Characters
Doris (Voss) HahnBorn May 16, 1852,
Died August 19, 1917 |
Ferdinand HahnBorn February 25, 1846,
Died May 3, 1910 |
Wilhelm
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Alfred Nottrott1842-1888
Here Alfred Nottrott works with two tribal Christians on theology and bible translation. |
Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chotanagpur and Assam, was established on 2nd November, 1845 by German Missionaries.
The German missionaries sent by Johannes Gossner from Berlin established the first Christian Church of the region in 1845 and a seminary in 1866 for the preparation of preachers, teachers and pastors. Among the early believers are Daud Ekka and Nathaniel Tuju, and many others whose names I yet must learn. |
After reading the diary of my great-great-great grandmother, Doris Hahn, I became very interested in the first generation that connected our family to India.
Doris, her brother Wilhelm and Ferdinand went to India under the Gossner Mission. Ferdinand and Doris were married in Ranchi India. Another Gossner missionary that also went around the same time was Alfred Nottrott. His nephew would marry Ferdinand and Doris' oldest daughter.
Both Ferdinand and Alfred were strong leaders in the Gossner mission that was stationed in tribal area called Chotanagpur in India. Alfred did a lot to preserve the Munda tribal language and Ferdinand wrote the Kurkukh grammar, the language of the Oraon tribes. The mission established a strong and vital independent church among the tribal peoples. Both men were also involved in the life and story of a great tribal "freedom fighter", Birsa Munda.
I found that there is a considerable amount of information about the men of this mission, particularly Alfred and Ferdinand. But Doris' diary raised my interest in other perspectives. In all the missionary literature, it is difficult to find information on the lives of the missionary wives and children. It is even difficult to know much about the early converts.
In my novel I hope to weave together the stories of all the people that set the foundation for building the tribal Christian Church in Chotanagpur, Personally I am interested in the the lost stories of my own family in India and their German background. My interest ripples out to all the stories that created the lasting legacy of a tribal church in this region of India that is over 500,000 strong. A church that in 1919 received its independence and has flourished as a self-sufficient church. What is the tribal (Adivasi) story and what can we learn from all these stories?
Doris, her brother Wilhelm and Ferdinand went to India under the Gossner Mission. Ferdinand and Doris were married in Ranchi India. Another Gossner missionary that also went around the same time was Alfred Nottrott. His nephew would marry Ferdinand and Doris' oldest daughter.
Both Ferdinand and Alfred were strong leaders in the Gossner mission that was stationed in tribal area called Chotanagpur in India. Alfred did a lot to preserve the Munda tribal language and Ferdinand wrote the Kurkukh grammar, the language of the Oraon tribes. The mission established a strong and vital independent church among the tribal peoples. Both men were also involved in the life and story of a great tribal "freedom fighter", Birsa Munda.
I found that there is a considerable amount of information about the men of this mission, particularly Alfred and Ferdinand. But Doris' diary raised my interest in other perspectives. In all the missionary literature, it is difficult to find information on the lives of the missionary wives and children. It is even difficult to know much about the early converts.
In my novel I hope to weave together the stories of all the people that set the foundation for building the tribal Christian Church in Chotanagpur, Personally I am interested in the the lost stories of my own family in India and their German background. My interest ripples out to all the stories that created the lasting legacy of a tribal church in this region of India that is over 500,000 strong. A church that in 1919 received its independence and has flourished as a self-sufficient church. What is the tribal (Adivasi) story and what can we learn from all these stories?
Father Lutheri Voss in Center. Standing behind him is Doris and Ferdinand. Wilhelm is seated on the left of the picture. Other siblings of Doris and Wilhelm are:
Johanan (died in 1866) Christian, Albert, Gustav, Louis, Gottfried, Auguste, Louise |
Louis (b.1874); Meitze (b.1876) Theo (b.1877), Frieda (b.1878), Johanas (b.1880), Gushie (b.1882), Albert (b.1884), Henirich, (b.1886), Gottfried (b.1887), Dore (b.1890), Lieble (b.1891).
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When your main character comes from a large family and has a large family of her own, that poses a lovely challenge for the writer: how to keep the caste of characters straight! It's difficult to fictionalize real people. However, the characters are based on what I have best been able to learn and surmize of these real people.
Main Characters
Heroine: Doris Hahn
Character matures from a naive romantic to a matriarch pragmatist
Primary desire is to establish a family but she has to send most of her children away to go to school
Heroe: Ferdinand Hahn
Character is the consmate optimistic adventurer
Primary desire is to understand and translate knowledge but is challenged by social developments well out
of reach and expectation.
Anti-Heroe: Wilhelm Hahn
Charcacter faces a series of misfortunes with an addictive personality
Primary desire is to offer his services but is challenged with family tragedy and addiction
Protagonist: Alfred Nottrott
Character's pursuit for perfection spreads divisions, dysfunction and dissatisfaction.
Primary desire is to establish unity and an autonomous church however his bullheaded approach tends to
polarize.
"True observers of nature, although they may think differently, will still agree that everything that is, everything that is observable as a phenomenon, can only exhibit itself in one of two ways. It is either a primal polarity that is able to unify, or it is a primal unity that is able to divide. The operation of nature consists of splitting the united or uniting the divided; this is the eternal movement of systole and diastole of the heartbeat, the inhalation and exhalation of the world in which we live, act, and exist"
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
“The word 'translation' comes, etymologically, from the Latin for 'bearing across'. Having been borne across the world, we are translated men. It is normally supposed that something always gets lost in translation; I cling, obstinately to the notion that something can also be gained.”
― Salman Rushdie
Main Characters
Heroine: Doris Hahn
Character matures from a naive romantic to a matriarch pragmatist
Primary desire is to establish a family but she has to send most of her children away to go to school
Heroe: Ferdinand Hahn
Character is the consmate optimistic adventurer
Primary desire is to understand and translate knowledge but is challenged by social developments well out
of reach and expectation.
Anti-Heroe: Wilhelm Hahn
Charcacter faces a series of misfortunes with an addictive personality
Primary desire is to offer his services but is challenged with family tragedy and addiction
Protagonist: Alfred Nottrott
Character's pursuit for perfection spreads divisions, dysfunction and dissatisfaction.
Primary desire is to establish unity and an autonomous church however his bullheaded approach tends to
polarize.
"True observers of nature, although they may think differently, will still agree that everything that is, everything that is observable as a phenomenon, can only exhibit itself in one of two ways. It is either a primal polarity that is able to unify, or it is a primal unity that is able to divide. The operation of nature consists of splitting the united or uniting the divided; this is the eternal movement of systole and diastole of the heartbeat, the inhalation and exhalation of the world in which we live, act, and exist"
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
“The word 'translation' comes, etymologically, from the Latin for 'bearing across'. Having been borne across the world, we are translated men. It is normally supposed that something always gets lost in translation; I cling, obstinately to the notion that something can also be gained.”
― Salman Rushdie