Jacob Ludwig Döhne (9 November 1811 Zierenberg – 2 June 1879 Fort Pine near Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal),[1] from the Berlin Missionary Society, who was responsible for compiling A Zulu-Kafir Dictionary (Cape Town, 1857) after spending twenty years documenting the language and dialects.
The missionaries Posselt, Lisreidt and Schmidt arrived to aid him in his work, while the wives started a school to train the young Xhosa women in home industry.
In 1843 Döhne published "Das Kafferland Und seine Bewohner" and then started on the translation of the Bible into Xhosa.
The Frontier War of 1846-47 between the Xhosa and the Whites put an end to all plans and the missionaries joined the fleeing masses, with Döhne, Guldenpfennig and Posselt finding safety at Bethany in the Orange Free State.
Döhne responded to an appeal from the European community without permission from the Berlin Mission Society, leading to the suspension of his services.
With the closing of the Eastern Cape missions, the focus of the Berlin Missionary Society shifted to Natal and the Transvaal.
Döhne's third wife was Caroline Elizabeth Wilhelmine Watermeyer (2 November 1817 - 13 March 1888 Paddock, Natal) whom he married on 23 June 1847.
The Berlin Missionary Society, having a change of heart, persuaded Döhne to rejoin them, and he immediately set about translating the Bible into Zulu.