Hege, Daniel (1826-1862)
Daniel Hege, one of the outstanding early leaders of the General Conference Mennonite Church in North America, was born 26 December 1826, at Klein-Karlbach near Grünstadt in the Palatinate, the son of John and Margaret (Bergtholdt) Hege, and emigrated to the United States in 1851. After learning the trade of bookbinding he was educated at the Academy at Schiers (Canton of Graubünden), Switzerland (1848-1850), also at the Evangelical Seminary at Marthasville, Missouri (1852-1855). He taught in a private school near Bloomington, Illinois (1855-1856), and at West Point and Oskaloosa, Iowa (1856-1859). He also preached some for the Mennonite congregation at West Point, Iowa (1856-1859). He married Barbara Lehman 19 July 1857. In 1859 he was called to be the pastor of the Mennonite Church at Summerfield, Illinois. With a great vision of a united and progressive Mennonite Church in the United States, he devoted himself from the very outset of his ministry to the general work of the church. He was one of the delegates to ratify the charter constitution of the new General Conference of the Mennonite Church of North America at Wadsworth, Ohio, in 1861, where he was also elected secretary of the conference. Later he was elected traveling evangelist or home missionary (Reiseprediger), the first to hold such an office among the American Mennonites. He was to serve the scattered congregations and members of the small new conference by preaching and pastoral visits in the homes, and to promote the cause of union and higher education. He was a vigorous advocate of higher education and was active in raising funds to establish such a school in his conference (the Wadsworth School). He returned from Iowa, where he was soliciting funds, to Summerfield seriously ill with typhoid fever, and died prematurely on 30 November 1862.
Bibliography
Das Christliche Volksblatt VII, No. 11 (24 December 1862): 42-43.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. II, 273.
Krehbiel, H. P. The History of the General Conference of the Mennonite Church of North America. n.p., 1898: 93-113, 414-416.
| Author(s) | Delbert L Gratz |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1956 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Gratz, Delbert L. "Hege, Daniel (1826-1862)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 24 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Hege,_Daniel_(1826-1862)&oldid=113171.
APA style
Gratz, Delbert L. (1956). Hege, Daniel (1826-1862). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 24 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Hege,_Daniel_(1826-1862)&oldid=113171.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 689-690. All rights reserved.
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