Benjamin Buller 25

The last post addressed an oddity with the Benjamin Buller section of the Heinrichsdorf church book: the presence of Anna Unruh the elder among a family of Bullers. We deduced from the evidence that Anna probably joined the Buller household (likely the Heinrich Buller one) because she was widowed and was now living with her daughter Anna Unruh Buller and family: Anna’s husband Heinrich and their daughters.

One final note about the widow Anna Unruh. Presumably she was listed where she was because she was the oldest female member of the household not married to Benjamin. That is, Helena Buller was listed first because she was married to the head of household Benjamin. Then followed Anna Unruh the elder because she was the next oldest female in the house. After Anna the mother was listed Anna the daughter, followed by daughter Anna’s six daughters.

With that loose end tied up, we are ready to turn to the entries for Heinrich and Anna’s daughters.

The daughters’ names and dates of birth are clear enough:

• Helena: 18 July 1846
• Maria: 2 November 1848
• Susana: 7 April 1851
• Elisabeth: 4 August 1853
• Cathrina: 11 March 1856
• Eva: 30 October 1858

A few details merit further comment.

1. For the first time in the Benjamin Buller entries we see an entry in the far right column, which is where dates of death are recorded. Heinrich and Anna’s second daugher Maria, who was born in late 1848, died at the age of six in early 1855, 7 January, to be exact. We read earlier in the Jacob D. Epp diary about the high incidence of child mortality (here); this entry is a reminder that many families of that time were familiar with this grim reality.

2. The youngest daughter, Eva, has not only her date of birth recorded but her time of birth as well: 5:00 AM (Morgend = morning). One wonders if that detail is recorded because it happened close in time to the compilation of the church book.

3. The information here is consistent with that recorded in the 1850 census (see here). Heinrich and Anna had only two daughters at that time: Helena and Maria.

4. According to the GRANDMA database, Heinrich and Anna had a seventh child after Eva, a son named Heinrich. It is worth noting that the entry does not list a source for this information, which is always cause for caution. If the entry is accurate (whatever its source), then the fact that this 1861 birth is not recorded in the Heinrichsdorf church book may imply something important: maybe Heinrich and Anna and family left Heinrichsdorf after Eva’s 1858 birth but before Heinrich Jr.’s 1861 birth. The GRANDMA entry for Heinrich Sr. says that he ended up back in Waldheim, but we need to check that out before we take any of this as more than a possibility.

That closes out the first two Benjamin Buller pages in the Heinrichsdorf church book, which covered Benjamin and Helena Buller, their son Heinrich and Anna Unruh Buller and their six daughters, and Anna Unruh Buller’s widowed mother Anna Unruh. The next post will turn to another of Heinrich and Anna’s sons: Peter.