Robert Hamill Nassau

Born in 1835, he was educated in medicine and theology before beginning missionary work in the mid-19th century. He served mainly in the area of present-day Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, working among communities including the Mpongwe and Fang, and he became one of the best-known American missionary writers on West Africa.

Alongside preaching and medical work, he wrote extensively about everyday life, religion, and folklore in the region. His books, including Fetichism in West Africa and Where Animals Talk, helped introduce many English-speaking readers to Central African cultures, though they also reflect the missionary viewpoint of his era.

He returned to the United States later in life and died in 1921. Today he is remembered both for his long missionary service and for the detailed, if historically dated, accounts he left behind.