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Costen Jordan Harrell

American bishop (1885–1971)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 31, 2026
Entity authorityQ5175099
Source-derived summary

Costen Jordan Harrell (February 12, 1885 – December 28, 1970) was a bishop of The Methodist Church in the United States, elected in 1944.

Early life

Costen was born on February 12, 1885, on his grandfather's plantation, about five miles north of Sunbury, Gates County, North Carolina. He is of early English American descent, with a Methodist inheritance on both sides of his family. His great grandfather was a class leader under Bishop Francis Asbury. Costen was the son of Samuel Isaac and Isadore (Costen) Harrell. Costen married Amy Patton Walden 6 June 1917.

Costen earned the A.B. degree in 1906 from Trinity College (now Duke University). He earned the B.D. and M.A. degrees in 1910 from Vanderbilt University.

Career

Harrell entered the Traveling Ministry of the Tennessee Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1909. He was ordained in 1911.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Costen Jordan Harrell” as american bishop (1885–1971). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1885, 1970, 1944, 1917—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1885-02-12. The account is most persuasive where Costen, Jordan and Harrell can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as american bishop (1885–1971). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5175099. VIAF identifies the subject as 232312490. The Library of Congress control number is n2012012076. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1885, 1970, 1944 and 1917.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Costen Jordan Harrell”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Costen Jordan Harrell primary sources, Costen Jordan Harrell archive and Costen research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Costen Jordan Harrell”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Costen Jordan Harrell” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.