Early Episcopalianism in Wisconsin: I. Journal of an Episcopalian Missionary's Tour to Green Bay, 1834; II. Documents Relating to the Episcopal Church ... in Green Bay, 1825-41 (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Early Episcopalianism in Wisconsin: I. Journ...)
Excerpt from Early Episcopalianism in Wisconsin: I. Journal of an Episcopalian Missionary's Tour to Green Bay, 1834; II. Documents Relating to the Episcopal Church and Mission in Green Bay, 1825-41
Mrs daniel Whitney Of Green Bay, the Drs nephew, Hoffman, St. Clair, Murray Of New York, Dr. Beaumont'
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Jackson Kemper was an American clergyman. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Wisconsin from 1859 to 1870.
Background
Jackson Kemper was the son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Marius) Kemper. He was born on December 24, 1789 at Pleasant Valley, New York, United States, near the place where his grandfather, Jacob, formerly an officer in the army of the Palatine, had settled soon after 1741. He was christened David Jackson in honor of David Jackson of Philadelphia, who had married his father's sister, but dropped his first name in early life. Daniel Kemper, a soldier in the Revolution, was at one time customs receiver for New York City.
Education
Jackson Kemper was well advanced in his education. He graduated from Columbia College in 1809 as valedictorian of his class, and began the study of theology, being ordained deacon in 1811 and presbyter in 1814. In 1868 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws by Cambridge University.
Career
Very early Kemper developed an interest in the West, making missionary journeys into the wilds of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio. In 1831, he moved to Norwalk, Connecticut. His first missionary journey to the farther West was made in 1834 when he visited the Indian Mission near Green Bay, Wisconsin. Though he was not at all of the pioneer type, his courteous and sympathetic methods were peculiarly successful with frontiersmen.
In 1835, he was elected first missionary bishop of the church, with definite jurisdiction over Missouri and Indiana. His field was almost immediately renamed "the Northwest. " Annual visitations throughout a constantly shifting jurisdiction absorbed much of his time. In 1837, he traveled as far west as Fort Leavenworth. In the winter of 1838, he journeyed on horseback across the unsettled prairies of southwestern Missouri to visit the Seneca Indians just beyond the state boundaries. Reading his Greek Testament in the bar rooms of the Wabash river towns, exchanging anecdotes with trappers along the Missouri, or making kindly contacts with all sorts and conditions of men on the Western roads and rivers, he became a familiar and beloved figure in the Northwest between 1835 and 1859.
He declined an election to the Maryland episcopate in 1838, refusing to desert the missionary field. Missouri, Indiana, and Iowa in turn became independent dioceses, but new areas inevitably developed. From the first, Wisconsin had been a favorite part of his see. In 1854, he became its diocesan, retaining the missionary office as well, and in 1859 he retired from the strenuous labor of keeping abreast of Western settlement and devoted himself exclusively to the diocese of Wisconsin. Bishop Kemper's experience with clergymen who migrated westward was discouraging. It was seldom that the Eastern clergy could adjust themselves to the West, and it seemed necessary, therefore, to provide training for Western men. Kemper College, Missouri, the first attempt to fill this need, ran afoul of financial difficulties in the forties, was torn by faculty animosities which even the tactful and kindly policy of the bishop could not heal, and closed its doors in 1845. Nashotah House in Wisconsin and later Racine College (1852) were more successful.
In church politics Kemper was a high churchman, though never an acrimonious partisan, and under his direction, Nashotah and Racine became prominent for ritualistic observances. From secular politics he held aloof as a religious duty. In his seventy-ninth year (1868) he ventured upon a journey to England to the Council of Bishops.
(Excerpt from Early Episcopalianism in Wisconsin: I. Journ...)
Religion
Kemper was a supporter of the Oxford Movement, although he maintained the importance of separation from the Roman Catholic Church.
Connections
In 1816, Kemper married Jerusha Lyman of Philadelphia who died two years later. He was married a second time, in 1821, to Ann Relf, also of a Philadelphia family. Three children were born of this marriage. His second wife died in 1832.