Generally missionaries are sent from their home country to foreign lands to promote their faith. But this was not the case with Francis Dolphijn. Born in the coastal town of Apam, in the Central Region of Ghana, Dolphijn—whose grandfather served in the Dutch Army, stationed in the then Gold Coast (now Ghana) in the late fifteenth century—was a merchant by profession. He traded in rubber, palm products, gold, cotton goods, and hardware. Dolphijn was born into a Methodist Christian family and initially found it hard to accept the Adventist faith when his friend, colleague, and former Methodist believer William Dawson came from the United States of America with his new conviction.1
William had left the shores of Ghana for America in the late 1870s and returned in the late 1880s as a Seventh-day Adventist. On arrival William made it a point to share his newfound faith with all his friends and relatives. Attempts to woo Dolphijn into Adventism did not yield much until he received a copy of the tract Present Truth, an Adventist pamphlet published and distributed by the International Tract Society, from a sea captain who had anchored along the shores of Apam in January 1888. Dolphijn became so engrossed in the pamphlet that he cross-checked all the Bible texts cited in the tract, and on finding the sender’s address, he promptly requested more material. A month later he received a copy of Signs of the Times—another Adventist pamphlet. Within a year Francis Dolphijn had raised a company of 33 believers who were keeping the Sabbath, including his wife and three children, in his hometown, Apam. The group was very anxious to have a deeper knowledge about the Sabbath truth, and sought missionaries to be sent to them so they could be baptized.
Awaiting Baptism
On October 8, 1891, the Foreign Mission Board of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists sent Lawrence C. Chadwick, a board member, to go from Battle Creek, Michigan, on a world tour that included Central America, the West Indies, South America, South Africa, West Africa, and Britain. Chadwick spent several months in West Africa in late 1892. Ghana was the last country on his West African tour and where he enjoyed his adventures the most. Chadwick had the opportunity to work closely with Francis Dolphijn and his small band of Adventist believers. He did not, however, baptize anyone, preferring to defer that to someone else.
The first resident missionaries to Ghana, Karl G. Rudolph and Edward L. Sanford, arrived at Apam, on February 22, 1894, amid a rousing welcome from Dolphijn and his team of believers. With Dolphijn’s guidance the team walked for miles along the shoreline of Ghana, preaching, teaching, and scattering Adventist literature. Unfortunately, after a short five-month stay, Sanford left Ghana because of persistent malaria attacks. Rudolph, however, managed to cope for one and a half years before returning to America. After the first seven months in Apam, Rudolph relocated the mission headquarters to Cape Coast, about 28 miles west of Apam (all in the Central Region of Ghana).
Within a year Francis Dolphijn had raised a company of 33 believers who were keeping the Sabbath.
The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in July 1895 planned to augment the foreign workforce in Ghana with a new group of missionaries under the leadership of Dudley U. Hale. Other members of the team included George T. Kerr, Mrs. Eva E. Kerr, and G. P. Riggs, who arrived at Cape Coast, the new headquarters of the mission in Ghana, October 1895. They were warmly welcomed by Karl Rudolph, the only remaining foreign Adventist missionary in Ghana. After a month of familiarization and acclimatization, Dudley Hale began a search for the ideal place to locate the mission station. On Sunday, November 24, 1895, Hale, Francis Dolphijn, and his son, Isaac, trekked westward of Cape Coast to Elmina, Shama, Sekondi, to as far as Axim (85 miles away) and returned to Cape Coast on December 5, 1895.
Through the work of Hale at Cape Coast, George Peter Grant finally committed himself totally to the Adventist faith in 1896, despite opposition and threats from both his wife and employers. He submitted his resignation letter to the reputable trading firm he was working with for their refusal to grant him Sabbaths off, and joined the Adventist labor force as a literature evangelist. Finally, on Sabbath, March 27, 1897, after more than a decade wait, Pastor Dudley Hale baptized Francis Dolphijn and his two sons, Isaac and Fred, together with George Peter Grant, as Seventh-day Adventists. It was the first Adventist baptism in West Africa.
Denominational Service
Earlier in November 1896 Hale had visited Dolphijn in Apam and spoke about the need to join the Adventist workforce. Dolphijn accepted the invitation and officially became a full-time worker of the church from January 1, 1897, together with George Peter Grant, making them the first two Ghanaians to be formally employed by the Seventh-day Adventist Church on a full-time basis. Dolphijn was transferred to Sekondi (a town 50 miles west of Cape Coast), where he worked tirelessly in proclaiming his faith until he retired from active service. While in Sekondi, he served as a teacher at the Adventist school in Kikam. Upon his retirement Dolphijn returned to Apam and stayed under the care of his daughter Joyce, since he did not remarry after the death of his wife.
Sadly, although all three of Francis Dolphijn’s children were coworkers with their father in his lifetime, they left the Adventist Church after his death. Dolphijn died in Apam sometime between 1910 and 1914. Though he had helped build churches in various parts of the country, Dolphijn had never built one in his hometown, Apam, so his funeral service took place in a Methodist church in Apam. Francis Dolphijn was the first indigenous missionary of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Ghana.
* The primary source for this article is Kofi Owusu-Mensa, Ghana Seventh-day Adventism: A History (Accra: Advent Press, 2005).