Peter T Young

June 26, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Morse Field – South Point, Hawaiʻi

Kalae Military Reservation, Morse Field, South Cape Airport, South Point Air Force Station (AFS) – it had a lot of names; it had a relatively short, but varied life. It was on the Island of Hawaiʻi, at Ka Lae, South Point.

In 1933, the War Department designated the airfield as Morse Field, in honor of 2nd Lt. Guy E Morse of the WWI 135th Aero Squadron. Morse was posthumously issued the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in action. He and his pilot (Wilbur C Suiter) fearlessly volunteered for the perilous mission of locating the enemy’s advance unit in the rear of the Hindenburg line.

Disregarding the hail of machine gun fire and bursting anti-aircraft shell, they invaded the enemy territory at a low altitude and accomplished his mission, securing information of the greatest importance. They at once returned to the lines and undertook another reconnaissance mission, from which they failed to return. (Suiter Field, the military’s air field that is now Upolu Airport, was named after 1st Lieutenant Wilbur C Suiter.)

Morse Field had a runway and one small barracks. Then, they expanded the facility and it was referred to as Kalae Military Reservation. In 1940, construction was underway on five buildings, runways and access roads at Morse Field. Activities were centralized at this airport inasmuch as its location shortened a routing through Oahu, the trans-Pacific air ferry route to Australia and the Philippines by approximately 200-miles.

The work on runways at Morse Field was suspended shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941 – there were at least 2 fighters stationed at the strip when Pearl Harbor was attacked) and all adjacent smooth ground potential landing areas demolished as a precautionary measure against enemy use.

Blocking of landing areas on the island occupied large amounts of time and manpower due to the extensive areas involved and the comparatively smooth surfaces surrounding the field, which could be used as landing fields.

Later, construction increased the number of buildings to 5, built nine 50,000 gallon fuel tanks, a water line, access roads, and extended the runway to 6,000-feet. Morse Field was an earth field with a Marston Mat (steel grid) runway and was constructed as a temporary facility.

Gun emplacements were also added around the field. By December 28, 1941 gasoline storage facilities were complete, a water line installed and mobilization buildings were more than half finished.

After World War II, Morse Field was declared surplus by the military in 1946 and the Territorial Legislature placed it under the management of the Hawaii Aeronautics Commission (HAC.)

Rancher James Glover made a survey of the airport and found the buildings to be of no value except the corrugated roofing. He said he was in favor of keeping the airport open so that slaughtered cattle could be shipped out. He offered to maintain the airport at his own expense and to keep it open at all times as an emergency landing strip.

On November 3, 1947, the Commission made an application for the South Cape Airport to enter into an agreement with Mr. Glover. The U.S. Army granted a right of entry into Morse Field to the Territory on January 16, 1948.

Because of its remote location the HAC expected very little use by commercial airlines. Since satisfactory sites in this part of the island where aircraft could set down with safety in case of an emergency were non-existent, the Hawaii Aeronautics Commission decided to retain this strip as an emergency landing field.

With minimal maintenance (Hilo Airport staff made quarterly trips to Morse Field to perform minor maintenance and repair work,) by 1952 the field was found to be in bad condition due to erosion around the edges of the mats.

In the meantime, a new Federal Aid Highway project had been completed into Hilo, which caused the entire community to look to the Hilo Airport for their transportation needs. As a result, traffic into the field came to a standstill.

In 1954, the Territorial Director of Aeronautics requested abandonment of the airport; it was abandoned the next year.

In December 1964, the Air Force Systems Command announced that the Air Force would assume control of space tracking and communications from the Navy; the station closed the next year.

It was later reopened to support a sounding rocket probe program to evaluate advanced ballistic reentry system experiments. The close proximity and aspect angle of South Point to the optical site sensors located on the island of Maui were the primary reasons for launching the probes from this location.

In 1979, the Station was divided in two parcels located about 1.5-miles apart. One of the sites was the main operations area, while the other area was used for a radar tower. The Station was under the operational control of the Space and Missile Test Center (SAMTEC).

The short-lived South Point Air Force Station was one of the few Air Force installations in the State of Hawaiʻi that did not fall under the control of the 15th Air Base Wing. It belonged to the Air Force Systems Command (AFSC,) headquartered at Andrews AFB.

That use ended, too; in 1983 the executive orders for the facility were cancelled. Also in the 1980s, there were discussions about a private rocket launching facility here, but those never came to fruition. (Lots of info here from hawaii-gov and Freeman.)

June 25, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

New Month

“The busiest time of the month for the [plantation] stores was ‘new month’ time.” (Stores and Storekeepers of Paia & Puunene, Maui, UH Manoa, Ethnic Studies Program)

“[Y]ou get the goods ahead of the following month. You pay one month later.” (Kenichi Itakura, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“Generally starting between the twentieth and twenty-sixth of each month (exact dates varied with each store), a customer was allowed to charge goods from that date and was not required to pay for his purchase until the payday after next.”

“If, for example, new month began on June 25, and a customer charged something on June 24, he would have to pay for that purchase on the next payday – July 1.”

“However, if he waited until June 25 to charge that purchase, his payment was not due until August 1. Because of this advantage, customers generally waited for new month to begin and bought items such as rice and feed in large quantities.”

“The store became busier than usual during this time, and order takers and delivery boys needed extra help from other store employees.” (Stores and Storekeepers of Paia & Puunene, Maui, UH Manoa, Ethnic Studies Program)

[An average family of, say, four people. How much goods would they buy in new month time?] “Oh, well, those years, you know, money value was low. They used to buy, let’s say, thirty, forty dollars. Thirty, forty dollars, you know how much grocery you have? One month supply, almost.”

“In the meantime, maybe, they run short of certain things, and then they’ll buy little by little. You go over that, you have to pay anyway. So, sometimes, they – you know, come balance for so many months.” (Kenichi Itakura, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“[I worked for] For MA Company [Maui Agricultural Company] … they had boys that go out and take orders. Oh, they had – I think I would say – good, about four of them. Some Japanese, and some other boys.”

“We went into the camps … around the twentieth of each month. We went to this individual names, and they gave us what they called a ‘new month order.’ And [for] that merchandise, we brought those bills in.” (John Perreira, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“One guy takes orders. That’s all he does – take orders. New month time. After [new month time is over], he works inside. Put up orders. You know, whatever job it is. In addition to that, with some of the truck drivers and the boys that put up the orders, they had to unload the freight.”

“Freight all came from Kahului inside box cars. These cars were, oh gosh, they were good size. Locomotive go right into the building. No way of [the merchandise] getting wet. And they unload all that merchandise and stack ‘em. We carried quite a number of merchandise.” (John Perreira, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“They start, maybe, around the twentieth of the month. That, they don’t bill you till the following month, see? So, they [the stores] get new month order. That’s when everybody buy because they don’t have to pay (until the following) payday.”

“You had big order. Yeah, big order. Maybe two trip you have to make. Of course, if you have ten bag rice on your pickup truck, that’ s all you can put. Ten bag plus the groceries, see? So, you have to come back and make another trip.”

“And Filipinos used to eat plenty of rice, so new month, that’s when you sell your biggest quantity of rice. (Masakazu Shimoda, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“Twentieth, then you don’t pay that payday, but the following payday. So, they all wait. (Chuckles) Nowadays, they don’t have that system. More cash and carry. But those days, new month, they all wait. Even the wholesaler used to do that. Same way. So, I used to help deliver.”

“When he goes to take order, well, [for example], he go to your house. ‘Nishimoto’ he put down on the bill – house number, what camp. And then, he start taking the order. On the bill, you have ‘Alabama Camp, house thirteen’. You go deliver over there.” (Masakazu Shimoda, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“[For sales/deliveries other than New Month days,] we still have that – the sales is not big like that once a month [i.e., new month] one. That, gradually, they going buy everyday things or some other stuff. So, they just go and take order every day.”

“They go, maybe, this camp today. They alternate. Next, maybe, two day, they go different camp. So, maybe, they might have about four guys go out, take order. So, every day, it’s a different camp. They bringing order in, but. They make [i.e., gather] their own order, but I have to be ready with that big stuff.”

“Oranges, like that, come out from that crate, eh? Because plenty. Some of them rotten. (KI lowers voice.) They say, “Well, get ’em all, wash ’em all, and put in the counters,” see? They used to fill up from there. We had to take care all that.”

“You know, potatoes come from Mainland – from Oregon or someplace. California side, too. Some used to get that eyes sticking out already. They would get too old, eh? We used to take off that, and then you can pile ’em up, put in the box, and put with the [other] potatoes.”

“The guy who take order. When they make [i.e., gather] their own order, see? So, lot of job.” (Kenichi Itakura, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“Because after new month, [they] only [go out] every day, little by little. New month is 50 percent of their sales already. The rest of the days is just going out [and making] contact, [getting for the customers] few things what they missed [during] new month.

That old style. New month is a big thing.”

“I think, every store had the big sale. All the Japanese stores was doing the same system. New month sale. One would give twenty, next give twenty. If he give nineteen, then we come down nineteen, too [i.e., extending new month privileges beginning on the nineteenth of the month instead of the twentieth].”

“Of course, your big customer, maybe he used to buy fifty dollars worth. He say, ‘Give me new month.’ Naturally, you got to give new month, one day early but. (Masakazu Shimoda, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“[I]f it’s your good customer – the one that buy big one. You don’t want to lose him, so you going to give. If not, he goes to a competitor, and he tell ’em, ‘Hey, give me new month.’”

“Sundays, don’t deliver. But when it came to new month, … he get so much order, we have to make the order [i.e., gather the merchandise] in the evening so he can start delivering early in the morning. If not, he cannot take order next day. Only delivery, yeah? Oh, he used to bring the big order in. New month. You take, maybe, get twenty Filipinos ordering twenty bag rice, that’s two trip already.” (Masakazu Shimoda, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“[New month could be] One, two days ahead. Especially your good customers. Yeah. [the plantation get mad if you did that.] You not supposed to. But then, the customers don’t say, too. … you have to give, on the sly.” (Masakazu Shimoda, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

In 1980, the UH Manoa Ethnic Studies program conducted a number of oral histories from people who grew up and worked in the Paia-Pu‘unene area of Maui. Those histories and the information concluded from them provide insight into the plantation store system. All here is from that project report.

June 24, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kauai’s South Shore

“The history of Koloa is in many ways Hawai‘i’s history in microcosm.” (Wilcox) The focus of interest is the region‘s history and the role this area played in helping to shape Hawaiʻi‘s socio-economic past, present and future.

The South Shore of the island of Kauai has many scenic, natural and recreational qualities that travelers may experience and enjoy. Along the coastal area of Poʻipu there are popular beaches for swimming, surfing, snorkeling, scuba or sunset watching.

You enter the historic Old Koloa Town and Poʻipu Beach, Kauai’s premier resort destination, through a tree-formed tunnel. The native Hawaiian history, archaeology and culture can be seen throughout the area and are the foundation of the historic events that followed.

Scattered throughout the area are remnants of pre-contact ancient Hawaiʻi life in the forms of heiau (Hawaiian temples) the Koloa Field System (agricultural) and culturally-significant natural geologic features in the forms of peaks, hills, streams, caves, bays and coastal features.

The native Hawaiians along the Koloa shore were the first to see the white man in Hawaiʻi. It was in 1778, along Kauai’s South Shore, that Captain James Cook first traveled, landed and made “contact”, introducing Hawaiʻi to the rest of the world. His arrival was the beginning of multiple changes in Hawai‘i’s socio-economic framework.

Koloa Landing at Hanakaʻape Bay (the Kingdom’s first Royal Port of Entry) became the favored and major port of call on the island – because of the ability to maneuver in and out of the anchorage – whatever the wind direction, and the region had ample water and food crops to provision the ships. This led to a series of economic activities that shaped the history of the islands.

One of the first exports from Hawaiʻi was sandalwood trees that grew throughout the islands; exported primarily to China. Sandalwood was a desirable cash crop in Hawaiʻi because it could be harvested year round and did not have to be irrigated or cultivated.

Starting in 1790, trade in Hawaiian sandalwood became an important export item. As trade and shipping brought Hawaiʻi into contact with a wider world, it also enabled the acquisition of Western goods, including arms and ammunition, by the Hawaiian leaders.

However, by 1830, the trade in sandalwood had completely collapsed for two reasons: Hawaiian forests were exhausted and sandalwood from other areas drove down the price in China which made the Hawaiian trade unprofitable.

On October 23, 1819, the first group of missionaries from the northeastern United States set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.) There were seven couples sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity.

With them were four Hawaiian youths who had been students at the Foreign Mission School, including Prince Humehume (son of Kauai’s King Kaumuali‘i.) In modern times, three churches on Poʻipu Road all trace their roots to the same Christian denomination – Congregational.

Hawai‘i’s whaling era began in 1819 and replaced the sandalwood trade. At that time, whale oil was used for heating, lamps and in industrial machinery; whale bone was used in corsets, skirt hoops, umbrellas and buggy whips.

Whalers, seeking water and food supplies, called at Koloa Landing, the Island’s foremost port. Koloa was a center for agriculture and, as such, became the center of activity for Kauai. The whaling industry was the mainstay of the islands’ economy for about 40 years.

Sugar gradually replaced sandalwood and whaling in the mid-19th century and became the principal industry in the islands. The early Polynesian settlers to Hawaiʻi brought sugar cane with them and demonstrated that it could be grown successfully.

In 1835, the first commercially-viable sugar plantation was started in Hawaiʻi at Koloa. Other plantations soon followed. Sugar was the dominant economic force in Hawaiʻi for over a century. Several sites found in this area highlight the historic past of the sugar economy.

Koloa Plantation was the birthplace of the Hawaiian sugar industry. By 1883, more than 50 plantations were producing sugar on five islands.

However, during this growth, a shortage of laborers to work in the growing sugar plantations became a challenge; the only answer was imported labor. It is not likely anyone then foresaw the impact this would have on the cultural and social structure of the islands.

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

There were three big waves of workforce immigration: Chinese (1850,) 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.)

Sugar changed the social fabric of Hawai‘i. Of the nearly 385,000 workers that came, many thousands stayed to become a part of Hawai‘i’s unique ethnic mix. Hawai‘i continues to be one of the most culturally-diverse and racially-integrated places on the planet.

Old Koloa Town grew up around the Plantation industry. Plantation workers not only labored, lived and shopped on the plantation, they also received medical care. Koloa’s buildings housed plantation stores, services and churches for these people, including Kauai’s first hotel.

When Hawaiʻi became a US territory, at the turn of the century, it drew adventuresome cruise ship travelers in a tourism boom. Hotels blossomed.

1959 brought two significant actions that shaped the present day economic make-up of Hawai‘i, Statehood and jet-liner service between the mainland United States and Honolulu. These two events helped guide and expand the fledgling visitor industry.

Tourism is the activity most responsible for Hawaiʻi’s recent economic status and standard of living. Koloa-Poʻipu hosts an organized, supportive Poʻipu Beach Resort Association that organizes and promotes destination marketing and promotion of visitor accommodations/activities on behalf of its membership.

Poʻipu Beach coastal roads have visitor accommodations including hotels, condominium and vacation rental homes. The Visitor Industry remains the primary economic influence in the islands.

We prepared a corridor management plan for the Holo Holo Koloa Scenic Byway. We were honored and proud when the Plan received the Community-Based Planning Award from the American Planning Association‐Hawaiʻi Chapter and a Historic Preservation Commendation from Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation.

Click to access Kauai-South_Shore_Background_Summary.pdf

South_Shore-Aerial Image – Ed Gross

Aerial view of Lawai Beach, Kauai-(HSA)-PPWD-10-6-007-1929

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Old Koloa Town

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June 23, 2025 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

The Macfarlanes

This summary is a little bit about some places and events that the Macfarlane family was involved with – some generally known and with us today, some long gone, but the history helps give us some added perspectives.

Henry (Harry) and Eliza Macfarlane settled in Hawaii at Waikiki in 1846, coming from Scotland by way of New Zealand. They purchased/leased the ‘ili of Kaluaokau sometime in the mid-nineteenth century, eventually raising six children there (George Walter, Frederick W, Richard H, Edward Creamer, Helen B (later Cornwell) and Clarence William.)

One lasting legacy at their Kaluaokau home is the banyan tree Henry and Eliza planted – we now more commonly refer to the former home site as the International Market Place.

Among other things, the Macfarlanes owned and operated hotels. One, the Commercial Hotel in downtown Honolulu, has a notable claim to fame – Macfarlane brought gas lighting to Hawaiʻi, hanging the first gas lamps over the billiard tables in his Honolulu saloon.

“On Tuesday evening last Mr. E. Burgess opened his spacious billiard saloon at the Commercial Hotel, which was well attended, no doubt the novelty of the room being lit up with gas proving a great attraction. There are four burners … and they filled the large room with a most brilliant light.”

“Mr. Macfarlane is deserving of great credit for his indefatigable exertions in being the first to introduce gas on this Island”. (Polynesian, November 6, 1858) (The next year, Honolulu Gas Company formed and lit-up more of Honolulu.)

The Commercial Hotel was one of Honolulu’s earliest hotels to advertise hot and cold water for baths and showers. It operated as a hotel and saloon until 1903, when the building was torn down. (Hibbard)

They had other property, in Waikīkī. Son, George is credited with building one of the first hotels in Waikīkī (his home turned to hotel) – the Park Beach Hotel near Kapiʻolani Park. CN Arnold later leased the Macfarlane property in 1888.

By 1899, the hotel failed and Macfarlane sold the lease to James Castle, who built Waikīkī’s most impressive mansion, a lavishly furnished four-story home with extensive grounds, an ocean pier and other amenities. He called it Kainalu.

When Castle died, his widow found the beachfront property more than she wished to keep up. Impressed by the charitable work being done by the Elks (the Honolulu Elks Lodge 616 was established on April 15, 1901,) in 1920 she sold them 155,000-square feet on the beach at Waikīkī complete with lavish home, for $1 a square foot.

Between 1954 and 1956, Outrigger Canoe Club made several offers to purchase about half of the Elk’s property. All were refused. Eventually, in 1955, the Elks agreed to lease property to Outrigger. Negotiations continued, and a lease was signed effective November 17, 1956. (In 1958, the Elks razed Kainalu and built a new lodge.)

In 2007, a rent dispute between the Elks and Outrigger Canoe Club was settled by a three-member arbitration panel. Terms of the new rent between the next-door neighbors were not disclosed because of a confidentiality agreement (the Elks, the landowner, were seeking up to $1-million or more a year in rent from the canoe club for a 99-year lease that was renegotiated midway through the term.)

The Macfarlanes had other Waikīkī property. Nearby in Helumoa, the Macfarlanes had other hotel property – the Seaside Hotel. (There is now another “Seaside Hotel” in Waikīkī, but that’s different from the hotel we are discussing here. That other “Seaside” was built in 1970 and has been used by United Airlines as a perk for employees and company retirees.)

Likewise, the Seaside was the annex for the “Royal Hawaiian Hotel;” not the one in Waikiki, the original Royal Hawaiian was in downtown Honolulu located at Richards and Hotel streets. In the 1890s, son, George, ran the Royal Hawaiian and the Seaside Hotels.

It was later acquired by Alexander Young’s Territorial Hotel Company, which operated the Alexander Young hotel in downtown Honolulu. After the lease expired, Matson Navigation received a new lease from landowner Bishop Estate and built what we refer today as the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

One more thing about George Macfarlane, he was Chamberlain (an officer whose function is in general to attend to the personal needs of the King and regulate the etiquette of the Palace) and Private Secretary to King Kalākaua (and served as the medium of communication between the King and his Ministers.)

When times were tough, George was entrusted with the responsible task of negotiating and floating the first Hawaiian loan in England. The $2,000,000 loan bore interest at 6 per cent per annum; within six months, the bonds commanded 15-per cent premium. (The Morning Call, December 25, 1890)

Son Clarence (in addition to supporting the family operations) also has a notable and lasting claim to fame. A competitive sailor, Clarence invited West Coast sailors to race to the Hawaiian Islands from San Francisco.

The race start was set for summer of 1906; he took his yacht, “La Paloma,” from Honolulu to San Francisco Bay and found the city lying in ruins following the great earthquake 27-days earlier. He changed the starting point to Los Angeles. The starting line is now off the bluffs of Point Fermin in San Pedro and the finish is off the Diamond Head Lighthouse, about 2,560 miles.

The race, the longer of the two oldest ocean races in the world, continues today – we now call it the Transpacific Yacht Race (TransPac.)

Others in the family participated in the family business activities. Likewise, they had property on the Island of Hawaiʻi and operated the Puʻuloa Sheep and Stock Ranch Company (partnership of the Macfarlane family.)

7,000-sheep ran over fee and leased land, including 4,000-acres of the ahupuaʻa of ʻŌuli, extending from the sea, near Kawaihae, to the top of the Kohala range of mountains, as well as other land nearby.

The family left several lasting legacies in the Islands.

Colonel G. W. Macfarlane, King Kalakaua, Major R. H. Baker-Schweizer

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Downtown and Vicinity-Dakin-Fire Insurance- 10-Map-1891-Commercial Hotel-noted

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Park Beach Hotel, Diamond Head

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June 22, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Missionary Travel to the Islands

“What wonder that we so long for release from this little prison-house!” (Laura Fish Judd – 1828)

From 1820 to 1847, there were 12-Companies of missionaries sent under the auspices of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) to 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)

The Prudential Committee of the ABCFM in giving instructions said: “Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. … “

“Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high. You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization.” (The Friend)

The Pioneer Company, led by Hiram Bingham, left New England on the “Thaddeus” and arrived in the Islands on April 4, 1820, two centuries after their forebears, the pilgrims, landed from the “Mayflower” in New England.

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. (The following is a composite from writers from different Companies describing the trip.)

Travel wasn’t easy.

“We were hardly able to stand even by holding on with both hands and every now and then we were called to belch up the contents of our stomachs without discrimination.” Sea sickness was a constant issue for these non-sailors. (Judd; Miller)

Things were stored everywhere. Stephen Shepard observed that “the way to our room is blocked up with potato bags and other provisions, so as to render it almost impassable; having to scramble over a large quantity of luggage to get in or out.” (Miller)

Sleeping quarters were tight. A journal entry by Maria Patton noted, “It (the stateroom – serving 4 people) is 7 feet wide and 5½-feet long, and has a window about the size of a tea cup directly over my berth. … it contains a bureau, 8 trunks, 4 bandboxes, each of us a writing desk, 8 bags, 4 baskets …” (Maria Patton; Miller)

“Last evening, found myself much exhausted in consequence of fatigue through the day in putting order in our little room. To accomplish a little, costs much labor on board a vessel. I am grieved to find it too much the case, that with my bodily strength, my spirits sink. Several such seasons have arisen in my new situation.” (Sybil Bingham)

“… those who occupy the higher berths have to climb before we can get into them. And what is still worse, not a breath of fresh air can get in, and the cockroaches are so thick, they crawl over us and the smell is intolerable. My berth is the highest in the place, so high that there is only 12 inches between my head and the deck.” (Patton; Miller)

The “day commenced (with) the study of the Owhyhee language. … This evening held our first singing school. It is greatly to be wished that we could all join with our hearts and voices too …” (Sybil Bingham)

“After having been out ninety-four days, and witnessing nothing but floating barques like our own, some monsters of the deep, the expansive ocean and the wide-spread heavens, I can not describe to you the joyful emotions which the sight of land has this day produced. We have a fair view of Terra del Fuego on the right, and Staten Land on the left.” (Lucy Thurston)

Then, after many more days at sea, “Memorable day – a day which brings us in full view of that … land so long the object of our most interested thoughts. Between twelve and one this morning, the word was … ‘land appears’ … ‘Owhyhee sight!’”

“There was but little sleep. When the day afforded more light than the moon we were all out, and judge you, if possible, what sensation filled our breasts as we fixed our eyes upon the lofty mountains of Owhyhee!”

“O! It would be in vain to paint them. I attempt it not.”

“A fair wind carried us by different parts of the island near enough to discern its verdure, here and there a cataract rushing down the bold precipice.” (Sybil Bingham)

Upon landing, an observer ashore noted, “They look careworn and feeble; Mr. W- said ‘hungry.’” (Laura Fish Judd)

Intelligence of the arrival of our mission at the Islands, reached the United States seventeen months after we left Boston. (Lucy Thurston)

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 the time the Pioneer Company arrived, Kamehameha I had died and the centuries-old kapu system had been abolished; through the actions of King Kamehameha II (Liholiho,) with encouragement by former Queens Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani (Liholiho’s mother,) the Hawaiian people had already dismantled their heiau and had rejected their religious beliefs.

Today, the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society, a nonprofit educational institution and genealogical society, exists to promote an understanding of the social history of nineteenth-century Hawai‘i and its critical role in the formation of modern Hawai‘i.

The Society operates the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives, comprised of three historic houses and a research archives with reading room. The Society also compiles the genealogical records of the American Protestant missionaries in Hawai‘i and promotes the participation of missionary descendants in the Society’s activities.

Through the Site and Archives, the Society collects and preserves the documents, artifacts and other records of the missionaries in Hawai‘i’s history; makes these collections available for research and educational purposes; and interprets the historic site and collections to reflect the social history of nineteenth century Hawai‘i and America.