The death of David Buller recap

The four Rundschau letters that Glenn Penner provided to us not only raised significant questions and opened new avenues for exploration but also provided important information on our earliest known ancestor, David Buller. To ensure that we do not lose sight of several crucial trees within this forest of information (to turn that popular saying on its head), this post recaps the vital conclusions to which the Rundschau leads us.

1. David Buller died on 12 November 1904, not 25 September of the same year, as the Buller Family Record states.

2. His death followed an illness of six days’ length.

3. David was buried (presumably in Waldheim) on 16 November, four days after his death.

4. If the dates of death and burial are given according to the Julian calendar, then David died on 25 November and was buried on 29 November according to our (Gregorian) calendar.

5. David lived to an age of 86 years and 10 months, which means that he was actually born sometime in January of 1818, not November of 1817, as the BFR has it.

Because all these conclusions are based on contemporary evidence (letters written within a few days to several months after the events reported), they can be considered as certain as any historical fact may be. The Rundschau letters also contained additional information related to David’s family.

1. David had a sister who married into the Johann Ratzlaff family. The Buller–Ratzlaff connection is mentioned and elaborated upon by Heinrich Buller and Anna Ratzlaff, which may enable us to draw lines between the people whom each one mentions.

2. David’s son Heinrich married a woman named Aganetha, and they had a son named Heinrich.

3. Heinrich the son of Heinrich and Aganetha married Elisabeth Unruh in Waldheim on 19 February 1906.

Each of these trails merits investigation, which we will undertake in due course. For now, we end with a tantalizing lead from the Grandma database.