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Julia Fayerweather Afong

Emmeline, Toney, Nancy, Mary, Julia, Elizabeth, Marie, Henrietta, Alice, Caroline, Helen, Martha, Albert, Melanie, Henry and James

These are the sixteen children (4-boys and 12-girls) of Chun Afong and his wife, Julia Fayerweather Afong (15 would live into adulthood – James died as an infant.)

But wait … we need to step back a few years to get a better perspective.

A legal notice signed by Dr. Gerrit P. Judd, the former missionary doctor, appeared in the newspaper in March 1857. Titled “Julia Fayerweather,” it read: “Having eloped or been enticed away from my guardianship, I forbid all persons harboring or trusting her, under penalty of the law.”

No, wait; let’s go back a little farther.

Julia Hope Kamakia Paʻaikamokalani o Kinau Beckley Fayerweather was the daughter of Abram Henry Fayerweather and Mary Kekahimoku Kolimoalani Beckley (daughter of Captain George Beckley and High Chiefess Elizabeth Ahia) (February 1, 1840.) The Fayerweathers had three children.

Julia’s grandmother, the chiefess Ahia, married Captain George Beckley, one of “Kamehameha’s haoles” and the first commander of the Fort of Honolulu. (Dye)

The Fayerweather daughters, Julia (age 10,) Mary (8) and Hanna (7,) were orphaned in 1850. They were raised by foster parents.

Julia’s foster father was Keaweamahi Kinimaka. (Another hānai child raised in the same family was David Kalākaua (later, King of Hawaiʻi.))

Julia was later placed under the guardianship of missionary Gerrit P Judd.

Julia met Chun Afong (he was a Chinese national who came to Hawaiʻi in 1849 – leaving his Chinese wife and son in China.) By 1855, Afong had made his fortune in retailing, real estate, sugar and rice, and for a long time held the government’s opium license. He was later dubbed, “Merchant Prince of the Sandalwood Mountains” and is Hawaiʻi’s first Chinese millionaire.

When Julia was 15, Chun Afong began to ask for permission to marry from her guardian, Dr. Judd.

The Grand Ball of 1856, celebrating the marriage of King Kamehameha IV and Emma Rooke, was a combined effort of the Chinese merchants of Honolulu and Lāhainā communities; Afong attended.

The March 1857 newspaper proclamation posted by Judd (noted above) was done when Julia was sixteen.

In May 1857, Chun Afong became a naturalized Hawaiian citizen, a requirement for foreigners who wished to wed native Hawaiian women; shortly thereafter, he married the teenager, Julia.

The ceremony took place on June 18, 1857 at Afong’s Nuʻuanu home and was performed by the Reverend Lowell Smith of Kaumakapili Church. (Afong also had a house on the water in Kālia, Waikīkī, where Fort DeRussy is now located.)

Over the following years, the Afongs had 16-children. They sent their firstborn son of his Hawaiian wife to his Chinese wife in Zhongshan in exchange for his China-born son, who was brought to Honolulu to be reared.

Emmeline Afong, their first child, became the hānai child of Keaka (a retainer at Princess Ruth’s home) and Haʻalilio. Emmeline married J. Alfred Magoon, a lawyer – they had seven children.

Alfred Magoon helped found the Sanitary Steam Laundry, invested in Consolidated Amusement Co. and the Honolulu Dairy. He died and Emmeline took over leadership of his business interests. In her 70s, she moved to South Kona and managed the Magoon Ranch at Pāhoehoe – riding horseback and overseeing the cattle ranch. She died in 1946 at age 88.

Eldest son, Toney, decided to live as a Chinese in Asia. Toney married a Chinese woman and became a prominent Hong Kong businessman, the governor of Guangdong for a time and a philanthropist.

All of Afongs’ daughters, with the exception of Emmeline, moved to California, most of them to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Chun Afong returned to China and died peacefully on September 25, 1906 in his home village and is buried there; Julia remained in Hawaiʻi, died February 14, 1919 and is buried at Oʻahu Cemetery, surrounded by many of her descendants.

In 1912, Jack London published a short story called “Chun Ah Chun”, based on the life of Chun Afong and his family. An Afong great-grandson, Eaton Magoon Jr., updated the capitalistic context of London’s story by having Chun market his daughters by “merchandise packaging” them in a musical comedy called Thirteen Daughters.

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Dr Judd’s Secret Instructions

“In case our Independence be not fully recognized, be endangered by the acts of any other Government. or our Sovereignty in peril or rendered of no value, our Royal Domain being exposed to further hostile attacks without just and good reasons, or from any other cause you may find these Instructions necessary.”

“These are to command and empower you, on your behalf to treat and negotiate with any King, President or Government or Agent thereof for the purpose- of placing our Islands under foreign Protection and Rule.”

“And you are hereby further commanded and empowered to treat and negotiate for the sale of and to sell our Sovereignty of the Hawaiian Islands, if, for reasons above mentioned, or for other good causes you may deem it wise and prudent so to do, reserving in all cases unto US the Ratification of any Treaty or Convention you may sign on our behalf.”

“And you are hereby further empowered to bargain for and sell all our Private Lands, and those of our Chiefs, subject to our Ratification and the free concurrence of our Chiefs. Done at the Palace, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaiian Islands, this seventh day of September, AD 1849.” (Signed by Kamehameha III, Keoni Ana and RC Wyllie)

“His Majesty, Kamehameha III, had determined long before these events to dispose of his crown, which had become one of thorns, to the highest bidder.”

“When (King Kamehameha III) sent the last embassy to the United States, England and France, after the French spoliations, he furnished Dr Judd with powers, to which were affixed the royal signature and seal, with the instructions …”

“… to make the best bargain possible for the disposal of the sovereignty of the Islands, in case of failure in negotiating honorable treaties with the governments to which he was accredited.”

“What stronger proof could be given of his confidence in the fidelity of the Minister of Finance? I have seen these documents. and the knowledge that such unlimited power was delegated to my husband, frightened me with his responsibility. I was glad that he did not make use of them.”

“Under the administration of President Pierce the little Hawaiian Kingdom was looked upon with great favor. The road to Washington was very short, shorter probably than it ever will be again.”

“A project for annexation to the United States, alike honorable to both parties, was drawn up by Judge Lee, at the command of the king, and when approved was placed in the hands of the Minister of Foreign Affairs with orders to negotiate with the American Commissioner a treaty upon this basis.”

“The following were some of his Majesty’s reasons for desiring it: His subjects, native born, were decreasing at a fearful rate, in spite of liberal legislation, a superior civilization, and the ameliorating influences of the Gospel.”

“The blood royal might become extinct, as the dynasty of the Kamehamehas hung on a few precarious lives. The king had, as yet, no reliable protection against the repetition of such treatment as he had received from Lord George Paulet and Admiral de Tromelin.”

“His neighbor, Queen Pomare, was already a subject in her own dominions, which England had failed to protect against the French. That he escaped a similar fate, was owing to wiser counsellors, and the good offices of the United States.”

“All the commerce, and nearly every honorable and lucrative position, were already in the hands of foreigners, as well as large tracts of land. This foreign element would increase, and become more and more difficult to control, always requiring an administration of white men.”

“He wanted money; and his people wanted money. Lands would go to piecemeal in mortgage, for sums borrowed at rates of interest fearfully ruinous. By accepting liberal terms, these wants would be met, and the young princes be amply provided with means with which to gratify their tastes for luxury and foreign travel without losing their prestige of birth, rank, and wealth.”

“The Hawaiians were not to be slaves to their new masters, as some ill-disposed people tried to persuade them, but special stipulations would leave them under the laws entitled to the rights of American citizens.”

“So impatient of delay did His Majesty become, that he urged Dr. Judd to charter a schooner privately and go with him to the coast, thence to Washington, where he would close the bargain in person. Dr. Judd assured him that much as he favored the measure of annexation, he could aid it only as it was openly, honorably, and unanimously approved.”

“It was not strange that the young prince, the heir presumptive to the throne, should withhold his consent to the treaty. He had not yet tasted the sweets of supreme power, nor felt the thorns in the royal crown.”

“Time rolled on, and if his Majesty relinquished, under pressure, his Minister of Finance, he did not the scheme of making his kingdom a part and parcel of the United States.”

“The prospect of it suited the foreigners, gave fresh energy to every branch of business, and increased the value of real estate. Heavy capitalists from the adjoining coast were ready to invest their money in public improvements and plantations.”

“American ships-of-war were at hand, anticipating the honor of bearing the important documents, signed and sealed, to Washington.”

“The signatures were yet wanting; His Majesty more determined and impatient than ever, when he was taken suddenly ill, and died in three weeks, December 15, 1854.”

“At the request of his successor, Kamehameha IV, the negotiations that had been carried on with the US Commissioner, Mr. Gregg, were broken off and Chief Justice WL Lee was sent as ambassador to Washington, where he concluded a treaty of reciprocity July 20, 1855.” (Laura Fish Judd, Suppressed Chapter)

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Early Doctors in Hawai‘i

Hawaiian culture had a well-established class of expert priestly physicians known as kāhuna. There were specialists among the kāhuna.

Diagnosticians, kāhuna hāhā, were able to arrive at diagnoses through palpation, observation and communication with the gods.

The kāhuna lā‘au lapa‘au were knowledgeable about botanical medicines. The kāhuna pā‘ao‘ao cared for children, and the kāhuna ho‘ohānau keiki cared for expectant mothers. (Young)

The first Western physicians to arrive in Hawai‘i were ships’ surgeons. On board Captain James Cooks’ HMS Resolution and Discovery in 1778 were 8. On board the HMS Resolution were surgeon Dr. William Anderson and surgeon’s mate Dr. David Samwell. On board the HMS Discovery were surgeon Dr. John Law and surgeon’s mate Dr. William Ellis.

Dr. Anderson, along with the captain of the HMS Discovery, Lt. Charles Clerke, and some of the sailors, already had advanced tuberculosis (and they likely introduced that disease at Waimea and 10 months later at Kealakekua).

Anderson died on August 3, 1779, from tuberculosis after the expedition departed from Kealakekua. He was buried at sea, and Dr. David Samwell was appointed to the position of surgeon on the HMS Resolution.

Later, a Spaniard, Francisco de Paula Marín, settled in the islands sometime around 1793 and effectively became the first resident Western Physician. However, there is some doubt as to whether or not he was a trained doctor.

Another early physician in Hawai‘i was Juan Elliott de Castro, described as surgeon to King Kamehameha. He may have settled in the islands as early as 1811 and had a family here. De Castro was the attending physician at the time of Kamehameha’s death in 1819.

Dr. Meredith Gairdner, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, was with the Hudson’s Bay Company and was stationed on the Columbia River. Dr. Gairdner came to the islands in about 1834, but his health failed, and he died on March 26, 1837, in
Honolulu.

Almost 30 years after Marín settled in Hawai‘i, other Western physicians arrived under the auspices of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM).

Dr. Thomas Holman, Hawai‘i’s first missionary doctor, and his wife Lucia arrived with the Pioneer Company of missionaries in Hawai‘i on April 4, 1820. (Young)

On April 11, King Kamehameha II gave the missionaries permission to stay. However, “The King gives orders that Dr. H(olman) and our teacher must land at Kiarooah – the village where he now resides, and the rest of the family may go to Oahhoo, or Wahhoo.”

“(H)e wanted the Dr. to stay with them, as they had no Physician and appeared much pleased that one had come; as to pulla-pulla (learning), they knew nothing about it. Consequently it was agreed that Dr. H. & Mr. Thurston should stay with the King and the rest of the family go to Oahhoo.” (Lucia Ruggles Holman) The Holman’s left in 1821.

The second missionary physician to come to Hawai‘i was Dr. Abraham Blatchley, with the Second Company, in 1823. Dr. Blatchley’s services were in great demand, and urgent requests came from every island in Hawai‘i.

His “usual” practice territory covered an area of 200 miles on Hawai‘i Island. Often his wife would accompany him on service calls. He was the attending physician when Queen Keōpūolani passed away in Lāhaina, Maui.

Within three years, he was so overworked that he submitted a request to be released from his duties as a missionary physician. This request was rejected, but due to his deteriorating health, he left Hawai‘i in November of 1826.

The third missionary physician to come to Hawai‘i, Dr. Gerritt P. Judd. He arrived in Hawai‘i with the Third Company of missionaries in 1828 and served the ABCFM for 14 years until 1842, when he resigned to enter the service of King Kamehameha III.

Judd had published the first medical textbook in 1838, Anatomia, the only medical textbook written in the Hawaiian language and taught basic anatomy to Hawaiians enrolled at the Mission Seminary (Lahainaluna.)

Later, Judd formed the Islands’ first modern medical school. “On the 9th of November, 1870, he opened a school with ten pupils.” (The Friend, July 1, 1871) The school ended on October 2, 1872, when Laura Fish Judd (Dr Judd’s wife) died.

Judd recommended to the Board of Health that all 10 students be certified and licensed medical physicians. The licenses were issued on October 14, 1872. (Mission Houses)

Dwight Baldwin arrived with the Fourth Company of missionaries in 1831. However, his lack of credentials led the Hawai‘i Medical Society to refuse him a license even though he practiced for 27 years as capably as any of his peers.

Dartmouth Medical College later awarded him an honorary degree in medicine, and he was eventually granted a license to practice in Hawai‘i.

Alonzo Chapin, MD, arrived with the Fifth Company of missionaries in 1832. He assisted Dr. G. P. Judd in providing medical services throughout the islands, mainly on Kauai and Maui. His wife suffered declining health, and they both returned to America in 1835.

Thomas Lafon, MD, arrived with the Eighth Company of missionaries in 1837 and was assigned to Kauai. He was stationed at Kōloa and became the first resident physician for that island.

Dr. Lafon was the first of the sugar plantation doctors, arrangements having been made with the Kōloa Sugar Plantation to care for plantation workers. Dr. Lafon was a staunch abolitionist and opposed the church’s receiving any contributions from slaveowners. He returned to America in 1842.

Seth Lathrop Andrews, MD, in the eighth company of missionaries, arrived with his wife in 1837. In 1852, Dr. Andrews requested
release as a medical missionary and returned to America.

James William Smith, MD, was a member of the Tenth Company of missionaries, arriving in Hawai‘i in 1842. He was assigned to the island of Kauai. In July 1854, Dr. Smith was ordained to the ministry. He served as pastor until 1860, when the ABCFM decided to place the churches under the charge of native ministers and Dr. Smith resigned.

Charles Hinkley Wetmore, MD, arrived with the Twelfth Company of missionaries in 1848. His main responsibility was to care for the families of missionaries. The relatively few deaths from the smallpox epidemic of 1853 in Hilo was due to his diligent immunization work.

He opened the first drugstore in Hilo. His daughter, Frances Matilda, studied medicine at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania and was the first female physician in Hawai‘i.

Sarah Eliza Pierce Emerson was another early female physician who practiced in the islands. She was born in Massachusetts in 1855, came to Hawai‘i as a young child, and married the renowned missionary descendant, Civil War veteran, and physician Nathaniel Bright Emerson. She was trained as a homeopathic physician. (Young) (Most information here is from Young.)

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Missionaries to Government Service

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”), about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in the Hawaiian Islands.

A few of the missionaries left the mission and ultimately worked for the Hawaiian Government; for the most part, they left the mission because the King asked for their assistance working directly for the Kingdom. These included William Richards, Gerritt P Judd, Lorrin Andrews and Richard Armstrong.

William Richards

On October 30, 1822, William Richards married Clarissa, daughter of Levi Lyman, of Northampton, Massachusetts. On November 19, he, with his wife, joined the Second Company of American Protestant missionaries to Hawai‘i. After five months at sea they reached Honolulu on Sunday, April 27, 1823.

In May 1823, Richards and others escorted Keōpūolani (wife of Kamehameha I and mother of King Kamehameha II & III) and her husband Hoapili to Lahaina and set up the Lahaina Mission Station there.

In 1837, after fourteen years of labor, he made a visit to the US, accompanied by his wife and the six oldest children. The health of himself and his wife made such a change desirable, and he wished to provide for the education of his children there. On his return to his post in the spring of 1838, the king and chiefs, asked Richards to work directly with them.

Richards translated Dr Francis Wayland’s ‘Elements of Political Economy’ into Hawaiian and organized discussions with the Chiefs on constitutional governance. Richards was instrumental in helping to transform Hawai‘i into a modern constitutional state with a bill of rights (1839) and a constitution (1840.)

In 1842 he went abroad with Timoteo Haʻalilio as a diplomat seeking British, French and US acknowledgment of Hawaiian independence. William Richards later became the Minister of Public Instruction in 1846, an office which gave him a seat in the King’s Privy Council. and worked with the legislature to make education a legal mandate.

As a member of the Cabinet, he had a larger influence with the young king, probably, than any other persons. In addition to the discharge of the ordinary duties of a Cabinet officer, he preached regularly at the palace on Sunday evening.

On July 18, 1847, while he was at the palace he was suddenly attacked by illness which was brought on by overwork and which led to his of death (November 7, 1847 – at the age of 54.) “Perhaps no man has ever shared more largely in the affections of the Hawaiian people than did Mr. Richards.”

Gerritt P Judd

Judd was a medical missionary, part of the Third Company of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM.) Dr. Judd was sent to replace Dr. Abraham Blatchely, who, because of poor health, had left Hawaiʻi the previous year.

Judd had originally come to the islands to serve as the missionary physician, intending to treat native Hawaiians for the growing number of diseases introduced by foreigners. He immersed himself in the Hawaiian community, becoming a fluent speaker of Hawaiian.

By letter dated May 15, 1842, Kamehameha III and Kekauluohi stated, “Salutations to you, GP Judd. You have been appointed Translator and Recorder for the Government, and for your support and that of your family, we consent that you be paid out of the Government money seven hundred and sixty dollars per annum, to commence from this day.”

As chairman of the treasury board Judd not only organized a system, he also helped to pay off a large public indebtedness and placed the government on a firm financial footing. In November 1843, Judd was appointed secretary of state for foreign affairs, with the full responsibility of dealing with the foreign representatives. He was succeeded by Mr. RC Wyllie, in March 1845, and was then appointed minister of the interior.

In 1846, Judd was transferred from the post of minister of the interior to that of minister of finance (which he held until 1853, when by resignation, he terminated his service with the government.)

In 1852, Judd served with Chief Justice Lee and Judge John Ii on a commission to draft a new constitution. He wrote the first medical book in the Hawaiian language. Later, Judd formed the first Medical School in the Islands (the school had a Hawaiians-only admissions policy.) Judd participated in a pivotal role in Medicine, Finance, Law, Sovereignty, Land Tenure and Governance in the Islands. Gerrit P Judd died in Honolulu on July 12, 1873.

Lorrin Andrews

In November of 1827, Andrews and his wife of three months, Mary Ann, set sail for the Sandwich Islands in the Third Company of missionaries sent to Hawaii by the ABCFM; after a long and unpleasant journey, the party arrived in Maui in March of 1828. Lorrin Andrews became the assistant to Rev. William Richards at Lāhainā and began teaching.

In 1831, the General Meeting of the ABCFM recognized the need for an institution of higher education to train native teachers and other workers to assist in their missionary efforts, resulting in the establishment of the Lahainaluna Seminary.

The seminary was literally built from the ground up by its founding group of twenty-five scholars and Lorrin Andrews became its first principal. In 1834, Andrews had established a printing operation onsite at Lahainaluna. Ultimately, printing was done in Hale Pa‘i (which still stands today.) Lorrin Andrews is credited as the man most responsible for the development of engraving done at Lahianaluna.

Andrews wrote ‘A Vocabulary of Words in the Hawaiian Language.’ “At a general meeting of the Mission in June, 1834, it was voted, ‘That Mr. Andrews prepare a Vocabulary of the Hawaiian Language.

Andrews left the mission in 1842. He left the mission as a matter of conscience because the board in New England had accepted funds from slave owners. Also, in part, it was due to his concern for education of his children.

“On September 19, 1845, Governor Kekūanāo’a appointed former missionary Lorrin Andrews to be judge of foreign cases. Andrews had taught at the mission school at Lahainaluna and was an accomplished scholar of the Hawaiian language. He was not trained in law but was a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary.”

“His role in the courts was to initiate internal procedural uniformity. He began by issuing a “Lex Forti” containing twenty-one rules of practice. Although there were only three lawyers at this time practicing besides Attorney General John Ricord, who undoubtedly drafted the rules, this was the beginning of the internal regulation of the courts. Andrews handled his duties carefully and quietly and did not become notorious or a subject of diplomatic correspondence.”

Richard Armstrong

Richard Armstrong was with the Fifth Company of missionaries; they arrived on May 17, 1832. Armstrong was stationed for a year at the mission in Marquesas Islands; he then replaced the Reverend Green as pastor of Kaʻahumanu Church (Wailuku) in 1836, supervised the construction of two stone meeting houses one at Haiku, and the other at Wailuku. Reverend Green returned to replace Armstrong in 1840.

Between 1836 and 1842, Kawaiahaʻo Church was constructed. Revered as the Protestant “mother church” and often called “the Westminster Abbey of Hawai‘i” this structure is an outgrowth of the original Mission Church founded in Boston and is the first foreign church on O‘ahu (1820.)

Kawaiahaʻo Church was designed and founded by its first pastor, Hiram Bingham. Bingham left the islands on August 3, 1840 and never saw the completed church. Reverend Richard Armstrong replaced Bingham as pastor of Kawaiahaʻo.

Armstrong was pastor of Kawaiahaʻo Church from 1840 to 1848. In 1848 Armstrong left the mission and became Minister of Public Instruction on June 7, 1848, following the death of William Richards. Armstrong was to serve the government for the remainder of his life. He was a member of the Privy Council and the House of Nobles and acted as the royal chaplain.

He set up the Board of Education under the kingdom in 1855 and was its president until his death. Armstrong is known as the “the father of American education in Hawaiʻi.” The government-sponsored education system in Hawaiʻi is the longest running public school system west of the Mississippi River. To this day, Hawaiʻi is the only state to have a completely-centralized State public school system.

Armstrong helped bring better textbooks, qualified teachers and better school buildings. Students were taught in Hawaiian how to read, write, math, geography, singing and to be “God-fearing” citizens. (By 1863, three years after Armstrong’s death, the missionaries stopped being a part of Hawaiʻi’s education system.)

Above text is a summary – Click HERE for more information

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Blending Traditional and Modern Medicine

In the Islands, “Medicine is generally practiced by the priests (kahuna la‘au lapa‘au,) whose contemplative way of life has led them to acquirement of some knowledge of botany …”

“… they understand the use and application of vomits and clysters, which are drawn from the vegetable reign, and sometimes exhibited with success.”

“Topical bleedings is also in use, but a larger share of priestcraft and mummery enters into their practice. Fortunately the good constitutions and temperance of these islanders prevents their having often occasion for the skill of their physicians.” (Shaler, 1804)

The medical practice in the 1820s and 1830s was not as advanced as many people might assume. The end result of treatments by Western doctors and Hawaiian doctors were the same: purging, vomiting, sweating or managing pain.

Disease was not well understood and was attributed to a mixture of outside influences and physical influences of the afflicted person. Climate, age, temperament, gender, lifestyle, and “constitution” (a subjective idea of how susceptible to disease people were) were thought to cause disease.

Remedies included changes of climate, cupping or bloodletting (in order to weaken the disease you had to weaken the patient), changes in diet, herb or plant based ingestible medications, external topical plasters, and chemicals were all part of the Western pharmacology.

Dr Gerrit P Judd was one of the very few Western doctors in Hawai‘i that was interested in learning about Hawaiian medical practices and remedies. He hired Native Hawaiian assistants and apprentices. (Mission Houses)

Judd’s fairness would not let him condemn everything about the native materia medica. No doubt other haole physicians had indulged a curiosity about kahuna medications, might even have tested or used some of them.

But Dr. Judd was the only haole physician of the 19th century who has left evidence that he knew from personal experience the properties of at least some of the native medicines.

Always inquisitive, always sympathetic to the good things his adopted people could offer, and genuinely fond of them as individuals, Judd investigated their pharmacopoeia very early in his career as a physician among them. (Bushnell)

“It has been an object with me not to oppose the practice of the native physicians in mass, but to endeavor by the best means in my power to correct and modify their practice so that it shall save, not kill, the people.”

“It is my intention, if possible, the coming year to make Ho‘ohano (his assistant) acquainted with the native practices as it now exists and make him the agent for collecting facts on the subject.”

“It is out of the question for us to think of putting down the native practice unless we will attend all the sick ourselves, since it is not human nature to be sick & die without seeking some means of alleviation.”

“The idea of improving the native doctors has therefore suggested itself to me as an exceedingly important one demanding immediate attention.” (Judd, Report to Sandwich Islands Mission, 1839)

“At the commencement of the year (1839) I took a young man who had been at the Seminary six years, with a view to giving him instruction in the Medical art.”

“I commenced the investigation of the native practice and by the aid of these two assistants (Ho‘ohano & Kalili) obtained from several native Drs the various doctrines and practices of the art which have come down through the legalized channels mai ka wa kahiko mai (from ancient times.)”

“These investigations occupied several weeks in the early part of the year and have been continued as opportunity afforded.”

“We also instituted a series of experiments on native medicines which resulted pretty much as all experiments of the kind usually do.”

“We found we could prepare from the native Gourd alone, or combined with Koali (morning glory) or Pipa (Japanese plum) and extract which would physic most delightfully & like Brandreths Pills to any amount which might be desirable.” (Judd, Report to Sandwich Islands Mission, 1839)

Over the years Dr Judd modified his practice to include Native Hawaiian ingredients in his treatments. He also published the first medical textbook in 1838, Anatomia, and founded the first medical school in the Kingdom of Hawai‘i in 1870. (Mission Houses)

Anatomia is the only medical textbook written in the Hawaiian language. Dr Judd, for a time the only medical missionary in the Islands, wrote the text in 1838 to teach basic anatomy to Hawaiians enrolled at the Mission Seminary (Lahainaluna.)

Working from a standard elementary textbook of the time, Judd provided his students with more than a simple, straight translation. He devised a new vocabulary and explained medical functions and practices in words that would be understood by a Hawaiian.

Judd’s use of Hawaiian terms and descriptions gives us insights into native cultural and healing practices in the early decades of the nineteenth century.

Anatomia is a valuable addition to the growing collection of translations on native health and will be greatly appreciated by linguists, historians, and students of Hawaiian language and culture. (Mission Houses) The image shows the Judd Dispensatory at Mission Houses.

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