Page 153 - The Diary of A. H. W. Behrens

71
1884/1885
Upon Hoyer’s request the seminary was moved by Penzhorn from Bethanie to Berseba without asking father, who had supported it for ten years, for advice. This was done only so that the pupils could also do agriculture. It stayed there until it was moved to Bethel on the Highveld. Hoyer left the Mission, moved to the Soutpansberg, started planting tobacco and then “went missing in Africa”! I do not know what happened to
his wife and children! Chief Jakobus More moved into the seminary building in Bethanie when he got married and still built himself a “town hall” next to it.
In October 1884 our first child was born on a farm along the Sterkstroom where a Mrs du Plessis, a midwife, lived. The son was baptised in Bethanie and was given the names Ludwig Wilhelm Theodor who is now turning 60 in 1944.
In 1884, we had a big drought until Christmas so that there was green on all standing water and Missionary Kaiser came with his cattle from Hebron to look for grazing in the Bethanie area. In 1885 I did a journey with the family by ox wagon via Pretoria, the Highveld and then back to Rustenburg. There was still no idea of a gold field or Johannesburg. All blacks still went to work in the diamond field.