An earlier post collected all the information known about Peter D Buller’s younger sister Elisabeth (see here); this post does the same for Peter D’s younger brother Benjamin. There are fewer sources available for Benjamin than there were for Elisabeth, but we can construct the general outlines of his life from those that we have.
1. Birth and Childhood
Benjamin was born 1 June 1851 in Heinrichsdorf, Volhynia, the fourth child and second son of David and Helena Zielke Buller. We can locate his birth in Heinrichsdorf because we know that the family was living there when the 1850 Heinrichsdorf census was taken (see here and here) and did not move back to Molotschna until sometime later. Based on the evidence of the Molotschna school registers, we can date their return to sometime after 1855 (here; David and family do not appear) and before 1861.
How can we date the family’s return before 1861? The next time Benjamin appears, he and the family are in Waldheim. Nine-year-old Benjamin is listed along with his six-year-old brother David in the 1861–1862 Waldheim school register (see here).
How can we date the family’s return before 1861? The next time Benjamin appears, he and the family are in Waldheim. Nine-year-old Benjamin is listed along with his six-year-old brother David in the 1861–1862 Waldheim school register (see here).
2. Baptism
There is no known record of Benjamin’s baptism.
3. Marriage and Children
Twenty-six-year-old Benjamin wed seventeen-year-old Anna Reimer on 11 October 1877. Benjamin and Anna had thirteen children, eleven of whom lived to adulthood. All but one of the eight boys and five girls were born in the United States.
The Buller Family Record notes that the two oldest children, John and David, died on the same day, which GRANDMA gives as 22 November 1883: John was not yet five; David has just turned three. Neither source offers any additional information or even hints at a cause of death.
4. Emigration
Benjamin, Anna, and their son John were also part of the Siebert–Buller group who emigrated to the United States on the SS Switzerland, arriving in Philadelphia on 24 June 1879. In other words, they emigrated to the United States as the same time as Benjamin’s brother Peter D and sister Elisabeth.
5. Residences
Although we cannot be certain, it seems most likely that, upon their arrival in the States, Benjamin and Anna went directly to Inman, Kansas, not to Henderson, Nebraska, as Peter D, Elisabeth, and many others in that party did. We have no documentation proving this, but it is the best explanation of the facts in hand.
We already noted in an earlier post (here) that that Benjamin’s sister Elisabeth and her family visited Benjamin in Inman in 1897. Of course, that was eighteen years after both had emigrated to the United States. GRANDMA permits us to narrow that time span dramatically by reporting that Benjamin’s oldest daughter, Anna, was born in Inman on 13 June 1882, less than three years after the family had emigrated. Her brother George, born the following year, also is said to have been born in Inman. Both claims are sourced to church books and thus can be considered reliable until proven otherwise.
Sometime later Benjamin and Anna and the children living at home moved to Medford, Oklahoma. We cannot say precisely when they moved, but it was probably in 1905 or a few years earlier, since their oldest daughter Anna was apparently baptized into the Medford Mennonite Church on 20 May 1906, while her older brother George was baptized into the Alexanderwohl (Kansas) Mennonite Church on 3 June 1906 (see the Gerhard Buller entry here). Anna clearly accompanied her parents on the move south, but apparently George did not.
According to daughter Helen’s obituaries (here), the family moved to a farm east of Medford when she was a young girl. She was born in 1899, so a moving date of 1905 seems reasonable.
Benjamin and Anna spent the rest of their days in Medford, and both are buried in the Mennonite cemetery there (see here). Anna passed away first, on 1 July 1915, at the age of fifty-five. Benjamin followed almost seventeen years later, on 13 May 1932, just short of his eighty-first birthday.
According to the Helen Buller obituary, “In July 1935 Helen and other sisters and brothers left Oklahoma and came to Shafter, Calif., where she and [her sister] Justina (Jessie) set up housekeeping in their own cottage.” When Helen passed away in 1959, she was survived by “three sisters, Jessie Buller and Mrs. John Gaede of Shafter, and Mrs. Tiena Ratzlaff of Henderson, Neb.; and five brothers, Pete and Ernie Buller of Shafter, Geo. of Buhler, Kan., Ben of McPherson, Kan., and Jake of Medford.” According to the Find a Grave records, Benjamin and Anna are the only of their family, and the only Bullers at all, to be buried in the Medford cemetery (here).
There is no known record of Benjamin’s baptism.
3. Marriage and Children
Twenty-six-year-old Benjamin wed seventeen-year-old Anna Reimer on 11 October 1877. Benjamin and Anna had thirteen children, eleven of whom lived to adulthood. All but one of the eight boys and five girls were born in the United States.
The Buller Family Record notes that the two oldest children, John and David, died on the same day, which GRANDMA gives as 22 November 1883: John was not yet five; David has just turned three. Neither source offers any additional information or even hints at a cause of death.
4. Emigration
Benjamin, Anna, and their son John were also part of the Siebert–Buller group who emigrated to the United States on the SS Switzerland, arriving in Philadelphia on 24 June 1879. In other words, they emigrated to the United States as the same time as Benjamin’s brother Peter D and sister Elisabeth.
5. Residences
Although we cannot be certain, it seems most likely that, upon their arrival in the States, Benjamin and Anna went directly to Inman, Kansas, not to Henderson, Nebraska, as Peter D, Elisabeth, and many others in that party did. We have no documentation proving this, but it is the best explanation of the facts in hand.
We already noted in an earlier post (here) that that Benjamin’s sister Elisabeth and her family visited Benjamin in Inman in 1897. Of course, that was eighteen years after both had emigrated to the United States. GRANDMA permits us to narrow that time span dramatically by reporting that Benjamin’s oldest daughter, Anna, was born in Inman on 13 June 1882, less than three years after the family had emigrated. Her brother George, born the following year, also is said to have been born in Inman. Both claims are sourced to church books and thus can be considered reliable until proven otherwise.
Sometime later Benjamin and Anna and the children living at home moved to Medford, Oklahoma. We cannot say precisely when they moved, but it was probably in 1905 or a few years earlier, since their oldest daughter Anna was apparently baptized into the Medford Mennonite Church on 20 May 1906, while her older brother George was baptized into the Alexanderwohl (Kansas) Mennonite Church on 3 June 1906 (see the Gerhard Buller entry here). Anna clearly accompanied her parents on the move south, but apparently George did not.
According to daughter Helen’s obituaries (here), the family moved to a farm east of Medford when she was a young girl. She was born in 1899, so a moving date of 1905 seems reasonable.
Benjamin and Anna spent the rest of their days in Medford, and both are buried in the Mennonite cemetery there (see here). Anna passed away first, on 1 July 1915, at the age of fifty-five. Benjamin followed almost seventeen years later, on 13 May 1932, just short of his eighty-first birthday.
According to the Helen Buller obituary, “In July 1935 Helen and other sisters and brothers left Oklahoma and came to Shafter, Calif., where she and [her sister] Justina (Jessie) set up housekeeping in their own cottage.” When Helen passed away in 1959, she was survived by “three sisters, Jessie Buller and Mrs. John Gaede of Shafter, and Mrs. Tiena Ratzlaff of Henderson, Neb.; and five brothers, Pete and Ernie Buller of Shafter, Geo. of Buhler, Kan., Ben of McPherson, Kan., and Jake of Medford.” According to the Find a Grave records, Benjamin and Anna are the only of their family, and the only Bullers at all, to be buried in the Medford cemetery (here).
No comments:
Post a Comment