarah Nickel lived and what eventually happened to them, one wonders who exactly Abraham J. Ratzlaff was and how he had written to Heinrich. Since there is no record of an Abraham Ratzlaff writing a letter in the Rundschau (as Heinrich was doing), Ratzlaff may have written a personal letter to Heinrich.

Beyond that, we cannot say for certain who this individual was, although I have a strong suspicion. Grandma knows of an Abraham J. Ratzlaff (111756) who was born in Waldheim on 14 February 1861 (thus about the same time as Heinrich). Intriguingly, his mother was born Anna Buller; her father was Peter David Buller, number 1528 in the Przechovka church book. Although Heinrich Buller and Abraham J. Ratzlaff’s mother Anna Buller were not related directly, they were part of the extended Buller family that originated in the Schwetz area. Given the fact that Heinrich and this Abraham were born in the same Russian village about the same time and were loosely related, it seems likely that this is the Abraham J. Ratzlaff who had written to Heinrich.

This Abraham Ratzlaff emigrated to the U.S. as a fifteen-year-old in 1876 and lived first in Mountain Lake, Minnesota. At some point (probably after this letter, since the Lustre Mennonites seem to have organized around 1917) he moved to Lustre, Montana, which is where he died and is buried. All this seems the likely background to Heinrich’s warm feelings toward Abraham, and it shows how even more than a century ago childhood friends were able to keep up with each other’s lives even amid migrations that nearly spanned the globe.