Jacob Schön

James Frederick Schön (1803, in Oberweiler near Baden – 30 March 1889, in Chatham) was a German missionary and linguist who was active in Sierra Leone. He also participated in the Niger expedition of 1841.

Biography Schön was born near Baden. After attending the Basel Seminary, Schön attended the Church Missionary Society College in London; he was ordained as a priest in 1832 and immediately went to Sierra Leone. He remained active with the Church Missionary Society until 1853. He received the Volney Prize for his work on the Hausa language in 1877. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oxford University in 1884. He and Elizabeth had nine children and also took in several other children including Sarah Forbes Bonetta.

Works Translations of seven Parables and Discources of our Lord Jesus Christ into the Sherbro Language of West Africa (1839) Journal of the Niger Expedition (1842) Vocabulary and Elements of Grammar of the Haussa Language (1843) Translations of Genesis, Exodus, the Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles into the Hausa Language (1857-1861) Grammar of the Haussa Language (1862) Dictionary of the Hausa Language (1876) Vocabulary of the Mende language (1884) Magana Hausa: Hausa Stories and Fables (1885)

His papers are archived at the University of Birmingham.