Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings

September 18, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘A Swarm of B’s Has Come’

“A family meeting of seven brothers was held at our late Thanksgiving, and the occurrence was so peculiar and uncommon in the history of the town, that some of the citizens have expressed desire that it should be made public”.

“The ancestors of these men, both on the father and the mother’s side, immigrated from England. Joseph Bingham, their grand-sire, was born at Norwich, Connecticut where he lived to raise a family of sons and daughters: and he remained there until his children arrived to years of maturity.”

“He was a Capt. Lieutenant in a company of Provincials, as they were then called, during the French War, about the year 1756. He was a firm friend of liberty, and a determined opposer to all tyranny and oppression.”

“Soon after the close of the French from Norwich, Conn. to Charlemont, Jeremiah and Calvin came with him. Here they resided until a short time before the commencement of the Revolution.”

“About this time a few families had located themselves in this town and Jeremiah and Calvin Bingham came across the mountain and selected a farm. They soon removed with their agent father and mother, and settled upon their farm in North Bennington, and the frame of their dwelling house is the same which is now occupied by Dea. Graves.”

“When the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought, they and many of their neighbors, and others in this town, heard the roar of cannon from that battlefield.”

“When Gen. Burgoyne in August, 1777 sent Col. Baum to Bennington with a strong force of Hessians and Indians to procur provisions etc., Jeremiah and Calvin Bingham united with their fellow townsmen and others to oppose the progress of Col. Baum.”

“This officer was effectively routed and overwhelmed with the Green Mountain Boys met him ‘upon the high places of the field’, August 16, 1777.”

He went, with many others, who were aged and infirm, to Bennington Center, and while they were collected there, he proposed that while the Battle was raging they should lift up their voices and their hearts in fervent prayer to the God of Battle …”

“… that He would bless their sons, brothers and friends, who were in the Battle, fighting for their homes and for liberty; and that He would permit them to return again, and peacefully enjoy their homes.”

“After the close of the War, Jeremiah, the elder of the two brothers, removed to Cornwall, Addison County, Vermont where he trained a family of sons and daughters; and was loved and honored by his fellow citizens, to the end of his days, for his piety and every manly virtue. He lived to be almost 100 years old.”

“Calvin, the younger, remained on the farm at North Bennington, and nourished and comforted his aged father and mother while they lived. There, on that farm, was born to him 7 sons and 5 daughters, who lived to arrive to years of maturity.”

“Asa, the first born son and child, was born in Sept. 1778. He is consequently 77 yrs. old. He lived with his father until he was of lawful age, and worked on the farm as he was able. He was married, and after a few months removed to Camillua, Onondaga County, New York.”

“In process of time, his farm was subdued, and he has been greatly prospered in pecuniary things. He has been honored many years also as an officer in a Christian Church.”

“Amos, the second son, lived and worked with his father on the farm several years. His health was not very good, and he thought he would make an effort to fit himself with some other calling. He taught school some, and fitted for college.”

“He entered Middlebury College and passed through the course of studies … He studied divinity with Rev. Dr. Burton of Thetford, Vt. and was licensed and ordained as Minister of the Gospel.”

“The oppresive system of slavery in Virginia he could no longer endure. He retired to the city of Philadelphia, where he has been employed to preach to prisoners, to alms houses, by the city authorities and by benevolent societies and individuals.”

“Calvin, the third son, lived and labored chiefly on the farm with his father until he was by law permitted to act for himself. He then left his native place, and took up a piece of wild land adjoining the farm of his eldest brother, about 9 miles from Syracuse.”

“While living on and subduing this land, he had some marvelous escapes from sudden death. Several of his children are living in Michigan, one of whom is now Governor of that State.”

“Luther, the fourth son, when he had lived nearly to mature years, commenced the study of medicine. He studied a part of the time, and practiced some with Dr. N. Swift of this town. He commenced medical practice for himself near Burlington , Otsego County, N.Y.”

“He afterwards located in Oaondaga County, near his older brothers; and followed his profession in connection with farming. He spent a few years there, and sold out and removed to Genesee County.”

“He purchased a farm near Batavia, where he still resides. He has for many years been distinguished for his opposition to the
system of American slavery.”

“Hiram, the fifth son, before he arrived to manhood was selected by his parents to remain with them to be their protector and
comforter during their reclining years.”

“About this time, however, he experienced a great change in his feelings, and notwithstanding his parents were depending on him, yet he felt it to be his duty to prepare for the work of the Gospel Ministry.”

“He soon commenced to fit himself for college. He entered and passed through a course of college studies at Middlebury where he graduated with honor to himself and to his instructors.”

“He soon entered the Theological Seminary at Andover, Massachusetts. He passed through a three-year course of study. He offered himself to the Board of Missions at Boston as a Missionary to the Sandwich Islands.”

“H. Bingham lived and preached on these Islands about 20 years when he found it necessary to return to his native land in consequence in illness of his wife. His wife and faithful helper did not remain very long in her native land, but wasted away by disease and soon rested from all her labors, cares and sorrows.”

“Her husband still lives, and at the present time is connected with a second wife and with her is engaged in teaching a boarding school for young ladies in New Haven, Connecticut. He also preaches occasionally as he has opportunity.”

“Stephen, the sixth son, lived and labored on the farm with his father until he was 21. He was requested by his parents to stay with them and take charge of the farm during their declining years. “

“This service he endeavored to perform; and probably he was instrumental in relieving them from many anxious cares, and in making them more happy and comfortable while they lived, though perhaps in their pecuniary point of view, at the expense of a rising family.”

“He has always lived and labored among his fellow citizens of this goodly town. At present he is entrusted with the superintendence of the common schools as he has been for several years past.”

“David, the seventh son, remained with his parents until by the statutes he was permitted to act for himself. Soon after this he went to Camillus, and commenced clearing a piece of land adjoining the farms of his older brothers.”

“He thought his health was not sufficient for that business, and he sold his land to his oldest brother, and commenced the study of medicine. He completed his medical studies at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Fairfield, Herkimer County, New York and soon after entered into practice at Norway, in the same county.”

“(The) history of these seven brothers has it has been extended over a period of more than 50 years. During this long period they had not been permitted to meet all together at one time. Their lives had been mercifully and wonderfully preserved, by sea and land, through dangers and death on every side, until their united ages amounted to 484 years and 9 months. Average age, 69 years one month and 13 days.”

“And here, perhaps, the inquiry may be made, ‘can any reason be given why the lives of these men have been protracted through this long period? … They are all men of temporate and industrious habits, and no one of them ever contracted the habit of using tobacco in any of its forms, or indulged in the use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage.”

“Some of the older sons felt very anxious that a meeting should be held; and by correspondence, it was finally arranged that each one would make strenuous exertions to be in his native town on the 6th of December – Thanksgiving Day.”

“On that day, those who lived out of town, enjoyed the privilege of meeting with some of their old fellow townsmen, and others, in the Center Church, and with them were permitted to render Thanksgiving and praise to Him who rules upon the sea and land; who watches the fall of the sparrows, and who had sustained them through all their wonderings.”

“In the afternoon the seven were all at the house of their sister … and with her and another sister and some young friends, they sat down to a bountiful supper, prepared for the occasion while many of the transactions of their youthful days were vividly brought to their recollection.”

“The next day they rambled over the old farm where their youthful days had been spent. They tranversed the fields, the pastures, the meadows. They observed the trees, the rocks, the fence, the orchard, the locus and other trees around the house and then they came around the old well, which is 60 ft. deep.”

“The proprietor (Dea. Graves) observing them, came out, when one of them observed to him ‘a swarm of B’s has come.’”

“They were invited and welcomed into the old house where they first saw the light. This they had opportunity critically to examine and here, for a short time … the scenes of their youth were lived over afresh.”

“What feelings crowded in rapid succession upon the mind! The father and mother who taught their infant feet to walk and who guided their wayward youth! That aged grandfather and grandmother, who sat in the ‘the old arm chairs.’” (Vermont State Banner, Bennington, December 28, 1855)

September 16, 2026 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Hiram Bingham: I – IV

Hiram Bingham I was born at Bennington, Vermont, October 30, 1789, in a family of thirteen children – seven sons and six daughters – of Calvin and Lydia Bingham. About the age of twenty-one, he united with the Congregational church in his native town in May, 1811.

He strongly felt it to be his duty to prepare for the Gospel ministry. He entered Middlebury College in 1813; was graduated at the same institution in 1816, and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1819. (Congregational Quarterly, 1871)

On September 19 1819, Bingham was ordained in Goshen, Connecticut, site of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) school for Sandwich Islanders. That morning, he met Sybil Moseley; she had asked Bingham for directions and he offered to drive her there. Three weeks later, on October 11, 1819, the couple was married in Hartford, Connecticut. (Miller)

On October 23, 1819, Bingham led the Pioneer Company of ABCFM missionaries as they set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.) These included two Ordained Preachers, Bingham and his wife Sybil and Asa Thurston and his wife Lucy; two Teachers, Mr. Samuel Whitney and his wife Mercy and Samuel Ruggles and his wife Mary; a Doctor, Thomas Holman and his wife Lucia; a Printer, Elisha Loomis and his wife Maria; a Farmer, Daniel Chamberlain, his wife and five children.

By the time the Pioneer Company arrived (April 1820,) 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.

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.

Bingham had seven children, including Sophia Moseley Bingham born 1820 (the first Caucasian girl born on Oʻahu;) Levi Parsons Bingham; Jeremiah Everts Bingham; Lucy Whiting Bingham; Elizabeth Kaʻahumanu Bingham, born 1829; Hiram Bingham II, born on August 16th, 1831; and Lydia Bingham, born 1834 (who later became principal of Kawaiahaʻo Seminary, forerunner to Mid-Pacific Institute.)

Hiram I’s position as trusted advisor to the King and the chiefs resulted in the gift of the land of Ka Punahou from Boki and Liliha (Kaʻahumanu is considered responsible for this gift.) While the land was given to the Binghams and they resided there, the land was held by the Sandwich Island Mission.

On account of the failing health of his wife, Sybil, Bingham was compelled to return to the US on August 3, 1840, after a period of about twenty-one years in the Islands. He continued in the service of the Board during the five following years, and did not until the end of that time wholly abandon the hope of returning to the mission. Sybil died at Easthampton, Massachusetts, February 27, 1848.

Bingham’s second marriage was in 1852, to Miss Naomi C Morse. Hiram I died at New Haven, Connecticut, November 11, 1869, at the age of eighty-one.

Hiram Bingham II was born in the Islands on August 16, 1831. At the age of ten, he and sisters Elizabeth Kaahumanu and Lydia were sent to the continent to attend school. Hiram II was enrolled at Williston Seminary in Easthampton, Massachusetts and graduated from Yale University in 1853 and Andover Seminary (1856.)

Hiram II was ordained a Congregationalist minister in New Haven, Connecticut on November 9, 1856 and married Clara Brewster only nine days later. Like his father, he set sail less than two weeks later to begin his missionary career. He left Boston on December 2, 1856 on the brig Morning Star, arrived in Honolulu on April 24, 1857, then in the Gilbert Islands in November 1857.

The Gilbert Islands (named in 1820 after the British Captain Thomas Gilbert) are a group of 16-coral atolls and islands, that are part of Kiribati (‘Kiribati’” is the Kiribatese rendition of “Gilberts.”) Hiram II settled at Abaiang, just north of Tarawa.

Hiram II spent seven years in the Gilbert Islands, struggling against disease, hunger and hostile merchants. During that time he made few converts, about fifty in all, but learned the language and began translating the Bible into Gilbertese.

Due to ill health, he was forced to return to Honolulu in 1864. Except for occasional visits to the US and another short stay in the Gilberts (1873-75,) Hiram II spent the remainder of his life in Hawaiʻi where he translated of the entire Bible into Gilbertese.

Hiram II also wrote a Gilbertese hymn book, commentaries on the gospels and a Gilbertese-English dictionary. His wife published a book of Bible stories in Gilbertese. (Youngs)

From 1877 to 1880, Hiram II served as Secretary of the Hawaiian Board of Missions and in 1895, Yale University awarded him the Doctorate of Divinity. He died October 25, 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Hiram Bingham III was born in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, to Hiram Bingham II; He was the grandson of Hiram Bingham I. He attended Punahou School and continued his studies at the Phillips Academy of Massachusetts, and then at Yale University, where he graduated in 1898; got a masters In History and Political Sciences from Berkeley and a PhD from Harvard in 1905.

In 1900 at the age of 25, Hiram III married Alfreda Mitchell, heiress of the Tiffany and Co fortune through her maternal grandfather Charles L. Tiffany. With this financial stability he was able to focus on his future explorations.

He taught history and politics at Harvard and then was a lecturer and subsequently professor in South American history at Yale University. In 1908, he served as delegate to the First Pan American Scientific Congress at Santiago, Chile. On his way home via Peru, a local prefect convinced him to visit the pre-Columbian city of Choquequirao.

Hiram III was not a trained archaeologist, but was thrilled by the prospect of unexplored cities. He returned to the Andes with the Yale Peruvian Expedition of 1911.

On July 24, 1911, Hiram III rediscovered the “Lost City” of Machu Picchu (which had been largely forgotten by everybody except the small number of people living in the immediate valley.)

His book “Lost City of the Incas” became a bestseller upon its publication in 1948; he also wrote “Across South America” (an account of his journey from Buenos Aires to Lima, with notes on Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru.)

Hiram III was elected governor of Connecticut in 1924; he was also a US Senator. Hiram III has been noted as a source of inspiration for the ‘Indiana Jones’ character.

Hiram (Harry) Bingham IV, born July 17, 1903, was one of seven sons of former Governor of Connecticut and US Senator Hiram Bingham III and his first wife, Alfreda Mitchell. He married Rose, they had eleven children: Rose Tiffany, Hiram Anthony, Thomas, John, David, Robert Kim, Maria Cecilia, Abigail, Margaret, Benjamin and William.

He was a US diplomat stationed in Marseilles, France during World War II when Germany was invading France. At great personal risk and against State Department orders, he (a Protestant Christian) used his government status to help over 2,500-Jewish people escape the Holocaust as they escaped Hitler’s occupied Europe from 1939-1941.

He organized clandestine rescue efforts and escapes, harbored many refugees at his diplomatic residence and issued “visas for life” and affidavits of eligibility for passage.

Hiram IV helped some of the most notable intellectuals and artists to escape, including Marc Chagall, (artist;) Leon Feuchtwanger, (author;) Golo Mann, (historian, son of Thomas Mann;) Hannah Arendt, (philosopher;) Max Ernst, (artist and poet;) and Dr. and Mrs. Otto Meyerhof, (Nobel Prize winning physicist.)

In 1998, Hiram IV was recognized as one of eleven diplomats who saved 200,000-lives from the Holocaust, which amounts to one-million descendants of survivors today.

He is the only US Diplomat who has been officially honored by the State of Israel as a “righteous diplomat.” He was the only American diplomat recognized during Israel’s 50th Anniversary at the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.

Sixty years after leaving the Foreign Service (in 2002,) the State Department posthumously recognized Bingham with the department’s American Foreign Service Association “Constructive Dissent” award.

In 2005, Bingham was posthumously given a letter of commendation from Israel’s Holocaust Museum. In 2006, a US commemorative postage stamp was issued in his honor. Hiram I is my great-great-great-grandfather.

September 13, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

St Mary’s – St Joseph’s

About the beginning of February, 1842, the Catholic mission was established at Hilo, when Father Heurtel baptized 136-persons, and engaged the new Catholics to erect three grass chapels there and at other points of the district. (Yzendoorn)

It was later decided to divide the island into four Catholic missionary districts, which were allotted as follows: Kona to Father Heurtel, Kohala to Father Lebret, Hāmākua and Hilo to Father Maudet, and Kau with Puna to Father Marechal.

With the arrival on March 26, 1846 of five priests, two catechists and three lay-brothers, more support was provided. Included in the new missionary party was Father Charles Pouvet – he was sent to support Hilo.

As early as 1864, Father Pouzot had 18-students at his English school in Hilo (he felt the need to provide education for the Catholic children, rather than them attending Harvey Hitchcock’s (a Protestant missionary son) school in town.)

Five years later, on April 1, 1869, a small parish school was established for the purpose of teaching English to the native Hawaiians. Father Pouzot started with 10-boarders, but wrote in January 1870, “I have only three now, for want of means to keep more.”

It grew with “much improved accommodations and new school rooms and dormitories.” Separate buildings housed the boys (in what was named Keola Maria) and the girls at St Joseph’s. (Alvarez)

The schools were separated and moved to different campuses in 1875, the boys to a site on Waianuenue Street and the girls on Kapiʻolani Street.

In 1885 the Marianist Brothers came to Hilo to run the boys’ school and renamed it St Mary’s School. Parish staff and lay persons taught the girls at St Joseph School. (Brothers of Mary also took charge of St Louis’s College at Honolulu and St Anthony’s School at Wailuku.)

Both St Mary’s Boys’ School (on the site of what is now the Hilo Terrace Apartments on Waianuenue) and the St Joseph Girls’ School (a block from the church on Kapiʻolani Street) had students through the eighth grade.

The Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse (Mother Marianne Cope’s congregation) arrived in 1900 to St Joseph’s School for Girls on Kapiʻolani Street.

“St Mary’s School, Hilo. This school … (is) in charge of the Brothers of Mary. (It is an) eight-grade school of very high standard. (For boys only.) Brother Albert, principal, and four other teachers, all Americans; 270 pupils.”

“St Joseph’s School, Hilo (for girls). Sister Susanna, principal, and four other Sisters, all Americans; 256 pupils. The wooden buildings are well constructed, the rooms large, well ventilated and lighted and can compete in attractiveness with any school room in the Islands. The grounds are sufficiently spacious and of pleasing aspect.” (Report of Superintendent, 1907)

The first seismograph station in Hilo was established during 1921, when a seismograph constructed by Dr Arnold Romberg in the shop of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory was installed in the basement of one of the buildings of St Mary’s School on Waianuenue Street.

The new location was satisfactory until a new road, Laimana Street, was cut through only 15 feet from the vault. After that time “the traffic disturbance became increasingly troublesome.” (USGS)

Father Sebastian immediately launched Hilo’s second high school, ultimately the only Catholic high school on Big Island. Opening day was September 6, 1927, with 23 boys coming from St Mary’s, from Hilo Junior High and from as far away as Hakalau, Honomu and Laupāhoehoe.

In 1928, Father Sebastian then labored so that the girls at St Joseph’s would have their high school too. He created space for their classrooms by jacking up the school building and installing classrooms in the enlarged basement.

The first week of June 1929 was indeed a busy one for the parish hall. Wednesday, June 5, saw the first combined commencements of the eighth and tenth grades of St Joseph’s and St Mary’s School’s respectively.

The valedictory was given by Lawrence Capellas followed by an address by Bishop Stephen Alencastre, Hawai‘i’s only Hawaii-born Catholic bishop. (StJoeHilo)

In 1948, St Mary’s and St Joseph’s were consolidated into a co-educational institution which was built on the present St Joseph’s site at the intersection of Ululani and Hualālai streets. Some nine hundred and sixty-three students were enrolled for the first year.

In 1951, the Marianist Brothers were reassigned to teaching posts elsewhere. They were replaced in Hilo with a larger staff of Sisters as well as dedicated lay teachers.

The opening of the new school in 1951-52 was a memorable event for it marked the beginning of St Joseph as a complete coeducational school directly under the Pastor of St Joseph Parish.

The Franciscan Sisters withdrew from St Joseph School in June 2009 after a 109-year history. Joining the faculty are the Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians. (Lots of information here is from St Joseph’s and Alavarez.)

September 12, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ka Nupepa Kuokoa

Ka Lama Hawaii and Ke Kumu Hawaii were the papers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM,) mainly New England Calvinist missionaries, but produced by and for their students at Lahainaluna School in Maui.

The Hawaiian language newspapers were not the only early papers in Hawai’i. Although Ka Lama and Ke Kumu Hawaii were the first two newspapers to be published in Hawai’i, English language newspapers soon followed.

Ka Nonanona and Ka Elele Hawaii were both edited by Reverend Richard Armstrong, who later became the superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction. Ka Hae Hawaii, official newspaper of that department under Armstrong, also conveyed a Protestant slant.

Some English language papers supported Christianity. The Polynesian (1840-41, 1844-64), was published by James Jackson Jarves of Boston. From 1844 to 1860 it became the official printer of laws and notices of the Hawaiian government. The Friend (1843-1954) was begun by Reverend Samuel Chenery Damon.

In contrast, the Honolulu Times (1849-1851) published by Henry L Sheldon, originally of Rhode Island, opposed the influence of American Protestants, as did the earlier English language newspapers supported by the business community.

After the Honolulu Times ceased publication, Abraham Fornander, who had written for Sheldon, published the Weekly Argus (1851-53). Fornander’s objective was to provide in the Weekly Argus a voice against the government’s Polynesian. From 1853 to 1855 it was published as the New Era and Weekly Argus.

In 1856 Henry Whitney began the Pacific Commercial Advertiser (1856-), which was renamed the Honolulu Advertiser in 1902. In 1882 Whitney also started the Daily Bulletin (1882-) which was later renamed the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

Henry Martyn Whitney (1824-1904), son of Samuel and Mercy Whitney of the Pioneer Company of ABCFM missionaries, was born on Kauai, and educated in Rochester, New York.

He worked on the American newspaper New York Commercial Advertiser and for the publisher Harper and Brothers, then returned to Hawai‘i where he served as head printer at the Hawai’i government printing plant and business manager of the English-language newspaper, The Polynesian.

In 1861, while he continued to publish the Pacific Commercial Advertiser, Whitney commenced publication of Ka Nupepa Kuokoa.

Ka Nupepa Kuokoa has been described as “the first independent Hawaiian newspaper”, in the sense that it was independent of American Protestants, French Catholics and the government of the Hawaiian kingdom (although published by a missionary son and edited by him, as well as students from the Mission’s Lahainaluna.)

“It is true that a foreign publisher in this city has offered to issue a journal in the Hawaiian language to supply the intellectual want of the native people, and that his offer has been most warmly seconded and espoused by the Missionaries, but as a general thing the natives repudiate it …”

“… not because it may not prove a valuable and instructive journal, but because it is calculated to drive their own paper out of the field, and because they apprehend that it will not be a true reflex of their own opinions and thoughts upon matters and things.” (Polynesian, November 23, 1861)

Henry Whitney’s far-reaching influence as publisher of Ka Nupepa Kuokoa is described by Helen Chapin as being due to his practice of hiring capable Hawaiian editors, such as Joseph Kawainui, SK Mahoe, and JM Poepoe, who published what turned out to be materials of the greatest importance to Hawaiian history. (Chapin; Hori)

In 1861 the editor of Ka Nupepa Kuokoa was L H Gulick. He announced in the paper that Kuokoa would continue where Ka Hae Hawaii had left off, in its support of the missionary position.

In 1866, while still editor of Kuokoa, Gulick started the Hawaiian language newspaper Ke Alaula, with coeditors Anderson O. Forbes and Lorenzo Lyons. All three were also agents and distributors of Kuokoa on outer islands. Ke Alaula was from the Hawaiian Board of Missions.

Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, the Hawaiian language newspaper with the longest publication history, first appeared in 1861. While published with Christian mission support and demonstrating a haole, or European-American stance, it had a long history of publishing information about Hawaiian, or Kanaka Maoli, tradition and culture.

Ka Nupepa Kuokoa published monthly in October, November, and December of 1861, and weekly thereafter until December 29, 1927. In the course of its history it would absorb a number of its rival newspapers.

In Kuokoa were genealogies, tales of gods and goddesses, vivid descriptions of Hawaiian birds, bird catching and fishing practices, instructions on canoe building, summaries of medical practices, accounts of travel through the Islands, and how to speak the Hawaiian language correctly.

In its pages, too, first appeared the stories of John Papa Ii and Samuel M Kamakau, which were later gathered together respectively as Fragments of Hawaiian History (1959) and The Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii. (Chapin; Hori) (The inspiration and information in this summary are largely from Hori.)

Between 1834-1948, Hawaiʻi saw the publication of over 100 different Hawaiian language newspapers. Approximately 125,000 pages were published, equating to roughly 1.5 million pages of ‘ike if transferred to A4 typescript.

(Some suggest the Hawaiian language was ‘banned’; however, existence and growth of Hawaiian language newspapers repudiate the claim that the Hawaiian language was banned.)

August 26, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Missionary, Educator … Former Slave

“Here begins the history of things known only to those who have bid the American shores a long adieu….” (Betsey Stockton)

The Second Company destined for the Sandwich Island Mission assembled at New Haven for the purpose of taking passage in the ship Thames, captain Closby, which was to sail on the 19th (November 1822.) (Congregational Magazine)

Among them was Betsey Stockton, “a colored young woman brought up in the family of the Rev. Ashbel Green, having been received with the Rev. Charles S Stewart & his wife, as a missionary to the Sandwich islands by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM.)”

Betsey Stockton was born into slavery in Princeton, New Jersey in 1798. She belonged to Robert Stockton, a local attorney. She was presented as a gift to Stockton’s daughter and son-in-law, the Rev. Ashbel Green, then President of Princeton College (later Princeton University.)

She was given books and was allowed to attend evening classes at Princeton Theological Seminary and was later freed. (Kealoha)

“(S)he is to be regarded & treated neither as an equal nor as a servant – but as an humble christian friend, embarked in the great enterprise of endeavoring to ameliorate the condition of the heathen generally, & especially to bring them to the saving knowledge of the truths as it is in Jesus.” (Portion of Approval for Betsey Stockton to be a Missionary to Hawaiʻi, ABCFM)

“On the 24th (March 1823,) we saw and made Owhyhee. At the first sight of the snow-capped mountains, I felt a strange sensation of joy and grief. It soon wore away, and as we sailed slowly past its windward side, we had a full view of all its grandeur.”

“The tops of the mountains are hidden in the clouds, and covered with perpetual snow. We could see with a glass the white banks, which brought the strong wintry blasts of our native country to our minds so forcibly, as almost to make me shiver.”

“Two or three canoes, loaded with natives, came to the ship … we asked them where the king was at Hawaii, or Oahu? They said at Oahu. We informed them that we were missionaries, come to live with them, and do them good. At which an old man exclaimed, in his native dialect, what may be thus translated – ‘That is very good, by and by, know God.’” (Stockton)

They landed on Oʻahu. “The Mission is in prosperous circumstances, and the hopes of its supporters here were never brighter. Truly the fields are already ripe for the harvest, and we may add, ‘The harvest is great, but the labourers are few.’”

“We have been received with open arms by the government and people, and twice the number of missionaries would have been joyfully hailed.” (Charles Samuel Stewart)

“On the 26th of May we heard that the barge was about to sail for Lahaina, with the old queen and princes; and that the queen (Keōpūolani) was desirous to have missionaries to accompany her; and that if missionaries would consent to go, the barge should wait two days for them.”

“(T)he king this morning hastened off in a small yacht, and left orders for the barge (the celebrated Cleopatra) and Waverley, to follow to Lahaina: they are now preparing to get under weigh, and I must secure a passage.”

“Two weeks after we arrived at the islands, we were sent to this place, which is considered the best part of the whole. The productions are melons, bananas, sweet potatoes, &c.” (Stockton)

“The prosperity of the mission is uninterrupted, and its prospects most encouraging. … We are very comfortably located at one of the most beautiful and important spots on the islands.”

“Mr. Richards and myself have an island with 20,000 inhabitants committed to our spiritual care – a solemn – a most responsible charge!” (Stewart)

“It was there, as (Betsey said,) that she opened a school for the common people which was certainly the first of the kind in Maui and probably the first in all Hawaii; for at the beginning the missionaries were chiefly engaged in the instructions of the chiefs and their families.” (Maui News, May 5, 1906)

“The 29th (June 1923) was the Sabbath. I went in the morning with the family to worship; the scene that presented itself was one that would have done an American’s heart good to have witnessed.”

“Our place of worship was nothing but an open place on the beach, with a large tree to shelter us; on the ground a large mat was laid, on which the chief persons sat. To the right there was a sofa, and a number of chairs; on these the missionaries, the king, and principal persons sat.”

“The kanakas, or lower class of people, sat on the ground in rows; leaving a passage open to the sea, from which the breeze was blowing. Mr. R. (Richards) addressed them from these words, ‘It is appointed unto all men once to die, and after death the judgment.’ Honoru acted as interpreter: the audience all appeared very solemn.” (Stockton)

“After service the favourite queen called me, and requested that I should take a seat with her on the sofa, which I did, although I could say but few words which she could understand. Soon after, biding them aroha I returned with the family. In the afternoon we had an English sermon at our house: about fifty were present, and behaved well.”

“In the morning one of the king’s boys came to the house, desiring to be instructed in English. Mr. S. (Stewart) thought it would be well for me to engage in the work at once. Accordingly I collected a proper number and commenced. I had four English, and six Hawaiian scholars. This, with the care of the family, I find as much as I can manage.” (Stockton)

Stockton has asked the mission to allow her “to create a school for the makaʻāinana (common people.) Stockton learned the Hawaiian Language and established a school in Maui where she taught English, Latin, History and Algebra. (Kealoha)

“It shows that a sincere desire to accomplish a good purpose need not be thwarted by other necessary engagements, however humble or exacting.” (Maui News, May 5, 1906)

Betsey Stockton set a new direction for education in the Islands. Stockton’s school was commended for its teaching proficiency, and later served as a model for the Hilo Boarding School and also for the Hampton Institute in Virginia, founded by General Samuel C. Armstrong. (Takara)

After residing in Hawaii for over two years, Betsey Stockton relocated to Cooperstown, New York, with the Stewarts. In subsequent years, she taught indigenous Canadian Indian students on Grape Island.

She later “led a movement to form the First Presbyterian Church of Colour in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1848.” In addition, between the period of 1848 to 1865, Stockton moved to Philadelphia to teach Black children.

Betsey Stockton made pioneering endeavors as a missionary in Hawaii, but her legacy is not well known. Still, Stockton’s school “set a new direction for education in the Islands … (It) served as a model for the Hilo Boarding School.”

Her teaching program have influence Samuel C Armstrong, the founder of Hampton Institute, who also worked as a missionary in Hawaii during this period. After a full and productive life of service for the Lord, Betsey Stockton passed away in October of 1865 in Princeton, New Jersey. (Johnson)