William Hobart Hare


William Hobart Hare was an American bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

Early life

Son of Rev. George Emlen Hare, William Hobart Hare was born at Princeton, N. J., and educated at the University of Pennsylvania, although he never graduated nor attended seminary before his ordination as a deacon in 1859 and as a priest in 1862.

Career

He preached in Philadelphia at St. Luke's Episcopal Church and St. Paul's Episcopal Church in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood until 1863, when he moved to Minnesota, hoping the climate change would help his wife's heath. However, he returned to Philadelphia to take a position at the Church of the Ascension, then for three years, Hare served as the general agent of the foreign committee of the board of missions. In 1872 he was elected Missionary Bishop of Niobrara, named after the Niobrara River in Nebraska. In 1883 that diocese was split, and Bp. Hare's part was extended to include the State of South Dakota. He wrote several pamphlets on missionary work in the West.
One of the leading missionaries in America, Hare earned the title "the Apostle of the West" for his dedicated work in the rural Dakotas among pioneers and Native Americans.

Death and legacy

Hare died in Atlantic City, New Jersey. His body was returned to South Dakota for burial outside his diocese's cathedral; it was briefly reinterred at the school, and then returned to the cathedral lawn.

Hare is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church on May 17.

Publications