Buller family chart

Given the vast amount of new and frequently confusing material that we have covered these past few months, a time of recap and review would seem in order. There is still additional territory and further records that we plan to examine, but for now we will take a break to make sure we are clear on all the players, so to speak, before we delve into their lives in greater detail.

The chart below will be our guide, since it is the foundation of what we know about our family. We will talk about other Bullers, of course, but always in relation to where they fit within the following Buller family chart.

We will examine each of these individuals (and more) in turn. The goal of this post is to review the historical and geographical contexts as well the relationships among family members, especially in light of the confusion created by multiple people bearing the same first name.

Benjamin Buller 1 (the 1 is our shorthand designation, nothing official) was born sometime during the eighteenth century (1700s), probably in the Schwetz (or Przechowka) area of Poland.

Benjamin 2, his son, was born in 1789 and together with wife Helena and two children emigrated to Volhynia in 1817. In 1839 Benjamin and family emigrated south to Waldheim in Molotschna colony, then in 1848 or 1849 moved back north to Heinrichsdorf in Volhynia.

We know of four sons born to Benjamin 2 and Helena: Benjamin 3, our ancestor David, Heinrich, and Peter. Benjamin 3 remained in Waldheim, but the other three sons and their families returned to Volhynia with their parents. Over the course of the next twelve or so years, all these Buller families retraced their steps and moved back to Waldheim, first David, then Heinrich, then Peter.

The repetition of names—when one adds in next generation, we have multiple Benjamins, Helenas, Heinrichs, Marias, and Peters—can create confusion, but the chart above should help clarify. Since we know little about the first two Benjamins (for now), most of our focus will be on the families of Benjamin 2 and Helena’s four sons. Being clear about the relationship between those brothers will go a long way toward keeping all the family relations clear.

In addition to presenting what we know, the chart above also hints toward what we might reasonably suspect.

1. Benjamin 2 was probably not the only child of Benjamin 1 and his wife; presumably Benjamin 2 had other siblings, possibly both sisters and brothers, perhaps some we have already encountered but not yet identified as members of the Benjamin 1 line. We should continue to watch for any additional members of this family line.

2. The listing of four sons for Benjamin 2 and Helena should not be taken to signify that these were the only children born. In fact, the gaps between the births of David and Heinrich (1818–1823) and those of Heinrich and Peter (1823–1823) probably were not years of no births but rather times when daughters were born, daughters who were now married and thus recorded with their husbands rather than their parents. We will certainly want to revisit some of the earlier Volhynian records to see if our theory finds support there, and we will constantly be on the lookout for mention of sisters of David B (or paternal aunts of his son Peter D).

Using the chart above as our starting point, we will work systematically through the entire family, one member at a time, until we have filled in all the information we can about each person and connected all the dots we can between family members. We will adopt and adapt the GRANDMA entries for the task, both drawing from, correcting when necessary, and supplementing the information found there. When we are finished, we should have a much more defined and definitive picture of our early family history.