Chair

Date

• ca. 1850-ca. 1860

Summary

• Chair used by Bishop Jackson Kemper, St. John Chrysostom Church, Delafield, ca. 1850-1860. This large chair has a tall back and high sides. The plank seat and flat back are mortised to the side elements and reinforced with wooden pins. The thick, flat sides also form the legs of the chair, which are cut into arched shapes. The ornamental elements, including molding the the shape of two pointed arches and a cross with trefoil ends, are attached with small nails.
• According to church history, Bishop Jackson Kemper used this chair while presiding over services at St. John Chrysostom Church in Delafield in the mid-nineteenth century. Born in Dutchess County, New York, Kemper (1789-1870) became the first missionary bishop of the Presbyterian Episcopal Church and the first bishop of the state of Wisconsin. In 1847, he settled permanently in Delafield, Wisconsin, where he established the Nashotah House Seminary. He consecrated St. John Chrysostom Church in 1856.