No, it wasn’t the house from Green Acres

Yesterday’s post included a photograph of a house of two Buller families. The house was not, in spite of what one might think at first glance, the ramschackle home of Oliver and Lisa Douglas, which is pictured to the right. (Those too young or too forgetful to get this reference can click here for background. To watch the 1966 show opening, click here.)

The photograph was, in fact, of a home in Lushton, Nebraska, in the same general area as, but south and east of, the old schoolhouse. It was, if I recall correctly, between Gilbert Avenue on the west and Phillip Avenue on the east, and between 3rd Street on the north and 2nd Street on the south, toward the southeast corner of that block (see the Google Map of the location here).

The two Buller families who lived in this house were Carl’s and Daniel’s. Carl and family (sans me) lived in it first but moved to Grandpa and Grandma’s farm south of Lushton in late September 1957. Sometime after that Daniel and family moved into the house and lived there for three to five years, possibly more. If my memory is correct, all of Daniel and Marie’s kids except Michael lived in this house.

I have only one memory of the house, from when our family lived a block east of Daniel and Marie (we had moved there from the farm), so probably when I was four. The front door was on the right end of the porch, the black vertical strip in the photo above, I believe. Unless I am mistaken, the first area inside the house (in front and to the left) was a kitchen and dining area. I see in my mind’s eye a stove to the right, but that may be a false memory. I do not remember anything beyond that.

The picture below shows the back of the house and what I believe is a summer kitchen behind it.

Photographs such as this help to solidify the memories of those who lived through these times and enable those who were not alive at the time to understand something of what life was like for Bullers way back then. Similarly, photographs of our more distant ancestors and their surroundings help us to understand their lives more completely and appreciate their struggles more fully.

That is why this blog will continue to ask for photos both recent and far in the past to share with one another. Wouldn’t it be great, I can hear Kristi say (she is a Buller of a related line who frequents the blog), if someone somewhere found and shared a photograph of Peter D Buller?! Indeed it would, as would be discovery of photos of Peter D’s first farm and house a little more than a mile west of the south road of Henderson. All that so say, please do send any photographs you have. I will be happy to scan them and return them to you in the same shape—except that now the image will be preserved for as long as there are computers able to read digital files, which is probably as long as there is human life on this earth.

** If anyone has a photo of Albert Abraham Buller (Peter D > Abraham > Albert Abraham—so Grandpa Chris’s cousin), please contact me.