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Name: REBMANN, Johannes

image of individual

Birth Date: 16 Jan 1820 Gerlingen, Germany

Death Date: 4 Oct 1876 Kornthal, Germany

Nationality: German

First Date: 1846

Last Date: 1875

Profession: A missionary, he was the colleague of Ludwig Krapf. He was a saintly little man who, it is said, travelled over vast areas of Africa armed only with his Bible and an umbrella. First European to discover Mt. Kilimanjaro and, with Krapf, Mt Kenia

Area: Rabai

Married: 1. 1851 Mrs Anna Maria Tyler née Maisch, an Englishwoman who was the first Englishwoman in Kenya (d. 9 Nov 1866 Kisulitini) 2. In Germany 1876 Mrs Louise Finckh née Daublé

Children: Anna Maria's child died a few days' old

Book Reference: Gillett, Weller, Tucker, Drumkey, CMS, Chandler

General Information:

Weller - taken home in 1875 'blind and a wreck'
Tucker - found in Rabai by Sir Bartle Frere in 1873, almost blind
CMS 1846 - Age 26. Of Gerlingen, Wurtemberg. At Basle Seminary and 1844 at CM College. 1845 Trinity Sunday Deacon and Oct 26 Priest by Bishop of London. 1846, Jan 26 to Mombasa, afterwards to Kisulutini, EA; 1851 to Egypt; 1852 to EA; 1857 to Egypt; 18? to EA; 1875 March to England and placed on Disabled Fund. Service 29 years 3 months without once visiting Europe. In his later years blind, yet still continued his linguistic labours. 1876, Oct 4 died at Kornthal, Germany. Buried in same churchyard as Krapf. Compiled Dictionaries in the Swaheli, Kiniki and Nyassa languages etc. ……. Discoverer of Mount Kilima Njaro; and the first to communicate the existence of a great lake or lakes in Central Africa. With Erhardt constructed the famous sketch map of Eq. Africa from Native sources which gave the first impetus to the travels and discoveries in those regions. Married 1851, Mrs Tyler, of the Cairo Female School, who died at Kisulutini, Nov 8 1866 (2) 1876 in Germany, Mrs Finckh, widow of a Missionary who survived him.
Wrote Dictionary of the Kiniassa language

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