Bullers in Deutsch-Wymysle 9

The last post focused on the possible parentage of Benjamin Buller 118 and Heinrich Buller 125 (both numbers in the Deutsch-Wymysle list) and suggested that they could (!) have been the sons of Peter Buller Jr. of Brenkenhoffswalde. Whether or not that hypothesis is true or simply a crazy idea must await further evidence.

Before we leave Benjamin 118 and Heinrich 125 and their families, let us make a few additional observations.

1. The first thing we see in Benjmain’s entry is that he was married twice: first to Agatha Görtz, who died at the age of thirty-four in 1843, then to Helene Görtz, in 1846. The church book makes this clear by identifying Helene as his “II Fr.” (II Frau), or second wife. We know little else about his wives.

2. A second thing we should note is what is not in the record. According to GRANDMA, Benjamin and Agatha had two sons: Heinrich (120 above) and Wilhelm, who was born in 1839 or 1840. The evidence for Wilhelm comes not from church records but from civil records, specifically, a notice of death recorded in Deutsch-Wymysle. Thanks to a scan of the original provided by Glenn Penner, we can examine Wilhelm’s death notice for ourselves.

Although the record is written in Polish, the names are underlined, which makes them easy to spot. Line 3 clearly shows Benjamin Buller and line 8 Wilhelm Buller. In line 10 we see Benjamin again plus his wife (Wilhelm’s mother), here with the slightly variant name Agnetha nee Gertzaw (I think). Wilhelm Buller appears again in line 13, and Benjamin is not underlined in line 15. One other name is worth noting: Piotr Buller in lines 5 and 16 and the signature Peter Buller in line 17. They are the same person, of course; Peter/Piotr served as a witness.

Not only did Glenn Penner provide this and many other scans, but he has also translated a number of civil records, including the one for Wilhelm Buller. I encourage everyone to read the full document here, since the records translated provide additional context and depth—and mention several other Bullers as well. To enable easy comparison with the scan, I offer here Glenn’s translation of Wilhelm Buller’s death record:

Wymyschle 15
Death record of Wilhelm Buller 1840
Nr 5, Brześzin
It happened in the Mennonites’ commune in the village of Wymyśle Niemieckie on 16 May 1840 at 8am. Personally came Benjamin Buller, komornik [farmer who does not have his own house], 33 years old, residing in the village of Brześzin and Piotr Buller, komornik [farmer who does not have his own house], 25 years old, residing in the village of Wymyśle Niemieckie and stated that on 15 May of the current year at 8am died a male child named Wilhelm Buller, 1 year old, residing in a village of Brześzin, commune of Sannik. Son of Benjamin Buller and Agnetha nee Gertz, a married couple of Buller, komornik [farmer without his own house] in the same village. This child left behind his parents who were mentioned above. After being convinced about death of Wilhelm Buller this document was read to those presents and witnesses. The first witness Benjamin Buller is a father of this child and stated that he does not know how to write. The second witness Piotr Buller signed this document. [Signatures]. Preacher P. Ratzlaw.
[The side note stated that he died on 15 May 1840]

The village Brześzin seems to be the same as Brzeziny (see here), which was located roughly 50 miles to the east. If that identification is correct (it is possible that another Polish named Brzeziny is in view), one wonders why Benjamin Buller traveled so far to report his young son’s death (Deutsch-Wymysle is identified by the red arrow on the left, Brzeziny by that on the right).

3. Although we have gone far afield from the original Deutsch-Wymysle entry for Benjamin Buller 118 and family, there is a point to all this: it reminds us that, for all that we learn from the Deutsch-Wymysle church book, we cannot assume that those records are complete. This is especially true for this church book, which states that it contains extracts from the original, but it is also worth considering when we look at other church books, such as the one from Przechowka.

4. We do not want to ignore Heinrich 125 and family completely, but there is not a great deal to add, since we already covered this family in list 2 (here, first scan). They all went to Russia in 1858, but we do not yet know where in Molotschna they settled.

5. One last note before we move on to the next Buller families (four to go): dates of death are given for four of Benjamin 118’s family. Benjamin passed away at age forty-eight, his first wife Agatha at thirty-four, his second wife Helene at forty-seven, and his first son with Helene at five days. Adding in Wilhelm son of Benjamin 118, who died at age one, we now have the life spans for twelve male Bullers: the average is forty-one, with the following distribution:

0–9	2
10–19	1
20–29	0
30–39	1
40–49	3
50–59	2
60–69	2
70–79	1

With life spans for only four women, we cannot draw any conclusions, merely list their ages: 34, 47, 56, and 72.