SUMMARISED TRANSLATION OF ARTICLES IN EDITION 90/ MAY 2007 OF THE "ONS HAANTJIE" NEWSLETTER OF THE HENNING FAMILY LEAGUE

Sterftes/ Deaths. We report on the death of two honorary members, b1.c3.d2.e2.f2.g1. Jan Hendrik Henning *3-2-1922 and Jacoba Johanna Maria Henning (born van der Walt) *4-9-1926 wife of the late b6.c4.d1.e5.f3.g7. Willem Frederik Henning.

Jan Henning was a member of the first management committee of the Family League (1984 - 1997). He served with great distinction. Until the age of 83 he was still very active and even played tennis. During the last ten weeks before his wife, Sarie died during 2002, their neighbour's daughter, Gerritje (Gerry) van der Smit (a qualified nurse) supported him taking care of the very sick Sarie. During December 2004 Gerry decided to return to Netherlands, from where she and her parents emigrated during 1975. When a malignant tumor was discovered in Jan's brain during February 2005 Gerry decided to return to South Africa to look after the very sick Jan. This she did with so much love, dedication and compassion that Jan asked her during November 2005 to marry him as soon as possible. They were married on 3 December 2005. During November 2006 Jan's condition deteriorated further when the tumor spead to his spinal cord. He died on Sunday 28 January 2007 and was buried on 1 February. Gerry will soon return to the Netherlands. The management committee of the Family League would like to thank Gerry for this extreme gesture of love and devotion. She will remain a honourary member of the Family League.

Jacoba Johanna Maria Henning (born van der Walt) was the wife of the late b6.c4.d1.e5.f3.g7. Willem Frederik Henning. She died on 31 January 2007 in the Intensive Care Unit of the Eugene Marais Hospital, Pretoria of a heart attack, in the age of 80 years and five months. Her daughter, Rina (h4) informed us that her oldest brother, Hansie (Johannes Lodewikus [h1]) looked after their parents for many years. Due to the fact that their father was away from home often, Hansie had to take over the father role when he was still young. After he matriculated he kept on looking after his parents. This being the reason why he never married, although he had a girl friend - who, up until today is his abutment pier. All the other children left home and married. After their father retired, they sold their house in town and moved to a farm at De Wagensdrift, which Hansie bought. Here the three of them lived for more than 20 years and were unseparable. After Willem's death (Oct 2005) Hansie and his mother stayed on at the farm. He did everything in his power to make life as comfortable as possible for his mother. Six months after his fathers death, Hansie became ill and during November 2006 - he was diagonised with colon cancer. The cancer had already spread to his bladder and liver. The shock of her son's condition was so big that Jacoba had a huge heart attack. In his condition, Hansie rushed his mother to hospital, where she died early the morning of 31 January 2007. Hansie also handled all the buriel arrangements and attended the funeral. At the moment, he is very, very sick.

Estoniese Hennings/ Estonian Hennings. In the Haantjie no 84 of November 2005 we had a short letter from Heino Henning from Canada in which he told about his ancestors who lived in Estonia, one of the old Soviet Union countries. For those who do not know where Estonia is. It is devided to the North from Finland by the Gulf of Finland; to the West is the Baltic sea; to the South is Latvia (where we are aware of a Henning tribe who lived here at Riga and to the East is Russia. Heino sent us more particulars of his ancestors and is this an interesting story!! Originally his ancestors were farm labourers, but later farm owners. Before 1825 all Estonians who lived in the rural areas only had one firstname, without a surname. This firstname was combined with the name of the farm he owned or where the person worked. The farmname was mentioned first. For example, several of Heino's ancestors lived on the farm "Tammi". The first person he knows of was Peeter, who was born in 1664 in the county Pärnumaa.Later Peeter moved to the county Vörumaa and started working on the farm Tammi. He, therefore, got the name Tammi Peeter. Several of Tammi Peeter's descendants lived on the farm Tammi. Likewise Tammi Peeter's son, Jacob was known as Tammi Jacob. Tammi Jacob (born 1699) later became the owner of the farm Tammi. On 5 Nov 1721 he married "Big Peeter's daughter Kadri *1701 (as Heino traslated it from Estonian). Their children were Hans, born 24-6-1722 and Juhan, born 19-12-1723.

On 8-11-1753 Tammi Juhan married "dear Andre daughter Hipp". They also had two sons, Gustav *10-12-1753 and Hans *20-5-1756. Tammi Juhan also became the owner of the farm Tammi.

Hans worked on a farm near the town Linnarti. He, therefore got the name Linnarti Hans. He married three times: 1. on 10-11-1784 to "Tammi Jüri's wife sister, Anni"; 2. on 19-8-1795 to Flie Jaan's daughter Anni" and 3. to "Mihkel's daughter Ann". Linnarti Hans had six children. The name of no 5 was Jacob. Jacob was born 26-10-1802. In 1825 the Estonian government decided that everybody should get a surname. Everybody could choose their own surname, which was allocated by Secretary of the County or by large farm owners. Several people joked about this surname issue, therefore their descendants today still sit with one or other silly surname.

Jacob, the fifth child of Linnarti Hans decided to adopt the surname Henning and became the first person using this surname in Estonia. All his brothers and sisters adopted other surnames. Jacob Henning *26-10-1802 and his wife Mari *1800 had five children: Juhan *1823, Gustav *1825, Hinrik *1830, † 1841, Mechka *1839 and Peeter *1845. Their family tree is also in our possesion and will be displayed soon on the Henning Webpage on Internet.

We would like to mention that Heino Henning was born on 12 December 1925, therefore, he is 81 years old. He is the fifth generation of this family using the surname Henning.

Geskiedkundige Foto's/ Historical Photo's. Mauritz Henning from Theresa Park, Pretoria North sent us a photo of his grandfather's father, b6.c4.d1. Willem Frederik Henning *25-10-1829. Unfortunately they do not know who the lady and children are. They think it is one of Willem's daughters and her two children.

Briewe / Letters. Two letters received from members:

Rina wanted something which would always remind her of Elandskraal. In spite of the fact that it was November and not the right time to cut shoots, she cut a few from one of the vines. With big faith she wrapped the shoots in wet paper and kept them in a coolerbag until they arrived home. At home she first planted the shoots in paper cups. Every morning she placed the cups outside and at night took them inside, until they started to grow. A pergola was erected, as can be seen on the photograph. Hopefully Rina and family will eat Elandskraal grapes in a few years time.

From the tax returns of the year 1809 we learnt that Pieter Hendrik Henning had 1 800 vines. If one take into consideration that his farm was 22 hours on horseback from the nearest town, Graaff-Reinet, it is clear that it was not possible to sell grapes in town. We know that winemaking became a popular practice in those days in the border districts of the Cape Colony, therefore, we are quite sure that Pieter Hendrik must have participated in this practice. With 1 800 vines one can produce quite a lot of wine?

In the second letter from b1.c6.d14.e4.f1. Chris (Christiaan Rudolph Jacobus) Henning and his wife Winnie from Heuwelsig, Bloemfontein, they mention that both of them are quite old, but they enjoy the newsletter, "Ons Haantjie". Chris is 82 years old and Winnie 80. Chris's health is not so good, due to several problems. His eyes also let him down and at the moment he is 80% blind.

Due to this, he cannot live the active life he has been used to.

They tell about their grand childen and great grand children and the pleasure all these kids afford them. Included in their letter was a donation for the Family League.

Geldsake / Moneymatters. With the compilation of the financial statements for the year 2006, after the auditing of the books of the Family League, it became clear that we received R2 230.00 less member contributions during 2006 than the previous year. During 2005 we received R13 480.00 from our members and during 2006 only R11 250.00. Our expenses of R13 627.00 was, therefore, R2 377.00 more than our income from member contributions. Fortunately, we made a profit of R2 066.00 due to income from other sources like the making of photocopies, sale of CD's and other souvenirs and interest on our investments. During 2005 our expenses of R13 292.00 was nicely in balance with our income from member contributions.

The fact that our member contributions and expenses for 2006 were not in balance, was therefore a disappointment. However, we are pleased to mention that the Family League compiled a reserve of R42 807.00 over the past 22 years. This reserve was used in the past for capital expenditure (e.g. computer/office equipment), the erection and maintenance of the Henning museum and the three national family festivals of 1988, 1994 and 2004. Hopefully this reserve would somewhere in the future be big enough for us to award bursaries from it to deserving Henning students. We are still waiting for that big contribution when somebody make the Family League a beneficiary in his/her estate.

Thanks to all our members who contributed over the past three months. Likewise to those members who contribute monthly by means of a debit order. As usual, we mention the names of those members who donated amounts of R200.00 and more. Please consult the Afrikaans version for the names.