{{short description|German missionary in South Africa}} {{Infobox person | name = Alexander Merensky | image = Alexander Merensky.JPG | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = Alexander Merensky | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = {{Birth date|1837|06|08}} | birth_place = Panten | death_date = {{Death date and age|1918|05|22|1837|06|08}} | death_place = Berlin | other_names = | occupation = Missionary | years_active = | known_for = Working in South Africa | notable_works = }}

[[Image:Botshabelo church 2004.jpg|thumb|right|{{center|Mission church at Botshabelo}}]] [[Image:Fort merensky 2004.jpg|thumb|right|{{center|Fort Merensky}}]] '''Alexander Merensky''' (8 June 1837 in [[Pątnów Legnicki|Panten]] near [[Liegnitz]] &ndash; 22 May 1918 in [[Berlin]])<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2024 |title=Alexander Anton Bertholdt Merensky |url=https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L1W5-JWP |url-status= |website=FamilySearch |publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}</ref> was a German missionary, working in South Africa (Transvaal) from 1859 to 1892.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Zöllner |first=Linda |title=The Berlin Missionaries in South Africa and their Descendants |last2=Heese |first2=J.A. |date= |publisher=Human Sciences Research Council, Institute for Historial Research |year=1984 |location=Pretoria |pages=253–255}}</ref>

==Early life== Alexander's mother, Pauline von Kessel, died during his birth, and his father, Conrad Albert Friedrich, seven years later, in 1844. He was therefore orphaned early in life and grew up in the well-known Schindler orphanage and among relatives. Encouraged by the well-known Rev. Gustav Knak, he entered the mission seminary of the [[Berlin Missionary Society]] in 1855 and was sent out on 23 November 1858. Together with a fellow missionary, Karl-Heinrich Theodor Grützner, he travelled by sailboat from Amsterdam to Cape Town and on to Natal.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Van der Merwe |first=Werner |title=The Encyclopaedia Africana Dictionary of African Biography |date= |publisher=Reference Publications Inc. |year=1995 |editor-last=Irvine |editor-first=Keith |volume=3 |location=Algonac, Michigan |publication-date=1995}}</ref>

== Mission stations == On 14 August 1860, he and fellow missionary Heinrich Grützner co-founded the mission station Gerlachshoop, the first mission station of the Berlin Missionary Society north of the Vaal River.<ref name=":1" /> Merensky was ordained as missionary in Gerlachshoop on 11 January 1861. A further mission station, Kgalatlou/ [[Schoonoord, South Africa|Schoonoord]], was dedicated in August 1861. On 15 October 1863 Merensky was married to Marie Liers from Breslau.<ref>{{Cite web |title=South Africa, Natal Province, Civil Marriages, 1845-1955 |url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KDCK-8FD |access-date=7 April 2024 |website=FamilySearch |publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}</ref> Seven children were born to this union, one of whom was the well-known geologist, [[Hans Merensky]]. They lived in Kgalatlou until May 1864 and with the permission of [[Sekhukhune]], the leader of the [[Bapedi]], founded the mission station Ga-Ratau, approximately 15&nbsp;km from the Bapedi capital. This station was dedicated in May 1864.<ref name=":0" />

However, shortly thereafter the first persecutions of the Christians started and Merensky had to flee with his family and congregation on the night of 23 November 1864. In January 1865 Merensky bought a farm in the district of [[Middelburg, Mpumalanga|Middelburg]] in the [[South African Republic|South African Republic (ZAR)]], where he and Grützner established the important mission station of [[Botshabelo, Mpumalanga|Botshabelo]], the [[Northern Sotho]] ([[Sepedi]]) word for "place of refuge". On the hill overlooking Botshabelo, a fort was erected which Merensky called "Fort Wilhelm" (later known as [[Fort Merensky]]) in honour of the German kaiser. During 1869 a blacksmith's shop, a workshop to build and repair wagons and a mill were built, allowing nearby villagers and members of the congregation to learn these skills.<ref name=":0" />

In 1873 Merensky was joined by another BMS missionary, [[Johannes August Winter|Johannes Winter]], when he came to South Africa from Berlin to commence his missionary work. Within a few years he would become the head of the national helpers' (''Nationalhelferen'') seminary at Botshabelo, and later played an important role in the establishment of the Lutheran Bapedi Church when it seceded from the BMS.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Poewe |first=Karla |last2=Van der Heyden |first2=Ulrich |date=1999 |title=The Berlin Mission Society and its Theology: The Bapedi Mission Church and the Independent Bapedi Lutheran Church |journal=South African Historical Journal |publisher=South African Historical Society |volume=40 |issue=May 1999 |pages=36}}</ref>

The British annexed the Transvaal Republic in 1876 and [[Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley|Sir Wolseley]] made Botshabelo his headquarters in the Transvaal. During the [[First Boer War|First Anglo-Boer War]], Merensky was conscripted to the Boer forces as military medic. He took part in the battles of [[Battle of Laing's Nek|Laing's Nek]], [[Battle of Schuinshoogte|Skuinshoogte]] and [[Battle of Majuba Hill|Majuba Hill]] and described the battles viewed from afar from his field hospital.<ref name=":1" />

== Return to Germany == After the end of the war, Merensky was mistrusted by both the British and Boer authorities and decided to move back to Germany with his family in 1882. In 1883 he was promoted to Inspector of the Berlin Missionary Society.<ref name=":0" />

In 1890 he travelled to Southern Africa again, this time to the northern shore of Lake Njassa (now known as [[Lake Malawi]] in [[Malawi]]) in the area called Kondeland. Here he founded two further mission stations, Wangemannshöhe (named after BMS Director [[Hermann Theodor Wangemann]]) and Manow. Being interested in geography, he later also published a map of this area. On his way back to Germany he had another opportunity to visit Botshabelo.<ref name=":0" />

== Honours and legacy == Merensky received honorary doctorates from universities in Berlin and Heidelberg for his scientific publications. He died in Berlin on 22 May 1918.

==References==

{{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.middelburgsa.co.za/botshabelo/history.htm History of Botshabelo] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090623041241/http://www.places.co.za/html/botshabelo.html Botshabelo today] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090504035144/http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/places/mission-stations/orgs.htm Berlin Missionary Society in South Africa]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Merensky, Alexander}} [[Category:1837 births]] [[Category:1918 deaths]] [[Category:German Lutheran missionaries]] [[Category:People of the First Boer War]] [[Category:Lutheran missionaries in South Africa]] [[Category:19th-century Lutherans]] [[Category:German missionaries in South Africa]]