Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

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.

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.

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Missionaries Departure

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 Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.) There were seven couples sent to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity. These included two Ordained Preachers, Hiram Bingham and his wife Sybil and Asa Thurston and his wife Lucy; two Teachers, Mr. Samuel Whitney and his wife Mercy and Samuel Ruggles and his wife Mary; a Doctor, Thomas Holman and his wife Lucia; a Printer, Elisha Loomis and his wife Maria; a Farmer, Daniel Chamberlain, his wife and five children.

Along with them were four Hawaiian youths who had been students at the Foreign Mission School at Cornwall Connecticut, Thomas Hopu (his friend on board the ship when he first left the Islands,) William Kanui, John Honoliʻi and Prince Humehume (son of Kauaiʻi’s King Kaumuali‘i and also known as Prince George Kaumuali‘i.) 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 ABCFM in the Hawaiian Islands.

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Common Stock

An often repeated (and unfounded/incorrect) statement is, “The missionaries came to do good, and they did very well.” (Suggesting the missionaries personally profited from their services in the Islands.) A simple review of the facts show that the missionaries were forbidden to “engage in any business or transaction whatever for the sake of private gain” and they did not, and could not, own property individually. “No one can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (money.)”

To supply the mission members, a Common Stock system was initiated – it was a socialistic, rather than capitalistic, economic structure. This was a community-based economic system designed to enable the missionaries to accomplish their goals without having to worry about finding sustenance and shelter – funding came from the continent. Mission family members were allowed to keep personal gifts from family and friends as private property, but those gifts were subtracted from what they would otherwise be entitled to receive from the Depository. In 1863, the ABCFM withdrew financial support for the mission and the Missionary Period ended.

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Laniākea Cave

Reverend Asa and Lucy Thurston were in the Pioneer Company of American Christian missionaries, arriving in Kailua-Kona in 1820. “(T)hey chose a valley, about half a mile from the residence of the governor, and near the entrance of Raniakea (Laniākea,) as the spot where they were most likely to meet with success (for their home.)”

“The part of the wall now standing, is near the mouth of Raniakea (Laniākea,) the spacious cavern … After entering it by a small aperture, they passed on in a direction nearly parallel with the surface; sometimes along a spacious arched way, not less than twenty-five feet high and twenty wide… The cave runs into a deep subterranean pool of very cold water….”