Kemp, Van Der, John Theodore

Kemp, Van Der, John Theodore a Dutch missionary, was born at Rotterdam in 1748, and studied Oriental languages and theology at the University of Leyden, but after graduation he entered the army in a regiment of dragoons, in which he soon attained the grade of lieutenant. He left the army, however, and turned to the study of medicine at Edinburgh, and in 1791 commenced practicing at Dort; but, in the end, he turned again to theology. The loss of his wife and daughter, who were drowned together, so affected him that he devoted himself exclusively to the service of his divine Master. About this time he wrote a work on St. Paul's theodicy (published. in 1798), and later he went as a missionary to the Hottentots. Arriving at the Cape of Good Hope, he obtained leave from a Kaffire king to settle in his states, but was subsequently driven away by the jealousy of the Dutch settlers. Retained at the Cape by governor Janssens until 1806, he was then permitted by the English governor Baird to settle at Bethelsdorp. The official report of his mission, which he drew up in 1809, does not show him to have been particularly successful in his attempts to civilize the natives. He died at the Cape Dec. 7,1811. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, 27:539. (J. N. P.)