Zephyrin Engelhardt

Charles was educated at St Francis Seraph College in Cincinnati, Ohio.

After ordination, Father Engelhardt taught for a year at St. Joseph's College, Cleveland, Ohio before becoming a missionary to the Menominee people in Wisconsin.

[1] In 1887, Engelhardt went to New York, where he served as editor of the Weekly Pilgrim of Palestine.

[2] Engelhardt, known as the "Father of Mission History", compiled extensive histories of the twenty-one Spanish missions in Alta California as well as other Franciscan settlements in Baja California and Arizona during the first decades of the 20th century.

Engelhardt's work is today considered to be the standard authority regarding California mission history.