Джозеф Крэйн Хартцелль: Американский Миссионерский Епископ

American Missionary Bishop

Joseph Crane Hartzell (June 1, 1842 – September 6, 1928) was an American Missionary Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church who served in the United States and in Africa.

Joseph was born of Methodist parents, Michael and Nancy, on a farm near Moline, Illinois. He was converted to the Christian faith as a boy. In 1863 he rescued four men from drowning in Lake Michigan and was honored by the City of Evanston, Illinois, for his heroism. In 1869 Joseph married Miss Jennie Culver of Chicago. Joseph earned his own education, entering upon an eleven years' course of study at the age of sixteen. He earned a B. D. degree in 1868 from Garrett Biblical Institute. At the same time, Jennie Hartzell was working with the Freedwomen’s Aid Society and was an advocate for the education and training of African American girls, publishing a book on the subject.

When the retirement of Bishop William Taylor made necessary a successor, the 1896 General Conference elected Dr. Hartzell Missionary Bishop for Africa. Bishop Hartzell died September 6, 1928, as a result of injuries sustained during a robbery at his home in Blue Ash, Ohio. Hartzell United Methodist Church, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Hartzell High School, in Mutare, Zimbabwe are also named in his honor. Located 2.5 miles from Bishop Hartzell's home in Blue Ash, the church maintains a number of artifacts related to the Bishop's life as donated by his family. Hartzell Memorial United Methodist Church in Hickory, NC is also named in his honor, as is Hartzell Street in Evanston, Illinois.

Comp. and edited, Christian Educators in Council, record of two important educational conventions, organized by Bishop Hartzell, who gave three addresses: The Freedmen Progressing, The Methodist Episcopal Church in the South Since the War, and a brief farewell word. Published, 1883. Address: Christian Work in Agricultural Districts, Second Ecumenical Conference, Washington, 1891. Address: The Open Door in Africa, First General Missionary Convention, Cleveland, 1903, also a pamphlet. Introduction, Springer, J. M., Heart of Central Africa, 1908. Minutes of African Mission Conferences presented to the General Conference, 1908. Autographed by Bishop Hartzell, in the Methodist Bishops' Collection at the library of Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. Africa Diamond Jubilee Documents, Forward Movements, The Africa Mission, Diamond Investments in Africa, 1908–1909. Unification and Minorities, leaflet, n. d., in the Methodist Bishops' Collection.

Poem, Williams, Dwight, Wreck of the Schooner "Storm," 1891, in the Methodist Bishops' Collection at the library of Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. Account of youthful heroism of Joseph C. Hartzell in 1863 in saving four lives from a wreck on Lake Michigan, in the Methodist Bishops' Collection at the library of Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.

Joseph C. Hartzell Papers, Mss. 506, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge, La.