ENGELHARDT, ZEPHYRIN. - Franciscan missionary, born at Bilshausen (Hannover) in Germany on 13 Nov. 1851, died at Santa Barbara (California) on 27 Apr. 1934. Having emigrated in 1852 with his parents to America, to Covington (Kentucky), in 1872 he entered the Franciscan Order and in 1878 was ordained priest. From 1880 to 1887 he was sent as a missionary among the Menominee Indians (Wisconsin), and from 1894 to 1900 among the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, for whom he wrote various pamphlets and edited a magazine in their languages. From 1887 to 1896 and from 1900 until his death, he spent his life in California, devoted especially to the history of those missions.
At Santa Barbara, his residence, he gathered from all over North America an enormous documentary material and devoted himself to many publications. His principal work was: *The Missions and Missionaries of California* (4 vols., San Francisco 1908-16). A lover of truth to the point of scrupulosity, he also aimed to dispel many false accusations and misinterpretations of the Catholic missionary effort.