Benjamin Buller 8

Our last post ended with a question: Is the Benjamin Buller named on the 1839 Waldheim list our ancestor, the father of David Buller? A comparison between the 1833 list of Mennonites who wished to relocate to Molostschna with the 1839 record of that year’s arrivals will help us form a reasonable opinion. We will keep the 1819–1820 Zofyovka (or Rovno) censuses to show how many families we can trace across these two decades. Keep in mind that there are thirteen names on the 1839 record, so that is the maximum number of matches possible.

	1839 Waldheim list		1833 Ostrowka list	1819–1820  Zofyovka Censuses
9	Benjamin Cornelius Wedel	1	Benjamin Wedel	Dominik Wedel
		2	Heinrich Wedel	Heinrich Wedel
		3	Johann Wedel
10	Cornelius Cornelius Wedel	4	Cornelius Wedel	Karl Wedel
12	Heinrich Johann Dirks	5	Heinrich Dirks	Heinrich Dirks
		6	Michael Teske	Michael Teske
13	David Heinrich Dirks	7	David Dirks	David Dirks
		8	David Nachtigal	David Nachtigal
		9	George Nachtigal
7	Benjamin Benjamin Buller	10	Benjamin Buller	Benjamin Buller
3	David Jacob Kohn	11	David Koehn	David Koehn
2	Peter Johann Schmidt	12	Peter Schmidt	Peter Schmidt
		13	Peter Becker	Peter Becker
		14	Benjamin Ratzlaff	Benjamin Ratzlaff
		15	Cornelius Balzer	Karl Baltzer
		16	Johann Werbel
		17	Jacob Pankratz	Jacob Pankratz
		18	Friedrich Kunkel
		19	Jacob Wedel	Jacob Wedel

Seven out of the thirteen 1839 settlers can be identified on the 1833 list (and the 1819–1820 censuses as well). However, the number is actually higher than that when we look more closely at the six 1839 names that are not direct matches with the 1833 list:

1. *Jacob Aron Klas [Klassen]
4. David David Kohn? [or Kol"]
5. Tobias David Dirks
6. Johann Heinrich Ewert
8. Peter Jacob Pankratz
11. Cornelius Cornelius Wedel

Number 4, David David Kohn, is probably the son of number 3 in the 1839 list: David Jacob Kohn, since David David’s middle name indicates that his father was named David. If David David was the son of David Jacob, then he presumably appeared on the 1833 list as part of his father’s family. Now, six years later, the son is of age and eligible to establish his own household.

The same might be said of number 5, Tobias David Dirks, the apparent son of number 13 on the 1833 list, David Heinrich Dirks. Likewise number 8 on the 1839 Waldheim record: Peter Jacob Pankratz; his father was presumably number 17 on the 1833 list: Jacob Pankratz. Finally, number 11, Cornelius Cornelius Wedel, is reported to be “at No. 55 with family of his father Cornelius Cornelius Wedel.” So, number 11 is clearly the son of number 10, which means that he, like the others, was included on the earlier list as a member of his father’s household.

It is no stretch to conclude that eleven out of the thirteen individuals on the 1839 Waldheim list were also included, either explicitly or implicitly as members of a father’s household, on the 1833 list of those Volhynian Mennonites who wished to move to Molotschna.

Of course, we did not compare these lists out of curiosity. We compared them to determine whether the Benjamin Buller in the 1839 Waldheim list is our ancestor. Given the close association between the 1839 and 1833 lists, it is safe to conclude that the Benjamin Buller in both lists is the same—and since 1833 Benjamin is our ancestor, so is 1839 Benjamin. We have another line to add to our family timeline.

We also now know several more key facts about our family history. Do you know what they are?

Year	Person(s)	Event
1817	Benjamin and family (4)	emigrated from Prussia to Volhynia
1818	David Benjamin	birth on 25 January
1819/1820	Benjamin, Helena, David, Dominik, nephew David	listed on census living at Zofyovka, Rovno, Volhynia
1828	Benjamin and family (?)	moved from Zofyovka to Ostrowka, Lutsk, Volhynia
1833	Benjamin and family (11)	expressed desire to emigrate from Ostrowka to Molotschna colony
1839	Benjamin and family	relocated to Waldheim, Molotschna colony

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* It is interesting that number 1 in the 1839 list, Jacob Aron Klassen, appears in another part of the 1833 list of Volhynian Mennonites who wished to relocate to Molotschna, as number 8 in the second group of names: Jacob Klaassen. He lived in the unknown village of Wolla but ended up in Waldheim with the others listed above. In the end, only number 6 on the 1839 Waldheim list, Johann Heinrich Ewert, does not appear on the earlier record.