Jacob L. Döhne, the first missionary from Berlin in Kaffraria, was born in Ziaranberg, Germany, on November 9, 1811. He entered a mission seminary in 1832 and arrived in Cape Town in 1836 as a member of the Berlin Missionary Society‘s second mission to South Africa.

After answering a call to Franschhoek, Döhne reacted to Missionary Kayser’s plea for aid on the Eastern Frontier. He left by ship and arrived in Port Elizabeth after a three week voyage and a month later he was welcomed to Knappeshope by Missionary Kayser. Here he settled down to learn Xhosa and, as he had a flair for languages, he made rapid progress. He wrote down all new words he learnt, together with their meanings and did not rest until he had made sure that each syllable was correct and understandable. In this way a dictionary was born which soon comprised over 8 000 words with a developing syntax.

Döhne commenced his mission work under Chief Gasela. Nothing was easy, he had to take care for himself, fight superstition, and spread the Gospel under appalling conditions. He soon suffered from malnutrition and just as he was settling down to work, the tribe decided to move. On arrival at the new site, Döhne found the ground allotted to him by the Chief had already been occupied by Xhosa who refused to budge and a new site had to be sought. A suitable location with plenty of running water was chosen and Bethel was founded on February 15, 1837.

Stutterheim is situated at the foot of the Eastern slopes of the Kologha Mountains; a spur of the Amatola Range, in the area of the Eastern Cape formerly called British Kaffraria.

The first white people to settle in the area were missionaries of the Berlin Mission Society who established the Bethel Mission Station here in 1837. At about the same time a fort was built and named and named Dohne Post after Dr. Dohne, the first German Missionary. On 23 March 1957 members of the 3rd regiment of the British German Legion, under the command of General von Stutterheim, settled, some with families on plots of ground around Dohne Post and its immediate vicinity.

A village of temporary huts quickly developed, and they decided to call the place “Stutterheim” after the commanding officer, who commenced building a large mansion which was never finished owing to his return to Germany on urgent business after only eight months in this country. There were hopes of von Stutterheim returning later, but these did not materialise, and he died at Wiesbaden, Germany in 1872, aged 65 years.