Friedrich August Ramseyer

Friedrich Augustus Louis Ramseyer also Fritz Ramseyer (7 October 1840 – 6 August 1914) was a Swiss-born Basel missionary, who was captured by the Asante in 1869 in colonial Ghana, together with his wife Rosa Louise Ramseyer (née Bontemps), Basel mission technical staff, Johannes Kühne and French trader, Marie-Joseph Bonnat. Ramseyer was later released in 1874 and pioneered the Christian mission in Kumasi and the rest of Asante. Dating to 1646, Ramsyer's ancestry can be traced to the Emmental in the canton of Bern, known for its cheese-making industry. In 1861, when he was twenty-one years old, he proceeded to the Basel Mission Seminary in Basel, Switzerland, to train as a mission technical staff. In 1864, Fritz Ramseyer arrived on the Gold Coast for the first time to assist the mission in its structural work, completing the construction of the Basel Mission Seminary buildings at Akropong. The Basel Mission then appointed Ramseyer the principal of the boys’ middle school at Akropong, where he began to learn the Twi language. on a fact-finding and diplomatic task; proving to Westminster that the development of infrastructure, particularly roads would open up the natural resource-rich forest Akan hinterland. He sailed to London and argued his case before the parliamentary committee after petitioning the Colonial Secretary. Schrenk was successful in his mission and the Gold Coast remained a British colony. A small museum was built next to the central shrine of Abetifi by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board as a testament of the first dwelling of the Ramseyers at Abetifi and a symbol of interreligious dialogue between traditionalists and Christians. Nothing came of this activity. David Asante later visited Kumasi, where he met Ramseyer when the latter was working as a free missionary. In Ramseyer's diary, he noted that he witnessed 2000 to 3000 slaves, prisoners of war and criminals being used as human sacrifices during his years in captivity in Kumasi. By 12 March 1877, the natives Ramseyer had baptised included Yaw Beeko and his wife, Buruwa, Otieku Kwadwo, Taetta and his wife, Ansaa, Jonathan Kofi Brebo and his wife, Akosua Angyie, Kwabena Gyane and his wife, Ansaa and Osei Yaw. Peter Hall was elected the first Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast from 1918 to 1922. The chapel was christened "Ebenezer" a reference to the Biblical verse in 1 Samuel 7:12, "how far the Lord has helped us"- an allusion to the pain, suffering and tribulations the Ramseyers had endured in Asante. before permanently returning to his home country, Switzerland, after forty-four years residing on the Gold Coast. Achtzig Ansichten von der Goldküste (Westafrika): Nach Originalaufnahmen des Missionars (Eighty views of the Gold Coast (West Africa): Based on the original photographs of the missionary)

Death, memorials and legacy Fritz Ramseyer died from a heart attack on 6 August 1914, aged 73, in Switzerland. Other Presbyterian churches named after him include those at Bubiashie, North Kaneshie, Kwaso, Dansoman, Bompata, Wiaso, Kwahu-Tafo, Kwahu-Bokruwa, Nkwatia Kwahu, Abetifi-Kwahu, Hansua-Techiman and in Columbus, Ohio.