Benjamin Buller 4

Having answered as best we can at this time the question of why Benjamin Buller was in a different location in 1833 from when we last saw him in 1819/1820 (see here), we are ready to turn to the next question that arose from the “List of Mennonites Wishing to Leave Volhynia and Settle with Their Brethren in the Tauridian Governorate, 1833” translated by Glenn Penner (here):

Why had some of the Mennonites on the list been paying taxes since 1818 but Benjamin still enjoyed a tax-free status as of 1833? How many years would a new tenant enjoy freedom from taxation, and what might this tell us about when Benjamin began renting Bischkowsky’s land?

Unfortunately, there is little that we can say about this. It seems that there was no common template behind the leases; each landlord could offer and accept whatever terms he wished. So, for example, Waclav Borejko’s lease with the original settlers in Zofyovka (see here), where Benjamin, Helena, and family lived before Ostrowka, stated:

The aforementioned Mennonites and their descendants shall be forever free of taxes and seignorial duties, as well as of money payments in lieu of these, except for the land rent stipulated in this contract. They shall not be subject to compensation payments  of  any  kind;  shall  not  be required  to  provide  quarters  for  soldiers  or  make  money  payments  in  lieu  thereof,  at  the behest of their lord; shall not be required to furnish army recruits, as their lord's subjects have to do, or make money payments in lieu thereof; and shall enjoy also all the rights and privileges conferred on Mennonites in the Emperor’s Privilegium

That was not the terms offered by to the Ostrowka Mennonites by Michael Bischkowsky, since some of the tenants already paid taxes and others would do so eventually, after their tax-free years expired. (They were presumably free from any military service or support.) So, the question of how long a tenant on Michael Bischkowsky’s land might remain tax-free remains unanswered.

All we can deduce from the evidence is what we have already observed, that the leases for nine of the families on the list had been signed earlier than the leases for the other ten. The fact that the first nine were already paying taxes while the second ten were not allows for no other conclusion. I guess there is not much more to say beyond that—and certainly nothing to add to the family timeline.

Work Cited

Giesinger,  Adam. 1977. A Volhynian German Contract. American Historical Society of Germans from Russia Work Paper 25:13–15. Available online here.