GM 5b, David Buller, 11303

We pick up where we left off with the first post on David Buller. For the first half of the David Buller entry, see here. For convenience, the GM entry for David is repeated.

Family, Spouse: The Buller Family Record agrees with GM that David was married twice; however, the BFR is unaware of the identity of his second wife.

There is no contemporary source attesting David’s marriage to Helena Zielke, only a BFR statement to that effect. Based on the 1850 Heinrichsdorf census (link 2 above), we know David was married to a woman named Helena, but her maiden name is not provided. That being said, we have no reason to doubt the family memory of this detail; names are more accurately remembered than specific dates.

The identification of David’s second wife as a Ratzlaff is suspect. The GM entry does not provide a source for the listing, merely a statement that David’s “second wife may have been a Ratzlaff.” The entry for that person offers no additional information, only a repeat of the relevant data from David’s entry. It appears that this “person” has been created ex nihilo (Latin for “out of nothing”) based on an unsourced claim about the possible last name of David’s second wife. Granted, she may have been born a Ratzlaff, but she may also have been born a Schmidt or a Voth or a Sperling or a Nachtigal or a Pankratz, all family names attested in Waldheim during this time.

David was certainly married twice; youngest son Heinrich’s reference to his half-brothers makes that much clear (see here). The identity of his second wife was should remain unspecified until we happen upon some contemporary, or at least reliable, evidence identifying her.

Family, Children: GM indicates that David fathered nine children; the BFR agrees. Unfortunately, the two disagree on many details. The orders of birth for both are (children of wife 2 in red):

GRANDMA	Buller Family Record
Heinrich (about 1842)	Helena (????)
Peter (1845)	Peter (1845)
Elisabeth (1847)	Elisabeth (1847)
Helena (1849)	Benjamin (1851)
Sarah (about 1850)	Maria (1853)
Benjamin (1851)	David (1855)
Maria (1853)	Heinrich (????)
David (1855)	Jacob (1864)
Jacob (1864)	Sarah (????)

The names are all the same, but the order of births and the identifications of who was the mother of whom differ, at times significantly. Fortunately, several primary sources clarify some of these matters.

1. The 1850 census (link 2) proves fairly conclusively that the first three children were Helena, Peter, and Elisabeth, who were ages seven, six, and three, respectively. This corresponds more or less to birth years in 1844, 1845, and 1847, as the BFR has it. Therfore, for David’s first three children, we should follow the BFR and supply a birth year of 1844 for Helena.

2. GM and BFR agree that Benjamin was born in 1851, Maria in 1853, and David in 1855. For now (until we look at each of those entries), we will consider that information correct.

3. GM is obviously wrong about its placement of Heinrich: he does not appear on the 1850 census (and thus was not the firstborn), and he himself refers to his half-brothers (see here), thus indicating that he was not a son of Helena Zielke. The BFR placement of Heinrich is more correct than GM.

4. Jacob’s birth in 1864 as a son of David’s second wife seems fairly certain; it is consistent with the Molotschna school registers (link 3 in the first David post), which identify Jacob as David’s nine-year-old son in the 1873–1874 school year. The BFR may be correct that Heinrich was older than Jacob, given that Heinrich does not appear on the Molotschna school register; if this Heinrich was the father of another Buller named Heinrich who was born in 1783 (GM 73184; it is highly likely), then he was no doubt older than Jacob.

5. This leaves Sarah, whom GM dates to about 1850, the BFR to sometime after 1864. At present we cannot say which, if either, is correct.

Based on all available evidence, the most likely order of children is:

Helena: 1844
Peter: 1845
Elisabeth: 1847
Benjamin: 1851
Maria: 1853
David: 1855
Heinrich: about 1860
Jacob: 1864
Sarah: unknown

In this scheme, the first six children were Helena Zielke’s, the last three of David’s second wife.

Father and Mother: GM has incorrect and missing information.

1. We know from multiple primary sources that David’s father was named Benjamin (links 1 and 2; other primary sources confirm his name and association with David’s siblings and thus David). We can even identify which Benjamin in the GM database: 402138. GM errs in identifying Peter Buller 1337154 as David’s father; since 1337154 is listed only as father of David (no other information is given), he should be removed from the database.

2. We can also say that David’s mother was named Helena, although we do not know her maiden name (GM 402139). The evidence for Helena’s name includes the Rovno register (link 1), the 1850 Heinrichsdorf census (link 2), and the church book from the same village (here).

Notes: The complexity of information on David does not lend itself well to easy summary. Still, we can identify certain elements of his GM entry that should be revised.

1. David was born 25 January 1818 in the village of Zofyovka in the Rovno region of Volhynia.

2. He died 25 November 1904 in Waldheim, having lived eighty-six years and ten months.

3. The name of David’s second wife is completely unknown.

4. Daughter Helena, born in 1844, was his oldest child; Heinrich the oldest of his second wife, was born about 1860. Sarah was perhaps his last-born child, but her we cannot be certain who her mother was or when she was born.

5. David’s father was Benjamin Buller 402138; his mother was Helena _____ 402139.

Looking back, one cannot help but be a little amazed at how much we have discovered about David since Buller Time began. Thanks to the Mennonite researchers who continue to uncover, transcribe, and make available the primary sources on which we have relied.