Hartman, George Ernest (1879–1951)

George Ernest Hartman, North American missionary and administrator, dedicated 45 years to the work of the Church. For 32 years he worked for the mission of the Church in South America, when he lived in Argentina and Brazil.

Born on October 21, 1879, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, United States, he accepted the Adventist message in his early youth along with his parents.¹ He married Jeannette Barto and the couple had two children, Evelyn and John Iván.²

G. E. Hartman studied at South Lancaster Academy, Massachusets. From 1897 to 1908 he worked successfully as a stenographer for the General Conference Publishing Association, later as a stenographer and accountant in the offices of the Pennsylvania Conference and at the Pennsylvania Hospital.

In 1909 he moved to South America. He resided in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he first served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Austral Union Conference (current ecclesiastical territory of the South American Division) from 1909 to 1915,³ and then as treasurer for the Austral Union Conference (which at the time included the countries of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay) from 1916 to 1925, as well as manager of the Buenos Aires Publishing House (1909-1918).⁴

After his first vacation, he moved to Brazil where he served as treasurer of the Brazilian South Union from 1926 to 1940. During the following year he was treasurer of the Brazilian Publishing House. He retired in 1941⁵ and died in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States, on November 10, 1951. He always participated with dynamism in the different activities of the Church and in all places that he lived.

Sources

Casella, Aldo S. y Carlos A. Steger. Cien años de bendiciones [100 years of blessings]. Buenos Aires: South American Spanish Publishing House, 2004.

Clouzet, Gastón. “Necrología” [Obituary]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], year 52, n. 2, February 1952, 7.

Hartman, George E. “A las iglesias de Argentina” [To the churches in Argentina]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], May 1910.

Hartman, George E. “A los subscriptores de periódicos” [To newspaper subscribers]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], May 1910.

Hartman, George E. “Informe de colportaje en la Conferencia Unión Sudamericana, December 1910.” [Report of canvassing in the South American Union Conference] La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], March 1911.

La voz del colegio [Voice of the Academy]. Puiggari, Entre Ríos: 1924.

Maas de Chaij, Vivian. Vivian Maas de Chaij to Eugenio Di Dionisio. July 19, 2018.

Mateo Larrea, María Isabel. 100 años de compromiso: Instituto Adventista Florida [100 years of commitment: Buenos Aires Academy]. educaciónadventista.org.ar/iaf, Florida, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2013.

“News Items.” South American Bulletin, vol. 17, n. 9, September 1941.

“Obituaries.” ARH, January 31, 1952.

S., W. A. “In Two South American Cities.” ARH, May 2, 1912.

Notes

1. Gastón Clouzet, “Necrología” [Obituary], La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], year 52, n. 2, 1 February 1952, 7. “Obituaries,” ARH, January 31, 1952, 20. Evelyn Hartman was one of the first three students at the current Buenos Aires Academy, Argentina (1913) with Arturo and Dorita Thomann. See: María Isabel Mateo Larrea, 100 años de compromiso: Instituto Adventista Florida [100 years of commitment: Buenos Aires Academy] (educaciónadventista.org.ar/iaf, Florida, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2013), 18. Her husband was pastor and doctor Ellis R. Maas, who worked as director of Brazil College, River Plate Academy (1938-1940) and was director of Education in South American Division. John I. Hartman worked as Treasurer in Inca Union Mission.↩

2. Vivian Maas de Chaij a Eugenio Di Dionisio, July 19, 2018. Ernest Hartmann's granddaughter wrote providing family information. Evelyn Hartman graduated from River Plate Academy, Entre Ríos, Argentina, in 1924. See the yearbook of River Plate Academy La voz del colegio [Voice of the Academy] (Puiggari, Entre Ríos: 1924), 6, 7.↩

3. See G. E. Hartman’s following articles: “A los subscriptores de periódicos” [To newspaper subscribers], La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], May 1910, 6; “A las iglesias de Argentina” [To the churches in Argentina], La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], May 1910, 16; “Informe de colportaje en la Conferencia Unión Sudamericana, December 1910” [Report of canvassing in the South American Union Conference], La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], March 1911, 13. There are many other similar reports.↩

4. W. A. S., “In Two South American Cities,” ARH, May 2, 1912, 10. Aldo S. Casella y Carlos A. Steger, Cien años de bendiciones [100 years of blessings] (Buenos Aires: South American Spanish Publishing House, 2004), 23, 29.↩

5. “News Items,” South American Bulletin, vol. 17, n. 9, September 1941, 8.↩