Charles Hartwell (;

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...

: ''Xià Chálǐ''; Foochow Romanized: ''Hâ Chák-lī''; December 19, 1825 - January 30, 1905) was an American Board missionary to

Foochow Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...

, China in the second half of the 19th century.

Life and work

Hartwell with Chinese preachers and booksellers

Hartwell was born in

Lincoln, Massachusetts Lincoln is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The population was 7,014 according to the 2020 United States Census, including residents of Hanscom Air Force Base that live within town limits. The town, loc ...

on December 19, 1825, and was fitted for college at

Westford Academy Westford Academy is the public high school for the town of Westford, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1792 and is one of the oldest public high schools in the United States. History Westford Academy (WA) was founded as a ...

Westford, Massachusetts Westford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was at 24,643 at the time of the 2020 Census. History Westford began as 'West Chelmsford', a village in the town of Chelmsford. The village of West Chelmsfor ...

. After teaching several months at West Killingly, Hartwell studied

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

at Amherst College in 1849, and received the degree of

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

from the same institution three years later. He was ordained at

on October 13, 1852, entered the service of the

ABCFM The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...

, embarked for China on November 3, and reached

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

on April 16, 1853. Hartwell was located at

(today Fuzhou) on June 9, 1853, and was engaged in missionary work there for the rest of his life, with only three visits to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

: 1865 - 1867, 1877 - 1878, and 1890 - 1891, in all, four years. Hartwell ranked high as a Sinologist. He spoke the Foochow dialect with fluency, and was one of the proposers of the

romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...

of that dialect. In addition to preaching the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

, he translated one fourth of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

into the Foochow colloquial, composed the Three Character and the Four Character Classics in the same dialect, and various tracts and books (including the 2nd edition of the '' Dictionary of the Foochow Dialect''). He also prepared many textbooks for schools (including one series of the so-called ''Hongkong Readers''), wrote a book on

Meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...

, and contributed articles on temperance to English and American journals. Hartwell with Foochow College faculty

The fiftieth anniversary of Hartwell's arrival at

was celebrated on May 26, 1903, a full account of which was issued from the Foochow Mission Press in February, 1904, in a volume entitled ''Jubilee Notes''. Hartwell was married twice during his life. On September 6, 1852 he married his first wife Lucy E. Stearns, who died July 10, 1883 in Foochow. In 1885 he married his second wife Hannah Louisa Plimpton Peet Hartwell. Hartwell died of heart failure in

on January 30, 1905. At the time of his death he was the senior missionary of the American Board in China. His wife died 3 years afterwards. His daughter, Emily Susan Hartwell, remained in the field until 1937.

References and further reading

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartwell, Charles Protestant missionaries in China Christian missionaries in Fujian Protestant writers 1825 births 1905 deaths American sinologists American expatriates in China American Protestant missionaries