Peter T Young

December 20, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Seeds to the Hawaiian Mission

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) had its origin in the desire of several young men in the Andover Theological Seminary to preach the gospel in the heathen world. (The term ‘heathen’ (without the knowledge of Jesus Christ and God) was a term in use at the time (200-years ago.))

“The Board has established missions, in the order of time in which they are now named at Bombay, and Ceylon; among the Cherokees, Choctaws, and the Cherokees of the Arkansaw ….” (Missionary Herald)

The following are portions of a December 20, 1809 letter written by Samuel J Mills to the Rev. Gordon Hall, then a student in the Theological Seminary at Andover (he was later a Missionary in the island of Bombay.)

It speaks of ‘Ōpūkaha’ia and his influence in establishing the Hawaiian Islands Mission.

“Very Dear Brother, I received your kind letter, and feel much indebted to you. I have been in this place about two months. When I came, I found my worthy friend E. Dwight here …”

“… I roomed with him about two weeks, and then removed my quarters to the Rev. Mr. Stewart’s, with whom I have lived to the present time. As every day is not so singularly spent by me as this has been, I will notice something not a little extraordinary.”

“To make my narrative understood, you must go back with me to my first arrival in this place. Mr. Dwight, I then found, was instructing a native Owhyean boy. Two natives of this island arrived here five or six months ago, and this was one of them.”

“As I was in the room with Mr. Dwight, I heard the youth recite occasionally, and soon became considerably attached to him. His manners are simple; he does not appear to be vicious in any respect, and he has a great thirst for knowledge.”

“In his simple manner of expressing himself, he says, ‘The people in Owhyhee very bad – they pray to gods made of wood. Poor Indians don’t know nothing.’”

“He says, ‘Me want to learn to read this Bible, and go back then, and tell them to pray to God up in heaven.’ (Not having a place to stay,) I told him he need not be concerned; I would find a place for him. …”

“I told him he might go home with me, and live at my father’s, and have whatever he wanted. He then came with me to my room. I heard him read his lesson, and attempted to instruct him in some of the first principles of Christianity, of which he was almost entirely ignorant. …”

“I told him further, that as my father was one of the Missionary Trustees, he would no doubt obtain for him a support, if it was thought best to educate him, which is my intention to attempt so far as that he may be able to instruct his countrymen, and, by God’s blessing, convert them to Christianity. To this he could hardly object. …”

“He had been talking with the President of the College, and I told him I would see him on the subject … (and I) related to him a part of my plan, which was that Obookiah should go with me to my father’s, and live with him this winter …”

“… and be instructed in the first principles of reading and writing, as well as of Christianity, where he would be abundantly furnished with the means of acquiring both. …”

“The President came fully into the opinion that this was the most eligible course which could be pursued, if Obookiah was willing to go. Obookiah is his Indian name, and he is seventeen years old, I told him he would be glad to go; he was without a home – without a place to eat, or sleep.”

“The poor and almost friendless Owhyean would sit down disconsolate, and the honest tears would flow freely down his sunburn face; but since this plan has been fixed upon, he has appeared cheerful, and feels quite at ease.”

“I propose to leave town in two weeks, with this native of the South to accompany me to Torringford, where I intend to place him under the care of those whose benevolence is without a bond to check, or a limit to confine it. Here I intend he shall stay until next spring, if he is contented. Thus, you see, he is likely to be firmly fixed by my side.”

“What does this mean? Brother Hall, do you understand it? Shall he be sent back unsupported, to attempt to reclaim his countrymen?”

“Shall we not rather consider these southern islands a proper place for the establishment of a mission?”

“Not that I would give up the heathen tribes of the west. I trust we shall be able to establish more than one mission in a short time, at least in a few years; and that God will enable us to extend our views and labours further than we have before contemplated.”

“We ought not to look merely to the heathen on our own continent, but to direct our attention where we may, to human appearance, do the most good, and where the difficulties are the least. We are to look to the climate – established prejudices – the acquisition of language – the means of subsistence, &c. &c.”

“All these things, I apprehend, are to be considered. The field is almost boundless; in every part of which, there ought to be Missionaries.”

“In the language of an animated writer, but I must say, ‘he is of another country – O that we could enter at a thousand gates, that every limb were a tongue, and every tongue a trumpet to spread the Gospel sound!’”

“The men of Macedonia; cry, Come over and help us. This voice is heard from the north and from the south, and from the east, and from the west.”

“O that we might glow with desire to preach the Gospel to the heathen, that is altogether irresistible! The spirit of burning hath gone forth. The camp is in motion. The Levites, we trust, are about to bear the vessels, and the great command is, Go Forward.”

“Let us, my dear brother, rely with the most implicit confidence, on those great, eternal, precious promises contained in the word of God: …”

“‘And Jesus answered and said, verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the Gospel’s, but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come, eternal life.’”

“Be strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded. ‘Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty; and in thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness; and thy right hand “shall teach thee terrible things.’” Let us exclaim with the poet:

Come then, and added to thy many crowns,
Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth.
Thou who alone art worthy! It was thine
By ancient cov’nant, e’er nature’s birth,
And thou hast made it thine by purchase since,
And overpaid its value with thy blood.”

By 1816, contributions to the ABCFM had declined. There were several reasons including post-War of 1812 recession and the fact that India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) were too remote to hold public interest. (Wagner)

Folks saw a couple options: bring Indian and foreign youth into white communities and teach them there, or go out to them and teach them in their own communities. They chose the former. They formed the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall CT.

The school’s first student was Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia (Obookiah,) a native Hawaiian from the Island of Hawaiʻi who in 1808-1809 (after his parents had been killed) boarded a sailing ship anchored in Kealakekua Bay and sailed to the continent. In its first year, the Foreign Mission School had 12 students, more than half of whom were Hawaiian.

At the beginning of the school’s tenure, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia was considered a leader of the student body, excelling in his studies, expressing his fondness for and understanding of the importance of the agricultural labor, and qualifying for a full church membership due to his devotion to his new faith.

ʻŌpūkahaʻia was being groomed to be a key figure in a mission to Hawai‘i, to be joined by Samuel Mills Jr. Unfortunately, ʻŌpūkahaʻia died at Cornwall on February 17, 1818, and several months later Mills died at sea off West Africa after surveying lands that became Liberia.

ʻŌpūkahaʻia, inspired by many young men with proven sincerity and religious fervor of the missionary movement, had wanted to spread the word of Christianity back home in Hawaiʻi; his book inspired missionaries to volunteer to carry his message to the Hawaiian Islands.

On October 23, 1819, a group of northeast missionaries, led by Hiram Bingham, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.) With the missionaries were four Hawaiian students from the Foreign Mission School, Thomas Hopu, William Kanui, John Honoliʻi and Prince Humehume (son of Kauaʻi’s King Kaumuali‘i.)

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”), about 184-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in the Hawaiian Islands.

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Henry_Opukahaia,_ca. 1810s

December 19, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ka Lāʻau Wī

He kapu ka Lāʻau Wī
Kanu kūikawā ia no ka ‘iewe

Ka Tamarind Tree, kapa ia Lāʻau Wī
Ka Lāʻau Wī, he Tamarind Tree
Noho ilalo ka ʻiewe
Ka ‘iewe o ka lani

He mana nui kēia lāʻau haole
Ka Lāʻau Wī kau ma wahi Kou

Ua hoʻolako ka malu
No ka Lani me kona mau poʻe

Aloha na poʻe i kēia lāʻau
A like me ko lākou aloha i ke aliʻi

Haʻina mai ana kapuana
O ka Lāʻau kaulana ma Kou

Kapu was the Tamarind Tree
Planted for the storing of the umbilical cord

Tamarind Tree called the Lāʻau Wī
The Lāʻau Wī is the Tamarind Tree
Below is the cord
The cord of Pauahi

Much power in the tree
The Tamarind Tree plant at Kou

The tree provided much shade
For the sacred one and her people

Her people loved the tree
Like they loved their chiefess

Thus is the Tamarind Tree story
Of the famous tree at Kou

(Ka Lāʻau Wī, Keliʻi Tauʻā & David Kauahikaua

“On the mauka Waikiki corner of King street and Fort were some native buildings which afterwards gave place to a wooden building … The next premises were the large property, well walled in, of the high chiefs, Paki and Konia, parents of Mrs. Pauahi Bishop.”

“There was a fine large straw house with wide veranda, ample grounds, and a long row of servant’s house. One of the beautiful ornaments of the place was a fine large tamarind tree …” (Streets of Honolulu in the Early Forties, Gilman)

“When Pauahi was born, her father, Abner Paki planted a Tamarind tree in the yard, but placed Pauahi’s ʻiewe (afterbirth) in the ground first to supply nourishment to that tree. This was located in the center of downtown Honolulu at (what is now) the corner of King St. and Bishop St.”

“This is where the family home was located, and when the city wanted to build the road into downtown, they asked Mr. Bishop for part of his yard, and named the street after them – Bishop St.”

“Across the street is Tamarind Park (all the trees in the park) and across the street is First Hawaiian Bank, the bank that Charles Reed Bishop founded.” (KSBE)

Born to Paki and Konia, “Bernice lived with Kīna‘u until she was eight years old, when she was sent to the Royal School. Paki and Konia were very desirous of retaining her as their own.”

“After the death of Kīna‘u, Governor Kekūanāoʻa yielded reluctantly to this wish, for he and the other chiefs had become very proud of the promising child.”

“At the urgent request of Konia and Paki, regular, official, and legal papers were made out, and, much to their satisfaction, the child was restored to them.”

“I doubt if she ever made any lengthened stay with her parents; probably nothing more than a call, and then with her old kahu [attendant] returning at once to the school.” (Gilman; Krout)

“At the birth of the much desired daughter, Victoria, who was born November 1, 1838, Bernice Pauahi was returned to her parents.”

“She was then eight years of age, and was one of the first pupils to enter the Family School for Young Chiefs, or the Royal School as it was more commonly known. It is not believed by those who knew Paki well, that he ever meant to surrender Bernice permanently to her foster mother.” (Krout)

“(in school, she) loved music, painting, gardening, horseback riding, reading, history and was an excellent writer, too. On Sundays they would attend Kawaiahaʻo church, which eventually became the home church of Princess Pauahi.”

“Not only did she sing in the choir, she also led it for a while. She was not only a student in the Sunday School, but she was a teacher as well. … She was a true servant of God.”

“The Will of Princess Pauahi is very important to the school. It gives us our marching orders and gives us direction. Pauahi actually named the school as printed in the Will, ‘to erect and maintain in the Hawaiian Islands two schools, each for boarding and day scholars, one for boys and one for girls, to be known as, and called the Kamehameha Schools.’”

“‘I desire my trustees to provide first and chiefly a good education in the common English branches, and also instruction in morals and in such useful knowledge as may tend to make good and industrious men and women; and I desire instruction in the higher branches to be subsidiary to the foregoing objects.’”

“‘I also direct that the teachers of said schools shall forever be persons of the Protestant religion, but I do not intend that the choice should be restricted to persons of any particular sect of Protestants.’”

“The first headmaster of the Schools was an ordained minister, the Reverend William B. Oleson (he had previously run the Hilo Boarding School – Protestant mission feeder school to Lahainaluna.)” (KSBE)

“I was always interested to see her out under a large tamarind tree surrounded by her people, many of whom had come in from the country to advise with her. She would sit for hours with the utmost patience listening to them.” (Krout)

The tamarind tree grew to ‘noble proportions,’ but was finally cut down to make way for modern buildings.” (Krout) A remnant of the tree is in the Kamehameha Schools Bishop Memorial Chapel. Today is ‘Founder’s Day’, birthday (December 19, 1831) of Pauahi.

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Tamarind Tree Trunk-Pauahi-KSBE

Tamarind-Tree-Trunk-Pauahi-BoiseState.jpg

Tamarind Park

Bernice Pauahi’s residence at Haleʻākala build by her father Abner Paki. The building itself is called Aikupika-1855

December 18, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Ā‘īoeoe

“The advent of the white man in the Pacific was inevitable, and especially in Hawaii, by reason of its size, resources, and, most important, its location at the crossroads of this vastest of oceans, rapidly coming into its own in fulfilment of prophecies that it was destined to become the chief theater of the world’s future activities.”

Years before the westward land movement gathered momentum, the energies of seafaring New Englanders found their natural outlet, along their traditional pathway, in the Pacific Ocean.

Practically every vessel that visited the North Pacific in the closing years of the 18th century stopped at Hawai‘i for provisions and recreation. (Frear, 1935)

“During the forty-two years from Cook’s discovery to the arrival of the first missionaries, and long afterwards, there came this way thousands of whites beach-combers, Botany Bay convicts, fur-traders, whalers, and others, including black-birders in the South Seas, who, with noteworthy exceptions …”

“… lived up to the then-prevailing motto that ‘there was no God this side of Cape Horn,’ or, when they rounded the Cape, ‘hung their consciences on the Horn,’ as it was said, and who, bent solely on their own profit and pleasure, brought muskets, alcohol, and infectious and contagious diseases, promoted licentiousness and exploited the natives, without a thought for their rights or welfare.” (Frear, 1935)

“The natives were quick to imitate the white man, whether as to clothes, liquor, tobacco, cards, or other things.” (Frear, 1935)

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.) There were seven American couples sent by the ABCFM to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity in this first company.

“In this the hand of God was seen preparing for the introduction of his word among the people. The vessel sailed to Kailua (and anchored there on April 4, 1820), and the chiefs went on board to see the missionaries and their wives – the ‘long necks’ as they were called.” (Judd)

“White women were, as might have been expected, objects of great curiosity to the chattering natives, who thronged around them, as they walked along, to gaze at their costume …”

“… their white hands and faces, running before them and peering under their projecting bonnets, laughing, shouting, trotting around with bare feet, heads and limbs, men, women and children, and singing out occasionally, ‘A-i-oe-oe’ a phrase signifying long, protruding neck.”

“This term they doubtless applied from the appearance occasioned by the large, projecting fore-parts of the bonnets, in the fashion of 1819, so widely different from that of Hawaiian females, whose heads were usually bare, but occasionally ornamented with a simple chaplet of natural flowers, or small feathers.” (Hiram Bingham)

“For three weeks after going ashore, our house was constantly surrounded, and our doors and windows filled with natives. From sunrise to dark there would be thirty or forty at least, sometimes eighty or a hundred.”

“For the sake of solitude, I one day retired from the house, and seated myself beneath a shade. In five minutes I counted seventy companions.”

“In their curiosity they followed the ladies in crowds from place to place, with simplicity peering under bonnets, and feeling articles of dress.”

“It was amusing to see their efforts in running and taking a stand, that so they might have a full view of our faces. As objects of curiosity, the ladies were by far the most prominent.”

“White men had lived and moved among them for a score of years. In our company were the first white women that ever stepped on these shores.”

“It was thus the natives described the ladies: ‘They are white and have hats with a spout. Their faces are round and far in. Their necks are long. They look well.’ They were called ‘Long Necks.’ The company of long necks included the whole fraternity.” (Lucy Thurston)

In a summer of 1822 letter to Kamāmalu (telling her of her marriage to Kaumuali‘i), Ka‘ahumanu notes, “Here is a letter from your aunt and your uncle, from your new uncle, my new husband. …”

“Here is my word to you, there you are among the longnecks, so send letters here. There are many people, but few letters. I want [you] to send eight hundred Hawaiian letters. We want literacy, it may make us wise. Give our affection to Mr. and Mrs. Bingham and all the longnecks.” (Ka‘ahumanu)

“She, and some others, much wish to have bonnets – this is a pleasant circumstance to us. The inquiry has sometimes been made, in our letters, what could be sent as presents that would please these waihines.”

“Indeed, I have hinted to the queen, that perhaps some of the good ladies in America since she was attending to the palapala, would probably send her one.”

“Considering that, I would here request, that if it could easily be done, one, at least, might be sent by an early conveyance. As soon as I can have a green one, I shall present mine where I think it will do the most good”. (Sybil Bingham Journal, October 4, 1822)

Collaboration between native Hawaiians and the American Protestant missionaries resulted in, among other things, the introduction of Christianity; the creation of the Hawaiian written language and widespread literacy; the promulgation of the concept of constitutional government; making Western medicine available; and the evolution of a new and distinctive musical tradition (with harmony and choral singing.)

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1820s Bonnett

December 17, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Aina Momona

Talk to any rancher and he’ll typically say he’s growing grass, not cattle. The more grass he can grow, the more cattle he can have to harvest it.

So, too, with Hawaiian fishponds; but instead of grass, the pond grows algae. The more algae grown, the more shrimp to eat it, and small animals to eat the shrimp, and small and then larger fish to feed on the pondlife.

Practically every culture in the world has practiced aquaculture (cultivation of aquatic life forms to serve the food needs of man) in some degree.

Ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamians and Assyrians stocked artificial ponds with fish; Greeks and Romans raised oysters, and Romans raised eels. Early Germans bred freshwater fish in ponds. Carp culture spread from Asia Minor and by A.D. 700 was established in Europe. (Apple & Kikuchi)

Hawai‘i had intense true aquaculture. As far as is known, fishponds existed nowhere else in the Pacific in types and numbers as in prehistoric Hawai‘i.

Only in the Hawaiian Islands was there an intensive effort to utilize practically every body of water, from the seashore to the upland forests, as a source of food, either agriculturally or aquaculturally. (Apple & Kikuchi)

There were three main technological advances resulting in food production intensification in pre-contact Hawai‘i: (a) walled fishponds, (b) terraced pondfields with their irrigation systems and (c) systematic dry-land field cultivation organized by vegetation zones. (Kelly)

Hawaiian fishponds are more productive than the natural habitat of coastal reef. The primary fish selected for the ponds were herbivores, usually mullet (‘ama‘ama) and milkfish (awa.)

A fishpond is essentially a pasture, in which algae (limu) is raised as food for the selected herbivores. Cultivation of algae depends on managing the environment of the pond, including fresh water/salt water balance, adequate sunshine for algae growth and seasonal cleaning to allow a fresh growth of algae. (Hiatt; Kelly)

Since the types of algae that mullet consume grow best in brackish water. Hawaiian walled fishponds were often located (a) on the shoreline near the mouth of a stream, (b) where fresh water escapes in springs along the shore, or frequently (c) in the sea. (Kelly)

The general term for a fishpond is loko (pond), or more specifically, loko iʻa (fishpond). Loko iʻa were used for the fattening and storing of fish for food and also as a source for kapu (forbidden) fish.

Loko kuapā, what we consider the typical coastal fishpond, are artificially enclosed by an arc-shaped seawall and containing at least one sluice gate (mākāhā.)

Loko pu‘uone are formed by development of a barrier beach paralleling the coast, and connected to the ocean by a channel or ditch; it’s a shore fishpond containing either brackish or a mixture of brackish and fresh water.

“The large salt or brackish water ponds, entirely enclosed, have one, two or four gates called mākāhā. These are of straight sticks tied on to two or three cross beams the sticks in the upright standing as closely as possible, so that no fish half an inch in thickness can pass them, while the water and young fry can pass freely in and out.” (McDonald)

“After five or six months fish would begin to be seen in the loko kuapā. During the high tides of ʻOle (ʻOle kai nui) the people who took care of the pond would rejoice to see the fish moving toward the kuapa walls, like waves of a rough sea, until the sluice, makaha, was filled with fish.”

“If the depth of the water at the sluice were a yard or more, the width of the mākāhā an anana, and the thickness of the kuapā walls an anana, this area would be filled with fish, piled one over the other until the fish at the top were dry; if a stone were placed on them it would not sink.” (Kamakau)

Fishponds, loko i‘a, were things that beautified the land, and a land with many fishponds was called a ‘fat’ land (‘āina momona.) They date from ancient times. (Kamakau)

It is not known when Hawaiian fishponds began to be constructed, but some fishpond walls have been carbon-dated to the 1400s. An estimate of 340–360 Hawaiian fishponds was noted for the period before the arrival of Captain James Cook in 1778.

An inventory in the early 1900s found 360 loko i‘a in the islands and identified 99 active ponds with an estimated annual production total of about 680,000 pounds, including 486,000 pounds of ‘ama‘ama and 194,000 pounds of ‘awa.

Loko i‘a were extensive operating systems that produced an average of 400–600 pounds per acre per year, a significant amount considering the minimal amount of fishpond ‘input’ and maintenance effort apparent by that time. (Keala)

‘Āina Momona performed by Kawika Kahiapo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH5Jg9l79OM

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Old_photograph_of_the_Heʻeia_fishpond-(WC)

Fish_Ponds_at_Honoruru,_Oahu,_by_John_Murray,_after_Robert_Dampier-(WC)-1836

Fishpond_in_east_Molokai-(WC)

Kaneohe, Oahu. McKeague’s Mill at Lilipuna Road. Kaneohe Bay and fishponds 1880-PPWD-11-7-039

Paiko-Pond-Life-1937

1893_over_GoogelEarth-Streams_Ponds_Taro-Waikiki-broader

December 16, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kazakhstan Connection

Ethnic Kazakhs, a mix of Turkic and Mongol nomadic tribes who migrated to the region by the 13th century, were rarely united as a single nation.

The area was conquered by Russia in the 18th century, and Kazakhstan became a Soviet Republic in 1936. (The Republic of Kazakhstan gained its independence from the Soviet Union on December 16, 1991.)

The Trans-ili-Alatau mountains stand in the southeast of Kazakhstan; they are connected to a number of ranges that stretch through Central Asia. At the foot of the Alatau is Tamchiboulac spring (Dropping Spring,) where water oozes out of the cliffs.

Thomas (an English architect and artist) and Lucy were on an exploration trip through this region. An outcome of their trek were several hundred works of art, many of which were subsequently exhibited in London and some of which were reproduced in books Thomas subsequently wrote.

Another outcome was a son, born November 16, 1848, nine months into a journey – they named him for places in the region, Atalau Tamchiboulac. His birth was premature, which was attributed by the doctor to the fact that Lucy had spent every day of the preceding months on horseback.

After almost seven years of travels, the family arrived back in St Petersburg just before Christmas 1853 and remained there until 1858. (Simpson)

Andrew Dickson White, one of the cofounders of Cornell University, met Alatau and his parents at that time, noting “… it was my good fortune to become intimately acquainted with … the British traveler in Siberia.”

“He had brought back many portfolios of sketches, and his charming wife had treasured up a great fund of anecdotes of people and adventure, so that I seemed for a time to know Siberia as if I had lived there. Then it was that I learned of the beauties and capabilities of its southern provinces.”

“(They) had also brought back their only child, a son born on the Siberian steppe, a wonderfully bright youngster, whom they destined for the British navy.”

“He bore a name which I fear may at times have proved a burden to him, for his father and mother were so delighted with the place in which he was born that they called him, after it, ‘Alatow-Tam Chiboulak.’” (White Autobiography)

Later, “For about fifty years Dr. White had tried to find him, but without result. (His parents) were English missionaries from central Asia and they brought with them the future father of Jack whom Dr. White, in his autobiography, describes as ‘a wonderfully interesting child, burdened with the name of his Asian birthplace, ‘Alatau Tam Chiboulak.’”

“The rumor was that the young follow had gone into the navy in after years and so Dr. White often but vainly enquired after him at British naval depots.” (Hawaiian Star, December 9, 1911)

In January 1868, Alatau married Annie Humble in Newcastle-upon-tyne and their first child, Zoe, was born at the end of that year. The following year he left England and the little family made their way to Hawai‘i, via Panama and San Francisco. (Simpson)

Alatau took charge of St Alban’s College (forerunner to today’s ‘Iolani School) under Bishop Staley. Alatau Tamchiboulac later becoming principal of the famous old Fort Street School. (Nellist)

In 1881, he became editor of the Hawaiian Gazette, public opinion on politics and affairs of the time was shaped to a large extent by his own convictions, as expressed through the columns of his paper, and his readers received the benefit of his far reaching knowledge of life and events.

He became inspector general of public schools in 1887 and helped form the educational policies in the Islands, first of the Hawaiian monarchy and later of the Territory. A great part of his life was given to the organization of the present public school system in Hawaii.

When Hawaii was annexed by the US, he was entrusted with the work of taking a census of the islands, the first official accounting of island population. He also served as a member of the House of Representatives in 1898.

Aside from his educational and editorial work, Mr. Atkinson gained favorable attention as a poet, contributing verse to numerous publications, and he was the author of notable papers on subjects pertaining to education. (Nellist)

Oh, the family name of Alatau Tamchiboulac and his parents Thomas and Lucy? … It’s a familiar one and the name of a prominent street (fronting the Hawaii Convention Center) – Atkinson.

At the time of his death (April 24, 1906), Mr. Atkinson was survived by seven children, A. L. C. Atkinson, Robert W., Kenneth Atkinson, Mrs. T. K. C. Gibbons, Mrs. A. M. Brown, Mrs. Samuel G. Wilder and Mrs. R. C. L. Perkins. (Nellist)

“The death of Alatau T. Atkinson removes one of the brightest minds in the Islands and a man who did as much to shape the destiny of Hawaii as any one and raised the standard of education and made it what it is today.”

“It was he who worked incessantly for the annexation of the Islands and as the editor of the leading papers of Honolulu did more to mold public opinion than any other man in the Territory.”

“On every island of the group are a number of prominent men in Hawaiian affairs who owe their station in life to the Instruction received at the hands of this able teacher.”

“Mr. Atkinson was a man of rare executive ability and was highly respected by all the teachers of the Islands. He was a man of decision and to this quality probably more than to any other was due his popularity.” (Maui News; Hawaiian Star, April 30, 1906)

“To him more than to any other man is due the efficiency of the excellent school system which Hawaii enjoys. He founded it in a sense, and worked with all the enthusiasm of his nature to make it what it is, even though shortness of funds sometimes limits its possibilities.” (Herald; Hawaiian Star, April 30, 1906)

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