Partible, bilateral inheritance … and Bullers 2

The previous post described the general contours of Mennonite inheritance practices, then read about the enactment of those practices within a particular context: the Chortitza colony in Russia during the 1870s. This post picks up where we left off and and asks in what ways, if at all, this knowledge of the typical Mennonite approach to inheritance might fill out our understanding of our family history.

It should be admitted from the outset that much of what follows is speculative, since we are trying to piece together snippets of information within the context of what we now know regarding Mennonite inheritance practices. With that fair warning, let us start with the first possible inheritance situation in the U.S.

As is well known, having been recorded in the Buller Family Record (BFR) and all, Peter D Buller died at the youngish age of fifty-two, on 28 September 1897. At that time, it appears that he owned 160 acres of farmland in the northeast corner of section 12 in Farmers Valley township of Hamilton County (see below). The BFR reports that Peter D purchased 80 acres of that farm shortly after he and Sarah (Siebert) and their children arrived in Nebraska, and we earlier learned that an additional 80 (the south half of the quarter) was added in January 1893 via the Homestead Act (for earlier posts on both topics, see here and here). Since the Homestead document does not include a middle initial (see here), we do not know whether Peter D or Peter P homesteaded the second 80 acres.

When Peter D died in 1897, he had ten living children (ages in parentheses): Johann (29), Peter P (28; our ancestor), Katharina (26*), David S (23), Cornelius P (21), Sarah (20), Jacob P (18), Heinrich P (15), Abraham P (13), and Maria M (7; an earlier daughter Maria had died as an infant). Given what we learned about Mennonite inheritance practices applies, we would assume that half of the farm was transferred to Peter D’s widow Sarah and the other half sold, either to one of the children or a third party, with each child receiving a tenth of that sale price (i.e., the total was divided equally among ten children: seven males and three females).

If that is what happened, it is not reflected in the plat map above. This 1916 map—so nineteen years after Peter D’s death—shows that Peter Buller owned the entire northeast quarter of section 12. How this came about we do not (yet) know. Several explanations seem possible:

• If Peter P (the son) was the Peter who homesteaded the south half of the quarter, his ownership of that portion would be reflected on the plat map. Of course, that still does not explain how the north 80 acres came into his possession.


• It is possible that (1) Peter P bought the estate half of his father’s farm (paying his siblings their share of the purchase price) and (2) later purchased the other half of the farm from his mother Sarah. This would explain how Peter came to own the entire quarter while his mother was still alive (Sarah lived until early 1922).


• It is conceivable, although probably unlikely, that the listing of “Peter Buller” on the plat map is not completely accurate, that Peter farmed the entire quarter but did not own it all, part of it being legally owned by his mother.

Other considerations complicate the matter further. We will touch upon one here and leave the other to a subsequent post. By 1916 Peter P and family (including Grandpa Chris) were living 4 miles east of Henderson on the Epp farm. They had been for quite a while, probably since 1890, when Peter P and Margaretha married and moved there. (Recall that the BFR states that Margaretha lived on that farm for fifty-nine years before she and Peter moved to California in 1936.)

Since Peter P and family already lived 4 miles east of Henderson, if he purchased the Peter D farm from the estate (other children) and then from his mother, it was not for a place to live but rather to increase his land holdings. If this is what transpired, one cannot help but be impressed that twenty-eight-year-old Peter not only farmed but also owned more than a half-section of land (see the 1911 plat map in this post).

This calls to mind another possibility to consider before we end this post:

• Perhaps Peter and Margaretha used their Epp farm as collateral for a loan to buy the Peter Buller estate and Sarah portions. This would explain how a young and growing family (they had three children in 1897) were able to acquire a significant amount of land.

What do we know thus far? Peter P apparently came into possession of at least part of the family farm a mile west of Henderson when his father Peter D passed away in 1897. It seems that sometime after that Peter P also purchased his mother’s half of the Peter D estate—assuming that Mennonite custom was followed in the distribution of the estate (it probably was).

To be honest, we have as many questions as answers at this point, including:

• Which Peter (father or son) homesteaded the south half of the quarter?
• Why did Peter purchase the land rather than one of his siblings?
• When did Sarah sell her portion of the estate and to whom?
• For how long did Peter own the Buller farm, and to whom did he sell it?

We will explore those questions in several subsequent posts. Whether or not we are able to arrive at any definitive answers remains to be seen.

Note
* Peter D died on Katharina’s twenty-sixth birthday.