THE KOHLHOFFS

In the history of the church in the Tamil Country, it is a pleasure to recall the faithful and devout services done by missionaries of more than one generation - father and son - in different periods of its history. The names which come to my mind in this connection are those of the Kohlhoffs Rheniuses, and Schaffters. Among these the record of the Kohlhoffs is unique, as Kohlhoffs of three generations --- grandfather, father and son - worked here as faithful servants of Christ for more than one and a half centuries. Bishop Caldwell, who lived during the life time of the Kohlhoff of the third generation (C. S. Kohlhoff), has written about them as follows: "John Balthasar Kohlhoff, the founder of this missionary line, laboured 53 years in India as a missionary. John Caspar Kohlhoff, his son, from his ordination till his death, 57 years. 110 years of labour were thus divided between father and son. The godly succession still continues. Christian Samuel Kohlhoff, grandson of the first of the name, and son of the second, was born on the 15th May 1815. He was ordained on the 6th January 1839; and had therefore completed the 41st year of his ministry when these lines were written in January 1880."1 The missionary line ended on December 3, 1881 when C. S. Kohlhoff died. These remarkable men worked in South-India for an aggregate period of 156 (152) years."2