5. (small) South Africa – America Line 

(Informant: Kevin Dehning, TX,)

and South Africa – New Zealand Line

(Informant: Diana Smith, Cambridge, Waikato 3434, New Zealand)

(This line belongs to the (I) Beckedorfer lineage)

    In April 2007 we got news from an American Dehning, Kevin Dehning, Austin, TX, (<kevin@dehning.com>) whose Dehning ancestor did not emigrate from Germany to the USA but to South Africa. And his line doesn´t  belong to the (II) Dehnernbockeler Lineage, as all the other American Dehnings do, but to the (I) Beckedorfer Lineage (and it´s first Line: the Beckedorfer Line)

We found his German Dehning ancestors in our family newsletters (“Geschichtsblätter, April 1977).

 

    In June 2007   I got a letter from Mrs. Diana M. Smith, Cambridge, New Zealand (<diana2@orcon.net.nz>) Her maternal grandmother, Johanna Dehning (1884 – 1960) was a  “white Dutch-German South African” and she had 10 siblings. She was born in Wynberg, South Africa. “She married in 1902 at the age of 18 years in South Africa to Fred Johnston, who was a full-blood Irishman, born in Dublin in 1867.  They sailed to New Zealand in 1908. … Grandfather Fred Johnston disappeared in the mid 1930`s and was never heard of again.”

 

Mrs. Smith asked me if  there was any information about her maternal grandmother Johanna Dehning.

 

I studied all our papers and found her name and Dehning ancestors, but there is another husband of hers, called Kroutkamp, and they are said to have gone to America. But I think that is  wrong.  (See below what we think of this problem)

These are the Dehning ancestors of

 

Kevin Dehning (* 1971), South Africa and from 1998  USA,

and of  Johanna Dehning (1884 – 1960), South Africa, and from 1908 - 1960  in New Zealand.

(Mrs. Smith´s maternal grandmother)

 

Generation       (I.) Beckedorfer Lineage)

1.       Cord Dehning (Dening) (1616 – 1679)

2.       Hans Dehning (1647-1716)  (Vollhöfner in Beckedorf)

+ 1670  D. Meyer (from Hermannsburg)

3.       Peter Dehning (1676-1742)  (Vollhöfner in Beckedorf)   

+ 1703 K. Kaiser (from Willinghausen)

+ 1716 M. Albermann  (from Munster)

4.       Hans Dehning (1708-1751)  (Hauswirt in Beckedorf)

+  1731  M. Lüders (from Hetendorf)

5.       Casten Hinrich Dehning (1743-1801)  (Hauswirt in Beckedorf)

+ 1768  J.D. Prüser (from Oldendorf)

                   He had three sons, each of them is the first of a Line:

         

     the first son is the first of the Beckedorfer Line (i.e. the first Line of the Beckedorfer Lineage)

6.       Johann Hinrich Dehning (1773-1837) (Bauer auf Westerendshof in Beckedorf)

+ 1793  C.M. Ebel (from Felligsen)

                7.   Johann Peter Heinrich Dehning (1803-1844) (Häusling in Bergen)

                      + 1831 Friederike Schneemann (from Bergen)

                               8. Peter Hinrich Dehning (1834-1883)  (Häusling in Hermannsburg)

                                   + 1857  J.M.D. Tewes (from Willighausen)

                                               9. Johann Heinrich Dehning (1862-1905), (Bauunternehmer = constructor)

                                                   In 1886 he emigrated to Capetown, South Africa

    + 1889 Marie Elisabeth Binedel (Volga German) (1869-1927)

                                                   She had emigrated from Russia to South Africa

It is an adventurous story how the German Binedel family clan left their Volga colony in Russia hoping to reach North America, but finally disembarked in Cape Town, British Cape Colony, in 1878.

 

10. Wilhelm Dehning (1892-1978)

                                                      + 1929 Marie Fritscht, Capetown

                               11. Ulrich Dehning (1932-      )

                     + 1960 A. Basson

                                               12. Ulrich Albert (1961 - )

                                               12. Rudolf Louis (1962 - )

                                               12. Karl Andree (1966 - )

11. Gerhard Dehning  (1933-1959, died by a riding accident)

                                                               10. Heinrich Dehning (1894-1946)

                                                               10. Else Dehning (1897-1955)

                                                               10. (Ernst) Otto Dehning (1898-1980) (constructor)

                                                                     + 1933 Augusta Joh. Wilhelmina Payne (1908-1984), Capetown

                                                                                              11. Barbara Dorothy Dehning (1933-1995)

                                                                                     + 1958 Neville Austin (1934-199?)  (Pretoria)

                                                                              11. Peter Tjon Dehning (1938-2002)

                                                                                  + 1966 Deanna Gillian Graham (1939-       )

                                                                                                                             12. Kevin Brian Dehning (1971-         )

                                                                                                    + 1996 Jacqueline Webb (1974-2005)

                                      in 1998 they emigrated to America

                                                                                                     2005 Jacky died giving birth to her first child:       

13. Aniken Jax Dehning (2005-        )

                                                                                                 + 2007 Danielle Elyse Wilson (1980 -     )    

                                                                              12. Lynne Claire Dehning (1976 -    )

                                                                                    + 2006 Eduardo Patricio (1982 -   )

11. Robert William Dehning (1948-       )

                                                                    + 1975 Cheryl Denise Brittz (1948-      )

                                                                              12. Ian Paul Dehning (1978-       )

                                                                                                + 2007  Michelle Swanepoel (1977-      )

                                                                                              12. Gary John Dehning  (1981-      )

10. Hilde Dehning (1904-      )

                                                               10. Anna Elisabeth Dehning (1906-       )

                     + 1962 W. Klinghardt

9. Marie Dehning (1866-1948)

    + 1892 W. Lilje

9. Wilhelm Dehning (1873-        ) (bricklayer in Capetown, later he returned to

     + 1910 Kastern                                                  Hermannsburg, Germany)

9. Johannes Dehning (1869-1953)

    In 1893 he emigrated to South Africa (carpenter in Capetown)

    + 1898 Amalia Justus

               10. Heinrich Dehning (1900-1975)  not married

               10. Amanda Dehning (1905-        )   not married

                               8. Kath. Sophie Dehning  (1832 -    )  

                                   + 1860 H. Fr. Voß

                               8. Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Dehning (1837 in Bergen – 1907 in Wynberg)

                                    Häusling in Bergen,                              

                                   + 1864 Sophie Marie Heine from Celle

                                   about 1881 he emigrated to South Africa  and became a farmer in Wynberg

    In our family newsletter (Geschichtsblätter) No. 70 of April 1969 we read:

From 1877 – 1884 the Cape government asked Germans from Hermannsburg (North Germany) to settle the so-called “Capetown Vlakte”, a wide area without any people living there. “The land was so infertile that even tortoises could not live there. But the German settlers managed to cultivate the land, the desert was turned into a fertile garden with a population of 20 000 people.” (1938)

    One of these colonists was Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Dehning (1837 – 1907) (see above). He must have emigrated with 5 children soon after 1880. With his large family (he had 12 children altogether) it surely  was not easy to begin there in the “Vlakte”. We know very little about his 9 daughters, two of which died in infancy. Their husbands  were not countrymen of  theirs as their names show: Bruyns, Binedel, Williams etc.

Two sons, Carl Peter (1865-1918)  and Heinrich Wilhelm (1886-1953) did not marry and had no children. Only the youngest one, Ernst Heinrich (1888-1940), got married with Lily Herringer in 1917. He had one daughter and three sons who had children as well.  (see below)    They live in the “Vlagte”, in Ottery und Landsdon.

 

8. Johann Heinrich Wilhelm´s  (1837-1907) (see above)   12 childen:                   

9. Carl Peter Julius Dehning (1865-1918) no children

                                               9. Marie Dehning (1867-?)

                                                   +   Bürstenbind

                                               9. Mathilde Dehning (1870-1949)

                                                   +   Binedell

                                               9. Soph. Marie Elisabeth Dehning (1872-?)

                                               9. Dorothee Dehning (1874-1957)

                                                   +  Bruyns

                                               9. Anna Marie Soph. Dehning (1876-1877, died in infancy)

                                               9. Anna M. Auguste Dehning(1879-1880, died in infancy)

                                               9. Louise Dehning (1881-?)

                                                   +  Wlliams

                                               9. Johanna Dehning (1884-1960)

                                                   (+ Kroutkamp  ?, to America? see below)

                                                   + 1902 Fred Johnston, South Africa, * 1867 Dublin, Ireland                 

                                                   they probably sailed to New Zealand in 1908

                                                   Fred Johnston disappeared in the mid 1930´s and was never heard of again.

    This Johanna Dehning must be Mrs Smith´s maternal grandmother. Her father was a farmer in Wynberg, (see above) where Johanna was born. Her elder sister Louise was born in 1881, so it is very likely that Johanna was born in 1884. “She had 10 siblings”, our family newsletter of 1969 (see above) knows the names of 12 children. And there we read that Johanna Dehning was married to a Kroutkamp and that they went to America. What about that?  This is what Mrs Diana Smith writes about this problem:

    “I have spoken to one of my elderly aunts about my grandmother Johanna Dehning. Apparently Johanna, at the age of 16 years, was engaged to marry a policeman. This could be the man Kroutkamp. And if she had married her policeman Kroutkamp, she would have moved to America to live. That was their plan. But before the wedding Johanna met Fred Johnson and decided to break off the engagement and in 1902 married Fred instead and they sailed to New Zealand in 1908.

                                               9. Frieda Dehning (she got lost)

                                                   + Cowie

                                               9. Heinrich Wilhelm Dehning (1886-1953) not married

                                               9. Ernst Heinrich Dehning (1888-1940) farmer in Wynberg

                                                   + 1917 Lily Herringer 

                                                               10. Ernest Dehning (1913-?)

                                                                     + 1941 C. P. Nortje  in Capetown-Landsdon

                                                                              11. Wynand Dehning (1944- )

                                                                              11. Martha Dehning 1946-  )

                                                                              11. Ernest Dehning 1949 - )

                                                                              11. Lilian May Dehning (1956 - )

                                                               10. Elfriede Dehning (1915-      )

                                                                    + Cowie

                                                               10. Alec Dehning (1916-        )

                                                                     + 1938 P. Cowei,    Capetown-Ottery

                                                                              11. Joan Veronica Dehning (1939 - )

                                                                              11. Angela Dehning (1940 - )

10.      Williams Georg Alfred Dehning (1920 -      )

+ 1944 Alice Beatrice Fisher, Capetown-Ottery

                                                                              11 Lillian May Dehning (1945 - )

                                                                              11 Williams George Dehning (1948 - )

                                                                              11 Alfreda Dehning (1952 - )

                                                                              11 Eileen Beatrice Dehning (1954 - )

 

 

If somebody knows anything about these Dehnings, please let us know