After a two-week hiatus (work is such an annoying imposition), we resume our story of Heinrich and Agnetha Duerksen Buller. The last post ended the Heinrich portion of the account, and this post takes it the narrative with Agnetha (or Aganetha; see below). After recounting her story pre-Heinrich, we will then turn briefly to their early years together.
William Buller, our storyteller, begins his mother’s portion of the narrative as follows:
[14] And now having arrived at this point in our story, it is but meet that we devote a few words to this young woman—Aganetha Duerksen—who will from now on enter into this sketch in which she played so large a part. Unfortunately, she is no longer here to recount to us the vicissitudes of her life. We therefore again make use of father’s recollections and are let to marvel at the distinctness and vividness with which he recalls so many details of her life.
Her father’s name was Heinrich Duerksen. He was a big-hearted, kindly, although gruff, man. But not only was he a man big in heart qualities; he was physically strong and powerful as well. He was born in Poland, but came with his wife at an early date to the large Mennonite settlements called The Colony, which were situated along the River or Creek and, to be exact, then located in the Dorf or village of Waldheim. It should be stated here, perhaps, that the Russian Government had made inducements to these Mennonite Colonists to become settlers by making grants of land to them on the Crown lands, much on the same principle that the United States offers its public lands to settlers. Accordingly, Heinrich Duerksen, with his wife, settled on these Crown Lands. As head of a family he was entitled to a firestead consisting of 65 desjetins of land, equivalent to about 185 to 190 acres. They were poor, of course, but in course of time they prospered and became quite well-to-do. He was the owner of this land and, in addition, had established a treadmill, showing that he was enjoying considerable affluence. Here also he raised his family. The children by his first wife were Benjamin, Cornelius, Mary, and Aganetha. By this it will be seen that mother had three full relatives. She was the youngest and was born December 28, 1842, at the village of Waldheim, South Russia. Her brother Benjamin moved to America in May 1875 and settled north of Parker, South Dakota. After a few years he sold out here and moved with his family to North Dakota, where he died in the fall of 1903. He has a son by the name of Cornelius who lives near New Home, North Dakota.
[15] Cornelius Duerksen (mother’s brother) did not move to America but staked his fortunes in Russia. He accumulated quite a bit of property, owning several hundred desjetins of land. No definite information is at hand as to whether he is still living. One is naturally tempted to wonder how the upheaval in Europe today is affecting him and his children. Mother’s sister, Mary, was married twice. Her first husband’s name was Jacob Zelaski. After his death, she married a certain John Sperling of whom mention will again be made in the course of this story. (Buller 1915, 14–15)
Her father’s name was Heinrich Duerksen. He was a big-hearted, kindly, although gruff, man. But not only was he a man big in heart qualities; he was physically strong and powerful as well. He was born in Poland, but came with his wife at an early date to the large Mennonite settlements called The Colony, which were situated along the River or Creek and, to be exact, then located in the Dorf or village of Waldheim. It should be stated here, perhaps, that the Russian Government had made inducements to these Mennonite Colonists to become settlers by making grants of land to them on the Crown lands, much on the same principle that the United States offers its public lands to settlers. Accordingly, Heinrich Duerksen, with his wife, settled on these Crown Lands. As head of a family he was entitled to a firestead consisting of 65 desjetins of land, equivalent to about 185 to 190 acres. They were poor, of course, but in course of time they prospered and became quite well-to-do. He was the owner of this land and, in addition, had established a treadmill, showing that he was enjoying considerable affluence. Here also he raised his family. The children by his first wife were Benjamin, Cornelius, Mary, and Aganetha. By this it will be seen that mother had three full relatives. She was the youngest and was born December 28, 1842, at the village of Waldheim, South Russia. Her brother Benjamin moved to America in May 1875 and settled north of Parker, South Dakota. After a few years he sold out here and moved with his family to North Dakota, where he died in the fall of 1903. He has a son by the name of Cornelius who lives near New Home, North Dakota.
[15] Cornelius Duerksen (mother’s brother) did not move to America but staked his fortunes in Russia. He accumulated quite a bit of property, owning several hundred desjetins of land. No definite information is at hand as to whether he is still living. One is naturally tempted to wonder how the upheaval in Europe today is affecting him and his children. Mother’s sister, Mary, was married twice. Her first husband’s name was Jacob Zelaski. After his death, she married a certain John Sperling of whom mention will again be made in the course of this story. (Buller 1915, 14–15)
1. The first question that arises is the spelling of this woman’s name. The title of the book gives it as Agnetha, but the first paragraph about her has it as Aganetha. Absent some sort of birth record, we cannot say definitively which it is, although GRANDMA agrees with the longer form.
GRANDMA also gives the last name as Dirks, which agrees with the last name given for Aganetha’s father. As we have seen previously, an -en or -in ending was frequently added to the female form of last names. Thus Jantz became Jantzen, Buller become Bullerin, and Dirks became Dirksen, often spelled phonetically as Duerksen or Doerksen.
2. Aganetha’s father Heinrich Dirks (GM 532475) married Anna Baier (GM 532476) sometime in the early 1820s, it seems, but we know little more than that. It is thought that their first child, Benjamin, was born in 1824. William does not say when the couple first moved to Molotschna; since they do not appear on the 1835 census (the Heinrich Johann Dirks living at Alexanderthal 11 is someone else), it was presumably sometime after that.
3. William Buller’s wording appears to indicate that the couple’s first residence in Molotschna was in the village Waldheim, which is well known to us as the home first of Benjamin Buller, then later his son David. If you recall, Waldheim was founded in 1838, and we do find a Heinrich Dirks among the first settlers (see here). By combining the information from three separate reports, we can identify this person further as Heinrich Johann Dirks. This is not the person mentioned above who was living in Alexanderthal in 1835, since that Heinrich Johann Dirks still lived in Alexanderthal in 1847 (see the voting list here).
What this means is that, assuming the veracity of the family story, the Heinrich Dirks who settled in Waldheim in 1839 was almost certainly Aganetha’s father. We can then specify further that the family lived at Wirtschaft 3, as recorded in the voting records from 1847, 1850, and 1857 (see here). Beyond that, we now know the name of Heinrich’s father: Johann. The GRANDMA record can be expanded on that point [incorrect sentence about the year of Heinrich’s death removed].
4. The description of the family’s prosperity is reasonable, since they were part of the land-owning class. The treadmill mentioned was used to grind grain into flour. There were primarily two means of powering the grinding mechanism: running water, such as a stream; and animal power. Heinrich’s flour-grinding business relied on the latter. For more information on treadmills of that period, see the article and photographs here.
5. William’s account of the four children of Heinrich and Anna agrees with GRANDMA’s listing for the family. As stated, Aganetha was the youngest of Heinrich’s first family, being born 28 December 1842. Further, her older brother Benjamin did emigrate to South Dakota and settle in Turner County, where Aganetha and Heinrich would put down roots a few months later. The figure below shows both where Benjamin settled (note the Dirksen Wedel section to the left) and his son Cornelius, who was mentioned above, and daughter-in-law Elisabeth (see further here).
In the mid-1880s Benjamin Dirks resettled in North Dakota, apparently part of a group of former Mennonite Brethren who had converted to Seventh-Day Adventism. This is an intriguing story that deserves its own telling someday.
6. According to GRANDMA, Aganetha’s other brother, Cornelius (GM 511922), was still alive when William wrote this account. He passed away 30 July 1921 in Biyuk-Busau, Crimea.
7. GRANDMA also agrees that her sister Mary (GM 527840) was married twice, although it gives the last name of her first husband as Delesky instead of Zelaski. Apparently Mary never emigrated to North America either, and she also appears to have spent her last days in the Crimea as well.
Now that most of the key people have been introduced, William will proceed to narrate what he can about his mother’s early life. We will pick up his story there in the next post.
Work Cited
Buller, William B. 1915. Life Story of Heinrich Buller and His Wife Agnetha Duerksen Buller. Parker, SD: privately printed.
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