Economy | Page 161 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

January 16, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Missionaries Not Involved In The Overthrow

It is suggested that the overthrow of the Hawai‘i constitution monarchy was neither unexpected nor sudden.

Dissatisfaction with the rule of Kalākaua, and then Lili‘uokalani, initially led to the ‘Bayonet Constitution;’ then, the overthrow. Mounting dissatisfaction with government policies and private acts of officials led to the formation of the Hawaiian League, a group of Honolulu businessmen.

Missionary Period

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.

There were no missionaries in the Islands after 1863 (the Missionary Period ended 30-years – a generation – before the overthrow).

At its General Meeting from June 3, 1863 to July 1, 1863, the Sandwich Islands Mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM) met to discuss the future of the Mission. They formed the “Board of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association.” (Missionary Papers, 1867)

“After twenty-one days of debate, the result was reached with perfect unanimity, and the Association agreed to assume the responsibility hitherto sustained by the Board (ABCFM).”

“This measure was consummated by the Board in the autumn following, and those stations no longer look to the American churches for management and control.” (Missionary Papers, 1867)

“The mission, having accomplished, through the blessing of God, the work specially appropriate to it as a mission, has been, as such, disbanded, and merged in the community.” (Rufus Anderson, Foreign Secretary of the ABCFM, 1863)

Rufus Anderson, Foreign Secretary of the ABCFM, wrote to inform Kamehameha IV of the Hawaiian Evangelical actions and dissolution of the mission in his July 6, 1863 letter, noting, in part:

“I may perhaps be permitted, in view of my peculiar relations to a very large body of the best friends and benefactors of this nation, not to leave without my most respectful aloha to both your Majesties.”

“The important steps lately taken in this direction are perhaps sufficiently indicated in the printed Address …. I am happy to inform your Majesty that the plan there indicated has since been adopted, and is now going into effect, — with the best influence, as I cannot doubt, upon the religious welfare of your people.”

“My visit to these Islands has impressed me, not only with the strength, but also with the beneficent and paternal character of your government. In no nation in Christendom is there greater security of person and property, or more of civil and religious liberty.”

“As to the progress of the nation in Christian civilization, I am persuaded, and shall confidently affirm on my return home, that the history of the Christian church and of nations affords nothing equal to it.”

“And now the Hawaiian Christian community is so far formed and matured, that the American Board ceases to act any longer as principal, and becomes an auxiliary, – merely affording grants in aid of the several departments of labor in building up the kingdom of Christ in these Islands, and also in the Islands of Micronesia.”

“Praying God to grant long life and prosperity to your Majesties, I am, with profound respect, Your Majesty’s obedient, humble servant, R. Anderson”

Some suggest there was a ‘Missionary Party’ – suggesting it was made up of missionaries. That is not true; there was no formal ‘Missionary Party’ – in fact, in part, “(native Hawaiians) sarcastically termed Americans ‘the Missionary Party.’” (LaFeber)

“By Missionary party is not meant that the members of it are missionaries, but that they are descendants of the early missionaries who went to the islands … The descendants are not missionaries, but are mostly politicians and business men.” (Honolulu Republican, Sept 19, 1901)

“An attempt has been made to try and call the Anglo-Saxon party, or better the commercial and agricultural party, the Missionary party, and papers abroad have been weak enough to be taken in by the claptrap.” (Hawaiian Gazette, August 23, 1882)

The Committee of Safety was made up of 6-Hawaiian citizens (naturalized or by birth,) 5-Americans, 1-Scotsman and 1-German. (They were all residents of Hawai‘i and registered voters. None were missionaries; only 3 of the 13 had any link to the American Protestant missionaries – one was grandson, 2 were sons of missionaries.)

One more correction to the many misconceptions … on January 17, 1893, the Hawai‘i constitutional monarchy was overthrown, not the Hawaiian race.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

1845 (May) - Feb 1893 The current Hawaiian flag introduced in 1845

January 13, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ka Wai Ola a Kāne

‘Water of Life of Kāne’ (Lāna‘i Cultural & Heritage Center)

Wai (fresh water) is the most important resource for life. As such, wai must be considered a top priority in every aspect of land use and planning.

The kānaka maoli word for water is wai and the Hawaiian word for wealth is waiwai, indicating that water is the source of well-being and wealth.

The importance of the forest is that it plays a significant role in the water cycle, gathering moisture that is stored in the earth that ultimately finds its way to shore or the ocean, evaporated back into the sky to return as rain once again.

As such, the relationship between the wai and the forest is an infinite cycle.

“Fresh water as a life-giver was not to the Hawaiians merely a physical element; it had a spiritual connotation.”

“In prayers of thanks and invocations used in offering fruits of the land, and in prayers chanted when planting, and in prayers for rain, the ‘Water of Life of Kāne’ is referred to over and over again.”

“Kāne – the word means ‘male’ and ‘husband’ – was the embodiment of male procreative energy in fresh water, flowing on or under the earth in springs, in streams and rivers, and falling as rain (and also as sunshine,) which gives life to plants.”

“There are many prayers (referring to) ‘the Water of Life of Kāne” … We also hear occasionally of the “Water of Life” of Kanaloa, of Lono, and of Kū, and even of Hiʻiaka, sister of Pele, a healer”

“Lono was the god of rain and storms, and as such the “father of waters” (Lono-wai-makua).”

“The old priests were inclined to include in their prayers for rain and for fertility the names of the four major deities, Kāne, Kū, Lono, and Kanaloa, whose roles, while on the whole distinct, overlapped in many areas of ritualistic and mythological conceptions.”

The religion of the folk-planters and fishers – was sectarian to some extent; some worshiped Kāne, some Kū, some Lono, and some Kanaloa. Regardless of all such distinctions, life-giving waters were sacred. (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Stream-CWRM

January 12, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Not the Foreign Riffraff

“The coming of the missionaries was the real beginning of civilisation in the Islands. Up to 1820 the outside world had given the Hawaiians little beside trinkets, firearms, rum, and more expert methods of deceit.”

“Now it was to give to them their part in the civilisation of Western nations, to teach them that this involved the acceptance of new and higher ideals of conduct, of a religion to replace their outworn superstitions; that it meant a life regulated according to civilised law.”

“The missionaries undoubtedly went to Hawaii fired with the desire to save souls in danger of eternal damnation. They seem very quickly to have realised that wholesale baptism, misunderstood, was less important than a general quickening of spirit, a training in the decencies of life.”

“They never neglected the religious side of their teaching, but they also never neglected the secular side. They learned the Hawaiian language; they reduced it to writing and imported printing presses; they did their best as doctors and taught the elementary rules of health.”

“At first only permitted to land on sufferance, they soon became of prime importance to the chiefs, and were their advisers on almost all questions.”

“It is fair to them to say that if this function seemed an undue extension of their religious duties – and their severest critics never accuse them of anything else …”

“… they were the only foreigners in the Islands who would advise the chiefs impartially, and the only ones, moreover, who would have advised in such fashion as to save the dwindling remnants of the Hawaiian race.”

“They were pioneers seeking results in better men, not in riches for themselves; they were trying to give the people their own standards of decency and honour.”

“This soon resulted in bitter opposition from the foreign riffraff who infested the Islands, and especially from the ships that called more and more frequently.”

“It was the fixed belief of ship captains in those distant days that no laws, whether of God or man, were in force west of Cape Horn.”

“The call at Hawaii for water and provisions was most of all an opportunity for debauchery and unchecked crime. Hawaiian women were often captured and carried off on cruises to the North.”

“When a whaler appeared off the coast many of the native women fled to the mountains as their only sure protection. It is easy to understand, therefore, that when the King promulgated laws against immorality, laws evidently intended to be enforced …”

“… the whaling crews considered themselves cheated out of their rights and turned with rage against the missionaries, whom they correctly held to be responsible. In more than one instance brutal attacks were made on missionaries in isolated stations, who were saved only by the devoted natives.”

“It is sad to think that the commander of a United States frigate was among the most insolent in the demand for the repeal of these laws against vice, and that he permitted his men to attack both the house of a chief and the mission premises in Honolulu for the purpose of frightening the Government into submission.”

“Drink was carrying off the Hawaiians by hundreds, and when, in recognition of the danger, a heavy duty was laid on spirits, it was the commander of a French frigate who gave the King a few hours to decide whether he would abolish the duty or undertake a war with France.”

“These outrages and many others of a similar kind directed against efforts really to uplift the country were seconded by a party in Honolulu, a party, unfortunately, headed by the British consul who was for years allowed to retain his post in spite of repeated protests and requests for his removal on the part of the Hawaiian Government. …”

“(Kawaiaha‘o Church) is the impressive monument of the early missionary labour. It was dedicated in 1842 and was the royal chapel until the coming of the English Mission twenty years later.”

“Built of blocks of coral, it is in shape a rectangle. Over the main entrance is a low, square tower, which used to have an inappropriate wooden spire.”

“White, surrounded with huge algaroba trees, through the filmy leaves of which perpetual sun light plays, it typifies in its Puritanic dignity and rigorous simplicity the lasting work of its founders.”

“Behind it, in a cemetery as unpretentious as they were themselves, most of these founders are buried. Beyond, in the section of the town formerly known as the Mission, what remain of their houses are clustered.”

“One of these, the Cooke homestead, which was the first frame house built in the Islands, is now a missionary museum. The Castle homestead, greatly enlarged from the original, one-story plaster cottage”.

“Whatever one may think of missionary work in general, whatever absurd tales one may hear of the self-seeking of these particular missionaries …”

“… the imagination and the heart must be touched by this plain old church and these pathetic little old houses where, nearly a hundred years ago, a band of devoted men and women, desperately poor, separated by six months from home and friends, gave up their lives to what they believed was God’s work.”

“That their children and their grandchildren chose, most of them, to remain in this land of their birth and to enter secular life; that they have largely guided politics and business, has been a lasting blessing to the Islands.”

“Their presence only has made the people capable of becoming normally and naturally American citizens.” (All here is from Castle, 1913)

Jon Yasuda, who worked on the translation of the Ali‘i Letters Collection noted,

“The missionaries, when they came, they may have been the first group who came with a [united] purpose. They came together as a group and their purpose was to spread the Gospel the teachings of the Bible. …”

“But the missionaries who came, came with a united purpose … and literacy was a big part of that. Literacy was important to them because literacy was what was going to get the Hawaiians to understand the word of the Bible … and the written word became very attractive to the people, and there was a great desire to learn the written word. … Hawai‘i became the most literate nation at one time.”

Puakea Nogelmeier had a similar conclusion. In a remarks at a Hawaiian Mission Houses function he noted, “The missionary effort is more successful in Hawai‘i than probably anywhere in the world, in the impact that it has on the character and the form of a nation. And so, that history is incredible; but history gets so blurry …”

“The missionary success cover decades and decades becomes sort of this huge force where people feel like the missionaries got off the boat barking orders … where they just kind of came in and took over. They got off the boat and said ‘stop dancing,’ ‘put on clothes,’ don’t sleep around.’”

“And it’s so not the case ….”

“The Hawaiians had been playing with the rest of the world for forty-years by the time the missionaries came here. The missionaries are not the first to the buffet and most people had messed up the food already.”

“(T)hey end up staying and the impact is immediate. They are the first outside group that doesn’t want to take advantage of you, one way or the other, get ahold of their goods, their food, or your daughter. … But, they couldn’t get literacy. It was intangible, they wanted to learn to read and write”. (Puakea Nogelmeier)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Hawaiian Mission Houses

January 11, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawaiian Historical Society

“On the evening of January 11, 1892, the present historical society was organized. In the first year a total of 2,247 books, pamphlets and newspapers had been collected.”

“The collection was made with the excellent ideal in view that ‘nothing ever printed in this country, even an ephemeral hand-bill, is with out ultimate historic interest, and there is destroyed every month in this community materials that would be of permanent interest and value on the shelves of our library.’”

“In accord with this ideal, large additions have been made to the library, but the fact remains that many pamphlets, handbills and newspapers have not been secured and it would be well worth while, if every household in the Hawaiian Islands instead of destroying any such papers printed in English or Hawaiian, especially of the very old printing, would send the entire lot to the Hawaiian Historical Society to be sorted over.”

“Even the Paradise of the Pacific previous to 1901 is an incomplete set and many annuals and pamphlets are lacking. Donations of every kind would not be amiss.”

“This society celebrates its twenty-first birthday tonight (Jan 11, 1913). All through these years the Honolulu Library Association and the Hawaiian Historical Society have lived and worked together almost as if they were the same organization.”

“This close cooperation was secured in the first year of the society’s existence and is to-night consummated by our continued dwelling together in this splendid new library building on the same conditions practically as during all the years past.”

“It will be well worth while this anniversary evening to look back beyond the organization of our society to the beginning of whatever work has been done toward recording Hawaiian history and the effort put forth to have some organized body systematically undertake historical research. This leads to the first Hawaiian Historical Society and its origin.”

“In 1838 the first history of the Hawaiian people was published by the Mission school printing press at Lahainaluna. It was called ‘Ka Mooolelo Hawaii’ (the History of Hawaii). It was a very small book of 116 pages.”

“It had this inscription on its title page – ‘Written by some of the scholars of the great school and corrected by one of the teachers.’”

“That teacher was Rev. Sheldon Dibble, who used this small history as the foundation of the larger book published in English in 1843 and republished by Mr. Thrum in 1909.”

“In the preface of this history Mr. Dibble tells how he worked with his pupils to gather the material upon which all Hawaiian history has been based.”

“He says: ‘In 1836 I made some effort to collect the main facts of Hawaiian history. Most important events were afloat in the memories of the people and fast passing into oblivion. If they were to be preserved it was time they were collected.’”

“Dibble drew up a list of historical questions and selected the ten most promising scholars in Lahainaluna school, then set them at work.”

“He says, ‘I formed them into a class of inquiry. I gave them the first question and conversed freely with them upon it … then requested them to go separately to the most knowing of the chiefs and people, gain all the information they could on the question given out, commit each his information to writing and be ready to read it on a day and hour appointed.’”

“‘At the time of meeting each scholar read what he had written, discrepancies were reconciled and corrections made and all compositions handed to me, out of which I endeavored to make one connected and true account. At last a volume was prepared and printed in the Hawaiian language.’”

“The results of this plan were four – (1) a history of the islands which is now a classic, (2) an interest in history aroused in the minds of the older and more prominent Hawaiians, as they saw the benefit of preserving the ancient history of their own people …”

“… (3) a body of the best-educated Hawaiians trained along the line of historical research, (4) each one of these men was drilled many months in the art of expressing in writing the ideas received in his conversations with the older people.”

“Dibble was sent to the United States to see if he could recover from threatened pulmonary troubles. His pupils evidently continued the work with varying degrees of success.”

“In later years valuable historical articles by several of these men were contributed to the native papers and two, David Malo and S. M. Kamakau, have written and published enough material to make two or more volumes of Hawaiian lore.”

“To David Malo we owe the best description we have of Hawaiian customs and to Kamakau we are indebted for the most comprehensive historical statements, especially concerning the life of Kamehameha the First.”

“When Dibble returned to Lahaina he renewed his endeavor to collect Hawaiian history. He writes in 1843: ‘A Royal Historical Society has been formed by means of which some information has been gained.’”

“We would have no further knowledge concerning this society if Kamakau had not made a record of its origin and end and printed it in the Kuokoa of 1865.”

“Kamakau says: ‘A society was started at Lahainaluna according to the desire of the teachers. As the people of Alebione (Albion) had their British history and read about the Saxons and William, so the Hawaiians should read their history. So in 1841 the society was organized.’”

“Kamehameha III, John Young (a son of the friend of Kamehameha I), Haalilio, David Malo, D. Baldwin, William Richards, S. Dibble, Kamakau and many others were present.”

“Kamehameha III was elected president, William Richards, vice-president; S. Dibble, secretary, and S. M. Kamakau, treasurer.”

“‘The king said he thought the history of all the islands should be preserved from first to last.’”

“To David Malo was given the history of Umi, to John Young was allotted the coming of the first foreigners, to Haalilio the childhood of Kamehameha I, Kihapiilani was allotted to Kamakau, and the first ships anchoring at Lahaina to A. Moku. The missionaries and wise people from Hawaii to Kauai were given questions about the places where they lived.”

“For about three years this society ‘paa‘i’ – i.e. did its work faithfully, but when Dibble died and the king moved to Honolulu because of the new legislature started there, ‘the work of collecting the ancient things of the islands became “hemahema” i. e., very faulty, and the society came to an end.”

“Kamakau says, ‘If Dibble had lived we should have had a full story of Hawaii.’ About his own work he says in 1865: ‘I have gathered history from Hawaii to Kauai, but there are many things I do – not know and which, not having heard, I cannot teach.’”

“‘It might be well to have four men like myself paid each to go around his island and ask the old people who are still living for the facts and stories about the places where they live.’”

“‘These men must be wise and well known. The trouble is that already many of the residents are like strangers to the places where they dwell and do not know the history.’”

“SN Haleole, who probably was one of the prominent citizens of Wailuku, is the only source I can find for the following statement in the Kuokoa, Vol. IV, Nos. 16 and 22. He says:”

“‘I have been gathering the traditions and history of Hawaii for eighteen years and have been writing about Kamehameha in the ‘Hoku o ka Pakipika.’’”

“According to Haleole, a historical society was organized in March, 1863, and his work was the story of Kamehameha. He says he had ‘a great book filled with historical material.’”

“The above account is the record of the foundation of the first historical society and the method of securing the facts upon which all the Hawaiian history of all the later years has been based.” (Westervelt, 1913)

Today, the Hawaiian Historical Society publishes books in English and Hawaiian, and The Hawaiian Journal of History. This annual publication, which is included free as a benefit of membership, is the only peer-reviewed journal to focus on the history of Hawaiians and all other cultures in Hawai’i during both pre- and post-contact times.

Hawaiian Historical Society leases space from Hawaiian Mission Houses. If you would like to support the important work of the Society, annual dues start at $20 for students, $30 for seniors, and $40 for individuals, or you can make a contribution. You can join by clicking here, or call 808-537-6271 or e-mail HHSOffice@hawaiianhistory.org.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Hawaiian Historical Society

January 10, 2018 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

‘Āinahou

Hawai’i Island was the birthplace and stronghold of Hawai’i’s ranching industry and paniolo (cowboy) culture. The first cattle were brought by Captain George Vancouver in 1793 and 1794 as a gift to Kamehameha I who turned them loose and placed a kapu (taboo) on their slaughter until 1830.

By that time, a dozen cattle had proliferated into a numerous and feral population, which was wreaking havoc on native ecosystems and seemed impossible to control.

Kamehameha III then sent an ambassador to Mexico to bring back some vaqueros (Mexican cowboys) to teach local people to ride horses, rope cattle, and tame wild cattle.

Between 1850 and 1900 many different breeds of cattle were imported throughout the Hawaiian Islands and large-scale ranching operations emerged, particularly on Hawai‘i Island – the chief industries elsewhere in the state were sugarcane and pineapple.

The entire ahupua‘a of Keauhou (at Volcano) was awarded to Victoria Kamāmalu, a granddaughter of Kamehameha I. Between 1866 and 1884, the ownership of Keauhou was successively inherited by members of the Kamehameha lineage upon the deaths of previous heirs until the death of Princess Bernice Pauahi.

At that time, her husband Charles Bishop established BP Bishop Estate to administer Keauhou and other properties in Pauahi’s inheritance. Congress purchased the lower portion of Keauhou from BP Bishop Estate and established Hawai‘i National Park in 1916.

In 1921, Bishop Estate leased other portions of Keauhou to May K and Arthur W Brown and they established Keauhou Ranch. In August 1937, the lease was transferred to the Brown heirs. In November 1937, William H Shipman, Ltd purchased the Brown heirs’ Keauhou Ranch lease as well as all animals, structures and land improvements on the property.

Herbert Cornelius Shipman sought the property as a safe retreat in case of a Japanese invasion for himself, his sisters and his father. He renamed it ‘Āinahou (new land) Ranch.

Herbert C Shipman was the only son of William Herbert Shipman, one of East Hawai‘i’s best known ranchers and businessmen. (Herbert Shipman took over the business after his father’s death in 1943.)

Herbert C Shipman was a locally renowned businessman, cattle rancher, wildlife conservationist, philanthropist, and descendant of one of the oldest missionary families in Hawai’i.

The ‘Āinahou Ranch is located within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, approximately four miles south and down slope from Kilauea Caldera, the world’s most active volcano.

Construction of the ‘Āinahou Ranch House began in 1940 and ended in July of the following year, just before the World War II broke out.

During and after the war, the ranch house was also used as a base of operations for ‘Āinahou Ranch, which supplied beef to military and domestic outlets. After World War II, the ranch supplied meat to Hilo outlets for approximately 20 years.

After the war, ‘Āinahou was used as his personal retreat and a place to entertain friends. An ‘Āinahou guest book contains the signatures of several hundreds of people who were invited by Shipman between 1945-1965.

Among his guest were actresses Joan Crawford and Janet Gaynor, Sir Peter Buck and well known Pacific archaeologists Kenneth Emory and Marian Kelly.

Over the years, elaborate gardens surrounded the ranch house. Shipman moved a surviving flock of nene (Hawaiian goose and State bird) from his coastal residence in Kea‘au to ‘Āinahou Ranch after a tsunami hit the Island of Hawai’i on April 1, 1946, devastating the local nene population. The ranch was used as a nene sanctuary.

Shipman is credited with the saving of the nene from the brink of extinction by initiating a controlled breeding program. At that
time, the total population of the species had been reduced to a few dozen birds.

In 1969, when Kilauea Volcano became active, threatening Shipman’s property, Shipman decided to evacuate all personnel, but left the nene.

In 1971-72, as the lava approached the property within 2/3 of a mile, an agreement was reached where Shipman received payment from the Park Service for the improvements, Bishop Estate terminated Shipman’s lease due to an imminent danger clause and sold the land fee simple to the National Park Service.

The property was purchased by the National Park Service under the authority of the Endangered Species Act, requiring that part of the land be set aside for activities related to preserving endangered species and a portion is currently being used to care for the nene.

Since the National Park Service acquired the property, the house has been used intermittently as a retreat, hostel for visiting work crews and overnight lodging for social groups.

Herbert, who never married, died childless in 1976. In accordance with his will, most of his assets went to establish a philanthropic foundation.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger