Russians in Hawaii | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

May 25, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Boris Ignatieff

Boris Ivanovitch Ignatieff was born December 4, 1874 to a prominent Don Cossack family. A brother became Governor-General of Irkutsk Province after high rank in the Imperial Army.

Boris “fought for half a dozen Balkan governments before he was 30, was in one army after another almost continuously. Was cited for bravery and decorated 12 times in 10 years, and only left the Balkans when, for the moment, there was peace there.” (Montana Standard, December 8, 1929)

At 17, he saved his Russian commander’s life under fire from the Turkish army. His criticism of the Russian regime led to his exile when he was 20.

“Went to South America. And for several years was a real ‘soldier of fortune,’ fighting with different armies. But always for what he considered to be the right; was in numerous engagements, great and small, and was again decorated.”

“Tried living in peace in the United States for a time, but could not stand the monotony. Enlisted and fought in the Spanish-American War.” (Montana Standard, December 8, 1929)

He became a US citizen and took the name Sam Johnson. Johnson had no use whatever for “anything humdrum” and would do almost anything to get into the thick of things.

He made way to Honolulu in 1893 via the merchant marine and service in the Argentine Army (wounded, with decorations). Entered service as a private in the Hawaiian National Guard, rising to Brigadier General and Hawai‘i’s third Adjutant General.

Although he had reached the envious post of militia brigadier general, he relinquished his commission and had become a private again when, in his rage, he had found that he was not being sent to Europe to fight in World War I.

Stationed in Hawaii, he had decided that if he renounced his rank and started all over again in the States, he might have a chance to get into the fight. (Faulstich)

“So I resigned my commission and went to the States to get into training. I thought I would be recommissioned and sent to France where I could pot a few Krauts.” (Johnson; Faulstich)

He transferred to the Regular Army as Major in 1915, apparently expecting US to fight Germany. He commanded US troops [27th Rgt, 33 Div, American Expeditionary Forces (Siberia)] on the troopship USS Sheridan en route to Vladivostok, 1918. He was a major figure in the International Police Force in Siberia.

While with the allied forces, he “was sent to Vladivostock in command of the second expedition of 4,000 men in Camp Fremont, and there became chief of the international Military Police, where he rendered distinguished service.”

“Heard of the capture and imprisonment of a General Romanovsky, broke through the lines under heavy machine gun fire, engaged the general’s guard in a hand-to-hand fight, rescued the general and his family, and got them out of Russia.”

“As a token of his appreciation, the general took from his own coat a certain flaming medal of honor and pinned it on …. When the latter came to examine it, he found it was the medal of the officer’s order, Cross of St George, the highest Russian honor for valor – and the one he had denied at 17 because of his youth.” Montana Standard, December 8, 1929)

He lived in the Philippines for a time and managed a large plantation there. Then he bought a ranch in Texas. He later was liquor enforcement chief in San Francisco during prohibition.

He lived with Mrs. Johnson in an apartment on Lombard Street, and ultimately had been confined to his bed or a chair. He died in San Francisco, February 24, 1948.

Years after his Siberian sojourn, Johnson passed away quitely in his sleep at the Fort Miley Veterans’ Hospital near San Francisco. His moment of death was unlike his life. As a soldier of fortune, he had taken part in unnumbered battle in uncounted wars. The rewards of his military achievements, however, live on. Johnson was awarded nearly eighty decorations. (Faulstich)

He received three decorations from the Argentine Republic; the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) and Siberian campaign medal from the United States; DSO from Great Britain; the Croix de Guerre with palm from France …

Emblem of the Knight of the Crown and Order of the Crown of Italy from Italy; Distinguished Service War Cross from Czechoslovakia; the Rising Sun, Imperial Order of Meiji, from Japan …

Striped Tiger of the Order of Wen-Hu from China; Order of the White Eagle with sword from Serbia, and officers Order of St. George and a dozen other decorations from Russia.

The US Distinguished Service Cross was for actions November 17-18, 1919 in rescuing non-combatants (including, apparently, a cat) caught in a crossfire between Russian factions in Vladivostok.

“On three successive occasions Major Johnson went through a zone swept by intense fire of contending factions to the railroad station and brought out noncombatants through the continuous fire from rifles and machine guns.” Military Times)

He also won a Carnegie Medal for Heroism in a civilian rescue in Hawaii in 1915. (Holscher) (Lots of information here is from Orr, Faulstich and Holscher.)

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Boris Ignatieff-Samuel Johnson-Retiree News

January 31, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Russians are Coming

The 1700s and 1800s were a time of imperial expansion and colonial occupation for many European nations, including Russia. In 1733, Russian Tsar Peter I commissioned the Great Northern Expedition, an ambitious exploration of Eastern Siberia and the Northern Pacific Ocean.

Vitus Bering (1681-1741), a Dane in the service of the Russian Navy, and Aleksei Chirikov (1703-1748) a Captain in the Russian Navy, were commissioned to explore and map Russia’s northeast coast.

In 1741, their explorations landed them in Alaska and they realized that the Siberian fur trade could be profitably extended further east. In the beginning, private companies conducted the fur trade throughout the Aleutian Islands and around Kodiak. (NPS)

In 1799, Tsar Paul I consolidated these private companies into one entity, the Russian American Company. This gave the Russian American Company (RAC) a monopoly on Russia’s North American trade. It also entrusted the RAC with the government of Russia’s North American colonies. (NPS)

During the early part of this century Russian America was governed by Count Baranoff, who resided at Sitka, he was a ‘rough, rugged, hospitable, hard-drinking old Russian; somewhat of a soldier, somewhat of a trader; above all, a boon companion of the old roystering school, with a strong cross of the bear.’ (Alexander)

When Baranof laid down the management of the Russian American Company, the dominion of the Czar in North America was at its greatest breadth

Its outposts were from St. Michael to Ross in California; from Sitka to Attu Island. For nearly 30 years he had been extending the limits of the possessions of his Imperial Master (Andrews)

Anxious to establish a trade with the Sandwich Islands, and well aware of their growing importance, in 1814, Baranoff sent the Bering to negotiate with the native monarch. (Dall)

Hawai‘i’s Russian story starts when three-masted Bering (sometimes spelled Behring) wrecked on the shores of Kaua‘i’s Waimea Bay early on the morning of January 31, 1815. The Behring had a load of seal skins/otter pelts bound for the Russian-American Trading Company in Sitka, Alaska.

The ship’s cargo and the sailors’ possessions were confiscated by Kaua‘i’s ruler, Kaumuali‘i.

The Russian-American Company (the owner of the ship and its cargo) sent Bavarian Georg Anton Schäffer to the Hawaiian Islands to retrieve the cargo or seek appropriate payment.

Later that year, Schäffer arrived in Honolulu. There, Kamehameha granted him permission to build a storehouse near Honolulu Harbor.

But, instead, Schäffer began building a fort and raised the Russian flag. When Kamehameha discovered this, he sent several of his men to remove the Russians from O‘ahu, by force, if necessary. The Russians judiciously chose to sail for Kaua‘i, instead of risking bloodshed.

Once on Kaua‘i, Schäffer gained the confidence of King Kaumuali‘i, when he promised the king that the Russian Tsar would help him to break free of Kamehameha’s rule.

“It would appear that the Russians had determined to form a settlement upon these islands; at least, preparations were made for the purpose; and I was informed by the commandant, that if I chose, I might get a situation as interpreter.”

“Amongst other things, I told him that I understood the Russians had some intention of forming a settlement on the Sandwich islands.”

“This reached the captain’s ears; and he gave me a severe reprimand, for having, as he expressed it, betrayed their secrets.
He desired me to say no more on the subject in future, otherwise I should not be permitted to quit the ship.”

“I know not what obstacle prevented this plan from being carried into effect; but although the Neva remained several months in the country, I never heard any more of the settlement.” (Campbell)

In 1817, however, it was discovered that Schäffer did not have the support of the Russian Tsar. He was forced to leave Hawai‘i, and Captain Alexander Adams, a Scotsman who served in the navy of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, raised the Kingdom of Hawai‘i flag over the fort in October 1817.

Eventually, over-hunting greatly diminished the number of sea otters and fur seals in the North Pacific. By the 1850s, New Archangel, which once owed its existence to the fur trade depended instead on a shipyard, a fish saltery, sawmills and an ice-exporting business.

The RAC and the Russian government no longer profited from the colony, instead focusing their main commercial activities on tea importing. The Crimean War highlighted Russian America’s vulnerability to attack by other European nations.

The Tsar decided to sell in 1867 rather than lose the territory in another war. The US States bought Alaska for $7.2 million, or approximately 2 cents per acre, and Russia ended its 126-year-old North American enterprise. (NPS)

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January 27, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Russian Colonization Thoughts in 1808

“There is nothing certain about trade with the islands; King Kamehameha, who lives on the main island, Hawaii, did not allow his subjects to engage in trade.”

“He did all the trading himself, maintaining large warehouses filled with European goods. He was not willing to sell his goods at a reasonable price.” (Hagemeister; Pierce)

“Because of the climate, one of these islands with small harbors can produce foods in quantities sufficient to supply [the population] of a large part of Asiatic Russia …”

“… sugar-cane, from which rum as well as sugar can be obtained; rice, which has been planted as an experiment and has yielded a good crop; also the bread plant, taro, which is similar to flour and is an important item.”

“If we are to undertake a settlement, we should start it on the island of Molokai, which is more fertile than the others. In the southern part there is a port for small boats. Near this island are the best fisheries.” (Hagemeister; Pierce)

“It would appear that the Russians had determined to form a settlement on these islands; at least, preparations were made for the purpose; and I was informed by the commander that if I chose I might get a situation as interpreter.”

“Being sure of meeting with American vessels at the Sandwich islands, in which I might get to Europe or America, I expressed a desire to embrace this opportunity of quitting Kodiak, and was accordingly permitted to take my passage in the ship.” (Campbell)

The Neva had a crew of seventy-five seamen, belonging to the Russian imperial service, and was commanded by Captain Hageimeister (Leontii Adrianovich Gagemeister (German: Karl August Ludwig von Hagemeister)), who had been bred in the British navy, and could speak English fluently. They left December 11, 1808.

They sailed for the Sandwich Islands, with instructions to establish a colony there, and to survey the field with a view to future occupation by the Russians.”

On January 27, 1809, “at day break, we discovered the mountains of Owhyhee, at the distance of ten leagues. In the afternoon, we were close in with the land, and coasted along the north side of the island.”

“We made sail in the evening, and reached Mowee the following day. … (and) weighed on the morning of tile 29th, and passing between the islands of Morokai and Ranai, reached the harbour of Hanaroora, on the south side of Wahoo, the same evening.” (Campbell)

“Arriving at a harbor on the southern side of O‘ahu, the ship was boarded by a large canoe, in which was seated, dressed in European costume, King Kamehameha, then the potentate of the Hawaiian group.”

“‘Immediately on his coming on board,’ says (Alexander) Campbell, a Scotch sailor who acted as Hagemeister’s interpreter, ‘the king entered into earnest conversation with the captain. Among other questions, he asked whether the ship was English or American.’”

“‘Being informed that she was Russian, he answered, ‘Meitei, meitei,’ or ‘Very good.’”

“‘A handsome scarlet cloak, edged and ornamented with ermine, was presented to him from the governor of the Aleutian Islands.’”

“‘After trying it on, he gave it to his attendants to be taken ashore. I never saw him use it afterwards. In other canoes came Tamena, one of his queens, Crymakoo, his brother-in-law, and other chiefs of inferior rank.’” (Bancroft)

“Fortunately, the Scotchman, Alexander Campbell, was with the expedition in the capacity of interpreter, and in conversation with a countryman at Lāhainā (MacCallum) in a moment of lucky indiscretion let the Russian cat out of the bag by revealing the secret purpose of the expedition …”

“… for which he was soundly rated by the captain for his frankness, who immediately sought to cloak his real purpose by giving out that he had an eye single to trade.”

“Though nothing came of this colonization scheme at the time, it had an eye-opening effect on Kamehameha, who the next year made advances towards placing his kingdom under the protection of the British flag.” (Emerson)

“(N)o attempt was made to found a settlement, though, if we can believe Kamehameha, Hagemeister tried to bring the natives of O‘ahu under subjection by threatening that ships of war should be sent against them.”

“After calling at other islands in the Hawaiian group, and bartering seal skins and walrus tusks for salt, sandalwood, and pearls, the captain sailed for Kamchatka, and thence for Novo Arkhangelsk, setting forth on his homeward voyage the following year.”

“In his report to Baranof, whom, as we shall see later, he succeeded in office, he states that taro, maize, and sugar could be purchased at moderate prices in Oahu and the neighboring islands, but that European goods were held at extravagant rates.”

“The control of the company’s affairs had long been felt as too severe a strain by the chief manager, who was now more than sixty years of age.”

“He had several times requested that a successor be appointed, and twice his request had been granted, but on both occasions the official who was sent to relieve him died on the way.” (Bancroft)

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December 3, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Nikolai Konstantinovich Sudzilovskii

Nikolai Konstantinovich Sudzilovskii was born December 3, 1850 in Mogilev, Byelorussia to a noble family. He entered the St. Petersburg University law department but dropped out on the next year and entered medical department of the Kiev University where he did not finish his studies.

During his student years Sudzilovskii embarked on what was to become a lifetime career as a political activist. In 1874 he fled Russia, sought by the czarist police for violation of Article 193 of Russia’s Criminal Code – a prohibition against revolutionary propaganda and agitation. (Hayashida & Kittelson)

He went to London where he interned for a while at St. George’s Hospital and once shared a speaker’s platform at a rally with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Sudzilovskii later turned up in Geneva where he married his first wife by whom he had two daughters. In 1875 he arrived in Bucharest, registered in Bucharest University’s medical school. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1876. (Hayashida & Kittelson)

“From Roumania the young fugitive went to Bulgaria, thence to Greece, where he married the woman who has since shared with him the perils attending his frequent journeys to the Russian borders, and they then went to Paris.” It was here that Sudzilovshii took on the assumed name Nicholas Russel.

“At the end of several years’ practice as a physician in the French capital the doctor and his wife came to San Francisco. …. (In 1892) Dr Russel and his wife removed to Hawai‘i.”

“Where he, with the assurance of a lucrative employment, believed that his life’s work could be pursued under equally if not better conditions than in (San Francisco).” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 12, 1905)

Russel served as the Waianae Plantation physician until 1895. His activities and impressions of Hawaii during this period are recounted in two serialized articles, ‘In a village by the ocean,’ and ‘Among the Hawaiian volcanoes,’ which he wrote for his Russian audience in 1893 and 1895. (Hayashida & Kittelson)

“Russel felt that the 1893 Revolution was disastrous for the Hawaiian and opposed annexation because, ‘The rapacious state with white capitalists at its head would to the utmost and unnecessarily restrain the independent Kanaka, would subject him to the iron law of the economic minimum, and would make him adapt to a very intensive economy.’”

“Instead he favored an independent Republic with a strong central government, ‘The social, national, economic, and religious diversity and mixture, make necessary the firm authority of government; and this independence from foreign interference cannot be achieved without a prolonged and painful process of civil dissension.’” (Hayashida & Kittelson)

In 1897 Russel auctioned off the unexpired lease on his Punchbowl home and moved to Hilo. And on March 27, 1897, the Hilo Tribune noted that Russel had “Received 100 acres just back of Mr. Fulcher’s tract on the Volcano Road …”

He “let contracts for clearing and planting seventy five acres of it in coffee … purchased a place with twenty-six acres in coffee near Mountain View with frontage on the main road. A scheme of the Doctor’s is to bring a number of Russian families and locate them on his Olaa plantation.” (Hayashida & Kittelson)

“Settling in a modest home but a few miles from the base of the volcanic Mauna Loa he frequently, for a time, corresponded with his old friends in San Francisco, to whom he confided many of the details of the inner workings of his great scheme to promote revolution in Russia.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 12, 1905)

Russel’s idyllic retreat from political affairs was shattered in 1898 by the Republic’s imposition of a valuation tax on coffee. He opposed this tax and acted as attorney for a group of Olaa coffee growers who sought its repeal before the Hilo Tax Appeals Board in August 1898.

In 1898 the United States annexed Hawaii, providing Russel with the impetus to become further involved in Territorial politics. Hawaii’s transition from a Republic to an American Territory involved electing a Territorial Legislature on November 6, 1900.

The major contending political parties were the Republicans and the Democrats. Robert Wilcox formed the Home Rule Party. (“Home Rule leaders capitalized on the anti-haole resentment among the Hawaiians and during the campaign issued a number of decidedly racial statements.”) (Hayashida & Kittelson)

While Russel was not nominated, “The leaders of the Independent Home Rule party may place Dr. N. Russel on the Independent Senatorial ticket for Hawaii in place of one of the present nominees. … ‘It is almost an assured fact that Dr. N. Russel will be a Senator.’”

“Early in March, 1901, a steamer from Honolulu brought the news that Dr. Russel had been elected a member of the first Territorial Senate, of which he had been chosen president. With his love for agitation he had drifted into politics in the islands and had been persuaded to enter the Senatorial contest, in which he was successful.”

“As president of the first Senate, however, his career was a short one. His position prohibited him from taking an active part in the debates, as he eagerly desired …”

“… and finally, when the Senate was disturbed by a heated controversy over some matter of state, the doctor suddenly resigned the president and, taking his place among the other members of the legislative body, he was daily found in the midst of the exciting oratory on the floor.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 12, 1905)

“Dr. Russel in his resignation from the honorable and coveted position of President of the Senate, made some strong remarks upon the conduct of that body. No paper hero has been in a position to make such an indictment as President Russel.”

“Dr. Russel in his charge to the Senate one had almost said the party – said that the time of the Senate had been ‘wasted in debate upon trivial matters which are of no interest to the people of this Territory.’ ‘He sorrowfully says the Senate is an inefficient body.’” (Hawaiian Star, March 28, 1901)

In the House there were twenty-three full-blooded, or nearly full-blooded, Hawaiians, and seven white men, twenty of the whole number having been elected on the ticket of the Kuakoa Home Rula – Home-rule party, and nine Republicans, with one man who was elected on an independent ticket of his own. The Senate had six Republicans and nine Home Rulers. (Leslie’s Weekly, March 30,1901)

That first legislative session of the Territorial Legislature was later nicknamed the ‘Lady Dog Legislature’. It relates to multiple measures and extensive discussion seeking amendment to the taxes charged on dogs (reducing the female dog tax from $3 to $1 – the rate on male dogs.) The press likewise criticized the legislature.

In 1901, 1903 and 1905 there was successive decline in representation by Home Rule candidates in the Legislature, although there continued to be a total of around 30-Hawaiians (out of 45) in the Legislature. (Report of the Governor, 1920)

The next election (1907,) there was only 1-Home Rule party member serving in the Senate, and none in the House; however, a total of 32-Hawaiians were in the Legislature. With Republicans dominating both chambers, it is clear that most of the Hawaiians were Republicans. (Report of the Governor, 1920)

Russel lived in Hawaii until 1905, when he moved to Japan to conduct revolutionary propaganda among the Russian POWs there. (Tikhonov)

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October 22, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

‘We are learning the Star Spangled Banner’

The first commercially-viable sugar plantation, Ladd and Co., was started at Kōloa on Kaua‘i in 1835. It was to change the face of Hawai‘i forever, launching an entire economy, lifestyle and practice of mono-cropping that lasted for well over a century.

Hawaiʻi had the basic natural resources needed to grow sugar: land, sun and water. Hawai‘i’s economy turned toward sugar in the decades between 1860 and 1880; these twenty years were pivotal in building the plantation system.

A century after Captain James Cook’s arrival in Hawaiʻi, sugar plantations started to dominate the landscape. However, a shortage of laborers to work in the growing (in size and number) sugar plantations became a challenge. The only answer was imported labor.

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” a section of which provided the legal basis for contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

There were three big waves of workforce immigration: Chinese 1852; Japanese 1885 and Filipinos 1905; several smaller, but substantial, migrations also occurred: Portuguese 1877; Norwegians 1880; Germans 1881; Puerto Ricans 1900; Koreans 1902 and Spanish 1907.

Then, in May 1909 on Oʻahu, 5,000 Japanese plantation workers went out on strike.

The serious problems involved in the plantation labor situation continued to occupy the center of attention of those interested in the welfare of the sugar industry in Hawaiʻi. (American Sugar Industry and Beet Sugar Gazette, February 24, 1911)

An opportunity soon presented itself in the person of a Russian national, AV Perelestrous, who came to Honolulu for medical treatment and rest on Waikiki and saw a good opening for business.

He introduced himself to the secretary of the Territory of Hawaiʻi and the Territorial board of immigration as a major railway contractor in Manchuria and offered his services in delivering Russian workers to local sugar cane plantations. (Khisamutdinov)

“The efforts to obtain Russian immigration were in the final results rather disastrous both in the object sought and financially. … the board of immigration was given to understand that the Russian Government would not look with disfavor upon an attempt to recruit from that quarter.”

“(I)t was decided to introduce approximately 50-families as a trial lot, and Mr ALC (‘Jack’) Atkinson (US District Attorney) was chosen to proceed to Harbin, accompanied by Mr AW Perelestrous, who some time previous had represented himself … as a Russian contractor familiar with the conditions in Manchuria. Mr Atkinson departed August 30, 1909, accompanied by Mr Perelestrous”. (US House Committee on Immigration, 1921)

The recruiting took place in Harbin, Manchuria, on the Siberian border, the center of the Chinese Eastern Railroad, where Atkinson opened his office. That way it was easier to draw up exit papers: emigrants left through the port of Dalny, where there was no Russian customs post. (Khisamutdinov)

They returned to the Islands on October 22, 1909 “with 108 men, 67 women, and 79 children, a total of 255. These people were to all appearances, both physically and otherwise (so far as could be determined by the board,) the most desirable lot of immigrants ever introduced.” (US House Committee on Immigration, 1921)

“The Russians are a clean, sturdy, fine appearing lot of people, apparently with the willingness to work and certainly with the physical strength to do so. They are peasants, the older men and women uneducated. This was to have been expected. The children, however, are” bright, active and healthy, such as should grow up to be helpful citizens with the advantages they will have in this country.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 22, 1909)

“They accepted such employment as was offered them and so highly were they spoken of by their employers that, in November of the same year the board decided to introduce some three or four hundred additional families of the same class.” (US House Committee on Immigration, 1921)

“The liner Siberia, which arrived here yesterday from the orient, landed 212 Russian immigrants at Honolulu. There were men, women and children in the party. In Russia the men had been working long hours for a monthly wage of 5 rubles and were enchanted at the prospect of a free life on the sugar plantations. That they have no intention of returning”.

“At the request of some of the passengers, one of the ship’s officers requested the Russians to sing the Russian national hymn. The quartermaster who carried the message returned shaking his head. … (They effectively told him) ‘To hell with Russia; we are learning the ‘Star Spangled Banner.’”

“After landing at Honolulu every Russian tore up his passport and threw the scraps into the Pacific ocean.” (San Francisco Call, October 29, 1910)

Later shipments weren’t as enthusiastic. “Diphtheria broke out in quarantine. Bottled up, bored, hearing stories of real plantation life, they balked. … Most new recruits refused to sign up for jobs … Saying they’d rather starve than work on plantations, the immigrants exited quarantine April 4th, many of them following the Spaniards to California.” (Elks)

Later shipments met with similar resistance; Russians refused to accept the working and living conditions. As soon as steamers with settlers began approaching the shore, shouts were heard: “Don’t go to the plantations! Better drown in the sea than go there and work!” (Khisamutdinov)

The total number of Russians introduced into the Territory amounted to 1,799, at a total cost of $139,021.59, exclusive of the quarantine expenses here of $17,735.79. Of the number introduced, only a little more than 60 per cent accepted plantation employment. (US House Committee on Immigration, 1921)

On March 21, 1910, Russian emigrants went on strike. The authorities suggested that they should elect representatives who would tour the plantations and familiarize themselves with working and living conditions there. But they refused to do so because they no longer believed any promises.

The magazine In Foreign Parts (Russians in America and Australia) wrote this about Hawaii: “At first our workers suffered numerous hardships on the Hawaiian Islands, but gradually they began to adapt.”

“Some emigrated to America, some found jobs in accordance with their skills, some bought farms of their own on time, while the majority for the time being accepted their fate and were working.” (Khisamutdinov) Complaints were spread about the misinformation given while recruiting in Russia.

On January 12, 1912, members of the Russian staff assisting in the emigration were arrested and sent to prison. This was the end of the Russian resettlement to Hawaiʻi. (Khisamutdinov)

The image shows a front page photo showing the arrival of Russian immigrants; it is labeled ‘Hawaiʻi’s New Citizens’ from the Pacific Commercial Advertiser. (October 22, 1909)

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