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Mark Jerling from Masterton, New Zealand (mjerling@xtra.co.nz, 
www.jerling.virafrikaans.com)
submitted the following information:

My ancestor, Johann Jacob Jarling (Jan Jarling) emigrated from Lassan, (Pommern, Preussen) in 1773, to Cape Town, South Africa. He married a widow, Maria Gerharda van Dijk, in 1773, in Cape Town (Some records give the marriage date as 5 November - but I cannot varify this date. Maria van Dijk was christened on 6 April 1749. I do not have Johann Jacob's birth date - but it seems likely that he would have been older or the roughly same age, making him no less than 24 years old when he emigrated from Germany.
 
He had six children from 1775 - 1790. Maria Dorothea (c. 05/11/1775) , Anna Christina (c. 01/03/1778), Johannes Mattheus (c. 09/07/1780), Marthinus Jacobus (c. 19/10/1783), Jacobus Wilhelmus (c. 26/11/1786) and Cornelia Margaretha (c. 05/09/1790). By 1780 he was writing his name Jerling, and not Jarling anymore.
 
I'm still researching the family tree, but it appears that Martinus Jacobus Jerling married Martha Terblanche. They had 10 children, the third - Petrus Johannes Jerling was born on 13 August 1819. Petrus Johannes married Cornelia Margaretha Jacomina Peo in 1841. They had 9 children. The oldest, also called Petrus Johannes married a Martha Hester Isabella Neepagi. They had 11 children. One of them, Hendrik Lodewijkus Jerling, was my great-grandfather. They had 4 children. Marthinus Johannes Jerling (my grandfather), Petrus Johannes Jerling, Magdalena & Jacomina.
 
My grandfather, Marthinus Johannes married Hester Phoebe van der Watt. They had 4 children. Hester Phoebe (known as Dolly), born 19/05/192; Hendrik Lodewyk Jerling (known as Laudie), born 17/12/1923; Johannes Jacobus Jerling (known as JJ), born 18/04/1925 and Maria (known as Cupie), born 22/08/1929.
 
My father, Johannes Jacobus married Arabella Theart, born 22/02/1934. I am my parents only child. I was born on 28/12/1966. I have married Anneline Marshall. We have two children, Annabelle Christine (born 22/02/1999) and John Joel (born 25/09/2002).
 
We emigrated to New Zealand in 2001 and are the only Jerlings in New Zealand. There are 3 Gerlings in New Zealand - of English descent.
 
South Africa's Jerling population is currently approximately 45 families / persons, based on telephone directory information.
 
... If you have any ideas as to where I would be able to find information about Johann Jacob Jarling / Jerling, who left Lassan in 1772/1773, it would be much appreciated. I would love to be able to trace the family tree back further, to his German roots! He is mentioned in the following South African website: {http://www.plettenbergbay.co.za/history/} This extract from that site: The Swede, Carl Peter Thunberg, was the first to document valuable observations on the bay and the Robberg. The Governor of the Cape, Baron Joachim van Plettenberg, renamed the town Plettenberg Bay in 1779. In 1787 a woodcutter's post was established and Johann Jacob Jerling was commissioned by the Dutch East India Co. to build a storehouse for timber, which was first exported in 1788.


Some comments from J. C. Garling:
Im IGI steht Johann Jacob Jarlin einmal geboren in Lassan / Pommern / Preussen ca. 1747 (bei seiner Hochzeit 1775), ein anderes Mal in Swartland, Cape Town 1745. Wenn JJ 1773 eingewandert ist, dann koennte im zweiten Falle der nur von einem frueher eingewanderter Jarling abstammen (?).
Geburtsort Lassan in Pommern / Preussen stimmt nicht, denn z.Z. und bis 1814 war Lassan in Schwedisch / Pommern. Nur suedlich der Peene war Pommern preussisch. Aber vielleicht war fuer die suedafrikanischen Einreisebeamten eben jeder der aus Deutschland kam ein Preusse. Oder vielleicht wurde das irrtuemlicherweise im Schiffsmanifest bereis bei der Ausreise so eingetragen, weil ein Teil Pommerns nun tatsaechlich zu Preussen gehoerte.
Vielleicht war sein Name urpruenglich Garling wie im mecklenburgischen-pommerschen Sprachraum vorwiegend. Wenn nicht bereits durch die schwedische Beamtenschrift umgeschrieben, mag es im afrikaanischen Platt (niederlaendisch-friesisch aus dem 17. Jh.)zu Jarling und dann zu Jerling gekommen sein.
Ich wuerde dafuer stimmen, das der Suedafrika Johann Jacob Jarling urspruenglich Garling hiess. Vielleicht ist es in Afrikaan zu Jarling geworden.

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