This week in Christian history: Carlos Annacondia converts, Jackson Kemper dies, George Louis Williams ordained
Jackson Kemper dies – May 24, 1870
This week marks the anniversary of when Jackson Kemper, the first missionary bishop of The Episcopal Church, known for his work in the American west, died in Delafield, Wisconsin.
A native of Pleasant Valley, New York, Kemper graduated from Columbia College in 1809 and was ordained as a priest in 1814, later helping to found the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society in the 1820s.
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“On Sept. 25, 1835, he was consecrated Missionary Bishop of Indiana and Missouri. His jurisdiction grew to include Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, and Nebraska,” explained The Episcopal Church.
“Kemper visited General Theological Seminary in 1840 and inspired James Lloyd Breck, William Adams, and John Henry Hobart Jr., to offer themselves for missionary work in the west. The following year they went to Wisconsin and founded Nashotah House.”
In 1859, Kemper stepped down from the missionary jurisdictions he oversaw and became the first bishop to lead the Episcopal Diocese of Wisconsin, where he served until his death.
