SUMMARISED TRANSLATION OF ARTICLES IN EDITION 117/FEB 2014 OF THE “ONS HAANTJIE” NEWSLETTER OF THE HENNING FAMILY LEAGUE

"Bill" Henning van Kenia/Bill Henning of Kenia.

The biological father of Pauline Castle of Wellington, New Zealand was a Henning, but she was adopted as a new-born baby by a New Zealand couple. She, therefore, had no contact at all with her biological parents. As a grown-up she started looking for her biological parents and League Secretary, Olivier Henning assisted her in finding her father and knowledge of his ancestors.

Her biological father was the late b6.c1.d1.e9.f8. g3. Willem Reimer Henning. Willem’s father Pieter Josef Henning * 3-3-1902 moved as a young man from Aliwal North to Kenia. He married Anna Riemersma and they had three children who were born in Kenia: William * 29-8-1929, Johanna Wilhelmina * 7-4-1932 and Willem Reimer *15-10-1934. Except for a short period in New Zealand, Willem Reimer returned to South Africa, while William stayed lifelong in Kenia. We could reconstruct the family tree of Willem Reimer and his sister Johanna, but could only trace William’s name and date of birth.

With Pauline’s detective work we could reconstruct the history and family particulars of William Henning. Pauline even made contact with a person who knew William Henning – or Bill - as he was known in Kenia.

Bill Henning drove locomotives as a young man for the East African Railways and Harbours. During 1953 he joined the Kenia Police as a sergeant and was posted as Intelligence Officer at the Mukuruweini Police Station in the South Tetu Devision of the Nyeri Province. It was the days of the huge Mau-Mau riots. Bill Henning was always on the look-out for ulterior or skulldug motives and disappeared for days on end on mysterious missions taking his job very seriously, never averse to a bit of humour. Younger ignoramuse colleagues reckoned that the lingering aroma of his cigarettes would immediately betray his presence to any lurking Mau Mau but paid much attention to Bill’s mature and nonchalant ruminations on the ways of women. His friend does not think he spoke Kikuyu, though he must have picked up a fair bit, but like most of his colleages he depended on interpreters. Always a tricky business this Kikuyu/Swahili/English transfer as most Europeans didn’t speak proper Ki-Swahili and some translators didn’t speak proper English. There was a lot of tedious cross checking and innumerable minor snafus, some major. (Situation normal, all fouled up.)

Bill Henning was only 36 years old when he died from a heart attack while playing tennis in Nairobi, Kenia. He was married and had two children – a boy and a girl. His wife, Jean, son and daughter, and their families, later emigrated to the United Kingdom. Their particulars has now been included in the Henning Family Cronicle.

Photo1. B6.c1.d1.e9.f8.g1. William or “Bill” Henning *29-8-1929 as a policeman in Kenia in the early 1950's
Photo 2. Morning parade at the Mukuruweini Police station in Kenia when Bill Henning was stationed there during the Mau-Mau riots
Photo 3. Tribal police busy interrogating the local population
Photo 4. Bill Henning with the Landrover he used to hunt criminals. This type of vehicles were the work horses of police in Kenia

'n Tragedie in hierdie familie se geskiedenis/A Tradegy in the history of this family.

Marinda Heunis and her husband of Mandini, Natal recently joined the Henning Family League. In the Family Cronicle you will find Marinda in Chapter 6 at b5.c1.d1.e1.f9.g4.h3. Helena Maria Henning *29-11-1950. We had basic particulars of Marinda’s parents and their first four children. Marinda, therefore, could fill us in on the history of this family.

One of the biggest tradegies in the history of all Henning families in South Africa happened with this family on Christmas day 1962. Marinda’s father was the station foreman at the Heuningspruit Station near Kroonstad. He and his wife, Cornelia (known as Mollie) had six children at that stage: André Johan (15 years), Stephanus Albertus (known as Fanie) (14), Helena Maria (known as Marinda) (12), Margaretha (9), Alfonso (known as Elfie) (3) and Leon (3 months).

On Christmas day 25 December 1962 Izak, his wife Mollie and their youngest two boys accompanied another person in his car. Cornelia sat in the front of the car with the driver, with baby Leon on her lap. Izak and Elfie sat at the back. Apparantly the driver had a heart attack and the car came to a stand still right on the railway tracks at the road crossing at the Heuningspruit station. Two trains — the one from Koppies, as well as the express train from Kroonstad arrived simultaneously at the crossing and demolished the car. One of the train drivers later said that he could see the woman sitting in the front of the car waiving for him to stop, but it was not possible.

Apparantly the driver of the car was already dead when the trains hit the car. Cornelia and the two boys died instantaneously, while Izak died four days later. A peace of iron intruded his head from above and extruded at his mouth. Several bones in his body was broken.

The four oldest chidren, who were now orphans, stayed in the beginning with their grand mother Van der Westhuizen (Cornelia’s parents), in Cape Town. After a while the two boys were admitted to an orphanage in Cape Town, while the two girls stayed on with their grand mother. Later on, Marinda was also placed in a boarding house. Due to the fact that the children were alienated, they lost all contact with each other. Margaretha died when she was only 21 years old.

Marinda only know that her brother, André worked as an electrician on the railways. Fanie was a ticket examiner on the railways, but she does not know where they live and if they are still alive. She traced Fanie’s two sons at their mother, who divorced Fanie soon after their birth.

League Secretary, Olivier Henning in the mean time traced André’s name on the 2011 Voters role and could supply Marinda with his address. He also visited Fanie’s former wife in Parow, Cape Town and she could supply him with a photo of Izak Henning and his wife Cornelia (Mollie). This was also passed on to Marinda.

Marinda and her husband live in Mandini, Natal. They have a son and a daughter. Their son is married and have a young boy.

Photo 5. b5.c1.d1.e1.f9.g4. Izak Stephanus Henning *19-10-1925 and his wife Cornelia Francina who died tradically with their two youngest sons in an accident with two trains
Photo 6. b5.c1.d1.e1.f9.g4.h3. Helena Maria (Marinda) Heunis (born Henning) *29-11-1950

Boere op die Aardsdrempel/The Boers at the end of the World.

Members of our Family League would be well aware of the four Henning families who emigrated to Argentinia in 1905, after the Anglo Boer War. We covered the history of these families quite good in the Family Cronicle and reported several times on them in the Newsletter.

It has come to our attention that a film producing company, “The Good Work Picture Company” is planning a documentary film of this epic event. They have some funding in place already, but need seed money to get the film off the ground (in film-speak, soft money as development financing). The addition of $ 6,000 will enable them to travel to Argentina, shoot for a week, and go through post-production to result in a complete, powerful 5-minute short documentary.

They will then use this documentary to attract the production funding for the full feature film. At the very least, contributions will have allowed them to complete the 5-minute documentary, which can then be entered into festivals and released. The film would be released in Afrikaans, Spanish and English.

The web site of the Good Work Picture Company can be viewed at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-boers-at-the-end-of-the-world-boere-op-die-aardsdrempel . Anyone who would like to contribute can contact Richard Finn Gregory at the following E Mail address: richard@goodworkpictures.com

League Secretary, Olivier Henning already donated a CD with the Henning Familie Cronicle to mr Gregory and supplied him with the E Mail address of Angela Elena (Lita) Henning, who still lives in Argentina and is a member of our Family Leauge. He lent mr Gregory a copy of the book “'n Boer in Argentinië’ (A Boer in Argentina) by PH Henning. Hopefully these resources would help to illustrate the role of the Henning families in this epic event.

Contributors to this campaign can gain several types of bonusses, eg a copy of the DVD, invitation to the introduction or can even be mentioned in the production notes of the film.

Photo 7. The three Henning brothers who emigrated to Argentina during 1905: b6.c1.d3.e5. Joseph Jooste Henning *15-1-1862, Pieter Hendrik Henning (e1) *21-1-1853 and Douw Gerbrand Henning (e8) *28-11-1868
Photo 8. b6.c4.d7.e1. Willem Frederik Henning *17-3-1874 and his family. The were one of the four families who emigrated to Argentina

Sarie Marais — Die Liedjie/Sarie Marais — the Song.

There are not many Afrikaners or even South Africans who do not know the song, Sarie Marais. It is part of our culture. Although the real Sarie Marais had nothing to do with the Henning family, we believe that all Hennings would embrace this song with love and would like to hear the history of this precious jewel.

The story of Sarie Marais – Susara Margaretha (Sarie) Maré. She was the first daughter of Jacob Philippus Maré and Cornelia Susanna Jacoba Erasmus. She was born on the farm Eendracht, Suikerbosrand, district Heidelberg on 15 April 1869. Her father, Jacob Maré, later became a member of the Executive Committee of the Transvaal and a street in Pretoria was named after him. It can be mentioned that b9.c1.d2. Pieter Hendrik Henning *24-9-1848 and his family lived during the same time on a nearby farm, Valsfontein, in the ward Suikerbosrand, distr. Heidelberg. It is almost certain that they would have known each other.

This is the Sarie Marais (actually Maré) who lived in the ward of the Mooiriver, also known as Tant Mossie, according to the catalogue entry AP.1998-227 in the SA Library.

Her parents were Voortrekkers and they settled in the vicinity of the Suikerbosrand. The town of Heidelberg did not yet existed. The biggest concentration of Voortrekkers settled in in the ward of Mooiriver, where the town of Potchefstroom was layed out. During these times there were five wards in Transvaal: Mooiriver (Potchefstroom), Magaliesburg (Rustenburg), Marico (Zeerust), Ohrigstad, Zoutpansberg (Pietersburg). Suikerbosrand was in the ward of the Mooiriver.

At the age of 16 years Sarie met Jacobus Petrus Toerien, a reporter of “Di Patriot” of Paarl. He specially visited the Transvaal for an interview with her father. He wrote under the pseudonym “Jepete” as a sub-editor of “Di Patriot”. They got married and had 16 children, of which only eight grew up.

Jacobus Toerien heard the song “Sweet Ellie Rhee” which had it’s origen in the American civil war, at Americans who worked on the mines in the Transvaal. During the period between the First – and Second Anglo-Boer Wars Jepete translated the song and immotalized his wife, Sarie Maré. Initially the song did not have all the verses and the same words as we know it today. Maré changed to Marais due to a typing error.

By 1899 Sarie Marais was already a hit in Pretoria. During the Anglo-Boer War it was not only a hit under the Boer forces, but also with other soldiers. It later became well-known worldwide due to South African soldiers singing it during the First- and Second World War.

Due to its popularity the British Royal Marines adopted it as their regimental march. They also named their training vessel Sarie Marais. It is also the regimental march of the Signal Corps of Paraguay.

The first South African yacht was named Sarie Marais and thousands of visitors to the Durban harbour boarded the Sarie Marais Pleasure Boat.

The name of the first South African film was, Sarie Marais. The well known women’s magazine Sarie is also named after her. The same apply to several hotels and blocks of flats.

With the first international radio broadcasting between South Africa, Brittain and the USA on the birthday of mrs Isie Smuts, wife of the former Prime Minister, General Smuts, the singer Gracie Fields sang Sarie Marais.

During the Second World War one of the outposts of soldiers in North Africa bear the name “Sarie Marais Calling”. The South African Defence Force is still fond of using this march during parades, while the French Foreign Legion also uses the song.

It is the official song of the Girl Guides in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) who heard the song at the end of the nineteenth century in the Boer POW camps. During the Olimpic Games in the USA during the 1930’s it was wrongfully played as the official national anthem of South Africa. The Germans grew a new pink rose with the name Sarie Marais. Some of these roses were planted in front of the School of Armour in Bloemfontein.

The last years of Sarie. She was a deep religuous woman and self-glorification was totaly in conflict with her humble disposition. She always kept her engagement with the song quite. After the death of Jacobus in 1920 she settled with her daughter in Bloemfontein. She died on 22 December 1939 in the age of 73 years in poverty and was burried in an humble unmarked grave in the Memoriam graveyard, near the Womens-monument in Bloemfontein.

Ledegeld Bydraes vir 2014/Member Contributions for 2014.

We forgot to remind our members in the November 2013 Newsletter to send their contributions for 2014, if possible, before April 2014. With the country wide family festival we are planning for 11 October 2014, we will need as much funds as possible. Please use your member number (as displayed on this envelope and your member certificate) as reference when money is transfered directly into the bank account of the Family League. The particulars are as follows: ABSA Bank Villiersdorp (Branch 334 612); Account name – Henning Familiebond; Account number – 2890 610 423

We mention with gratitude the names of our three members who contribute regularly by means of a monthly Debit Order: Jan Andries Henning of Leraatsfontein, Jan Hendrik Henning of Glenstantia, Pretoria and Past Antonie Henning of Rietfontein, Pretoria.

We also acknowledge with thanks the generous contributions of the following members over the past three months:

Mrs HM (Marinda) Heunis and her husband, Theuns of Mandini, Natal, our newest member — R300.00

Gideon and Wena Henning, chairman of the Family League and a Life Long member — R300.00

Huwelike/Marriages.

b1.c6.d1.e1.f2.g1.h2. Gerhard Thomas Henning *4-7-1981 and Vanessa de Lange *16-12-1981 got married on August 31 2013 at Shepstone Gardens, Mountain View, Johannesburg. Vanessa is the daughter of Conrad Barend De Lange and his wife Esta Anita (born Luüs). Gerhard is the son of Gerhardus Stefanis Henning and his wife Deïrdré Memory (born Schoeman) of Kimberley.

We also learned of the marriage of b5.c1.d5.e6.f3.g1.h4.i2. Johannes Jacobus (Janus) Henning *18-6-1982 and Heleen Naude on 23-2-2013 at Pretoria-East. Janus is the son of Johannes Jacobus Henning *16-9-1953 and Arietha (born Viljoen), while Heleen is the daughter of David Frederick Naude and his wife Anna Sophia (born Claassens). We report below on the father of Janus who died later in 2013.

We reported several times on the achievements of the triplets, Herman -, Anelmi – and Elseri Henning. They are the children of b6.c3.d2.f1.g2.h1. Willie and Gerda Henning of the farm Leeufontein, distr. Burgersdorp. The last time was in Newsletter 110 of May 2010, when we reported on the Honnours degrees all three of them obtained, as well as the marriages of the two girls during 2010. It now came to our attention that Herman got married on 14 December 2013 at Ventersdorp to Magdelie Buyskes, daughter of Pieter and Magda Buyskes of Potchefstroom.

Photo 9. Dad Gerhardus Stefanis Henning, Vanessa, Gerard, mom Dëidré Memory (born Schoeman), granny Sylvia Magdalene Schoeman, mother of Dëirdré
Photo 10. Johannes Jacobus (Janus) Henning and his bride, Heleen Naude on their wedding day, 23-2-2013
Photo 11. b6.c3.d2.e6.f1.g2.h1.i1. Hermanus Marthinus (Herman) Henning *28-3-1988 of Leeufontein, Burgersdorp and his bride, Magdelie Buyskes *27-12-1991 who got married on 14-12-2013