Missionaries in South Africa: Selected Biographies

Missionary preaching

ADAMS Dr Newton (1804-1851) Medical missionary from Ohio county New York.  Sent to South Africa by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABM), arriving with his wife Mrs Sarah C Adams in December 1834. Founded a mission station and school at Umlazi before founding the famous Adams Mission. i.

ALLARD Jean (1806-1889)

Roman Catholic missionary and first Vicar Apostolic of Natal 1851. Consecrated Pietermaritzburg’s first Roman Catholic church in 1852. Worked among Zulus from 1854. In 1862 founded first mission in Basutoland (Lesotho). 8 years later founded first mission on the Kimberley diamond fields.

ALLISON James (1804-1875)

Methodist missionary brought African Christians from Swaziland to settle at Indaleni, Natal 1847. Later an independent missionary at Edendale near Pietermaritzburg. 

ANDERSON, William (1769-1852)

London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary to the Cape in 1800. Settled among itinerant Griqua, Koranna and other groups beyond the Orange River, founded mission at Klaarwater.  He helped establish the settlement of Griquatown. Anderson worked for 30 years among the Khoikhoi in George district.

ARCHBELL James (1798-1866) 

Wesleyan. Initially worked among the Namaqua. Produced first Tswana grammar book 1826. Became Voortrekker minister at Thaba Nchu, OFS and in Natal. Founded the Natal Independent and General Advertiser 1850.  Was Pietermaritzburg’s mayor for five terms.

APPLEYARD John (1814-1874)

Wesleyan. Worked in King William’s Town area, established press at Mt Coke mission.

1846 published his Xhosa translation of New Testament. 1859 published Xhosa  translation of Old Testament. He married Sarah Ann, daughter of James Archbell, in 1841. [Pic]

ARBOUSSET Jean Thomas (1810-1877)

Missionary sent by Paris Evangelical Society 1833 to work among the Sotho; established rapport with Moshweshwe and had a significant influence on early Basutoland (now Lesotho). 1836 with Francois Daumas discovered the headwaters of the Caledon; named the Mont-aux-Sources (mountain of springs) in the Maluti Highlands.

ARNDT Johannes (1857-1931)

German missionary, established Lutheran mission on Kimberley diamond fields in 1881. Translated many religious works including Lutheran hymns into Tswana. During Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902 founded a relief organization for displaced Boer families.

ASTRUP Nils (1843-   )

Norwegian missionary came to Natal in 1883 and took over as Bishop of the Church of Norway Mission in Zululand, after death of Schreuder. Astrup was ordained as Bishop in the Cathedral of Trondheim in 1902. He walked to Gazaland and back in the three winter months of 1889. In 1891 he compiled a book on this remarkable journey, and in 1903 he published ‘The Aim of the Zulu Mission – the Heart of Africa’ (written in Norwegian). Astrup’s father was a Judge, and he himself served as an Assistant Judge in Norway from 1866-69 before he studied theology 1870-78.  He was then a rector of a Norwegian parish between 1879 and 1883. Five of his children were later involved in missionary work. [Pic]

BENNIE John (1796-1869)

Scottish-born missionary. The earliest Xhosa linguist. Became associated with the Glasgow Missionary Society (GMS) in 1816, cut short his studies and sailed to SA as a catechist in the ship Woodlark which brought supplies for 1820 Settlers.  Arriving in 1821 with W Ritchie Thomson, he brought with him a printing press. Joined John Brownlee and wife at Tyhume (Chume). Nov 1821 opened a school and started his study of Xhosa and Dutch. Ordained in 1831 by the first presbytery of Kaffraria and raised to full missionary status. In Nov 1824 with John Ross he founded Ncera, named Lovedale in 1826.  One of his four children  John Angell Bennie b 1885 became a missionary teacher at Lovedale. In 6^th Frontier War (1834-35) Tyhume and the ‘old’ Lovedale were destroyed.  Rebuilt in 1836 on the western bank of the Tyhume. Bennie moved on to Burnshill station in 1843.  From there he visited the emigrant Boers north of Vet River.7^th Frontier War (1846-47) forced him to move to Graaff–Reinet. Later served as a missionary in the Dutch Reformed Church.

BIRT Richard (1810-92)

LMS missionary at Mxele then at Peelton.

BROCKWAY, Thomas

Missionary at Peelton 1859-65, 1867-69

BROADBENT Samuel (1794-1867)

Yorkshire-born pioneer Wesleyan Methodist missionary and the first missionary to cross the Vaal River. Accepted into the ministry and at age 21 went to Ceylon. Arrived at the Cape 1820 and appointed to Rev Barnabas Shaw as an assistant to Rev Edward Edwards of Kamiesberg mission, Rietfontein, Namaqualand. He had instructions from LMS to form a station in the Bechuana country (Tswana).  He set out from Rietfontein (substation of Kamiesberg mission) in December 1821;on the 3^rd day he fell against his wagon while holding it on a steep ridge and sustained internal injuries. He went on to Griquatown where Rev H Helm of LMS received him. Here his wife gave birth to a son which lived  24 hours. Continuing tribal wars made founding the mission in Tswana territory impossible at that time and Broadbent went to Graaff Reinet where 6 months of careful nursing by Rev Abraham Faure of the NGK saved his life. Hodgson and Broadbent travelled to the Vaal in November 1822, crossing by raft, then east along the northern side of the Vaal where no missionary had been before; later established station at Maquassi. He mastered the Tswana language. On 1 July 1823 his son Lewis Broadbent was born: reputed to be the first white child born in the Transvaal, Lewis was later a missionary to India. Broadbent left Maquassi when he fell ill, and the station was destroyed but Hodgson returned there in August 1825 with Rev James Archbell and rebuilt the structure. Finally it was abandoned but the missionary work continued when the tribe migrated and settled elsewhere notably at Thaba Nchu.  Broadbent, still unwell, embarked for England in November 1825 and from 1827 until his retirement in 1863 he continued his mission in England where he died in the 52^nd year of his ministry.  He published ‘The missionary martyr of Namaqualand: memorials of the Rev Wm Threlfall, late Wesleyan missionary in South Africa who was murdered in Great Namaqualand’ (published London 1857). In 1865 he also published his own account of his SA experiences.

BROWNLEE John (1791-1871)

At first LMS missionary later with Glasgow Missionary Society.  Linguist and botanist.

Worked among Xhosa in Tyhume (Chumi) Valley from 1820, then moved to Buffalo River area of Eastern Cape.  Founded King William’s Town 1825.

His eldest son Charles Pacalt Brownlee was first Secretary for Native Affairs in the Cape and wrote ‘Reminiscences of Kafir Life and History’ published by the Lovedale Press in 1896.  (Recommended reading.)

BRYANT Alfred (1865-1953)

Roman Catholic missionary and scholar also known as Father Thomas. Worked among the Zulu. Remembered chiefly for his Zulu-English dictionary first published 1903 and his book ‘Olden Times in Zululand and Natal’ 1929.

BRYANT James C (d 1850)

ABM missionary came to SA with his wife Dolly in April 1846; the first American missionary to die on foreign soil; remembered for his pioneer translation of parts of the Bible into Zulu. He succumbed to consumption in 1850, having been in ill-health before reaching Natal. William Ireland took over from Bryant at Ifumi Mission, 35 miles south of Durban, and Bryant spent the last year of his life party at Msunduzi and partly at Inanda, where he died.

CALDERWOOD, Henry (1808-65)

LMS missionary, later Cape government official.

CALLAWAY Henry (1817-1890)

Anglican missionary in Natal. Wrote ‘The Religious System of the Amazulu’  published 1870.

CHALMERS John Aitken (1837-88)

Missionary at Mgwali, founded Henderson mission at Thomas River, pastor at Trinity Church Grahamstown. Best remembered for his book on Tiyo Soga (q.v.)

CHAMPION George (1809

ABM missionary came to Natal in December 1834 with his wife Susan. His journal was published as ‘Rev George Champion, pioneer missionary to the Zulus; sketch of his life and extracts from his journals, 1834-38’ (1896).

COLENSO John (1814-1883),

Arrived in Natal 1854; had an enormous impact on Church of England mission work in the area. Brought 40 missionaries from England; opened his own station at Ekukanyeni and shortly afterwards work was begun at Umlazi. Details of Colenso’s life appear in many published sources, his own writings include works in the Zulu language as well as doctrinal texts. His book ‘Ten Weeks in Natal’ (published 1855), expressing his views on polygamy, caused a stir. He became Bishop of Natal; was excommunicated by the Anglican Church in 1865. 

DÖHNE, Jakob Ludwig (1811-79)

Berlin Mission Society missionary at Bethel mission, later at Stutterheim. Was also associated with the ABM.  See further details on Dohne series on this blog

EDWARDS Mary K

Born in West Milton Ohio, a schoolteacher before marriage, at 38 she was widowed and volunteered for mission service in Africa. She was sent out to SA as first missionary of the Women’s Board of Missions, sailing in August 1868 to Port Elizabeth on a 375 ton vessel; the voyage took 79 days. In the same year she started work at the Inanda Seminary, oldest boarding school for Zulu girls in SA. Her active service covered over 56 years.  She returned home to America only once in that time, remaining in SA from 1876 onwards. After retirement age she continued to live at the school, exerting a considerable influence on the community in the area. Known as ‘Ma Edwards’ to the Zulus, it was only after the age of 70 that she relinquished supervision of the large school farm. At 80 she took a correspondence course in nursing so that she could instruct the Zulu girls. When later she became blind she learned to use a typewriter. A prime example of multi-tasking, her various occupations at Inanda over the years included principal, treasurer, doctor, cook, caterer, seamstress, gardener, matron and nurse.

GARDINER, Capt. Allen Francis (1794-1851)

Retired naval office turned missionary, built a Mission Station at Port Natal in 1834, naming it Berea. His daughter Julia died and was buried in Durban (Julia Road is named after her). Brought Rev Francis Owen of the Church Missionary Society to Natal. After the Retief massacre Gardiner left SA, and worked in Chile as well as New Guinea and eventually died of starvation in Patagonia.

GOODENOUGH, H D

ABM missionary came to SA with his wife Carrie in September 1881.

GROUT, Aldin (1803-1894)

Veteran missionary of the ABM. Father of Oriana, who married William Ireland (q.v.)

Grout was born in Massachusetts, US. Married Hannah Davis 1834; together with other ABM missionaries they sailed to SA, landing at Cape Town 5 February 1835. Hannah Grout died in Bethelsdorp 24 February 1836 and Grout took his daughter Oriana back to America the following year. While there he married Charlotte Bailey and the couple returned to SA in June 1840. His Mission Station at Ginani had been destroyed in his absence. In April 1841 Grout established a Station at Inkanyezi near Empangeni, and opened a school. There was a hiatus in his association with the ABM in 1844, and he worked in Natal as a Government Missionary for about a year before resuming his ABM position in 1845. He founded Umvoti Mission Station in 1846; a church was completed in 1863. This Mission was renamed the Groutville Mission Station after its founder in 1878. In failing health, Grout returned to the US in February 1890 after 35 years in Natal.   

  

GROUT, Lewis

American missionary; came to SA with his wife Lydia in October 1846. Note: not related to Aldin Grout. 1847 he opened a Mission Station at source of Msunduzi River, Natal.

HANCE Gertude R

ABM missionary came to SA July 1870, worked among the Zulus.

HARMS, Ludwig (1808-65)

Son of a Lutheran clergyman at Hermannsburg, Hanover.1849 established ‘Die Hermannsburger Mission’. First it was intended to establish a station and a colony of missionaries among the Gallas of East Africa but when this failed Natal was chosen as the site of their endeavours, Hermannsburg station being founded in 1854 east of Greytown in Umvoti County.

HOLDEN William Clifford

Mehodist missionary, opened first Methodist church in Durban in May 1850. Among various works, he wrote ‘History of the colony of Natal’ (1855) and ‘A Brief History of Methodism and of Methodist Missions in South Africa’ (1877).

IRELAND, William (1821-1888)

ABM missionary came to SA 1849 with his first wife Jane, nee Wilson. She died in 1862. He then went on leave of absence to America and while there married Oriana Relief Grout, daughter of Aldin Grout; Oriana had been born in Bethelsdorp. Her mother, Hannah Grout nee Davis, died of consumption in Cape Colony when Oriana was a few weeks old; the child grew up in America. Later Oriana returned to SA with her husband William Ireland who was principal of Adams College at Amanzimtoti from 1865-1881. Oriana ran the Ireland Home for Zulu Girls. They had 7 children, of whom 5 survived. Lilla Lacon Ireland their eldest daughter later worked at Adams and at Inanda. Their eldest son Rev William Fleetwood Ireland was ordained in the Congregational ministry in 1895.

LIEFELDT, L

Berlin Society missionary 

LINDLEY, Daniel (1801-1880)

ABM missionary came to SA in December 1834 with his wife Lucy; founded station at Mosega among Ndebele, later moved to Port Natal to work among the Zulu, but in 1839 became minister to the Voortrekkers. 1846 resumed work for ABM in Natal, founding Inanda Mission Station.

LLOYD Charles H

ABM missionary travelled to SA in June 1862 with his wife Katie.

MARSH, Samuel D

ABM missionary came to SA with his wife Mary, leaving US in October 1847.

MCKINNEY, Silas

ABM missionary travelled to SA with his wife Fanny in April 1847.

MOFFAT Robert

LMS missionary arrived at the Cape in 1817; worked among the Bechuana at Kuruman Mission Station for 50 years. Wrote ‘Missionary Labours and Scenes in South Africa’ (1842), and translated the Catechism as well as the New Testament into the Tswana language. His daughter Mary married David Livingstone, the missionary-explorer, who also worked at Kuruman before his travels in Central Africa. [Pic below this post]

OFTEBRO, Ommund (1820-1893)

Norwegian missionary arrived in Natal 1848. Worked at Eshowe Mission Station (i.e. Kwa Mondi, after Oftebro’s Zulu name, Mondi) where he died and was buried at the Norwegian Cemetery. His wife Guri b Hognestad 1816 died at Eshowe in 1899. They had four children. His son Martin was an interpreter present at the capture of Cetshwayo after the Battle of Ulundi during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879.

OWEN Francis (1802-1854)

Missionary of the Church Missionary Society (Church of England). Travelled to Natal with Capt Allen Gardiner, and then to Zululand where he hoped to found a mission among Dingane’s people. Witnessed the massacre of Piet Retief and his companions in 1838 and left the area. His attempt to establish a mission among the Hurutse failed and he returned to England in 1840. His Diary, edited by G E Cory, was published by the Van Riebeeck Society in 1926. 

PEARSE Horatio (?-1825)

A Wesleyan stationed for eleven years in Pietermaritzburg; in poor health, he was about to return to England on leave when the wagon he was travelling in overturned; he later succumbed to his injuries. See book by Thornley Smith ‘The earnest missionary: a memoir of the Rev. Horatio Pearse’  (London Wesleyan Mission House, 1868)

PHILIP John (1777-1851)

With John Campbell sent to SA to report on state of LMS stations in SA and made four expeditions between 1818 and 1826; when the report was published in 1828 it caused much controversy.  Became Superintendant of LMS; resigned 1849.

PINKERTON Myron W

ABM missionary came to SA in August 1871 with his wife Laura.

PIXLEY, Stephen C

ABM missionary came to SA with his wife Louisa in October 1855.

POSSELT Carl Wilhelm (1815-1885)

Berlin Missionary in Natal 1847.

READ James (1777-1852)

Prominent member of LMS, worked among Khoikhoi

At the time his allegations of ill-treatment of the Khoi and oppression by whites were considered exaggerated. He and his son were alleged to have instigated the Khoi revolt during the 8^th Frontier War 1850-1853.

ROBBINS Elijah

ABM missionary came to SA in September 1859 with his wife Addie; worked in the American Zulu Mission.

ROOD David

ABM missionary arrived in SA 1847 accompanied by his wife Mrs Alvina V Rood; worked among the Zulus. On the death of Newton Adams 1851, Rood left Ifafa Mission Station to fill the gap left at Amanzimtoti. [Pic]

SCHMIDT Georg (1709-1785)

Pioneer Moravian missionary and first Protestant churchman to found mission for the Khoi at the Cape. His station was at Zoetmelksvlei beyond the Caledon River. The established Dutch recognized neither Schmidt’s ordination or his authority to baptise his converts so he closed the station and left for Europe in 1744.

SCHREUDER Hans Paludan Smith (1817-1882)

Norwegian missionary and Zulu linguist, founder of first Christian mission within Zululand.  Arrived Zululand 1843, Mpande refused him entry, Schreuder tried again in 1847, then went to China. There he also experienced rejection and he returned to Zululand; was able to establish rapport with Mpande by healing the king. Schreuder had medical knowledge and was adept at trades of blacksmith, carpenter and tailor. His physical strength became legendary and he is said to have strangled a leopard with his bare hands. Established stations at Mpumulo (1850), Empangeni (1851) and Entumeni (1852). Joined by Udland, Oftebro and Larsen.

SHAW, Barnabas

Wesleyan Methodist Missionary arrived SA 1816. Worked at Leliefontein station for 10 years.  See www.genealogyworld.net/ellen/barnabas.html for full narrative.

SHAW, William

Wesleyan clergyman who worked among the Albany Settlers.  From 1823, William Shaw was instrumental in establishment of chain of mission stations from Eastern Cape to Natal.  See www.genealogyworld.net/settlers/tessa.htm

SHEPSTONE, William (1796-1873)

Wesleyan missionary, father of Theophilus Shepstone. Worked at Wesleyville Mission. Theophilus Shepstone (1815-1893), later knighted, came to be associated with Anglican Church and was a supporter of Colenso during the years of schism in Natal. Theophilus’s brother was named John Wesley Shepstone (1827-1916).

SOGA Tiyo (c 1829-1871)

First South African black to be ordained as minister in the Presbyterian Church. Son of Jotello Soga of the Xhosa, a polygamist whose seventh wife was the mother of nine children of whom Tiyo was the seventh. His mother was a converted Christian and sent Tiyo to the local mission school; he subsequently attended Lovedale and when his education was interrupted by the frontier wars was taken to Scotland in 1846 for religious instruction. In 1848 he returned to South Africa to assist in establishing a Mission Station but when the 8^th Frontier War broke out Tiyo went back to Scotland, where he was ordained in December 1856. He married a Scottish yarn winder, Janet Burnside, at Govan in February 1857 and returned to South Africa to found a Mission Station at Tuturu.  He translated the Gospels into Xhosa as well as part of ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’; his son John Henderson Soga (1860-1941), also a missionary, completed this translation. Tiyo Soga served on the board which revised the Xhosa Bible. Of his seven children, the eldest, William Anderson Soga, attended Glasgow University and became a medical missionary; William married Mary Agnes Meikle in 1885 and established the Miller Mission in Transkei where he worked until 1903. John Henderson Soga trained for the ministry in Edinburgh, qualifying in 1893 and returned to South Africa to establish a mission at Mbonga. Tiyo’s son Jotello Testiri Soga (1856-1906) was the first South African-born black veterinary surgeon, and after he qualified in 1886 returned to South Africa where he did research on animal diseases in the Eastern Cape border region; Jotello Testiri Soga is said to have died of an overdose of laudanum in 1906. Tiyo Soga was only 52 when he died in August 1871. John A  Chalmers wrote the story of Tiyo Soga’s life ‘Tiyo Soga: A Page of South African Mission Work’ published in Edinburgh 1877.  [Pic]

SMITH George (1845-1918)

Norfolk-born, Smith came to Natal in 1871 as missionary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG); ordained in the Anglican Church by Bishop McCrorie of Pietermaritzburg; became Vicar of Estcourt, Natal. As minister of St John’s Church, Weston, he conducted burial services for those killed at Bushman’s River Pass during the Langalibalele Rebellion 1873; later chaplain to the British Army during the Anglo-Zulu War, he was present at the Defence of Rorke’s Drift, where he dispensed ammunition while encouraging the troops. He is depicted as a central figure in Alphonse de Neuville’s well-known painting of the battle. 

STOTT Ralph

Methodist missionary to Indians in Natal 1862.

THOMSON William Ritchie  (1794-1891)

Glasgow missionary stationed in Kat River Settlement from 1830 with a congregation which joined the Dutch Reformed Church in 1832.

THRELFALL William (? – 1825)

Wesleyan missionary murdered by his Bushman guide in Namaqualand 1825.  His story is told in Samuel Broadbent’s book ‘The missionary martyr of Namaqualand: memorials of the Rev Wm Threlfall, late Wesleyan missionary in South Africa who was murdered in Great Namaqualand’ (published in London 1857). See detailed bio on this blog

TYLER Josiah

ABM missionary came to SA with his wife Susan in April 1849. Published ‘Forty Years among the Zulus’ (1891), covering missionary life from 1849-1888.

VAN DER KEMP Johannes 1747-1811

Dutch-born missionary sent by LMS to work among Xhosa ruled by Ngika near King William’s Town.  Printed first work published in book form in SA (a letter from the LMS to inhabitants of the Cape 1799). Founded a settlement for vagrant Khoi at Bethelsdorp and provoked resentment among local white farmers. He retaliated with accusations of ill-treatment of blacks by farmers and was recalled to Cape Town by the colonial government. He died soon afterwards. Van der Kemp married the daughter of a slave woman from Madagascar.

VENABLE, Henry I (1811-1878)

ABM missionary came to SA in 1835 with his wife Martha in the company of Aldin Grout, Adams, Wilson etc.

WATERSTON Jane (1843-1932)

Scottish medical missionary came to SA to be principal of a girls’ school in Lovedale (Ciskei). The first woman doctor to practice in SA. In 1888 gained her MD with distinction from the University of Brussels. 

WIGGILL Eli

A Wesleyan Methodist who preached to the Bechuana and Koranna peoples, Wiggill converted to Mormonism and finally left SA for Utah.

www.olsenfamily.us/Powellfami/WiggilBentley/EliWiggill.html

WILDER, George

ABM missionary came to SA in October 1880 with his wife Alice.

WILDER Hyman A

ABM missionary came to SA April 1849 with his wife Abby.

WILSON, Alexander (1803-41)

Missionary of the first ABM party to SA leaving US in December 1834 and arriving 3 December 1835; travelled with his wife Mary who died before her husband reached Natal; on her deathbed she said: ‘Tell my mother and sister and friends that I have never regretted coming to Africa.’ Wilson was a physician by profession. 

WITT, Otto

First missionary to represent the Church of Sweden Mission in SA, arriving 1876.  For a time connected with Schreuder’s mission. The Swedish Church purchased a farm near the border of Zululand and a mission was established there, named Oscarsberg in honour of the Swedish King. This is where Witt was stationed at the time of the Anglo-Zulu War 1879.

Robert Moffat

Missionaries: William Threlfall 1799-1825

William Threlfall, born 6 June 1799 at Hollowforth, near Preston, Lancashire, was an extraordinary man. His father, Richard Threlfall, was a tanner like his forebears; the family had lived on the same estate for several generations and were in comfortable circumstances. William found his religious calling at the age of seventeen, and, passionately believing he was needed by God in the mission field in Madagascar, began to study the French language. In March 1820 he was accepted into the Methodist ministry. In the following September he went to London to be examined by the Missionary Committee, and after some months he heard that it wasn't to Madagascar he would be sent, but to South Africa: the proposed mission to Madagascar had been abandoned for lack of funds.

Threlfall left England on 10 December 1821and arrived at Cape Town 4 April 1822. After six weeks in Cape Town, Threlfall left for Algoa Bay (Port Elizabeth), reaching it on 28 May after a stormy passage. It had been decided that he should labour under the Rev William Shaw in the Albany District and travelled there by ox-wagon arriving on 6 June, his 23rd birthday. He worked among the scattered immigrants of Albany and Kaffraria, and preached for the first time at Somerset East on 1 September 1822, having ridden from Salem, a distance of a hundred miles. On the following day he went to Graaff-Reinet to visit Rev Samuel Broadbent who had been ill, remaining with him for a week, and applying himself to learning the Dutch language from his host.
The call soon came to leave the Albany District for the greater perils of Delagoa Bay, but as this took him nearer to Madagascar which he still believed should be his true destination, he responded with alacrity.

Remarkably, Threlfall became involved in a historic expedition which had been sent by the

British Government to survey the East Coast of Africa and the coast of Madagascar and to collect scientific information. The frigate HMS Leven, commanded by Captain Owen, R.N., accompanied by the smaller vessel, Baracouta, were to undertake the journey. In May 1823, the Leven called at Simon's Bay, having been in the Mozambique channel and about to return there to continue the survey. Captain Owen offered free passage to a missionary who would volunteer to labour among the tribes of the coast of Delagoa Bay. Despite the hazardous nature of the expedition, Threlfall regarded this as a heaven-sent opportunity, and he duly embarked on the Leven on 21 June 1823, arriving at Delagoa Bay on 22 July.

Here he was welcomed by the local chief and escorted to a hut at the village of Stengelly: his new dwelling had neither chimney nor window and for furniture it contained 'a few spears, two shields and a rush basket'. The language barrier was all too apparent: he asked for a fire and they brought a bedstead, which, Threlfall observed 'was quite as useful'. He was brought a live fowl and some rice and while the meal was prepared twenty of the local people crowded into the tiny Mission house, singing and clapping. Threlfall, ever the optimist, was touched by this evidence of friendliness and found the people a fine race, though many of them suffered from leprosy. Undaunted, he had his baggage removed from the Leven to his new home, and settled down to a lonely existence in a savage land, five hundred miles from the nearest missionary. He had heard that some Portuguese settlers had been murdered nearby a few years before, but seemed to feel no fear and his positive outlook was reflected in his writings: 'I do not think that I was ever in my life situated more to my mind than at present. I have but few conveniences of a temporal kind, and am sometimes tempted to think that I shall suffer want; but I am happy ... I now desire a knowledge of the language ... then I would fly everywhere and preach …'

He went up the Maputa river, thirty miles from the bay, on the Jane, to interview one of the tribal kings; the river was swarming with hundreds of hippos which crowded round the boat. He spent some days in the neighbourhood of the king's residence and while there met some people of splendid physique who said the name of their king was Tshaka [sic] and that this ruler lived not too far away.

When he returned to his hut on the coast, fatigued after his journey, he developed a fever and sank into a delirium which lasted for several days: 'I wrote a note to anybody on board the English vessels in the river to come and see me ... Pray sir do come on shore and bury me, for I died last night'.

Captain Church of the Orange Grove responded to the missionary's appeal bringing some medicine which probably saved Threlfall's life, but after a few weeks the illness returned. In a weakened condition, Threlfall managed to crawl on board the Orange Grove, hoping to get away from the coast and regain his strength at sea. A British frigate, the Andromache, cast anchor in the river, which seemed providential, as the Orange Grove wasn't likely to sail for some time, and Threlfall turned to the captain of the frigate for assistance. This help was denied him, however, and Threlfall was forced to return to shore, and seek asylum from Tiexero, a native of Goa, and from the Portuguese Governor, both of whom showed more compassion for the sick missionary than his fellow countrymen had done. In spite of his weak condition, Threlfall managed to influence for good the Portuguese and natives alike, and to inspire a wholesome respect for himself; at one point he was able to prevent a rising of the local tribes against the Portuguese. Though the attacks of malaria from which Threlfall suffered had so reduced his strength that he was scarcely able to stand, he acted as mediator between the contending parties, and secured a treaty of peace. This was only a temporary measure, and when Captain Owen of the Leven later called at Delagoa Bay after Threlfall's departure he found that 'very few inhabitants were left, and the country was strewed with human bones' - which gives some idea of the perils which had surrounded Threlfall during his time at the Bay.

Five months then elapsed during which time the missionary had repeated attacks of fever. Then, in February 1824, South Sea whaler, the Nereid, called at Delagoa Bay to take on water and vegetables. Threlfall had no hope of recovery while he remained in that climate and hiring two servants prevailed on the captain to allow him to embark on the ship, asking to be landed at the first inhabited shore to be sighted after the vessel had put to sea, thinking that this was likely to be Port Natal or St Augustine's Bay, Madagascar. But fate was against him once again: 150 miles off Madagascar the crew were struck down by an epidemic of the dreaded East Coast fever and the captain put about and steered for the Cape of Good Hope, so that his men would be cured and also in order to obtain replacement crew.

The voyage was terrible: out of a crew of 30, 13, including the first and third mates, succumbed to the epidemic, Threlfall reading the funeral services as each was committed to the deep. The captain became sick and the second mate was no navigator. Threlfall himself had to take over the management of the ship which eventually reached the Cape, the weather having been the only thing in her favour. A notice was posted at Table Bay as follows:

Ship Nereid, South Sea whaler, arrived in Table Bay in distress. Twenty days at sea, from Delagoa Bay; called there for water; caught the fever; took the Rev W Threlfall on board sick. All hands down. Ship unmanageable; lost fifteen hands (actually thirteen) among whom are the first and third mates. The captain is delirious and the Reverend gentleman is dying. Seen at sea in distress and brought into port.

That was on 12 April 1824. The Nereid's arrival caused much excitement at Cape Town. There were fears that the plague on board would spread and endanger the local populace. Rev James Whitworth was at Cape Town and had intended joining Threlfall at Delagoa Bay, and when he heard the news hastened to engage a surgeon to attend his fellow missionary. The authorities, however, made it a condition anyone who visited the fever-stricken vessel would not be allowed to disembark as long as she was in quarantine. Whitworth, who had his own medical supplies and knew something of fevers, voluntarily went on board to attempt to save Threlfall, whose emaciated frame came as a shock. Various measures were taken to clean the ship, with the help of the two men whom Threlfall had employed at Delagoa Bay and who had accompanied him on the voyage; with treatment Threlfall and the remainder of the crew began to recover. The Nereid lay at anchor for 30 days, after which the quarantine was brought to an end and all were landed. Soon, with the help of Dr Roberts on shore, Threlfall gradually became able to walk and ride a horse, though it took several months and at times he despaired of ever being well again.

Threlfall had brought the two servants with him hoping to train them as interpreters for the Mission and on going ashore took the precaution, so necessary in those days, of introducing them to the Colonial Secretary and obtaining certificates to show that they were British subjects and free men – not slaves. He also sent them, at his own expense, to a school in Cape Town, where they remained for several years. One of these men was baptized in the Christian faith, receiving the name Ransom Threlfall.

In July 1824, William Threlfall was invited by Rev Barnabas Shaw, then stationed at Kamiesberg, to be his guest and have an opportunity to recover his strength, and Threlfall made the long journey overland from Cape Town, a distance of over six hundred miles by ox-wagon in slow stages. The isolated mission house at Lilyfountain (Leliefontein) was a simple place with mud floors, mat ceilings and rough whitewashed walls. Here Threlfall was to spend the next few months, and with his usual optimism he wrote to the Missionary Committee on 1 January 1825 to say that the 'salubrious air of this elevated station' was already effecting an improvement in his health, and not forgetting a reminder to the Committee as to his continued willingness to proceed to Madagascar.

Kamiesberg M S

While at the Kamiesberg Threlfall was involved in gardening and building, taught in the day school, visited the sick, dispensed medicines and learnt about the people among whom he laboured. He became closely acquainted with the baptized Christian Jacob Links, Shaw's interpreter, who was literate, spoke Namaqua and Hottentot, as well as having a working knowledge of English and Dutch, and who often gave sermons at the mission. His brother Peter Links was also a powerful preacher of the gospel, and another man, Johannes Jager, from the Karree Mountains who was brought to Christianity at Lilyfountain, was also among Threlfall's new-found acquaintances. Jager and Jacob Links became friends, both had a thirst for knowledge and it wasn't long before Jager was able to read the Scriptures.

In June 1825, Threlfall, with Jacob Links and Johannes Jager, left Lilyfountain for Great Namaqualand; they hoped to reach the Fish River and discover whether the people of that region were in need of a missionary. On 4 July, Threlfall wrote a letter to the Lilyfountain station from Korasse, showing that they were still on the south side of the Orange River and that all was well. A further few lines were received from Warm Bath, about 200 miles from Lilyfountain. It was a long journey from Warm Bath to the Fish River but it was evident that the three companions intended to continue until their destination was reached. After this, many weeks passed with no news of the three men. On 16 October, Shaw received a letter from Rev Wimmer, of Steinkopf, saying that he had heard that Brother Threlfall and his party had been murdered. Shaw was disinclined to believe the rumour, but months went by with no communication from Threlfall. The truth of what had happened eventually reached Lilyfountain.

At Warm Bath, Threlfall found nobody willing to assist him in getting to the Fish River. It may be that it was their way of saving him from what they regarded as a hazardous enterprise. There was famine in the land, and the people were against parting with diminishing supplies. Game would also be scarce, so hunting for the pot would be difficult. But Threlfall was determined to go on, and started from Warm Bath with Jacob and Johannes, without a guide. After travelling four days northwards they lost an ox because they had failed to find water. They thought it advisable to return to Warm Bath fearing that they might be stranded in the desert without transport if they lost more oxen. Even after the purchase of fresh animals, Threlfall, as he thought of the long trek ahead through the desert, doubted their ability to bring him home for the animals would have next to nothing to eat. But if his worst fears were realized, Johannes and another man might be sent to Shaw for oxen to bring him and Jacob back to Lilyfontein. Here we see Threlfall's indomitable perseverance in action; the circumstances of the country, the condition of the people, all indicated that the time to retire had come.

Nevertheless, Threlfall left Warm Bath for the second time on 9 or 10 August. A guide had been secured, in the person of one Nauwghaap, probably a Namaqua, Possibly Nauwghaap was tempted by the sight of the little property which Threlfall carried with him. As the party proceeded, the guide was joined by several other men, one at least of whom had been on a hunting expedition and was carrying a gun. Threlfall offered some objection to the hunter joining the party, but Nauwghaap insisted and Threlfall reluctantly submitted.
On the first or second night after their departure from Warm Bath, Threlfall, Jacob and Johannes, were conducted to a kraal, a small enclosure of bushes in the open air. A fire was lit and the evening meal prepared. Threlfall and his companions were left alone. The three men sang a hymn, read the Bible and prayed, and then wrapped in their karosses went to sleep. At midnight Threlfall was aroused by a gunshot. Bushmen, led by the guide Nauwghaap, and armed with their bows and arrows, had invaded the kraal. Jacob had been shot, a bullet penetrating his spine. Johannes was already dead, killed by arrows. Threlfall, seeing dark figures creeping stealthily about the kraal, arose and went towards his baggage where he knelt in prayer. He was pursued with relentless cruelty until the end. The bodies were left unburied for the vultures and hyenas, while the assassins divided the spoils and fled.

Nauwghaap was later captured and executed. Threlfall’s loss sent a shock wave through the Cape Colony and beyond, and was related from missionary platforms worldwide.

In Memory of
The Rev William Threlfall 
Wesleyan Missionary in South Africa 
Who - with two native converts, devoted to the same Service and 
Sacrifice for the sake of their countrymen - was treacherously 
Murdered by their guide and his accomplices, on their way 
To carry the Gospel into Great Namaqualand 
August 1825

He was 26 years old when he died.

Livingstone: 200 years since his birth

19 March 2013 marks the bicentennial of the birth of David Livingston in 1813. (It was only later in life, during the 1850s, that he added the ‘e’ at the end of his surname.) He was born in Blantyre, Lanarkshire, to Neil Livingston and Agnes Hunter.

Perhaps no explorer’s name is as familiar to us as Livingstone’s, though he started out in Africa as a missionary and became renowned and revered as an anti-slavery campaigner. He had his detractors, yet when news of his death on 4 May 1873 reached Britain there was a tremendous public outpouring of grief. His body was interred at Westminster Abbey after a state funeral, but his heart still lies buried under a tree in Africa (Zambia).

Livingstone was the first European to cross the Kalahari, which he did in 1849. In 1845 he married Mary, the daughter of another famous missionary, Robert Moffat; the latter worked among the Bechuana at Kuruman for 50 years. Livingstone joined Moffat at Kuruman before commencing his travels in Central Africa.

The National Museum of Scotland, in Edinburgh, is currently holding an exhibition commemorating the bicentennial. Among the exhibits are the hats worn by Livingstone and Stanley at their legendary meeting at Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika.

According to biographer Tim Jeal, the evidence suggests that Stanley did not utter the phrase ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume’, on that occasion, but thought it up later. 

Chronology of Livingstone’s life http://www.livingstoneonline.ucl.ac.uk/biog/dl/chron.html

Brief biography http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/bliving18.html

200 year Legacy http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21829205 

Keeping vigil at Livingstone Tree, Victoria Falls

FURTHER READING

Tim Jeal:  Stanley, The Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest Explorer (2007)

   “     “    Livingstone  (1973)

Dohne: Missionary Extraordinary

Part 2 of Andrew van Rensburg’s guest article on his famous ancestor.

DOHNE was primarily a missionary but his work extended far beyond the boundaries of conversions.  He was a lexicographer (art of compiling dictionaries) and philologist (study of languages in the historical sources), systematically starting the process of translating portions of the Bible into Xhosa and Zulu.  He was meticulous and shied away from expedient translations, in search of the complexities of word usage and meaning.

He compiled a detailed Zulu English dictionary (10 000 words, published 1857) and one critic remarked “It is not only the first dictionary of a South African tongue that can claim any approximation to completeness, but is also a living monument to the author’s industry, careful observation and unfaltering perseverance”. The dictionary was dedicated to Sir George Grey, to whose patronage the publication was largely due. The dictionary was regarded as a standard work for some considerable time and only by 1905 was it replaced by a more detailed work of AT Bryant.

He wrote educational books, rhymes and hymns in Xhosa for his students at Bethel. He identified the species of sourveld grass that was problematic for livestock. Dohne merino sheep (able to digest the sourveld better than other breeds) and the Dohne Agricultural Institute were named after him. His first publication was a Xhosa Catechism (1841). ‘Kaffraria and its inhabitants’ was published in 1843. Later in Natal he assisted with in-service training of new missionaries. He helped a local business as their paymaster. He was chairman of the Natal Missionary Committee. He conducted marriages of missionaries. He schooled new missionaries in Zulu. Dohne was moderator for the Berlin Mission Synod in Natal. He submitted testimony to the Natal Commission into Native Affairs – based on his knowledge of the people.

All in all he had a full and meaningful life, making a significant contribution to the inroads of Christianity into Kaffraria and translation work of the Bible. He was also a dedicated husband and father: Berthe Gohler (1839), Auguste Kembly (1845 - died, leaving him with two children) and finally Caroline Watermeyer and their nine children. The eldest of the nine children, Caroline Dohne (1848) married Joseph David Otto Sachse (my direct ancestors).

But if one looks at Wikipedia or other sources on JL Dohne there is very little about his childhood, early years and who the man Dohne actually was. When I read the much-quoted passage 'Dohne was a saddle maker who found his way to Berlin', it struck me as odd. Compounding this I found the reference 'tutored by Gossner' equally strange.

Jacob Ludwig Dohne was a brilliant linguist and academic, fluent in English in addition to his native tongue, German. He also studied Hebrew, Greek and Latin. In 1820's and 1830’s Germany it would have been highly unlikely that a saddle maker would have this level of educational grounding. Further to this, Gossner was a 'renegade' tutor in Berlin, focusing on poorly educated recruits, whom he schooled in the basics of the Bible, and shipped out to Australia. Gossner’s first ordained missionaries took place in 1837, the year after Dohne had left for South Africa. Also Dohne was unable to work with or process leather to make shoes whilst in Kaffraria, and in fact requested artisans to be sent out to teach the people. If he were a saddle maker, he would have had these basic skills.

To be continued …

Treasure trove of American missionary letters discovered.

The recent discovery in the US of a previously unknown collection of letters written by members of the GROUT missionary family will lead to this correspondence being published in book form. In the interim, I have permission to quote extracts from the letters. Some necessary background first:

Mission work was frequently a family affair, and the GROUT and IRELAND families are a good example of the inter-connections found in the missionary world.

Aldin Grout (1803-1894) was a veteran missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). He was the father of Oriana Grout, who married William Ireland, another ABCFM missionary. Grout was born in Massachusetts, US. He married Hannah Davis 1834 and together with other ABCFM missionaries they sailed to South Africa, landing at Cape Town on 5 February 1835. Hannah Grout died in Bethelsdorp on 24 February 1836 and Grout took his daughter Oriana back to America the following year. While there he married Charlotte BAILEY (the writer of most of the newly-found letters and like Oriana a graduate of the Mount Holyoke Seminary) and the couple returned to SA in June 1840. The Mission Station at Ginani, originally founded by Champion and where Grout had worked for a time, had been destroyed in his absence. In April 1841 Grout established a Station at Inkanyezi, Empangeni, and opened a school. (Inkanyezi is Zulu for 'star'.) From 1842 he spent a short while at Umlazi Mission and then to Umgeni station 6 miles north of the Bay of Natal. In 1843 the ABCFM instructed missionaries to discontinue their work in the area. There was a hiatus in his association with the ABCFM in 1844, and he worked in Natal as a Government Missionary for about a year (at 150 pounds per annum) before resuming his position with the American Board in 1845. He founded Umvoti Mission Station in 1846, about 40 miles north-east of the Port and 6 miles inland from the sea; a church was completed in 1863. This Mission was renamed the Groutville Mission Station after its founder in 1878. In failing health, Grout returned to the US in February 1870 after 35 years in Natal. [Note: Aldin Grout was not related in any way to another ABCFM missionary, Lewis Grout, who worked in Natal and Zululand.]

William Ireland (1821-1888) of the ABCFM arrived in South Africa in 1849 and succeeded James C Bryant at Ifumi, 35 miles south of Durban. When Ireland’s first wife Jane nee Wilson died in 1862, he took leave of absence in America and while there married Oriana, daughter of Aldin Grout. She had been born in Bethelsdorp, Cape Colony, but her mother, Hannah Grout, had died of consumption when Oriana was a few weeks old. The child subsequently grew up with relatives in America and later attended the Mount Holyoke Serminary, one of the first institutions in the US for the higher education of women. South Africa was Oriana’s inescapable destiny and she was to return there with her husband. From 1865 to 1881, William Ireland was principal of Adams College at Amanzimtoti: Oriana worked alongside him at the station as well as presenting him with seven children, five of whom survived. In 1894 Oriana became principal of the Ireland Home for Zulu girls. Lilla Lacon Ireland their eldest daughter later worked at Adams and at Inanda. Their eldest son, William Fleetwood Ireland, was ordained in the Congregational ministry in 1895.
 
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions had its roots in the historic ‘haystack meeting’ of 1806, when four students of Williams College took shelter under a haystack during a storm and while there vowed to work in the overseas mission field. The ABCFM turned its attention to South Africa in 1834 and the following year the first party of missionaries sailed to the Cape in the ship Burlington. They were Daniel Lindley, Alexander Wilson, Henry Venable, George Champion, Aldin Grout and Newton Adams. Wilson and Adams were both physicians. Lindley, Wilson and Venable attempted to establish themselves in King Mzilikazi’s territory but later journeyed to Natal to join their companions. Adams, Grout and Champion arrived in Natal at the end of 1835 having traveled from the Cape by ship due to the frontier war raging at the time. They received a fair reception from Dingane, the Zulu king, and by the beginning of 1838 four stations had been established, but work ground to a halt with the massacre of Piet Retief, the trekker leader.
 
The American Board suspended their efforts in this area because of the unsettled state of the country, but Adams continued at his own expense, taking up his post at Umlazi again in 1839 and later transferring his operations to Amanzimtoti on the Natal south coast – this was the birth of the renowned Adams Mission.

Lindley became pastor to the Voortrekkers but resumed ties with the ABCFM in 1847 when he founded Inanda mission station north west of Port Natal. Both Adams Mission and Inanda Mission hold an honoured place in the annals of Natal education. By 1850, 15 ABCFM mission stations had been founded and further missionaries had supplemented the ranks of those already in the field e.g. McKinney, Abraham, Rood, Marsh, Wilder and Tyler.

To be continued …

Did your German ancestor emigrate to SA?

There have been Germans resident in South Africa from the start of the Dutch era at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th c. Most were not emigrants as such, but worked for the Dutch East India Company, perhaps initially in Holland and then sent to the Cape.

German missionaries established themselves at various centres in South Africa. The earliest efforts were made by George Schmidt, a Moravian whose work was carried on in the late 18th c by other Moravians at the famous Genadendal Mission Station.

The Rhenish Mission Society began their work in 1829 at Stellenbosch and Tulbagh among slaves and later penetrated Little and Great Namaqualand, working with the Namaqua and Damara peoples and others. Surnames such as Luckhoff, Esselen, Kleinschmidt, Hahn, Roth and Kolbe were among those famous in the Rhenish Mission.

The Berlin Mission sent missionaries to the Cape in 1834, founding Bethany station among the Korannas. Then, when the latter roving people moved on, the Berlin missionaries worked among the Bechuanas. Dohne was the pioneer of the Kaffrarian Mission of the Berlin Society, founding Bethel Mission Station in Xhosa territory. He was joined by Schultheiss, Liefeldt and Posselt.

The so-called War of the Axe (7th Frontier War 1846-48) intervened, when many mission stations were burned to the ground. Dohne, Posselt and Guldenpfennig started a mission in Natal, named Emmaus. By the 1850s the Berlin Mission had six stations, in the Cape, Orange River Sovereignty, Kaffraria and Natal.

Later, in the 1860s, the Berlin Mission sent Merensky and Grutzner into the field, at first ministering to the Swazis and afterwards to the Transvaal Basuto. Then, with Endemann and Nachtigal, to the Bapedi in the north.

The Hermannsburg Mission, led by Ludwig Harms, intended to start a colony of missionaries among the Galla peoples, but when this venture failed the missionaries went to Natal, founding Hermannsburg Mission Station in 1854 in Umvoti County, east of Greytown. An offshoot of this group was the Hanoverian Mission, led by a brother of Harms.

Descendants of many German missionary families still live in South Africa.