Hiram Bingham | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 3, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Barque Flora

Francis Allyn Olmsted took a voyage to Hawai‘i, to which he noted, “During the latter part of my collegiate course, my health became very much impaired by a chronic debility of the nervous system, and soon after graduating, the cold air of Autumn admonished me to seek a milder clime for spending the winter.”

“While deliberating upon what would be most desirable in accomplishing the purposes I had in view, a favorable opportunity was offered me to go out as passenger in the whale-ship ‘North America,’ which was fitting out at New-London for a voyage to the Pacific.” (Olmstead)

He sailed as a passenger on the whale-ship ‘North America,’ that sailed from New-London, Connecticut, leaving on October 11, 1839 and arriving at O‘ahu on May 22, 1840, “having sailed more than five thousand miles in a leaky ship, with the pumps going night and day.”

After spending a little over 3-months in the Islands, on August 3, 1840, Olmstead, “bade a long adieu to many kind friends at Honolulu, and established myself in my quarters aboard the barque ‘Flora,’ Captain Spring, bound for New York.” (Olmstead)

“The Flora, is a barque of about two hundred and ninety-three tons burden, nearly a hundred tons smaller than the ‘North America’, and in many other respects is her inferior. She is a merchant vessel, and arrived at Honolulu a short time since, with stores for the Exploring Expedition (Wilkes Expedition).”

“The Flora, is chartered by one of the mercantile houses at Honolulu, and is principally freighted with sugar and molasses, novel exports from the Hawaiian Islands to the United States, a distance of eighteen thousand miles. …”

“The cabin of the Flora is very small, having three state-rooms, one of which belonging to the captain is the only one whose dimensions were intended, for comfort.”

“As the other two are situated upon each quarter of the ship, they are conformed to the shape of the vessel, and are somewhat triangular in their outlines, which renders them very inconvenient; for with the large sea chest I am obliged to admit into mine, there is hardly room enough left to stand up securely.”

“There are twenty passengers in all, who, with the exception of two or three that are to be left at the Society Islands, are to constitute a community by ourselves for many a month, while roving the ocean, in the long voyage to our native land. …” (Olmstead)

Among the passengers were Hiram and Sybil Bingham (and family); Mrs Lucy Thurston and children; and Caroline Armstrong, 9-year-old daughter of missionaries Richard and Clarissa Armstrong).

“The character of the passengers, gives the fairest promises of a happy and profitable voyage. Mr. and Mrs. Bingham, after a residence of twenty years at these remote isles of the sea, during which, amid toils and privations of which we have no adequate conception …”

“… they have seen the christian religion established among a race of idolaters, and have given permanency to a language existing but from generation to generation, have now embarked with their family of three young children, to revisit the land of their fathers, for the recovery of their health …”

“… and then to return again to these islands, after bidding farewell forever to their children, and committing them to the care of a benevolent public.”

“The tide of contending emotions that agitate their hearts can only be imagined. With the thousand perplexities and cares attendant upon making preparation for so long a voyage …”

“… and in separating themselves perhaps forever from a people that had grown up under their instruction, and to whom they had become tenderly attached, they were almost exhausted, and it seemed like a renewal of that depressing sorrow that attended their departure from their native land.”

“The poor natives accompanied them in crowds as they came down to the ship, and thronged the dock, with sorrow depicted in their countenances.”

“Soon the voice of wailing, which had been heard from one or two, became general, and a note of wild lamentation burst forth in a deafening chorus, until by the efforts of two or three of the missionaries, the sorrow of the people was restrained to a more quiet demonstration of their grief.”

“I could not but admire the heroic fortitude with which Mrs. Thurston tore herself away from her affectionate husband, to voyage with her family, consisting of two sons and three daughters, to a far distant country, which had almost become a foreign land, after an exile of twenty years.”

“Poor Mr. Thurston! When he returns to his home upon the rocky shore of Hawaii, how heavily must the lonesome hours pass by, which are no longer enlivened by the presence of his beloved family.”

“There are a father and mother too, who with bursting hearts, commit their little daughter (Caroline Armstrong), of only nine years of age, to the care of Mrs. Bingham, to be borne far away from their presence to a land of strangers.” (Olmstead)

Caroline Armstrong, looking at her father on the shore, the distance between them widening every moment … “Oh, father, dear father, do take me back!” (Judd)

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. (Emanuel)

“Such are some of the heart-rending scenes that are often exhibited in the missionaries’ rife, who not only exile themselves from all they hold dear in their native land, but are ready to sunder every tie of affection, if required by a sense of duty.” (Olmstead)

“We stood alone in thus making the experiment of retaining children on heathen ground. At this time, when the mission was in its twentieth year, more than forty missionaries’ children have been conveyed away by parents, that have retired from this field of labor.”

“Eighteen have been scattered about in the fatherland without parents.” (Lucy Thurston) She was on the trip with her children to provide them with educational opportunities.

“Divine Providence seemed to indicate that one or both of the ordained pioneers of the mission should leave the ground temporarily, at least, though both could not well be spared at once.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Thurston, who thought it their duty to convey their children to the United States, myself, and Mrs. B., with health much impaired had permission to visit our native land. Mrs. B. was too much worn out to go without her husband.”

“Mr. T. chose to stand at his post at Kailua, and send his family with mine, and trusted the arrangement for their children with Mrs. T., the Board, and private friends. Mr. Armstrong took my post at Honolulu.” (Hiram Bingham)

They first headed to Tahiti, then headed to Cap Horn – Friday, January 1, 1841. Land ho! At four bells in the forenoon watch, the dim outline of the coast of South America, was just discernible through the gloom resting upon it, the first sight of terra-firma that has greeted our eyes since leaving Tahiti, a period of three months.”

Then, Wednesday, February 3. At daylight, this morning, the low outline of the coast of the United States, was seen stretching along to the westward of us, not more than ten or twelve miles off. … (February 4, 1841) we came to anchor off Sandy Hook, in six months from the Sandwich Islands.” (Olmstead) (Image shows the North America.)

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North America

August 2, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Glimpse of Honolulu Life in early-1870s

The following is from a ‘Story’ by Clara Lydia (Moseley) Sutherland, granddaughter of Hiram Bingham and daughter of Hiram’s first child Sophia). She gives glimpses of life as a teacher at Kawaiahaʻo Female Seminary and a look of Honolulu in the early-1870s.

Before she “was fifteen, a wonderful thing happened to me which probably changed the whole course of my life. Two of my mother’s sisters, Aunt Lydia and Aunt Lizzie, returned to Honolulu, the home of their birth and engaged in teaching in a school for Hawaiian girls which was called Kawaiahaʻo Seminary.”

“My Aunt Lydia was Principal of this school and she wrote to my mother asking if she couldn’t spare me and let me come out and teach music to her girls, knowing that I was musically inclined.”

She left her home in Union City, Michigan to join them. “Uncle Hiram (II) met us at the wharf that Sunday morning we arrived, and when we reached the house my three aunts gave me such a warm and cordial welcome that I was no longer homesick, but oh! so glad to be here on terra firma.” (Clara Lydia Sutherland)

“Very soon after my arrival in Honolulu I began taking piano lessons from Mr. Mueller, a German teacher. I also took some French lessons from him.”

“Aunt Lydia wished to give me every advantage in the way of music, so she had me take pipe organ lessons from Mr. Atkinson, the organist at Kawaiaha‘o Church.”

“The organ then in use had to be pumped by hand, so when I went over to the church to practice I always took one of the school girls to do the pumping.”

“After I had gained some confidence in the use of the pedals I substituted occasionally for Mrs. Agnes Judd, who was the regular organist at Fort Street Church.”

“This church was thus named because it stood on the corner of Fort and Beretania streets nearly opposite the Catholic Church. Mr. Frear, father of Judge Frear was its pastor at that time.”

“Some years after, it merged with Bethel Church of which Rev. S. M. Damon was pastor. They built a beautiful church on the corner of Beretania and · Richards St. and named it Central Union, and Dr. Beckwith was its first pastor.”

“About two miles out from town at the entrance of Manoa Valley was a school called Punahou (meaning ‘new spring’) and thus named because of the spring which has existed there from time immemorial.”

“This property, consisting of several acres, was given by Boki, one of the chiefs, to my grandfather for educational purposes, so in 1842, a school was started there for the benefit of the children of the missionaries.”

“When I came to the Islands in 1872 this was as yet a small school, compared to its present status. There were only about fifty pupils and there were only two buildings, both built of adobe.”

“One of these was for the Principal and the three teachers and the few pupils who came from the other Islands. The other was the Schoolhouse. The latter is still in existence and is now used by the Music Faculty and called ‘Old Music Hall’.”

“At that time the upper floor was one big schoolroom, and the rooms downstairs were used for classrooms. Mr. E. P. Church was the Principal, and his wife and Miss Haven and Mr. Chickering were the other three teachers.”

“Here I went to school for two years, and it is one of my happy memories, as I loved my teachers and my studies and made friendships which have lasted all my life.”

“Mr. Chickering, my Latin teacher, was my ideal of all that was fine and noble and manly, and I nearly lost my heart to him even at the age of 16.”

“There were no street cars in Honolulu in those days, so the school kept two omnibuses driven by boys living at the school. One went up Nuʻuanu Valley to pick up all the scholars living in that section, and the other took those of us who lived in town, and in the few scattered houses on the plains between Punahou and town.”

“There was not much to be seen but algeroba (kiawe) trees on that dry and dusty plain. King Street was the only thoroughfare.
There was no one living in Manoa Valley except a few natives in their grass huts.”

“That was only a place where we went for picnics on horseback. The bus called for some of us about 8:30 am as school began at 9 o’clock. We used to have some pretty jolly times riding back and forth, and I can remember how certain girls would have a crush on the driver and want to sit up next to him.”

“Human nature has not changed since time began, and there was plenty of flirtation and romance in those days, but we would have been considered very discreet and modest by the present generation.”

“We would take an orange or banana to school to eat at noon, but no regular lunch, so I used to come home between two and three PM nearly starved.”

“They always kept my dinner warm for me in the oven and how I did enjoy the taro! We had it nearly every day instead of potato or rice. That is probably what made me gain in weight so fast, as I had not then learned to eat poi.”

“I was a very busy girl at this time, for besides my school and my piano and organ practice I was giving piano lessons to ten or twelve of the girls in my aunt’s school.”

“I would give one before going to school in the morning, and one or two more in the afternoon. There was an old piano in the dining room where I taught, and on which the girls practiced.”

“In the back parlor was a new one, belonging to Sally King, a half white, and one of my pupils. She and I did our practicing on this.”

“Our nearest neighbors were the Castles and Cookes. The Castles lived next door and the Cookes just across the street in the old Mission House, where my grandparents and some of the other missionaries had lived.”

“This was the first frame house erected in Honolulu, the material for it having been sent around Cape Horn in 1821. It is still in existence, having been carefully preserved by the friends of the missionaries on account of its associations.”

“‘Mother Cooke’, as she was lovingly called by all who knew her, was living here at this time with her three sons, Charlie, Frank and Clarence.”

“The three daughters and oldest son, Joe, had all left the family roof, and were living in homes of their own. Charlie was married but living in the same house with his mother and occupying a three room apartment or wing which had been built onto the east end of the house.”

“These rooms should have been called ‘Honeymoon Haven’ as it is where each of Mother Cooke’s four sons began their married life.”

“The Castles were a large family of nine children, and I came to know them very well, especially the younger ones, George, James, Carrie, Helen and Henry.”

“Carrie, who was nearest my age, was as fond of music as I, and we enjoyed playing duets together …. Mr. Barnard, Clerk of the Court, an elderly gentleman who played the violin, used to give us each an evening a week when he would come to the house and play with us, thus helping us greatly in reading and in our appreciation of good music.”

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Punahou School, Photograph attributed to Charles Burgess-1866

Punahou Omnibus

Punahou Omnibus-1890

Kawaiahao Church in 1885-Look towards Diamond Head

Kawaiahaʻo_Female_Seminary,_Honolulu,_c._1867

Manoa-Lantana and Kiawe-PP-59-6-006

Manoa_valley-BM

Manoa-PP-1-4-024

July 24, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Machu Picchu Commemorations

A story told to some of the early Spanish chroniclers noted a mythical place from which the Incas had come when they started out and to make the beginnings of that great empire which was to embrace a large part of South America.

Thousands of years ago there lived in the highlands of Peru a megalithic folk who developed a remarkable civilization, and who left, as architectural records, such cyclopean structures as the fortresses of Sacsahuaman and Ollantaytambo. These people were attacked by barbarian hordes coming from the south – possibly from the Argentine pampas.

They were defeated, and fled into one of the most inaccessible Andine cañons. Here, in a region strongly defended by nature, they established themselves; here their descendants lived for several centuries. The chief place was called Tampu Tocco.

Eventually regaining their military strength and becoming crowded in this mountainous valley, they left Tampu Tocco, and, under the leadership of three brothers, went out of three windows (or caves) and started for Cuzco.

The migration was slow and deliberate. They eventually reached Cuzco, and there established the Inca kingdom, which through several centuries spread by conquest over the entire plateau, and even as far south as Chile and as far north as Ecuador.

This Inca empire had reached its height when the Spaniards came. The Spaniards were told that Tampu Tocco was at a place called Pacaritampu, a small village a day’s journey southwest of Cuzco and in the Apurimac Valley.

The chroniclers duly noted this location, and it has been taken for granted ever since that Tampu Tocco was at Pacaritampu. (National Geographic, 1913)

Tampu means “tavern,” or “a place of temporary abode.” Tocco means “window.” The legend is distinctly connected with a place of windows, preferably of three windows, from which the three brothers, the heads of three tribes or clans, started out on the campaign that founded the Inca empire.

“So far as I could discover, few travelers have ever taken the trouble to visit Pacaritampu, and no one knew whether there were any buildings with windows, or caves, there.” (Bingham)

Hiram Bingham III was born in Honolulu, on November 19, 1875, the son of missionaries to Micronesia and grandson of Hiram and Sybil Bingham, leader of the Pioneer Company of Missionaries to Hawaii. He completed his studies at Yale, earning a doctorate in Latin American history.

In 1905, Bingham made his first trip to South America, following the route of Simón Bolivar, from Caracas, Venezuela to Bogotá, Colombia. He returned in 1908 and retraced the Spanish trade route from Buenos Aires to Lima.

While in Peru, in February, 1909, he visited Choqquequirau, a recently discovered Inca site that had once been thought to be the last refuge of the Inca rulers after they were defeated by the Spanish explorer, Francisco Pizarro. This visit inspired him with the desire to find the legendary “lost city of the Incas.”

In 1911, Bingham went back to Peru with two goals: to climb Mount Coropuna to see whether it was higher than Mount Aconcagua and to seek out the last capital of the Incas, the almost mystical city of Vilcabamba.

Arriving in Arequipa, in June 1911, he decided that it would not be wise to try to make the climb in winter and instead decided to look for ruins in the valley of the Rio Urubamba. (Encyclopedia)

“In 1911, a young Peruvian boy led an American explorer and Yale historian named Hiram Bingham into the ancient Incan citadel of Machu Picchu. Hidden amidst the breathtaking heights of the Andes, this settlement of temples, tombs and palaces was the Incas’ greatest achievement.”

“Tall, handsome, and sure of his destiny, Bingham believed that Machu Picchu was the Incas’ final refuge, where they fled the Spanish Conquistadors.”

“Bingham made Machu Picchu famous, and his dispatches from the jungle cast him as the swashbuckling hero romanticized today as a true Indiana Jones-like character.” (History)

“Some experts believe that parts of the city, which Bingham named Machu Picchu (Old Peak), are 60 centuries old, which would make it 1,000 years older than ancient Babylon. More recently, if its ruins are interpreted correctly, it was at once an impregnable fortress and a majestic royal capital of an exiled civilization.”

“Built on a saddle between two peaks, Machu Picchu is surrounded by a granite wall, can be entered only by one main gate. Inside is a maze of a thousand ruined houses, temples, palaces, and staircases, all hewn from white granite and dominated by a great granite sundial.”

“In Quechua, language of the sun-worshipping Incas and their present-day descendants, the dial was known as Intihuatana—hitching post of the sun.” (Time)

Four different plaques commemorate the ‘find.’ Two plaques attached to a rock face near the entrance to Machu Picchu pay tribute to Hiram Bingham and his “discovery” of Machu Picchu.

The first plaque was erected in October, 1948, by the Rotary Club of Cusco. It reads (in Spanish): “Cusco is grateful to Hiram Bingham, scientific discoverer of Machu Picchu in 1911.” The second was put in place in 1961. It reads (also in Spanish): “Tribute to Hiram Bingham on the 50th anniversary of the discovery of Machu Picchu.”

The second was put in place in 1961. It reads (also in Spanish): “Tribute to Hiram Bingham on the 50th anniversary of the discovery of Machu Picchu.”

A third bronze plaque marks the 75th anniversary of the “scientific discovery” of Machu Picchu. It doesn’t mention Hiram Bingham, nor does it mention anyone else, apart from a reference to the “sons of Inti” who built Machu Picchu (Inti being the Inca sun god).

In 1993, Peru’s National Institute of Culture decided it was time to pay tribute to the locals who helped Hiram Bingham find his way to Machu Picchu. The sign reads: “The National Institute of Culture Cusco pays homage to Melchor Arteaga, Richarte and Álvarez who lived in Machu Picchu before Hiran [sic] Bingham.” (Atlas Obscura)

Melchor Arteaga was instrumental in Bingham’s expedition to Machu Picchu. A local farmer living at Mandor Pampa near Aguas Calientes, Arteaga knew the location of Machu Picchu and showed Bingham the way.

The other two names, Richarte and Álvarez, refer to two men and their families who lived up near Machu Picchu and still farmed on its lower terraces when Bingham arrived.

Bingham and Arteaga met Toribio Richarte and Anacleto Álvarez on their tough trek up the steep, jungle covered mountain. It was Anacleto’s son, Pablo, who on July 24, 1911 guided Bingham along the last leg of the trek, into the heart of Machu Picchu. (Atlas Obscura)

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1948 Plaque-Machu Picchu

1961 Plaque-Machu Picchu

1993 Tablet-Machu Picchu

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Trapezoidal entry doors at Incan ruins of Machu Picchu.

The staircase leading up the Machhu Picchu.

Machu Picchu NatlGeo

Temple of Three Windows

Inca Story, Peru

The ruins of Machu Picchu.

July 18, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Young Ladies Seminary in York Square

The city of New Haven is located in the southern part of the state of Connecticut along the Long Island Sound. The English Puritans who founded New Haven Colony in 1638 laid out the town according to a grid, known as the ‘Nine Square Plan,’ that made accommodations for future growth.

“Arguably, this makes New Haven America’s first planned town. Incorporated as a city in 1784, early New Haven was a thriving port and mercantile center, as well as home to Yale College. In the 19th century, industry dominated.” (Connecticut History)

“The layout of New Haven’s nine-square grid, though not the plan itself, is attributed to the original settlers’ surveyor, John Brockett. Evidence of this can be found in the Records of the Colony and Plantation of New Haven, from 1638 to 1649:”

“‘Itt is agreed by the towne and accordingly ordered by the court thatt the Neck shall be planted or sowen for the tearme of seaven yeares, and that John Brockett shall goe about laying it out forthwth, and all differences betwixt pty and pty aboute ground formerly broke vp and planted by English there shall be arbitrated by indifferent men wch shall be chosen to that end.’”

“‘Itt is ordered that Mr. Davenports quarter, Mr. Eatons, Mr. Newmans and Mr Tenches quarters shall have their first divisio of upland to begin att the sea side after the small lotts are layd out, and so goe on to the cow pasture, and to have their meaddow in the east meaddowes. ..’”

“Brockett laid out a street a half a mile long running parallel to West Creek, the original landing point for the colonists arriving in Quinnipiac Harbour from Massachusetts aboard the Hector in 1638.”

“Using the street as a baseline, Brockett mapped out a town plat (or area of land) a half-mile square, which was then divided by two parallel streets running east and west and two running north and south.”

“Forming nine equal squares, the plan left the center square as common space with the meetinghouse in the middle. The common space, called the market-place, is today New Haven’s Town Green.”

The other eight squares or quarters were fenced and assigned for house lots in relation to the amount invested in the common stock of the company. … New Haven’s Nine Squares are bounded by the streets known today as George, York, Grove, and State.” (Connecticut History)

“There are several public squares in the city. The central one, commonly called the Green, is equaled by but few in the country. It contains the State House, and three Churches, and is surrounded on all sides by rows of stately Elms.”

“Wooster Square, in the eastern part of the City, is also a beautiful inclosure; also York Square and several smaller ones, in various parts of the city.”

“The City enjoys the reputation of being one of the most beautiful in the United States, and there is probably no other so extensively ornamented with as great a profusion of trees as this. The principal are the elm and maple. From their great abundance in all the streets, New Haven is familiarly called the ‘City of Elms.’” (City Guide to New Haven, 1860)

In 1843, Miss Naomi Emma Morse and her elder widowed sister, Mrs Mary Merrick, moved their Seminary for Young Ladies into a rented house on the North side of York Square.

“(Morse) was born in Westfield, Mass., June 13, 1802 …. the youngest of the twelve children of Jacob and Naomi Morse. Her mother did not survive her birth.”

“Her eldest sister, afterwards the wife of Rev. Lyman Strong, of Colchester, Conn, faithfully performed to her a mother’s part. She was educated at the Westfield Academy, and at Albany, NY.”

“For several years, in company with an older sister, who was afterwards Mrs. Merrick, she taught in Troy, N. Y. Subsequently she spent some time in Virginia, in the family of her brother-in-law, Rev. Stephen Taylor, then professor in the Theological Seminary in Prince Edwards County …”

“… and afterwards, until his death, pastor of a Presbyterian church in Richmond Returning North for a visit, she was induced, in connection with Mrs. Merrick, then residing in New Haven, to open a school for young ladies in that city, which in 1839 had fewer of such institutions than often since.”

“This enterprise prospered and grew into the widely known ‘Young Ladies Seminary in York Square.’ This after a time passed entirely into the hands of Miss Morse. In connection with this, was the great work of her life. She brought to it several qualifications of a high order.”

“Always courteous, quiet, and self-possessed, firm in her purpose, yet gentle and winning in her manner, she readily gained the confidence of her pupils, and strengthened their resolutions to do well.”

“She was happily, by her own varied experience, fitted to sympathize not only with others, but with those who, from peculiarity in health or temperament, especially needed a mother’s care and counsel.”

“She aimed to fit her pupils for the sober realities of life. Truthfulness and fidelity to duty, in her judgment, were more than learning. To be useful was more excellent for a woman than only to be accomplished.”

“Skilful in reading the motives and in discerning the deficiencies, quick also in appreciating the worth and the honest endeavors of those she instructed, she sought with rare patience and tact to correct the one and develop the other.”

“Apparently devoid of selfishness, it was her delight to enter heartily into the plans, and to promote, at whatever cost to herself, the welfare of her friends. Her Christian character was built upon firm faith in the Bible, and deep conviction of the value of the gospel.”

“In her eyes, the young lady who had not become a disciple of Christ, lacked one thing of transcendent importance. Her family and school were repeatedly the scene of a blessed revival, for which her Sabbath instructions aided directly to prepare the way.”

“Not a few of her pupils returned home with new and elevated views of their obligations to live to do good, as well as to prepare for the life to come.”

“To the measure of her pecuniary ability, and often far beyond, she aided girls who desired the advantage of her school and were unable to pay the expense.”

“One of these, now herself honored and beloved, says, ‘A more unselfish person I have never known, nor a purer life. My feeling towards her, from my earliest childhood, was one of extreme veneration and respect.’”

“Another says, ‘I have ever cherished for her the deepest affection – words are weak to tell how much. I know her memory will be ever sweet and precious to those of whom she had the care in early youth. She was untiring in her devotion to the welfare of her pupils.’”

“The continued love and gratitude of her former pupils was manifested a few years ago in a way at once surprising and pleasing to her, and honorable to them.”

“Aug. 24, 1852, (Naomi Emma Morse) became the wife of Rev. Hiram Bingham, who is so widely and favorably known as one of the pioneer missionaries at the Sandwich Islands, where two of his daughters (one of them, educated at Mrs. Bingham’s school) are now engaged in conducting a young ladies’ seminary of a high order.” (Hiram’s first wife, Sybil, died in 1848.)

“In 1864 the school was relinquished; but Mr. and Mrs. Bingham remained in New Haven. After Mr. Bingham’s death, Nov. 11, 1869, her health gradually failed, and partial paralysis made her largely dependent on the kindness of friends …”

“… some of whom thus returned, with filial tenderness and assiduity, the rich fruits of her example and instruction in former years, until suddenly the message came, and she departed to be with the Lord.”

“The world is richer for such a life, and the hearts of many are made at once sorrowful and glad when it disappears. It was fitting that loving friends, as they stood around the coffin to look for the last time on that calm, sweet face, should, by singing some of her favorite hymns, give utterance to their own feelings of Christian hope and thankfulness.” (Congregational Quarterly, 1874)

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July 1, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Temple Street Church

“(T)he first slaves in Connecticut were not chiefly negroes, but Indians taken in battle and afterwards distributed among the settlers. The first Pequot War, for instance, furnished a large number, even a superfluity of servants of this character. There is, however, reason to believe that the two institutions of indian and Negro slavery co-existed for a period”.

“So much was the slave a part of the family that in every meeting house there was an ‘African corner’ where the slave must sit while attending divine service. In one town, to be sure, the seats were hidden from the rest of the congregation by a tall board partition.”

“It was even the custom in Puritan families to catechise the slaves Sunday noon regarding the sermon preached in the morning, a simple method by which many an ignorant black learned the fundamental truths of christianity.”

“(I)n early colonial history (there were) balls given by the blacks of a town, events of much pomp and splendor; military training days of a rather uncertain character and on a greatly reduced scale were regularly held; the slaves even went so far as to hold an annual election for governor.”

“It seems that there were negro governors in several towns and that each was really at the head of the slaves in that immediate vicinity.”

“(T)he annual election of these governors usually took place the Saturday after Election Day; …it took place as late as 1820, (or possibly) later”.

“After the negro governor was declared elected and inducted into office, if such it might be called, the whole black population formed an ‘election parade,’ in which the borrowed horses, saddles and trappings of their masters figured prominently.”

“The Black King, as he was graciously dubbed, was escorted through the streets of the town while the din of fiddles, fifes, drums and brass horns filled the air with an unearthly noise which the blacks themselves modestly described as a ‘martial sound.’”

“The negro nature being what it was, it was impossible that the slave’s privileges should be far reaching. Sometimes a slave might, upon the death of his master, choose with which son he wished to live, but of public privileges, at least in the early part of the eighteenth century, he had none.”

“As in other Northern states, gradual emancipation freed no slaves at once. It simply set up slavery for a long-term natural death. Connecticut finally abolished slavery entirely in 1848.”

“The 1800 census counted 951 Connecticut slaves; the number diminished thereafter to 25 in 1830, but then inexplicably rose to 54 in the 1840 census. After that, slaves were no longer counted in censuses for the northern states.” (Harper, 1899)

“In 1820, Blacks in New Haven were relegated at worship to the balcony of the First Congregational Church, located on the New Haven Green.”

“A group of Black worshippers persuaded Simeon Smith Jocelyn (1799-1879) a white abolitionist and Yale student, to conduct religious services with them at his home.”

“Four men and eighteen women, including Bias Stanley, Dorcas Lanson, Nicholas Cisco, and Adeline Cooper, came together as the first Black congregation in New Haven.” (The church was founded on February 8, 1820, when there were approximately 1,000 Negroes in New Haven. (Johnson-Taylor; New Haven Register))

“In 1824, the congregation organized as the African Ecclesiastical Society and purchased a building at 105 Temple Street. On August 25, 1829, the Western Association of New Haven County formally recognized the Temple Street Congregational Church (as the first African-American church in New Haven) and ordained Simeon Jocelyn as its minister. He served in that position until 1834.” (Johnson-Taylor)

Then, “On account of the failing health of his wife, (Hiram) Bingham was compelled to return to the United States (from Hawai‘i) in 1840, after a period of a little more than twenty years’ labor at the Islands.”

“He continued in the service of the Board during the five following years, and did not until the end of that time wholly abandon the hope of returning to the mission.”

“After so long an absence, however, believing that he could not easily accommodate himself to the new state of things, and unwilling yet to be laid aside from service, he began to act as stated supply to various churches, particularly the church in Chester, Mass., and the Temple Street Church, New Haven, Ct.”

“For over a year he was acting pastor ‘for the Congregational colored people of this city,’ as he wrote his oldest daughter; but he did not know ‘how long I shall supply them, with what compensation they will feel able to give me.’” (Congregational Quarterly)

“The Temple Street Church had a reputation as a ‘haven’ for fugitive slaves. It does not appear whether he was aware of that, but with the coming of the Civil War (Hiram) became a passionate supporter of the ‘cause of our Country and of Human Liberty.’” (Alfred Bingham)

The Temple Street Congregational Church congregation purchased the old North Church Mission Chapel at 100 Dixwell Avenue and moved there in 1886; the church was renamed the Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church (the oldest African American UCC Church in the world).

In 1967-1968, the Church was rebuilt at 217 Dixwell Avenue. Throughout its history, the church has been at the forefront in the struggle of human rights, civil rights and justice.

Its early pastors were leaders, even ‘conductors’ of the Underground Railroad and antislavery movements and the Amistad Incident of 1839. Slavery was not abolished in Connecticut until 1848. (Johnson-Taylor; New Haven Register)

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