Rt. Rev. William H. Hare Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1465-1466 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	RT. REV. WILLIAM H. HARE.—The Protestant Episcopal church has ever 
retained in her far-reaching service and manifold works for the 
uplifting of humanity the consecrated effort of the most zealous and 
self-abnegating devotees. No privations, no obstacles, no dangers have 
been sufficient to deter her emissaries from carrying the gospel of the 
divine Master to the furthermost corners of the earth, doing good to all 
those "in any ways afflicted or distressed in mind, body or estate." 
Naught but honor and reverence can be accorded to those who thus give 
their lives to the church and to humanity, and it is insistent that due 
record be entered in this connection concerning the labors of the 
present missionary bishop of the state of South Dakota, the sketch in 
hand being more of a personal nature, since in the generic history in 
this publication appears an article outlining the progress of the church 
work in this field. 

	William Hobart Hare was born in the city of Princeton, New Jersey, 
on the 17th of May, 1838, being a son of Rev. George Emlen Hare, D. D., 
and Elizabeth Katherine (Hobart) Hare, the former of whom was born in 
the state of Pennsylvania and the latter in that of New York. Dr. Hare 
was for many years a professor in the divinity school of the Protestant 
Episcopal church in Philadelphia, and was a prominent member of the Old 
Testament committee for the revision of the English version of the 
Bible, being a man of noble character and high intellectual attainments. 
The American branch of the Hare family settled in the city of 
Philadelphia in 1778, and the subject of this sketch is a grandson of 
the famous Bishop Hobart, of New York, and a great-grandson of Rev. 
Thomas Bradbury Chandler, whose name is one of prominence in connection 
with the colonial history of our nation. The founder of the Hobart 
family in the new world was Edmund Hobart, who came hither from Bingham, 
Norfolk county, England, in 1633, and who founded the town of Bingham, 
Massachusetts. He had eight sons and six of the number were graduated in 
Harvard College, the newly established university of the colony. Five of 
them entered the ministry, a profession which had attracted a number of 
representatives of the family in England, the late Earl of 
Buckinghamshire, a member of the family, having been a member of the 
clergy of the established church of England as well as a peer of the 
realm. 

	Bishop Hare was educated in the Episcopal Academy in the city of 
Philadelphia and in the University of Pennsylvania. He then began the 
work of preparing himself for the ministry of the church which his 
honored father had so signally served, entering the Episcopal Divinity 
School, in Philadelphia, of which his father was at the time the 
executive head. Here he completed his ecclesiastical studies and on the 
19th of June, 1859, received deacon's orders at the episcopal hands of 
Bishop Bowman, of the diocese of Pennsylvania. While in the diaconate he 
served as assistant to the rector of St. Luke's parish, Philadelphia. 
After two years he became rector of St. Paul's, Chestnut Hill, 
Philadelphia. 

	He was married on the 30th of October, 1861, to Mary Amory Howe, a 
daughter of Rev. Mark Anthony DeWolfe Howe, who subsequently became 
bishop of the diocese of Central Pennsylvania. She died a few years 
after marriage, leaving one child, Hobart Amory Hare, who is a member of 
the faculty of Jefferson Medical College, in the city of Philadedphia, 
and the author of well-known medical works. In 1862 the subject of this 
sketch received the full holy orders of the priesthood, having been 
ordained by Bishop Alonzo Potter, in St. Paul's church, Chestnut Hill. 
Resigning that cure on account of the illness of his wife, he took 
charge for a year as locum tenens of St. Luke's, Philadelphia. In 1864 
he was chosen rector of the Church of the Ascension and served in this 
capacity until 1870, when he was appointed secretary and general agent 
of the foreign committee of the board of missions of the Episcopal 
church. In October, 1871, the house of bishops elected him missionary 
bishop of Cape Palmas and parts adjacent, in west Africa. The house of 
deputies, however, represented that his services were invaluable in the 
office of which he was at the time incumbent, and the house of bishops 
withdrew the nomination mentioned. On All Saints' day, November, 1872, 
the house of bishops again elected him bishop, with the title of 
missionary bishop of Niobrara, a district in the territory of Dakota, 
and one inhabited at that time chiefly by wild Indians. After somewhat 
of hesitation Bishop Hare accepted the appointment and was consecrated 
in St. Luke's church, Philadelphia, on the 9th of January, 1873, 
receiving simultaneously the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Trinity 
College. Hartford, and Kenyon College, Ohio, while Colun1bia College 
conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology. 

	The wilderness assigned to the young bishop seemed an almost 
unmanageable field, but he betook himself to tent life and traveled over 
the wild country and, having thus made himself familiar with it, he 
gradually divided it into ten departments and placed a clergyman of 
ability and fidelity in charge of each of these departments and the 
missionary work soon fell into shape and was carried on with comparative 
ease. 

	The development of South Dakota and its final admission to 
statehood led to a slight change in the territory assigned to his 
jurisdiction, and in 1883 his title was changed to missionary bishop of 
South Dakota, and he chose Sioux Falls as the see city of his missionary 
diocese. He has labored with all of zeal and earnestness and has infused 
vitality into all departments of church work in his diocese, while he 
has been aided and encouraged by the hearty and faithful co-operation of 
his clergy and his people. It has been his to watch the progress of the 
church in South Dakota from its inception, ever keeping pace with the 
onward march of the years as they have fallen into the abyss of time. He 
has guided the destinies of his church with a hand made strong by power 
from on high, and with the power which came to steady the hand has also 
come the divine light to illume the way. In politics the Bishop gives 
his allegiance to the Republican party, jealously maintaining "the right 
of scratch," and fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order. He 
has witnessed the rise of the state, where he has served as bishop for 
thirty-two years, is loyal to it and its people and has the sincere 
respect and affectionate regard of all with whom he has come in contact 
as a church man and as a citizen. 

	The Bishop was quite alive to the intelligent character of the 
leading people coming into the newly formed state, and to the 
educational privileges they had left behind them in their old homes. It 
was for this reason that the well-known institution. All Saints' School, 
was projected and laid before the people of Sioux Falls. They cordially 
responded and subscribed toward the proposed institution in cash and 
land ten thousand dollars. The school occupies high ground at the head 
of the main street on the southern edge of the city of Sioux Falls on a 
five-acre tract. A large part of the ground slopes off from the building 
towards the town in a beautiful lawn adorned by shrubs and fine shade 
trees. On all sides streets sixty-six feet wide isolate and protect the 
school. In the midst of the grounds stands the building itself, marked 
by striking architectural features. The school has the patronage of many 
influential people of the state. The Bishop has apartments in the 
eastern end of the building and makes his home with the family and the 
institution is a fit culmination of his work.