In early July of this year we examined a brief account of Peter D Buller’s death (here). There, in the 21 October 1897 issue of the Christlicher Bundesbote, we learned that Peter may have been ill for quite some time before he finally passed away on 28 September 1897. Since that time I have been consumed with questions about the circumstances surrounding Peter’s death, not to mention how the family’s ownership of the farm a mile west of Henderson may have been affected by his early demise (he was, after all, only fifty-two years old).
The Aurora Sun, like most rural papers of that day, devoted space in each issue to news from the small towns around it. Sometimes, though not often, the Aurora Sun included news from Henderson. Fortunately, the 16 October 1897 issue (p. 8) was one of those rare occasions when the paper included a Henderson column (shown on the right).
Obviously, our main interest is with the final entry (although see below for the source of this information, the Henderson Herald):
Died, Tuesday, Sept. 27 [sic], Peter Buller. He was buried Friday, Oct. 1, under the auspices of the Mennonite church. Mr. Buller had been sick for over a year.
The death notice from the July post contained many more details (and correctly gave his date of death as 28 September):
Buller—On 28 September, near Lushton, Nebraska, after a long illness, Brother Peter Buller, aged fifty-two years, eight months, and eighteen days. The deceased leaves a deeply bereaved widow and ten children to mourn the death of their father. The funeral took place on 1 October. Elder Peter Friesen delivered the funeral oration, on Job 16:22, to a large gathering in the home of the deceased, to which Elder Isaac Peters gave an introduction on Isa 57:2.
However, only the notice published in the Aurora Sun, taken from the Henderson Herald, tells us that Peter D had been sick for over a year before he finally passed away. What was his sickness? We do not (yet) know. Where was he living at the time of his death? Beyond the reference to living near Lushton, we cannot say. Did Peter D and Sarah still own the farm west of Henderson? Although it seems unlikely, we lack clear evidence one way or the other.
The search for additional information about Peter D’s last days, not to mention the disposition of his and Sarah’s farm, goes on.
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The heading of the clipping above indicates that the source of the Henderson report was “the Herald.” Reports from other small towns generally were attributed to “our special correspondent,” someone in the town who compiled the local news for the paper to include. Intrigued by the reference to the Herald, I decided to investigate. It turns out that for a few years the Henderson Herald was published by a man named John W. Foster. The first mention of the paper is in the 13 March 1897 issue of the Aurora Sun:
J. W. Foster, of Henderson, is running a small weekly newspaper. It does not have a large amount of local news, but the quality is good. It is called the Henderson Herald. (p. 4)
Like many small papers of that era, the Henderson Herald lasted only a short time. The 30 July 1898 issue of the Aurora Sun reported:
J. W. Foster, the editor, announces the demise of the Henderson Herald this week. The town was too small for a newspaper. Mr. Foster would make a good local editor if he had the patronage sufficient to make it pay. (p. 4)
So, for approximately sixteen months, Henderson had a weekly newspaper. Fortunately for us, this short-lived newspaper reported an important detail about Peter D’s final year.
