Louise Dorothea Naested

LOUISE DOROTHEA NAESTED (1793-1823)

• Naested family....

She was the second youngest daughter of the family, and as we have seen, was 15 years old when she was orphaned by the death of her father (Michael Naested) in 1807. It seems to me that she had a difficult life, having lost both parents at such a young age. Although she herself died very young, and in unhappy circumstances, she is of great importance to the South African Flemmer family. As we have seen at the opening of this section, all of our Flemmer family in South Africa descended from her.

Louise Dorothea Naested married 23-year-old Johannes Christian Abo in Copenhagen in 1810, when she would have been about 17. He was the son of a famous Danish naval Captain, Toger Abo 1747-1806 and more details of this family can be found in my History of the Abos. Louise and Christian Johannes Abo had three children - Marie Sophie Frederikke b. 1812, Toger b. 1813 and Betty Camilla Augusta, b. 1816.

Denmark was lurching from financial crisis to crisis in the period after their marriage and it was probably for this reason that Johannes Christian Abo decided to try to make a new life for his family in South Africa. He had been trained in surveying in the Danish Navy, and could use his skills as a surveyor in the new country. We do not know when he left, but Betty was said to be 6 months old, which would put it at 1817. He would then have left his young wife aged about 24 with three children the oldest being only 5 years old.

As far as I know he never came back to Denmark, nor apparently made his fortune in South Africa. On 16th July 1823 six years after he left, his wife Louise Dorothea died in Holb�k aged 30, at the home of her brother Johan Henrik. Family legend has it that she died of a broken heart, as she had heard nothing from her husband in South Africa for several years. It is said that the day after her funeral, a parcel of 10 letters arrived for her from South Africa, and this may be so. Life must have been very difficult for the young mother and her three children. She was apparently living on the charity of her brother and sharing the home with her mother-in-law, Maria Abo (van der Spuy).

We have the probate record for Louise Dorothea Naested and as with all translations, one has to be careful that the real meaning has been understood. I think it makes for sad reading as there is a certain note of bitterness in it. One has the sense that this poor young woman had been inflicted on her mother-in-law by the departure of her husband for South Africa-

On Wednesday 23rd July 1823 the probate commission came to the house of Generaladjutant Mrs. Abo [her late husband Toger Abo's title] to register and deal with the estate of her son's wife Mrs. Louise Dorothea Abo, born Naested. Present were Mrs. Abo and the brother of the deceased the lawyer [Johan Henrik] Naested, who was supposed to take care of the children of the deceased, all minors, as their father had been absent at the Cape for some years. According to the information given the deceased left behind the following children- A daughter Maria 11 years old A son Toger 10 years old A daughter Betty 6 and a half years old Mrs. Abo declared that since she had undivided estate after the death of her husband and her son therefore owned nothing here and as he, when he was living here, as well as his wife, contributed nothing to the home, all the property here belonged to her, apart from the clothes of the deceased. As the value of these clothes was less than the cost of the funeral and the expenses of the deceased and her children, she abstained from further claim on the estate, if the estate could be given to her. Lawyer Naested agreed with this and the probate was finished.

When their mother died the three children, Marie now aged 11; Toger 10 and Betty nearly 7 were split up and brought up by their mother's brother and sisters.

As we have seen above, Marie, at age 22 was living with her uncle Michael Christian in N�stved in 1834. I have no other record of her.

I believe Toger grew up in the home of his uncle Johan Henrik Naested. He went to the Cape in about 1836 aged 23, to join his father Christian Johannes (von) Abo. He settled in Cradock where he was prominent in town affairs for many years. He also collected wild animals, skins and plants for export back to Europe. In 1852 he returned to Denmark and married his cousin Methea Sophia Kjeldberg (see below). He encouraged his sister Betty, by then the wife of Dr. Christian August Flemmer, to move to the Cape, partly financing the cost of the voyage. They all sailed together from London on the 'Corsairs Bride', which arrived at Port Elizabeth after a voyage of nearly three months, in February 1853. He apparently also persuaded his cousin, Hans Michael Naested 1827-1907, to emigrate to Cradock at this time. Toger (von) Abo died in Cradock 9th April 1879. His death certificate notes he is 'unmarried' so it is possible his wife Methea, had returned to Denmark

After her mother died, Betty went to her aunt Charlotte Henriette Naested who had married the vicar Andreas Hansen Kjeldberg. They had a daughter of their own, Methea Sophia who was four years younger than Betty. Kjeldberg was the vicar for the parish of Havrebjerg, about 3kms. from Stillinge, the home of the Flemmer family. They were obviously old friends of the Flemmers as the vicar Kjeldberg made the graveside funeral oration at the burial of Hans Christian Flemmer in 1847. Betty married Dr. Christian August Flemmer in Havrebjerg on 24th September 1839. They emigrated to Cradock, Cape Colony, arriving with their 7 children in 1853. She died in Cradock aged 79 on 19th September 1896.