Jackson Kemper (December 24, 1789 – May 24, 1870) in 1835 became the first missionary bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Especially known for his work with Native American peoples, he also founded parishes in what in his youth was considered the Northwest Territory and later became known as the "Old Northwest" (Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Nebraska), hence one appellation as bishop of the "Whole Northwest". Bishop Kemper founded Nashotah House and Racine College in Wisconsin, and from 1859 until his death served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Wisconsin. Early life Baptized David Jackson Kemper by Dr. Benjamin Moore, the Assistant Rector of his parents' congregation at New York City's Trinity Church, he would eventually drop the given name "David." He had been born in the Hudson River Valley of New York, where his parents had taken temporary refuge during a smallpox outbreak in New York City. His father Daniel Kemper had been a Deputy Clothier-General in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. His mother, Elizabeth (Marius) Kemper, descended from well-known families of the Dutch New Amsterdam era. Kemper entered Columbia College at the age of fifteen, where he studied theology under Dr. Henry Hobart and graduated in 1809 as the valedictorian of his class. Career Relocating to Philadelphia, Kemper was ordained a deacon of the Episcopal Church in 1811 by Bishop William White, and a priest in 1814 as he served at Christ Church. Particularly interested in evangelism, Kemper even persuaded his elderly mentor to make a missionary journey to western Pennsylvania during which also he founded St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Wheeling, West Virginia. In 1835, the Episcopal Church's General Convention decided to consecrate missionary bishops to preach the Gospel west of the settled areas. Fr. Kemper was the first chosen. After being consecrated as a bishop he promptly headed west for Indiana and Missouri. Since most clergy who had lived all their lives in the settled East were slow to respond to his call to join him on the frontier, Kemper determined to recruit priests from among men already in the West. He established a training college in St. Louis, Missouri, for that purpose, which failed in 1845 for lack of funding. He went on to found Nashotah House in 1842 and Racine College in Wisconsin. Kemper also founded the mission parish that became the Cathedral Church