Hiram Bingham | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

January 16, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Battle of Honolulu – 1826

The Hawaiian Islands in the early-1800s were in a state of social and political upheaval. With Kamehameha’s death in 1819, the subsequent breaking of the kapu by Liholiho and the acceptance of the missionaries and their beliefs meant significant changes were taking place.

The first visit to the Hawaiian Islands by the US Navy was in 1826 when the warship USS Dolphin came into port in Honolulu. Commanding the ship was Lieutenant John Percival (aka “Mad Jack” Percival.)

Percival had been sent to the Pacific to bring the mutineers of a whaling ship to justice and to enforce the settlement of debts owed by Hawaiʻi’s ruling chiefs to American sandalwood dealers.

As the ship sailed into Honolulu Bay, these objectives were not uppermost on the minds of the crew, however. The men of the Dolphin, like mariners then, had expectations of female companionship while in port.

They arrived on January 16, 1826, and were surprised to find the port unusually tranquil and utterly devoid of the welcoming maidens the crew had anticipated.

After making inquiries in the village they learned that, under the influence of the missionaries, the chiefs had not only forbidden the women to swim out to the ships, but had restricted the sale of alcohol. His men were outraged.

In a frenzy, Percival demanded to see the Queen in person, warning that if the leader of the missionaries (Hiram Bingham) interfered, he “will shoot him: that he was ready to fight, for though his vessel was small, she was just like fire.”

Percival attempted to persuade the Queen to release her women, reasoning that “It is not good to taboo the women. It is not so in America!”

The Queen replied, in a letter, that she had a “right to control her own subjects in this matter; that in enforcing the tabu she had not sought for money … she had done no injustice to other nations, or the foreigners who belonged to other nations; and that while seeking specially to save the nation from vice and ruin, they had been lenient to strangers … (and) that strangers, passing from one country to another, are bound, while they remain in a country, to conform to its laws.” (Bingham)

Percival said, “Why tabu the women? Take heed. My people will come: if the women are not forthcoming they will not obey my word. Take care of your men, and I will take care of mine. By and by they will come to get women, and if they do not obtain them, they will fight, and my vessel is just like fire.” (Bingham)

Kaʻahumanu replied, “Why make war upon us without a fault of ours as to restraining our women? We love the Word of God, and therefore hold back our women. Why then would you fight us without cause?” (Bingham)

Finally, able to hold his temper no longer, Percival clenched his fists with rage and shouted that the next day he would issue his men rum and turn them loose, where, if they were still denied, they would pull down the houses of the missionaries and take any women they pleased by force.

Kaʻahumanu replied, “Why are you angry with us for laying a tabu on the women of our own country? Had you brought American women with you, and we had tabued them, you might then justly be displeased with us.” (Bingham)

There were several other crews in port, of whom many sympathized with this commander and a large part of his crew. On a Sunday, the commander of the Dolphin allowed double the usual number of his men to spend the day on shore at Honolulu. The violent among them, and the violent of other crews, attempted to form a coalition to “knock off the tabu.”

First, they knocked out seventy of the windows at Kalanimōkū’s house (where church service was being held, with Kaʻahumanu, Kalanimōkū, Nāmāhana and Boki in attendance.) Then, the mob went on to the home of Hiram Bingham, the leader of the missionaries.

When the mob surged forward and one of the sailors struck Bingham, the riot ended as the Hawaiians responded by clubbing the ringleaders unconscious and overcame the remainder.

Shortly thereafter, the captain was back at the palace, admitting that his men may have overreacted, however, repeated their demands for prostitutes. He then told the Queen that the Dolphin would not leave port until his men were taken care of.

The Hawaiians by this time were very anxious to see the end of this and fearful of further violence, agreed to lift the taboo.

The prostitutes then came to the ship, and apparently the Navy’s Hawaiian mission was accomplished. Captain Percival arranged for the repair of the damaged homes and put two of the most violent sailors in irons.

After a visit of about three months, the Dolphin sailed, having obtained the name of “the mischief making man-of-war.” The incident was quickly christened “The Battle of Honolulu.”

Mad Jack’s actions were later renounced by the United States and resulted in the sending of an envoy to King Kamehameha III.

Kalanimōku wrote a letter to Hiram Bingham concerning the battle – in it he notes, “Here is my message to all of you, our missionary teachers. I am telling you that I do not see your wrongdoing. If I should see you to be wrong, I would tell you all. No, you should all just be good.”

“Give us literacy and we will teach it; and give us the word of God, and we will heed it. Our women are restricted, for we have learned the word of God.”

“Then foreigners come, doing damage to our land, foreigners of America and Britain. Do not be angry, for it is we who are to blame for you being faulted, and not you foreigners.” (Kalanimōku to Bingham, October 28, 1826)

You may see that letter (written in Hawaiian) and its translation in the Ali‘i Letters Collection at Hawaiian Mission Houses – here: https://hmha.missionhouses.org/collections/show/178.

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November 18, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“Oh, father, dear father, do take me back!”

From 1820 to 1848, 12-Companies of missionaries, under the auspices of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), arrived in the Islands. Every group of missionaries arrived by ship, sailing from New England, around Cape Horn and finally reaching the Hawaiian Islands usually after a five-month sea voyage. (Miller)

For the most part, the missionaries were married – typically ‘just married’ a few weeks or months of their departure. In the Pioneer Company, by the middle of the trip, four of the wives were pregnant.

After 164-days at sea, on April 4, 1820, the Thaddeus arrived and anchored at Kailua-Kona on the Island of Hawaiʻi. Hawai‘i’s “Plymouth Rock” is about where the Kailua pier is today.

Starting a few short months after their arrival, the new missionary wives became mothers.

The first child was Levi Loomis, son of the Printer, Elisha and Maria Loomis; he was the first white child born in the Islands. Here is the order of the early missionary births:

July 16, 1820 … Honolulu (Oʻahu) … Levi Loomis
October 19, 1820 … Waimea (Kauai) … Maria Whitney
November 9, 1820 … Honolulu (Oʻahu) … Sophia Bingham
December 22, 1820 … Waimea (Kauai) … Sarah Ruggles
March 2, 1821 … Waimea (Kauai) … Lucia Holman
September 28, 1821 … Honolulu (Oʻahu) … Persis Thurston

More missionaries, and more children, came, later.

By 1853, nearly three-fourths of the native Hawaiian population over the age of sixteen years was literate in their own language. The short time span within which native Hawaiians achieved literacy is remarkable in light of the overall low literacy rates of the United States at that time. (Lucas)

This was fine for the Hawaiians who were beginning to learn to read and write, but the missionary families were looking for expanded education for their children.

There were two major dilemmas, (1) there were a limited number of missionary children and (2) existing schools (which the missionaries taught) served adult Hawaiians (who were taught from a limited curriculum in the Hawaiian language.)

“During the period from infancy to the age of ten or twelve years, children in the almost isolated family of a missionary could be well provided for and instructed in the rudiments of education without a regular school … But after that period, difficulties in most cases multiplied.” (Hiram Bingham)

Missionaries were torn between preaching the gospel and teaching their kids. From 1826 until 1842, young missionary parents began to make a decision seemingly at odds with the idealizing of the family so prevalent in the 19th century; they weighed the possibility of sending them back to New England. The trauma mostly affected families of the first two companies.

“(I)t was the general opinion of the missionaries there that their children over eight or ten years of age, notwithstanding the trial that might be involved, ought to be sent or carried to the United States, if there were friends who would assume a proper guardianship over them”. (Bingham)

“Owing to the then lack of advanced schools in Hawaii, the earlier mission children were all ‘sent home’ around Cape Horn, to ‘be educated.’ This was the darkest day in the life history of the mission child.”

In 1840, as the ship carrying the missionaries’ offspring pulled away from the dock, a distraught seven-year-old, Caroline Armstrong, looking at her father on the shore, the distance between them widening every moment … “Oh, father, dear father, do take me back!”

Her plea echoed in the hearts of the community. In June of that year the mission voted to establish a school for the missionary children at Punahou.

The Missionary Period lasted from 1820 to 1863; during the first 21-years of the Missionary Period, no fewer than 33 children were either sent or taken back to the continent by their parents.

Click HERE to view/download Background Information on Missionary Children

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Sophia Bingham-photo of original painting

October 23, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kaʻahumanu Wall

In the early 1800s, the city of Honolulu went as far as South Street; Kawaiahaʻo Church and Mission Houses (on King Street, on the Diamond Head side of town) were at the edge and outskirts of town.

The flat area between Mānoa and Honolulu was known as Kulaokahu‘a – the “plains.” It was the comparatively level ground below Makiki Valley (between the mauka fertile valleys and the makai wetlands.) This included areas such as Kaka‘ako, Kewalo, Makiki, Pawaʻa and Mōʻiliʻili.

Queen Kaʻahumanu was Kamehameha’s favorite wife. When he died on May 8, 1819, the crown was passed to his son, Liholiho, who would rule as Kamehameha II. Kaʻahumanu created the office of Kuhina Nui (similar to premier, prime minister or regent) and ruled as an equal with Liholiho.

On December 4, 1825, Queen Kaahumanu was baptized into the Protestant faith and received her new name, Elizabeth, then labored earnestly to lead her people to Christ.

In 1829, at the suggestion of Queen Kaʻahumanu (with the likely support of Hoapili), Boki and Liliha gave the lands of Ka Punahou to Hiram and Sybil Bingham, leaders of the first missionary group to Hawaiʻi. Bingham then gave the land to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) to establish Punahou School.

The Binghams built their home there; Kaʻahumanu wanted to be close to them and built hers nearby (the Binghams later built an adobe house, with thatched roof.) A memorial boulder near Old School Hall and the Library marks the location of the makai door of the Bingham home.

Just as in other outlying areas around the islands, roaming cattle became a nuisance. Recall that in the early-1790s Captain George Vancouver gave Kamehameha I gifts of several cattle (a new species to the islands) and Vancouver strongly encouraged Kamehameha to place a 10‐year kapu on them to allow the herd to grow.

In the decades that followed, cattle flourished and turned into a dangerous nuisance. Vast herds destroyed natives’ crops, ate the thatching on houses, and hurt, attacked and sometimes killed people. (Kamehameha III later lifted the kapu in 1830.)

To protect the Bingham’s property and surrounding areas, in 1830, Queen Ka‘ahumanu ordered that a wall should be built from Punchbowl to Mōʻiliʻili. “The object of the structure was to keep cattle grazing on the plains from intruding upon the cultivated region towards the mountains.” (Hawaiian Gazette October 29, 1901)

“Kaahumanu’s wall came from “the reef” (suggesting it was made of coral.) It is an Interesting fact many of the prisoners who built it were serving time for religion’s sake. After the native’s had cast down their idols and been converted, they turned against all forms of idolatry with the zeal new proselytes.” (Hawaiian Gazette October 29, 1901)

“When the Roman Catholic worship came in, the chiefs mistook the use of images’ for idolatry and threw a great many Catholics into prison. The labor which went into the Kaahumanu wall included theirs.” (Hawaiian Gazette October 29, 1901)

“Years afterwards when Curtis Lyons went into the Survey office and laid the streets on the plains he named the thoroughfare which ran alongside the great wall, Stonewall street.” (Hawaiian Gazette October 29, 1901)

The wall followed a trail which was later expanded and was first called Stonewall Street. It was also known as “Mānoa Valley Road;” later, the route was renamed for the shipping magnate, Samuel G. Wilder (and continues to be known as Wilder Avenue.)

While the street was initially called “Stonewall Street,” it does not necessarily immediately suggest the wall was made of rocks.

A decade later the Kawaiahaʻo Church was constructed, it was commonly called the “Stone Church.” However, it is made of giant slabs of coral hewn from ocean reefs, as were other structures, at the time.

Likewise, “(s)uch blocks still appear in the Kawaiahao structure. In the ancient parsonage back of it and in the old house of government next door to the Postoffice and the material for the fence which fronted the “Hale” on Merchant street.” (Hawaiian Gazette October 29, 1901)

However, a later reference suggests the wall, at least at Punahou, may have been made of “stone.” The Friend, in a summary on Punahou history stated, “To protect the Manoa land from grazing cattle she (Kaʻahumanu) called on the governor, Kuakini, to build a long stone wall at its makai side. To mark the boundary, at the makai entrance, two large stones were set up.” (Damon, The Friend, March 1924)

The ‘Pōhaku’ book (Cheevers) suggests this same rock wall configuration, rather than the coral construction noted in the 1901 Hawaiian Gazette article. Pōhaku notes, “About 2,000 men worked on it as each chief was responsible for building one fathom (six feet) of its almost two-mile length (or approximately six-feet of dry laid rock wall, five feet high, per man).”

Irrespective of The Friend’s reference to the “reef,” the rock material in the Kaahumanu stone wall appears the most plausible. The disappearance of the Queen Kaʻahumanu wall is due to the street widening order of the Board of Public Works.

This wasn’t the Islands’ only significant cattle wall. Between 1830 and 1840, Governor Kuakini built a 6-mile wall (from Kailua to Keauhou, on Hawaiʻi Island) that separated the coastal lands from the inland pasture lands (Ka Pā Nui o Kuakini – the Great Wall of Kuakini.)

Punahou’s dry stack rock wall along Punahou Street was constructed in 1834. The night-blooming cereus (known in Hawaiʻi as panini o kapunahou) that today continues to cover the Punahou walls (that back in 1924 was noted to have “world-wide reputation and interest”) was planted in 1836 by Sybil Bingham (Hiram’s wife) from a few branches of the vine she received from a traveler from Mexico. (The Friend)

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Kaahumanu Wall is on the left in this drawing of Punahou School-(MasonArchitects)-1848

Punahou Street looking toward Round Top-(HSA)-PPWD-17-3-027-1900

Oahu College scene of driveway to Old School Hall and E Building, c.1881

Bingham_house-marker-library_in_background

Punahou_Preparatory_School,_Honolulu-(WC)-(1909)

Oahu_College-Old_School_Hall_at_Punahou_School

Ka Punahou (the new spring) Robert Shipman Thurston, Jr. Memorial Chapel, designed by Vladimir Ossipoff in 1967-(MasonArchitects)

October 4, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Nāhiʻenaʻena

The only daughter of Kamehameha the Great and Keōpūolani, Nāhiʻenaʻena was born in 1815; her brothers were Liholiho (Kamehameha II – born circa 1797) and Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III – born 1813.)

Her mother refused to follow the custom of the period and hānai her baby daughter to the rearing of another chief. Keōpūolani wanted to keep the last of her children at her side.

This decision tells us much about the mother’s force of character and meant that Nāhiʻenaʻena was in the very center of the stage during the crucial period in 1819: the illness and death of Kamehameha I, the assumption of the throne by Liholiho as Kamehameha II and the abolition of the kapu (initiated by her mother and Kaʻahumanu.) The princess was four years old when these great changes occurred. (Sinclair)

Toward the end of 1820, the decision was made to move the king’s official residence from Kailua-Kona to Honolulu. In early-1821, Liholiho, with his family, including Keōpūolani, Kauikeaouli and Nāhiʻenaʻena, and the important chiefs, established the seat of government on Oʻahu.

In the spring of 1823, Keōpūolani established a residence away from Honolulu in a grove at the foot of Diamond Head; there she hoped to find a quiet place to restore her health and to hear the new gospel without interruption.

“She, at this time, expressed her earnest desire that her two children, the prince and princess, then able to read and write, might be well educated, and particularly that Nahienaena might be trained up in the habits of Christian and civilized females, like the wives of the missionaries. She wished, too, that the missionaries would pray for Liholiho.” (Bingham)

“The missionaries and their wives earnestly desired to withdraw her (Nāhiʻenaʻena) from the scenes of heathen corruption, and throw around her daily the protecting shield of Christian families. But this could be accomplished only in part, as in that state of the nation she could not well be detached from the native community. She is said to be very amiable and kind, and is universally beloved and respected by her people.” (Bingham)

At the end of May in 1823, Keōpūolani, Nāhiʻenaʻena and Hoapili (Keōpūolani’s husband) moved to Maui and took up residence in Lāhainā. Missionaries Charles Stewart and William Richards were assigned to establish a church and teach “letters and religion”.

The princess and her mother spent warm peaceful days in the study of letters and religion, interrupted occasionally when people came to celebrate their affection for the chiefesses by dancing and singing. Usually a great crowd assembled to watch.

Later that year, Keōpūolani became very ill and died. After Keōpūolani’s death, Nāhiʻenaʻena was placed in the care of Hoapili, her mother’s husband and governor of Maui, and of the two missionary teachers, Stewart and Richards, to whom she was already devoted.

In accordance with Hawaiian custom, Hoapili soon remarried. Nāhiʻenaʻena’s mother had been the first chief to be baptized a Protestant; her stepfather became the first chief to be married in a Christian ceremony. Richards conducted the service which united Hoapili to Kalākua, one of Kamehameha’s former queens.

In 1825, Nāhiʻenaʻena’s brother – King Kamehameha II – traveled to England. To celebrate his return, a yellow feather pāʻū was made for Nāhiʻenaʻena.

A pāʻū was a women’s garment that was typically a rectangular piece of kapa (tapa) wrapped several times around the waist and extended from beneath the bust (for royalty) or the waistline (for commoners) to the knee.

This special pāʻū was about 9-yards long, made of feathers, instead of kapa (it is the largest Hawaiian feather piece ever recorded.) Due to the unfortunate death of Liholiho and his wife Kamāmalu, the pāʻū was worn in grief, rather than celebration.

Hiram Bingham described the occasion, “The young princess had partly wrapped round her waist, above her black silk dress, a splendid yellow feather pau, or robe, nine yards in length and one in breadth, manufactured with skill and taste, at great expense, and designed for her anticipated reception of her brother Liholiho. In its fabrication, the small bright feathers were ingeniously fastened upon a fine netting, spun without wheels or spindles, and wrought by native hands, from the flaxen bark of their olona, and the whole being lined with crimson satin made a beautiful article of “costly array,” for a princess of eight years.”

The problem of a suitable marriage for Nāhiʻenaʻena had been in the minds of the chiefs from the time of her childhood. Before she was ten years old, a possible union between her and her brother was discussed. The purpose of such brother-sister marriages was to concentrate the royal blood so that the issue would have the highest possible rank. (Sinclair)

Queen Keōpūolani had been the issue of a brother-sister marriage, a naha mating of niʻaupiʻo chiefs; her parents had had the same mother but different fathers, both descended from the chiefly lines of Maui and Hawaiʻi. Liholiho had half-sisters among his five wives. They consulted the missionaries, who pointed out that such a marriage was forbidden in the eyes of God. (Sinclair)

There were repeated claims of incestuous behavior between Nāhiʻenaʻena and her brother, Kauikeaouli. On November 25, 1835, Nāhiʻenaʻena and Leleiōhoku (son of Kalanimōku) were married in Waine’e Church; the ceremony was performed by Richards.

She became pregnant the next year and on September 17 she had a son, who lived only a few hours. Nāhiʻenaʻena had been ill and continued to be gravely ill after the childbirth. She died shortly thereafter, December 30, 1836.

On February 14, 1837, Kauikeaouli, King Kamehameha III, was married to Kalama Kapakuhaili. Leleiōhoku married a second time to Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani; he had a son William Pitt Kīnaʻu from his second wife.

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'Nahienaena_Soeur_germaine_du_Roi_des_iles_Sandwich_Tamehameha_III',_Barthélémy_Lauvergne-(WC)-1836

Waineʻe (now Waiola) Church Cemetery-Nāhienaena, daughter of Kamehameha I and Keōpūolani-1836

September 23, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Ordination of Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston

“It was on September 29, 1819, that people interested in the starting of the Sandwich Island mission gathered in the Goshen Congregational church to witness the ordination of Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston.”

“In 1809 two native boys, Obookiah and Hopu, had come from the Sandwich Islands to study in this country. It was during a visit at the mission school in Cornwall, where these boys were studying, that Mr. Bingham and Mr. Thurston became interested in this work and began to think these people who were really ‘in the dark places of the earth.’ They graduated from Andover Theological Seminary in the spring of 1819, and in October of that year they sailed away to foreign lands.”

“The day of the Ordination was lovely, as Dr. A. C. Thompson says, ‘Never did the sun look down more brilliantly on our ample woodlands and our little lakes.’ Many strangers came to witness the inspiring scene, and the homes of all the old families of Goshen were hospitably thrown open to receive these guests.”

September 28, 1869, 50th Anniversary of the Ordination

“‘Of the Sandwich Islands’ mission, Goshen (CT) may not improperly be said to be the birthplace. Before the death of Obookiah, Dr. Harvey was one of those who became instrumental in giving form to the idea and purpose.”

“The Executive Committee of the agency, having in charge the Cornwall school, requested him to prepare a petition to the American Board, that they would send out a mission to the islands in question. Such a petition having been written accordingly, and signed by the committee, was duly presented.”

“In process of time the undertaking was resolved upon, and the Prudential Committee of the ABCFM, having appointed two young men as missionaries, requested the North Consociation of Litchfield County to perform the service of their ordination. …:

“‘Providence smiled noticeably in all circumstances of the ordination. The day was singularly clear, and the air unusually exhilarating. Never did the sun look down more brilliantly on our ample woodlands and our little lakes. The very brooks seemed to leap and foam in special excitement, Mohawk and Ivy Mountains, retouched with autumnal splendors, rose more majestic than ever. The hills clapped their hands.”

“A larger assembly than had ever congregated here thronged the old meeting-house. There were many outside who could find no accommodation within. Nearly all the Foreign Mission School were present; as also several students from the Andover Seminary, who afterwards became missionaries.”

“‘Strangers, too, from a distance were here, the honored and the excellent. There was Governor Treadwell, president of the American Board, firm and dignified. There was Doct. Samuel Worcester, the first Corresponding Secretary of the Board. Far-seeing, of sound judgment, and sound theological views, he was accounted one of the giants.”

“There was Jeremiah Evarts, treasurer of the American Board, and afterwards secretary; sagacious, statesmanly, earnest, Pauline in person and with the pen. The Prudential Committee of the Board also came on from Boston — quite a different journey then from what it is now.’”

“‘The sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Heman Humphrey, who had been a theological pupil of Mr. Hooker in this place, and was afterwards President of Amherst College, from the words: ‘And there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.’ (Joshua xiii: 1.) It was quite in advance of the general spirit and sentiment of the times.’” (Hibbard, History of Goshen)

Humphrey “was also an early and an enthusiastic supporter of Christian Missions. He enjoyed the honor of preaching the sermon at the ordination of the first missionaries of the ABCFM to the Sandwich Islands—Rev. Hiram Bingham and Rev. Asa Thurston. … He was identified with almost every prominent organization in his day for the spread of the Gospel.” (Neill)

“‘Rev. Mr. Perry gave the charge in a manner peculiarly impressive, holding out the large pulpit Bible, and enjoining upon the young missionaries faithfully to follow the instructions of that book. Rev. Dr. Porter of Farmington gave the right hand of fellowship. That saintly man, Jeremiah Hallock, of Canton, offered the consecrating prayer. Father Mills led in the opening devotional exercise, and Dr. Worcester in the closing.’”

“‘Of the pieces sung on that occasion one was ‘Jesus shall Reign,’ one that will not become obsolete or distasteful till the predictions of Psalm seventy-second are fulfilled. But the tide of rising interest culminated at the close of the service. Without previous intimation the two consecrated young men stepped into the broad aisle, and with clear, strong, ringing voices — Thurston, tenor; Bingham, base; sung Melton Mowbray (‘Head of the Church Triumphant’).’”

“‘The effect was electrical. Those young missionaries were looked upon as martyrs. Some pictured them as finding their graves in the bottom of the ocean; some as meeting with death at the hands of savages; some as the welcomed heralds of glad tidings to isles waiting for God’s law, and for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Enthusiasm rose to the highest pitch. There are junctures when nothing but the voice of sacred song can either lift the soul to heights unattained before, or give utterance to its exalted emotions.’”

“‘Such a moment was that. The whole occasion is spoken of, by those now living who were present, as one of thrilling interest. For this region, at least, it was altogether novel. The children of some who were there have caught enthusiasm as they have seen the countenances of fathers and mothers almost transfigured with lofty feeling, while rehearsing that scene and noteworthy occurrences at the Sandwich Islands.’”

“‘The ordination of those first missionaries to the Sandwich Islands, with its antecedents and results, furnished in no inconsiderable measure the staple of conversation among religious circles throughout the county, but more especially here. Hearts and hands before closed were then opened. It was a temporary Christian normal school, an effective missionary institute. Goshen was that week one Bethel.’”

“‘The sentiments and feelings of the community were toned up to a level they had never reached before. It helped to make and keep this the banner town in missionary interest. In proportion to its number of inhabitants and valuation, more was at that time contributed here to the cause, and had been for ten years, than in any other town of the county, and perhaps of the country.’” (Hibbard, History of Goshen) (Asa Thurston had died on the field of his mission in 1868, and Hiram Bingham died a little over a month after the 50th anniversary celebration.)

“Within two weeks after the ordination in Goshen, the missionary company assembled in Boston, to receive their instructions and embark. There, in the vestry of Park Street Church, under the counsels of the officers of the Board, Dr. S. Worcester, Dr. J. Morse, J. Evarts, Esq., and others, the little pioneer band was, on the 15th of Oct., 1819, organized into a Church for transplantation. The members renewed their covenant, and publicly subscribed with their hands unto the Lord, and united in a joyful song.’ (O Happy Day That Fixed My Choice)”

Above text is a summary – Click HERE for more information on Ordination of the Missionaries

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