Bartel, Henry C. (1873-1965)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1965 Feb 25 p. 7

Birth date: 1873 February 9, Russia
Date of Death: 1965 February 20, Kansas

text of obituary:

Pioneer China Missionary Called by Death at Age 92

Hillsboro, Kansas. — Rev. Henry C. Bartel, pioneer of Mennonite missions in China, died at the Pleasantview Home at Inman, Kan. on Feb. 20 at the age of 92.

The memorial service was conducted Feb. 23 in the Parkview Mennonite Brethren Church in Hillsboro of which he was a member. He was originally a member of the Gnadenau Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Church which later became Parkview. Burial was in the Mennonite Brethren cemetery in Hillsboro.

A native of Russia, Rev. Bartel was married to Nellie Schmidt at Berne, Ind. in 1900.

Rev. and Mrs. Bartel left for China in 1901 shortly after the Boxer Rebellion. After several years they opened an area in North China consisting of approximately 7,000 villages. The work grew in spite of almost insurmountable obstacles and led to the organization of the China Mennonite Mission Society in 1912 in America. The Society consisted of individuals belonging to the K. M. B., E. M. B., and Mennonite Brethren Conferences. The field was extended and by 1940 had about 10,000 baptized believers.

Rev. Bartel helped to select a field and establish Rev. H. J. Brown as the first General Conference Mennonite missionary in China. He also assisted the K. M. B. Conference and its missionaries F. V. Wiebes to begin a work in Mongolia. When the Japanese invasion made it impossible for him to continue working in North China, he explored areas in West China which were assumed by the Mennonite Brethren Conference.

When it beame impossible to carry on because of Communist activity, Rev. Bartel left China in 1952.

Mrs. Bartel died in China in 1946. The following children survive: Loyal, still in China; Paul, dean of Canadian Bible College, Regina, Sask.; Agnes, Mrs. John D. Wieneke, Inman; Jonathan missionary in Japan; and Elsie, Mrs. Max Eisenbraun in Flanagan, Ill., and their families.

The Mennonite obituary: 1965 Mar 16 p. 172

---

MLA Personal Photos Collection

Biographical note:
Gombin, Prussia (Sobin, Poland)
Son of Henry Frank and Maria (Kliewer) Bartel
Married Nellie Schmidt 1900 November 4, Berne, Indiana

Bethel alumni note:

Photo holdings:
With wife -- Los Angeles, California
With wife and 3 children -- ca. 1909 Marion, Kansas (2 poses)
With wife and family (prayer card) -- China

Sources:
This Mountain Is Mine, p. 15
Alice (Wiens) Bartel (verbal) 1939
Ramseyer, Mennonites in China p. 103, 107
Grandma Online Profile #312230
Find A Grave 9501348 (unknown location)