ABSTRACT
Jackson Kemper was consecrated the first missionary bishop of the Episcopal Church on September 25, 1835, at St. Peters Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Kemper was the first missionary of a diocesan missionary society in Pennsylvania, and he was a leader in the formation of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society in 1820 and 1821. Kemper faced many challenges in his work as missionary bishop. When Bishop Kemper was appointed Missionary Bishop, in 1835, with jurisdiction over Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa, neither of which an organized Diocese, there was but one of the clergy and one church in Missouri, one clergyman and one church in Indiana. Kemper explained his mission work to the 1839 Convention in Indiana: blest with a vigorous constitution and a cheerful disposition, author have been enabled to travel through a large portion of the Western country, rejoicing in the privilege of preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ in many of the obscure parts.
