Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Steward’s House

The Foreign Mission School was instituted in the autumn of 1816, and opened in the beginning of May, 1817 in Cornwall Connecticut. Much of the Foreign Mission School’s campus buildings were acquired through donations. The citizenry of Cornwall donated fourteen acres of land as well as the building that would become the main educational site, which had been built in 1797 as a school house. One of the main campus buildings, and certainly the most social and vibrant, was the Steward’s house. This building was constructed in 1814 and served as the steward’s family home, the school dining hall, a boarding house and a nurse room for sick students.

This weekend, June 16-18, 2017, the community of Cornwall is hosting a bicentennial commemoration of the formation of the Foreign Mission School. In part, this marks the beginning of bicentennial activities for the Hawaiian Mission, whose Pioneer Company landed at Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820. Several young Hawaiians were instrumental in seeing the American Protestant missionaries come to Hawai‘i. ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia was considered a leader of the school’s student body and had planned to return to the Islands as a missionary; unfortunately, he died prior to the mission to Hawai‘i. Among the members in the Pioneer Company were Hopu, Honoli‘i, Kanui and Humehume, all students of the Foreign Mission School.

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Formation of Foreign Mission School

The object of the Foreign Mission School was the education, in the US country, of heathen youth, so that they might be qualified to become useful missionaries, physicians, surgeons, schoolmasters or interpreters, and to communicate to the heathen nations such knowledge in agriculture and the arts, as might prove the means of promoting Christianity and civilization. (The term ‘heathen’ (without the knowledge of Jesus Christ and God) was a term in use at the time (200-years ago.)) This school commenced in May, 1817.

The school’s first student was Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia (Obookiah,) a native Hawaiian from the Island of Hawaiʻi. In its first year, the Foreign Mission School had 12 students, more than half of whom were Hawaiian. “During its brief existence, Cornwall’s Foreign Mission School taught over 100 students. More importantly, however, it connected a small town in Connecticut to larger, international events, such as the flourishing Christian missionary movement. Additionally, it reveals the boundaries of tolerance in the early 1800s.” The school closed in 1826. Folks in Cornwall CT are commemorating the formation of the Foreign Mission School this weekend (June 16-18, 2017).

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Humehume

Humehume was born on Kauai in about 1797 to King Kaumuali‘i and, apparently, a commoner wife. Kaumuali‘i decided to send his son to America; he George was about six years old when he sailed into Providence, RI on June 30, 1805. He eventually enlisted in the US Navy and was wounded during the War of 1812. After the war, Humehume was taken under the wing of the ABCFM and was sent to be educated at the Foreign Mission School at Cornwall, CT.

He returned to the Islands with the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries. Shortly following the death of his father, Humehume joined a group of Kauai chiefs in an unsuccessful rebellion. He was captured and spent the last 1½ years in custody; a victim of influenza, Humehume died on May 3, 1826, six years to the day of his return to Waimea, Kauai.

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Mak-oo-wi-he-na

The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM) “decided to establish a school in this country to train the natives of non-European races to become missionaries to their own peoples.” A notable student there was ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia. Another student, referenced as Mak-oo-wi-he-na from Owhyee (the Island of Hawai‘i), was referred to as David Brainerd (named for the famous early missionary to the Native American Indians, David Brainerd).

“He has been studious, and diligent in duty, his deportment amiable, and his life such as becomes the followers of Christ. He felt much for his countrymen, and expressed desires that he might communicate the gospel to them. … But infinite Wisdom has not thus ordained. In the course of last Winter, he was arrested by disease which proved to be the consumption (tuberculosis).” Mak-oo-wi-he-na – David Brainard – died April 6, 1825.

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Hopu – Kanui – Honoli‘i – Humehume

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) from the northeast United States, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Hawaiian Islands.

Four young Hawaiians joined the Pioneer Company, Hopu (Thomas Hopu) ‘ Hopoo’; Kanui (William Kanui) ‘Tennooe’; Honoli‘i (John Honoli‘i) ‘Honoree’ and Humehume (George Prince) ‘Tamoree’. They arrived in the Islands and anchored of Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.