Karl Wilhelm Posselt
Encyclopedia
Karl/Carl Wilhelm Posselt (20 June 1815 Diekow
, Berlinchen
, Neumark
, Brandenburg
- 12 May 1885 Christianenburg, Natal
,
South Africa
), was a German missionary from the Berlin Missionary Society
and was active in South Africa where he became known as "the missionary with the violin".
Posselt initially trained as a teacher at Neuzelle
, but became inspired by mission work during his training and attended a seminary in Berlin from
1834-39. On 21 December 1839 he disembarked at Table Bay
after a voyage from Hamburg
on the Devonshire. He arrived as a member of
the Berlin Missionary Society and in the company of fellow missionaries Ludwig Liefeldt and Johannes Winter.
Posselt served his apprenticeship under Carl Friedrich Schultheiss (1815-1855) at the Itemba mission station on the Kubusie River near
Stutterheim
in Kaffraria
. Here he also learnt the rudiments of the Xhosa
language. Itemba was razed during the
Frontier War of 1846-47, rebuilt and redestroyed in
1850. Posselt and Liefeldt started a new mission station Emmaus, which was renamed Wartburg, on the Indwe
River, only to have that sacked as well. Posselt then started work among the Zulu people living below the Drakensberg
in Natal and near the modern-day Bergville. With Wilhelm Guldenpfennig he founded a new station there, again named Emmaus, and existing to this day. In 1856 when hostilities again broke out, Posselt fled to Pietermaritzburg
. There he served the community of Neu-Deutschland which had been founded in 1848 with the arrival of 182 German settlers from Bremen
:de:Deutsche in Natal, and whose main activity was growing cotton. Then it was located just outside Port Natal, but today forms part of Westville
in Durban
. The settlers had been recruited from Bramsche
near Osnabrück
by a director of the "Natal Cotton Company", Jonas Bergtheil in order to cultivate cotton. The cotton-growing project soon failed and the colonists started growing vegetables to supply the demand in Port Natal. Some of the Germans moved inland and started the settlement of Neu-Hanover or New Hanover
near Pietermaritzburg.
Posselt returned to Emmaus when the community of Neu-Deutschland seemed to be on the point of dissolving, but went back when the rifts were healed. In 1858 he settled at the mission station he had founded in 1854 and named Christianenburg after his first wife, situated close to Neu-Deutschland and forming part of present-day Clermont Township.
Karl Wilhelm married his first wife, Christiane Schönheit (d17 April 1848 Pietermaritzburg
), on 1 April 1841 in Uitenhage
and had 3 children - Johannes, Nathaniel, Christiane
He married his second wife, Sophie Elizabeth Königkrämer (10 December 1834 - 30 November 1913), on 11 June 1851, producing 10 more children - Nathaniel, Mathilde, Emile Christiana, Felix
Albrecht Wilhelm, Sophie Lisette, Hermann Eberhardt, Erna, Emma Anna, Theodor Wilhelm, Helmuth
Dzikowo, Myślibórz County
Dzikowo is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Barlinek, within Myślibórz County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland. It lies approximately west of Barlinek, east of Myślibórz, and south-east of the regional capital Szczecin.Before 1945 the area was part of...
, Berlinchen
Barlinek
Barlinek is a town in Poland, in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in Myślibórz County. It has 14,162 inhabitants .The first written mention about the town is from 1278 . In the first half of the 15th century, the town, situated in the Neumark region, was under control of the Teutonic Knights...
, Neumark
Neumark
Neumark comprised a region of the Prussian province of Brandenburg, Germany.Neumark may also refer to:* Neumark, Thuringia* Neumark, Saxony* Neumark * Nowe Miasto Lubawskie or Neumark, a town in Poland, situated at river Drwęca...
, Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
- 12 May 1885 Christianenburg, Natal
Colony of Natal
The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on May 4, 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa, as one of its...
,
South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
), was a German missionary from the Berlin Missionary Society
Berlin Missionary Society
The Berlin Missionary Society or Society for the Advancement of evangelistic Missions amongst the Heathen was a German Protestant Christian missionary society that was constituted on 29 February 1824 by a group of pious laymen from the...
and was active in South Africa where he became known as "the missionary with the violin".
Neuzelle
Neuzelle is a municipality in the Oder-Spree district, Brandenburg, Germany, along the border with Poland. The settlement in the historic Lower Lusatia region is probably best known for Neuzelle Abbey and its Neuzeller Kloster Brewery.-History:...
, but became inspired by mission work during his training and attended a seminary in Berlin from
1834-39. On 21 December 1839 he disembarked at Table Bay
Table Bay
Table Bay is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named because it is dominated by the flat-topped Table Mountain.Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to explore this...
after a voyage from Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
on the Devonshire. He arrived as a member of
the Berlin Missionary Society and in the company of fellow missionaries Ludwig Liefeldt and Johannes Winter.
Posselt served his apprenticeship under Carl Friedrich Schultheiss (1815-1855) at the Itemba mission station on the Kubusie River near
Stutterheim
Stutterheim
Stutterheim is a town with a population of 46,730 in South Africa, situated in the Border region of the Eastern Cape province.Stutterheim has a rich history that makes for fascinating reading...
in Kaffraria
Kaffraria
Kaffraria was the descriptive name given to the southeast part of what is today the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Kaffraria, i.e. the land of the Kaffirs, is no longer an official designation...
. Here he also learnt the rudiments of the Xhosa
Xhosa language
Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa. Xhosa is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. Like most Bantu languages, Xhosa is a tonal language, that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said...
language. Itemba was razed during the
Frontier War of 1846-47, rebuilt and redestroyed in
1850. Posselt and Liefeldt started a new mission station Emmaus, which was renamed Wartburg, on the Indwe
River, only to have that sacked as well. Posselt then started work among the Zulu people living below the Drakensberg
Drakensberg
The Drakensberg is the highest mountain range in Southern Africa, rising to in height. In Zulu, it is referred to as uKhahlamba , and in Sesotho as Maluti...
in Natal and near the modern-day Bergville. With Wilhelm Guldenpfennig he founded a new station there, again named Emmaus, and existing to this day. In 1856 when hostilities again broke out, Posselt fled to Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg is the capital and second largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838, and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its "purist" Zulu name is umGungundlovu, and this is the name used for the district municipality...
. There he served the community of Neu-Deutschland which had been founded in 1848 with the arrival of 182 German settlers from Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
:de:Deutsche in Natal, and whose main activity was growing cotton. Then it was located just outside Port Natal, but today forms part of Westville
Westville, KwaZulu-Natal
Westville is an area near Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, which is situated 20 km inland from the Durban city centre. Formerly an independent municipality governed by a Town Council, it now forms part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, which also includes Durban...
in Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
. The settlers had been recruited from Bramsche
Bramsche
Bramsche is a town in the district of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is about 20 km north of Osnabrück, at . Population is 30858 .In 1971/72 12 previously independent municipalities were included into the town.*Achmer*Balkum...
near Osnabrück
Osnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...
by a director of the "Natal Cotton Company", Jonas Bergtheil in order to cultivate cotton. The cotton-growing project soon failed and the colonists started growing vegetables to supply the demand in Port Natal. Some of the Germans moved inland and started the settlement of Neu-Hanover or New Hanover
New Hanover, KwaZulu-Natal
New Hanover is a small town in the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa which was established in the 1850s by German cotton planter families. Today this area's principal economy is the sugarcane industry, while the farming of fruits, grains and timber also feature prominently....
near Pietermaritzburg.
Posselt returned to Emmaus when the community of Neu-Deutschland seemed to be on the point of dissolving, but went back when the rifts were healed. In 1858 he settled at the mission station he had founded in 1854 and named Christianenburg after his first wife, situated close to Neu-Deutschland and forming part of present-day Clermont Township.
Family
Posselt's parents were Carl Ludwig Posselt (9 April 1782 - 27 December 1834), a schoolteacher in Diekow, and Marie Elisabeth Fischer (24 June 1781 - 27 December 1834). They had 4 children - Charlotte, Karl Ludwig, Karl Wilhelm, Karl August.Karl Wilhelm married his first wife, Christiane Schönheit (d17 April 1848 Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg is the capital and second largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838, and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its "purist" Zulu name is umGungundlovu, and this is the name used for the district municipality...
), on 1 April 1841 in Uitenhage
Uitenhage
Uitenhage is a South African town with 275,185 inhabitants in the Eastern Cape Province. It is well known for the Volkswagen factory located there, which is the biggest car factory on the African continent. The town's name is pronounced by English speakers and in Afrikaans...
and had 3 children - Johannes, Nathaniel, Christiane
He married his second wife, Sophie Elizabeth Königkrämer (10 December 1834 - 30 November 1913), on 11 June 1851, producing 10 more children - Nathaniel, Mathilde, Emile Christiana, Felix
Albrecht Wilhelm, Sophie Lisette, Hermann Eberhardt, Erna, Emma Anna, Theodor Wilhelm, Helmuth
- Sophie Lisette Posselt (5 October 1860 Christianenburg - 14 January 1923 Botshabelo, MiddelburgMiddelburg, MpumalangaMiddelburg is a large farming and industrial town in the South African province of Mpumalanga.Middelburg was established as Nasareth, , in 1864 by the Voortrekkers on the banks of the Klein Olifants River. The name was changed in 1872 to Middelburg to mark its situation midway between the Transvaal...
) married the missionary Friedrich Michael Hellmuth Beuster (31 December 1850 LiebenwaldeLiebenwaldeLiebenwalde is a town in the Oberhavel district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 16 km northeast of Oranienburg, and 39 km north of Berlin ....
, BrandenburgBrandenburgBrandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
- 1 April 1920 Botshabelo, Middelburg) on 31 October 1879 at Christianenburg. - Mathilde Posselt (1855 Emmaus, Bergville - 8 January 1932 PretoriaPretoriaPretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
) married missionary Friedrich Carl Adolph Grünberger (15 April 1838 GodowGodów, Silesian VoivodeshipGodów is a village and the seat of Gmina Godów, Wodzisław County, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. It lies near the border with the Czech Republic...
, Oberschlesien - 1 August 1918 Pretoria)