The founder of our Family Association, Dr. Gustav Dehning, Bremen, (1882-1970), and his successor, Heinrich Dehning, Barmbostel, (1903-1979), researched the Dehning far into the past.
The oldest Dehnings they found, were Cord Dehning (1616-1679), owner of the Westerend-Farm in Beckedorf (near Hermannburg) and Hans Dehning (1605-1667) of the Dehnern-Farm in Dehnernbockel (near Soltau).

In 2002 Peter Jahnke discovered a third lineage from Bergen, progenitor of this "Bergener" lineage is Peter Denecke (born 1593).
A common root of the three has to be presumed, but couldn't be proved. (That's why, because of heraldic regulations, we have three - a bit different - coat of arms.)
They are the three progenitors of all Dehnings, they all come from the Lüneburger Heide: Cord Dehning is the progenitor of the Beckedorf lineage (I),
Hans Dehning is the progenitor of the Dehnernbockel lineage (II) and
Peter Denecke is the progenitor of the Bergen lineage (III).
From them we count the generations, i. e. they are the first generation of the Dehnings.
The progenitors Cord Dehning and Hans Dehning had numerous descendants, who spread all over Germany and to the USA. To get an overwiew Heinrich Dehning (see above) divided the lineages into lines. He called them after the first settlements, so we can see where the Dehnings settled about 200 years ago. He also numbered the lines.

Der Beckedorfer lineage (I) has the following 8 lines:

	I/1	Beckedorf Line
	I/2	Barmbostel Line
	I/3	Katensen Line
	I/4	Eversen Line
	I/5	Paulmanns-Farm Line
	I/6	Dreilingen Line
	I/7	Bonstorf Line
	I/8	Dehnings-Farm Line

The 22 lines of the Dehnernbockel lineage can be found below. The Bergen lineage consists of only one line.

Following you find the descandants of Cord Dehning (1616-1679), the first of the Beckedorf lineage (I), shown till the Dehnings, who are the beginning of the individual lines, i. e. the first Dehnings of these lines.

Descendents of Cord Dehning
1^st of the Beckedorfer lineage (I)
till the individual lines

(Only Dehnings with Dehning ancestors are shown here. A more detailed representation can be found in the «Festschrift» = Commemorative Publication on occasion of th 80^th Anniversary of our Dehning-Family-Association, 2003.

The 22 Lines of the Dehnernbockel lineage are:

	II/1	Severloh Line
	II/2	Reddingen Line
	II/3	Willighausen Line
	II/4	Wietzendorf Line
	II/5	Hillern-Farm Line
	II/6	Wieckhorst-Farm Line
	II/7	Wieckhorst-Hemser Line
	II/8	Wieckhorst-Hans-Heinrich Line
	II/9	Wieckhorst-Harburg Line
	II/10	Wieckhorst-Christoph Line
	II/11	Wieckhorst-Stelle Line
	II/12	Wieckhorst-Holstein Line
	II/13	Hillern-Jakob Line
	II/14	Bockheber Line
	II/15	Schneverdingen Line
	II/16	Dehnernhof Line
	II/17	Shepherd Lühr Line
	II/18	Dorfmark Line
	II/19	Moorkat Line
	II/20	Marbostel Line
	II/21	Suroide Line
	II/22	Diersbüttel Line

Following you find the descendants of Hans Dehning (1605-1667), the 1^st of the Dehnernbockeler lineage (II), shown till the Dehnings, who are the beginning of the individual lines, i.e. the first Dehnings of these lines.

Descendants of Hans Dehning
1^st of Dehnernbockel lineage (II)
till the individual lines