Prominent People | Page 115 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

February 2, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

YMCA

The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was founded in London, England, on June 6, 1844, in response to unhealthy social conditions arising in the big cities at the end of the Industrial Revolution (roughly 1750 to 1850).

Growth of the railroads and centralization of commerce and industry brought many rural young men who needed jobs into cities like London. They worked 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week.

George Williams came to London 20 years later as a sales assistant in a draper’s shop, a forerunner of today’s department store. He and a group of fellow drapers organized the first YMCA to substitute Bible study and prayer for life on the streets.

The YMCA idea, which began among evangelicals, was unusual because it crossed the rigid lines that separated all the different churches and social classes in England in those days.

This openness was a trait that would lead eventually to including in YMCAs all men, women and children, regardless of race, religion or nationality. Also, its target of meeting social need in the community was dear from the start. (YMCA)

By 1851 there were 24 Ys in Great Britain, with a combined membership of 2,700. That same year the Y arrived in North America: It was established in Montreal on November 25, and in Boston on December 29. (YMCA)

“One of the most interesting foreign YMCA’s of this period was that of Honolulu formed … by ten young Americans, (including) the Association’s first president, Sanford B. Dole”. (Hopkins)

“In Spring 1869 in Honolulu, three friends met at Peter Cushman Jones’s home and decided to form the Young Men’s Christian Association of Honolulu.”

“In the first year, many community leaders joined the YMCA Honolulu, including Sanford B. Dole, Theo H. Davies, and Samuel M. Damon.” (UH)

“The ‘Young Men’s Christian Association,’ of Honolulu, appears to have started in to do a good work. They have fitted up the room up-stairs in the Sailors’ Home building, in neat and convenient style.”

“A card in a prominent place, informs us that ‘This room is free to all; it is supported by the voluntary contributions of the Citizens of Honolulu, and Is under the management of the Young Men’s Christian Association. Visitors are requested not to smoke in the room, and not to take away newspapers or magazines.’”

“There, we have given our young men, who appear to be in earnest in their desire to improve themselves and brother men, this notice, and only hope that their enterprise will prove a success.” (Hawaiian Gazette, September 29, 1869)

“(I)n 1876 a Chinese YMCA was organized for the immigrants of that period. It did a notable work.” (Hopkins)

During the first twelve years, YMCA Honolulu operated with no building or paid employee. Then, a building was built, and the first paid secretary started working. (UH)

On February 4, 1882, the Privy Council addressed, “A petition by Henry Waterhouse and others for a Charter of Incorporation for the Young Men’ s Christian Association of Honolulu … On motion of Mr. Castle, it was voted that the Privy Council recommend that the Charter be granted.” (Privy Council, February 4, 1882)

Later that year, the foundation for a building generally referred to as ‘YMCA Hall’ was laid on a lot the purchased the year before at Hotel and Alakea streets in downtown Honolulu (makai of Hotel and Ewa of Alakea). (Papacostas)

“During the next decade, work for Japanese was inaugurated; the program for native Hawaiians was also kept separate from that for Americans.”

“A secretary of the Honolulu Association was recruited in 1885 by H. J. McCoy, the aggressive San Francisco secretary, who visited the Islands in that year.” (Hopkins)

“From 1887 to 1922, Hawaii newspapers ran the ‘YMCA Notes,’ which reported the local YMCA news, including club meetings and events (e.g. preparing for boy summer camp). The content would usually fit in one to two columns and appear in a middle page of the newspaper.” (UH)

“In the mid-1890s the Honolulu YMCA published a paper, held religious services at the barracks, admitted women to membership—two of whom carried on the boys’ work program—and reported a YMCA among the lepers of Molokai.”

“This unusual Association was a remarkable example of what occurred when the YMCA idea was carried to a foreign shore by American emigrants.” (Hopkins)

Today, the YMCA of Honolulu is one of the largest non-profit organizations in the state. Every year, more than 100,000 individuals are served in a variety of programs.

YMCA programs and services are open to children, teens, women and men of all ages, faiths and backgrounds. In all programs, the core values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility are promoted.

Programs and services center around three areas of focus: Youth Development, Healthy Living and Social Responsibility.

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YMCA Building

YMCA Hall

January 31, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Russians are Coming

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Russian_Fort_Elizabeth-Fort_Survey-Map-Reg-1360 (1885)

January 30, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

William Watman

William Watman was part of Captain Cook’s crew; he had joined the Resolution as an able bodied seaman, but later was classed as a Gunner’s Mate.

“He had formerly served as a marine twenty-one years; after which he entered as a seaman on board the Resolution in 1772, and served with Captain Cook in his voyage toward the South Pole.” (Cook’s Journal) “(A)fter which the Captain managed to obtain a place in Greenwich Hospital for his ageing seaman.” (King)

“On learning that Cook was preparing for his third voyage Watman managed to convince Cook that he would be a worthwhile member of the crew and he joined the Resolution on 3 Feb. 1776 whilst it was still in the dock at Deptford being re-fitted.” (Captain Cook Society)

Shortly thereafter (April 26, 1776, while the Resolution was still in the River Thames), Watman prepared his will, “In the name of God Amen, I Wm. Watman, Mariner on board his Majesty’s Ship Resolution, James Cook Esqr. Commander, being of sound and disposing mind and memory do hereby make this my last Will and Testament,”

“First and principally I commend my Soul into the Hands of Almighty God hoping for Remission of all my Sins through the Merits of Jesus Christ my Blessed Saviour, and Redeemer, and my Body to the Earth or Sea as it shall please God,”

“And as for such wordly estate and effects which I shall be possessed of or intitled unto at the time of my decease, I give and bequeath the same as followeth, that is to say …”

“I give and bequeath unto my Brother Thomas Watman of Strutton in the County of Surrey, all such wages, sum and sums of Money as now is, or hereafter shall be due to me for my service or otherwise on Board the said Ship, or any other Vessel or Ship …”

“… and I do hereby nominate, constitute and appoint my said Brother Thomas Watman sole Executor of this my last Will and Testament,”

“And I do give and bequeath unto my said Executor all the Rest and Residue of my said Estate whatsoever both Real and Personal, hereby revoking and making void all other and former wills by me heretofore made and do declare this to be my last Will and Testament …”

“Names as Witnesses in the presence of the said Testatr. Jams. Cook, Wm. Bligh.” “Normally members of the crew call on their messmates to witness their will. But Watman was able to call on Captain Cook and William Bligh the Master of the Resolution, to be his witnesses. This must indicate the esteem in which he was held by the ship’s officers.”

“During the voyage, he had frequently been subject to slight fevers, and was a convalescent when we came into the (Kealakekua) bay, where, being sent on shore for a few days …”

“… he conceived himself perfectly recovered, and, at his own desire, returned on board; but the day following he had a paralytic stroke, which in two days more carried him off.”

“He died on board the Resolution on 1 February 1779 whilst it was anchored in Kealakekua Bay.” (Captain Cook Society) “Watman was supposed by us to be about sixty years old” (King)

“At the request of Terreeoboo (Kalaniopu‘u), the remains of this honest seaman were buried on the morai (Hikiau Heiau); the ceremony being performed with great solemnity.”

“Kaoo and his brethren were present it the funeral, who behaved with great decorum, and paid due attention while the service was performing.”

“On our beginning to fill up the grave, they approached it with great awe, and threw in a dead pig, together with some cocoa-nuts and plantains.”

“For three successive nights they surrounded it, sacrificing hogs, and reciting hymns and prayers till morning.”

“We erected a post at the head of the grave, and nailed thereon a piece of board; on which was inscribed the name and age of the deceased, and the day of his departure from this life.”

“These they assured us they would not remove, and they will probably be permitted to remain, so long as such frail materials can endure.” (King)

Later, a monument was erected near Hikiau Heiau, the inscription reads: “In this Heiau, January 28, 1779, Captain James Cook R.N. read the English burial service over William Watman, Seaman. The first recorded Christian Service in the Hawaiian Islands. Erected by the Kona Civic Club, 1928”.

With respect to his will, it “was proved at London, the fourteenth day of October in the (year) of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty, before the Worshipful Francis Simpson, Doctor of Laws, Surrogate of the Right Worshipful Peter Calvert, Doctor of Laws, Master Keeper or Commissary of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury …”

“… lawfully constituted by the Oath of Thomas Watman, the Brother of the deceased and sole Executor named in the said Will, to whom Administration of all and singular the Goods, Chattels and Credits of the said deceased was granted he having been first sworn duly to Administer.” (Captain Cook Society)

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Watman Memorial-Hikiau_Heiau-KHS-1960-1923

William Whatman memorial-Kealakekua

Memorial plaque at the Hikiau Heiau, Kealakekua Bay, Big Island, Hawaii

Watman Memorial-Opukahaia Memorial (moved to Kahikolu in 1993)

January 29, 2018 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Samuel Chenery Damon

In the Colonial Records in the Boston Libraries relating to the founders of Scituate, Massachusetts, and their descendants, the name John Damon was spelled Daman. He came to the colony of Plymouth probably as early as 1628, with his sister Hannah and Uncle William Gilson who was their guardian.

After the ‘Boston Tea Party’ the Colonists enrolled themselves into companies of ‘Minute Men’ to assemble at a moment’s warning, which was to be given by the ringing of bells, firing of guns, etc; Samuel Damon and Simeon Damon, his brother, were under the command of Capt. Joseph Stetson.

Among the men to respond to the ‘Lexington Alarm’ on April 19th, 177 5, enrolled in Captain John Clapp’s Company of Minute men, appear the names of Samuel Damon, Daniel Damon, John Damon (brothers), and Stephen Damon.

“In the year 1793, Samuel Damon with his family consisting of his wife and eleven children, came from Scitnate, Mass. And located a farm on what was known as Parker’s Hill, near Springfield. Here he built a log house in which he reared his family. This farm was known for many years as the Damon farm”. (Damon)

Samuel Chenery Damon, son of Colonel Samuel Damon, was born in Holden, Massachusetts, February 15, 1815. He was graduated from Amherst College in 1836, studied at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1838-39, and was graduated at Andover Theological Seminary in 1841. He was an American missionary.

He was preparing to go to India as a missionary and was studying the Tamil language for that purpose, when an urgent call came for a seaman’s chaplain at the port of Honolulu in the Hawaiian Islands. He was ordained September 15, 1841, and he decided to accept the position at Honolulu.

He married Julia Sherman Mills of Natick, Massachusetts on October 6, 1841. Julia’s uncle, Samuel John Mills Jr, was one of five participants in the famous 1806 Williams College ‘Haystack Prayer Meeting’ that led to the beginning of a secret missionary fraternity called the Society of Brethren, the first Protestant foreign missions organization in America.

Mills later led in the formation the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions or ABCFM (the Protestant missionaries who came to Hawaiʻi in 1820.)

In 1842, the Damons moved to Honolulu at the direction of the American Seamen’s Friend Society – Damon served as the chaplain at O‘ahu Bethel Church (Seamen’s Bethel) for 42 years, serving the sailors of vessels who entered the port of Honolulu.

“Beth-el” was designated as a refuge for sojourners. At that time more than 100 whaling vessels with approximately 6,000 sailors aboard entered the port of Honolulu annually.

Materials for the building had been contributed by several ship owners in Norwich and New London, Connecticut. A residence for the chaplain was also built nearby.

The chapel was of average size, measuring 48 feet by 30 feet. The main hall seated 300 persons; the basement had a reading room, a book depository, and a marine museum. Dedicated in 1833, the chapel stood until 1886. (Watson)

Damon preached two sermons on Sunday with an additional service on Wednesday. He ministered to the needs of the visiting sailors, which could include food, clothing, and temporary shelter.

He encouraged sailors to refrain from liquor and carousing while on leave. He also collected the sailors’ mail until a post office was established in 1851. Concerned with educating his seagoing flock, he collected books on spelling and arithmetic.

In 1886 a raging waterfront fire destroyed the Seamen’s Bethel, which was still Bethel Union’s home. The idea surfaced of combining Bethel Union, now without a home, with the well-established Fort Street Church (at what is now the ʻEwa Makai corner of Fort Street and Beretania at the top of the Fort Street Mall.)

In 1887 a formal merger of Bethel Union and Fort Street Church created Central Union Church, with 337 members. They first built a church across from Washington Place (1891,) then built the present Central Union in 1920.)

Perceiving a need for a newspaper, Damon founded ‘The Temperance Advocate and Seamen’s Friend’ (later reduced to ‘The Friend,’) which published local and world news, announcements, messages from the visiting sailors, and articles and sermons written by the chaplain himself. Printed regularly, the newspaper totaled an estimated one-half million copies over the years. (Watson)

The Friend described itself as the “Oldest Newspaper West of the Rockies” in the early 1900s; it was a monthly newspaper for seamen which included news from both American and English newspapers as well as announcements of upcoming events, reprints of sermons, poetry, local news, editorials, ship arrivals and departures and a listing of marriages and deaths.

In the mid-1800s, many professing Christians migrated to Hawaii from South China looking for a better life working on the Sugar Plantations. In February 1869, with the support of Damon, Sabbath Evening meetings for the Chinese were held under the guidance of Samuel Aheong, a Chinese plantation worker.

Aheong returned to China in 1870. Damon made the facilities of the Bethel Church available for Sunday afternoon services and personally taught a small group of Chinese English in a night school in the parish hall. (FirstChinese)

Samuel and his wife Julia visited missions overseas in Egypt and Syria. They also made a trip to the United States to observe the settlements in California. In 1849 revisited Holden during a trip to the centennial celebration in Philadelphia, to which he was a delegate.

Damon passed away in 1885 at the age of seventy and lies buried at O‘ahu Cemetery. Three years after his passing, his brother-in-law Samuel C Gale gave the citizens of Holden the beautiful Damon Memorial that housed both the Gale Free Library and the Holden High School. The library, said Gale in his dedicatory speech, was Damon’s inspiration.

Click the following link of a portrayal of Reverend Samuel Chenery Damon (portrayed by David C Farmer) as a Mission Houses Cemetery Pupu Theatre (recorded on cellphone, sound is weak:)

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Samuel_C._Damon_(PP-70-7-001)

Samuel-Chenery-Damon

The Seamen’s Bethel Chapel-1896

Bethel’s Church, Honolulu, Hawaii, founded in 1833 as Seamen’s Bethel Church

The_Friend_Building-approximate_location_of_Bethel_Chapel-926_Bethel_Street

January 24, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Frederick Arthur Godfrey Muir

“One of the outstanding results of the great commercial and agricultural developments of the past century has been the enormous increase of insect pests.”

“Some of these pests have been distributed by commerce and many of them have become great pests only after leaving their home country.”

“In 1900, the sugar cane industry of the Islands began to be seriously checked by a very small insect known as the sugar-cane leafhopper which somehow had become established from Australia a few years earlier.” (Timberlake)

“This insect is extremely prolific and when multiplying unchecked it increases to such an extent that the sugar cane is badly stunted and finally killed. The adults migrate especially at night from one field to another, flying generally from the older cane to younger fields.”

“By 1904 the situation had become extremely bad and the whole industry was suffering enormous losses and was threatened with entire destruction by this insect. There seemed to be no practical· means of combating it”. (Timberlake)

As an example, the Big Island’s Pahala Plantation harvested 18,888 tons of sugar in 1903, but only 1,620 tons in 1905 and 826 tons in 1906. (Tucker)

Dr. Frederick AG Muir began this work for the Experiment Station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association in September, 1905. This was when the sugar cane leafhopper was still a serious pest in Hawai‘i. (Swezey)

Before coming to Hawai‘i, Muir was employed in various parts of Africa, first as engineer and electrician and later as entomologist, having been connected with Eckstein group of gold mines in Johannesberg. (Nellist)

Frederick Muir (an entomologist with HSPA – at the time the only entomological research institution in Hawai‘i), began a long search to find and introduce natural enemies, seeking biological control as a method of controlling insect pests. (Swezey)

He was sent out to the tropical areas of the South Pacific, Australia, and the Melanesian Archipelago to search for potential biological control agents for sugar cane pests. (Evenhuis)

In a magazine article published in 1912, a newspaper man asked Mr. Muir, “Were you ever in danger of losing your life?” Muir was a small, mild-looking man with the air of a college professor, in spite of the outdoor color on his face and hands. He seemed much embarrassed by the question.

“Oh, no,” he said with a sharp English accent that ten years knocking about in the tropics had not altered. “You see, I have a theory that a man can go anywhere safely as long as he respects the point of view of the inhabitants, whether they be man or animals.” (Easton)

On one expedition, “he fell ill of typhoid fever and lay helpless in the hospital for five weeks. His precious insects were almost continually in his mind, be he was too ill to care for them”. (Washington Herald, Oct 11, 1914)

He was instrumental in finding and bringing to the Territory numerous parasites to counteract the ravages of the leaf-hopper, borer beetle, and anomala beetle, thus saving the industry an immense amount of money if not from destruction. He has published a number of monographs on leafhoppers, beetles and other entomological subjects.

“(H)e considered (the) isolated oceanic (Hawaiian) islands to which during a tremendously long time the flotsam and jetsam of ocean drift had brought a few forms of vegetable and animal life from which have since been evolved the numerous species that in a few tribes only now characterize its flora and fauna.”

“It is noteworthy that in this evolution no degree of adaptation is exhibited, species have gone on forming regardless of adaptation. The peculiar simplicity of the biological conditions with known factors make these islands the finest center for the study of evolution”.

“(I)ntroduced insects, from the absence of their parasites, are liable to play an important role. As an example, a leaf hopper damaged the sugar crop $5,000,000 in a year; but the introduction of an egg parasite from Fiji reduced this to $15,000.”

“The absence of secondary parasites has caused such introductions of parasites to be attended with unusual success.” (Proceedings of NY Entomological Society, Nov 26, 1917)

Muir was born in London on April 24, 1873, the son of Alexander Muir of Scotland and Annie Marie (Lempriere) Muir, of Jersey. His early education was obtained in England.

“On October 31, 1917, Dr. Muir left for England to engage in war service for his native country in the trying days of the World War. He returned to Honolulu a year later on October 28, 1918.”

“In the meantime he had married Margaret Annie Sharp on April 9, 1918, the daughter of Dr. David Sharp (another entomologist).” (Swezey)

Dr. Muir’s health had been undermined by so much time spent in unhealthful tropical jungles, etc., and he went to England at intervals, spending most of the years 1927 and 1928 there.

On his return from England, September 12, 1928, arrangements were made for his retirement from active service at the Experiment Station, HSPA.

He left Honolulu on November 17, 1928, to make his home in England, (Swezey) He died there on May 13, 1931.

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Frederick Muir-Easton

Frederick Arthur Godfrey Muir