User:Dedekindr/Christoph Wilhelm Dedekind

Christoph Wilhelm Dedekind

Christoph Wilhelm Dedekind and Katharine Dorothea Henriette Dittmer.

Christoph Wilhelm Dedekind was the forefather of most the Dedekind people born in Africa.

He came to Africa to help impact the local people with the truth of the Word.

Birthdate: April 20, 1834 Birthplace: Gilmerdingen, Neuenkirchen (Lueneburger Heide), Heidekreis, Lower Saxony, Germany Place of Marriage: Durban, Natal, South Africa

Death: Died December 13, 1912 in Nazareth, Eastvaal District Council, Mpumalanga, South Africa

Place of Burial: Nazareth, Eastvaal District Council, Mpumalanga, South Africa

Christoph Wilhelm Dedekind was the husband of Katharine Dorothea Henriette Dedekind Dorothea followed her elder sister, who was the wife of a Missionary Filter, to Hermannsburg in South Africa, there to serve as a missionary. At that time she met Christoph Wilhelm Dedekind to whom she became engaged in 1855. In August 1867 she took leave of her parents and relatives in Germany and traveled to her future husband. After three months travel on the ship "Kandaze", she arrived in Durban together with other young brides and from where they were collected in 22 ox-wagons. On 3 January 1868 she was married in Hermannsburg.

The German Pioneer Missionaries to Natal were from the Hermannsburg Missionary Society.

The Hermannsburg Missionary Society was established in the small town of Hermannsburg in what was then the Kingdom of Hannover in 1849. Its founder was Ludwig (or Louis) Harms a visionary of extraordinary gifts, who spearheaded a Christian revival in large areas of Northern Germany. Part of his message was the need for missionaries to be sent out into the world, to teach the heathens about God and his son Jesus Christ.

After having investigated various possibilities for training missionaries and having found none suitable, he decided to open his own seminary in         the town of Hermannsburg where he was the local pastor. The first group of young men were trained by 1853 and were sent to Africa on a ship (the Kandaze or Candace) which was built entirely from donations. The initial idea was to reach the Galla tribe in Ethiopia, but the entry was blocked by the Sultan of Mombassa, who did not want Christian missionaries in his dominions.

Having seen Port Natal on a short stop on their way around the Cape, they decided to return there before re-attempting entry into Ethiopia at a later stage. After consulting with Pastor Posselt of the Berlin Missionary Society, who was stationed at New Germany outside Port Natal, they decided to concentrate on the Zulus of Natal instead. They established their first base at New Hermannsburg, which was located just within the Colony of Natal on the border to the Zulu Kingdom. With the help of Missionary Schreuder of the Norwegian Lutheran Mission, they soon established a string of mission stations throughout Zululand. Christoph Wilhelm Dedekind was one of these mission planters. They also established the Hermannsburg School in 1856, which still exists today.

Christoph Dedekind info on Wordpress