Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings | Page 101

Haili Church Choir-Winner Singing Contest 1929

Haili Choir-2011

Haili Church – interior

Haili Award-Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame

Haili_Church,_Hilo

December 20, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Seeds to the Hawaiian Mission

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Henry_Opukahaia,_ca. 1810s

December 18, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Ā‘īoeoe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://hmha.missionhouses.org/files/original/a94bd802063e1540089f9c99ef3536e5.pdf

1820s Bonnett

December 5, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Alii Letters La‘anui to Loomis December 5, 1826

Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives (Mission Houses) collaborated with Awaiaulu Foundation to digitize, transcribe, translate and annotate over 200-letters written by 33-Chiefs.

The letters, written between 1823 and 1887, are assembled from three different collections: the ABCFM Collection held by Harvard’s Houghton Library, the HEA Collection of the Hawaii Conference-United Church of Christ and the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society.

These letters provide insight into what the Ali‘i (Chiefs) were doing and thinking at the time, as well as demonstrate the close working relationship and collaboration between the aliʻi and the missionaries.

In this letter, Gideon La‘anui writes to affirm that Mr. Loomis and all the missionaries are blameless and that he is devoted to Jesus and the word of Jehovah.

Elisha Loomis was in the first missionary company in 1820 and became the first printer in Hawai‘i. Gideon Peleiōhōlani Laʻanui was a native of Waimea, Hawaiʻi who was partly raised in the court of Kamehameha I and married Nāmāhana, a sister of Kaʻahumanu. He was an early Christian convert and became an active member of the church, living in Waialua, Oʻahu.

“Oahu December 5 1826”

“Good will to you Mr. Loomis together with all the missionaries from Hawaii to Kauai.”

“These are my sentiments for you all. I do not know of you having done wrong. Not in the least have my eyes ever seen any thing blameable from the first even down to the present time.”

“Here is the fault concerning which the world is angry, the word of Jesus.”

“To the wicked it is an evil word, but to those who believe in Jesus, it is the mighty word of Jehovah. It is the good thing you have brought to us – the salvation of our souls – Jesus, he it is whom you have preached to us.”

“Our hearts have looked and beheld the real salvation, and the certain truth.”

“Then the eyes saw the wickedness crowded out by the entering in of the good.”

“Now the wickedness is without, because Jesus came to take upon himself our sins, and he gave also his body to be food for us, and his blood to be the means of cleansing away the evil of our hearts …”

“… and his powerful spirit to be that means of enlightening the mind, and his word to be that by which to become straight.”

“The sentiments for you is finished. Affection for you all.”

“Gideon Laanui”

Here’s a link to the original letter, its transcription, translation and annotation:

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US, led by Hiram Bingham, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.) They arrived in the Islands and anchored at Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.

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 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in the Hawaiian Islands.

One of the earliest efforts of the missionaries, who arrived in 1820, was the identification and selection of important communities (generally near ports and aliʻi residences) as “stations” for the regional church and school centers across the Hawaiian Islands.

Hawaiian Mission Houses’ Strategic Plan themes note that the collaboration between Native Hawaiians and American Protestant missionaries resulted in the
• The introduction of Christianity;
• The development of a written Hawaiian language and establishment of schools that resulted in widespread literacy;
• The promulgation of the concept of constitutional government;
• The combination of Hawaiian with Western medicine, and
• The evolution of a new and distinctive musical tradition (with harmony and choral singing).

Laanui – Loomis Dec 5, 1826

December 1, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Boston Traders Precede Missionaries

In the Islands, as in New France (Canada to Louisiana (1534,)) New Spain (SW and Central North America to Mexico and Central America (1521)) and New England (NE US,) the trader preceded the missionary.

For a generation previous to 1820 New England seamen had found rest, healing and even profit in the Islands.

When US independence closed the colonial trade routes within the British empire, the merchantmen and whalers of New England swarmed around the Horn, in search of new markets and sources of supply.

The opening of the China trade was the first and most spectacular result of this enterprise; the establishment of trading relations with Hawai‘i followed shortly.

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

Probably the first American vessel to touch at Hawai‘i was the famous Columbia of Boston, Capt. Robert Gray, on August 24, 1789, in the course of her first voyage around the world. She remained twenty-four days at the Islands, salted down five puncheons of pork, and sailed with one hundred and fifty live hogs on deck.

A young native called Attoo, who shipped there as ordinary seaman, attracted much attention at Boston, on the Columbia’s return, by his gorgeous feather cloak and helmet.

Attoo was the first of several young Hawaiians who, arriving in New England as seamen on merchant vessels, influenced the American Board of Foreign Missions to found the Mission School at Cornwall, Connecticut, which was the origin of the famous mission of 1819-20.

Captain Amasa Delano brought a young Hawaiian boy (whom Delano named ’Bill’,) arriving in Boston on November 2, 1801. (Carr)

“He performed on the Boston stage several times, in the tragedy of Capt. Cook, and was much admired by the audience and the publick in general.” (Delano)

The Boston traders who followed the Columbia to the Northwest Coast and Canton, found ‘The Islands,’ as they called the Hawaiian group, an ideal place to procure fresh provisions, in the course of their three-year voyages.

Capt. Joseph Ingraham stopped there in the Hope, of Boston, in May, 1792. Five months later, Captain Gray, fresh from his discovery of the Columbia River, ‘Made the Isle of Owhyhee, one of the Sandwich Islands,’ writes John Boit, Jr, the 17-year-old fifth mate of this vessel.

(October 30, 1792) “Hove to, for some Canoes, and purchased 11 Hogs from the Natives, and plenty of vegetables, such as Sweet Potatoes, Yams, tarro, etc. These Canoes was very neatly made, but quite narrow. The Outrigger kept them steady, or else, I think, they wou’d too easily upset in the Sea.”

Off Kealakekua Bay: “Some double Canoes came alongside. These was suspended apart by large rafters, well supported. The Masts were rig’d between the canoes, and they carried their mat sails a long time, sailing very fast. The Shore was lined with people. “

(October 31, 1792) “Stood round the Island and hau’d into Toaj yah yah bay, 194 and hove to. Vast many canoes sailing in company with us. The shore made a delightful appearance, and appeared in the highest state of cultivation. Many canoes along side, containing beautiful Women.”

“Plenty of Hogs and fowls, together with most of the Tropical fruits in abundance, great quantities of Water, and Musk, Mellons, Sugar Cane, Bread fruit, and salt was brought for sale. The price of a large Hog was from 5 to 10 spikes — smaller ones in proportion. 6 Dunghill fowls for an Iron Chizzle, and fruit cheaper still.” (Boit)

It did not take long for the Northwest Coast fur traders to discover at Hawai‘i a new medium for the Canton market. That market was, of course, the prime object of our Northwest fur trade.

China took nothing that the US produced; hence Boston traders, in order to obtain the wherewithal to purchase teas and silks at Canton, spent 18-months or more of each China voyage collecting a cargo of sea-otter skins, highly esteemed by the mandarins.

Salem traders, in the same quest for the wealth of the Indies, resorted to various South Sea Islands for edible birds’ nests, and beche de mer or trepang, a variety of sea-cucumber that tickled the mandarin palate.

Captain Kendrick (who originally commanded the Columbia but remained in Pacific waters with the sloop Lady Washington), discovered about the year 1791 that Hawaii produced sandalwood, an article in great demand at Canton.

Captain Vancouver found on the Island of Kauai, in March, 1792, an Englishman, a Welshman and an Irishman whom Kendrick had left there the previous October, to collect pearls and sandalwood against his return.

Practically every vessel that visited the North Pacific in the closing years of the 18th century stopped at Hawai‘i for refreshment and recreation; but it was not until the opening years of the 19th that the sandalwood business became a recognized branch of trade.

The imports at Canton of that fragrant commodity in American vessels rose from 900 piculs (of 133 1/3 pounds each) in 1804-05 to 19,036 piculs in 1811-12.

Sandalwood, geography and fresh provisions made the Islands a vital link in a closely articulated trade route between Boston, the Northwest Coast, and Canton.

Nathan Winship, Wm. Heath Davis, and Jonathan Winship, Jr made a deal with Kamehameha for sandalwood and cotton in 1812. One of the Winships was residing at Honolulu when the missionaries landed, on April 19, 1820, and placed his house at their disposal.

“We were sheltered in three native-built houses, kindly off’red us by Messrs Winship, Lewis and Navarro, somewhat scattered in the midst of an irregular village or town of thatched huts, of 3000 or 4000 inhabitants.”

“After the fatigue of removing from the brig to the shore, Captain Pigot of New York considerately and kindly gave us, at evening, a hospitable cup of tea, truly acceptable to poor pilgrims in our circumstances, so far from the sympathies of home.”

“As soon as the bustle of debarking was over, and our grass-thatched cottages made habitable, we erected an altar unto the Omnipresent God, and in unison with the first detachment of the mission, presented him our offerings of thanksgiving and praise”. (Hiram Bingham) (This was the first communion service on Hawaiian soil.) (Morison)

A new era opened in 1820 with the arrival of the first missionaries, the first whalers and the opening of a new reign. It was the missionaries who brought Hawai‘i in touch with a better side of New England civilization than that represented by the trading vessels and their crews.

But without the trader, the missionary would not have come. The commercial relations between Massachusetts and Hawai‘i form the solid background of American expansion in the Pacific.

At the same time, the Hawaiian market for American goods was rapidly increasing, owing to the improved standards of living.

As early as 1823 there were four mercantile houses in the Islands: Hunnewell’s, Jones’s, ‘Nor’west John DeWolf’s (from Bristol, Rhode Island) and another from New York (possibly that of John Jacob Astor & Son, represented by John Ebbets (Kuykendall.)) (Morison)

“Their storehouses are abundantly furnished with goods in demand by the islanders; and at them, most articles contained in common retail shops and groceries in America, may be purchased.”

“The whole trade of the four probably amounts to one hundred thousand dollars a year – sandal wood principally, and specie, being the returns for imported manufactures.”

“Each of these trading houses usually has a ship or brig in the harbor, or at some one of the islands; besides others that touch to make repairs and obtain refreshments, in their voyages between the north-west, Mexican and South American coasts, and China.”

“The agents and clerks of these establishments, and the supercargoes and officers of the vessels attached to them, with transient visiters in ships holding similar situations, form the most respectable class of foreigners with whom we are called to have intercourse.” (Stewart)

The New England whalers, so much complained of by the China traders, brought them new business by creating a local market for ships’ stores, chandlery, etc.; and by giving them return freights of oil and whalebone.

About 1829 the Islands were visited annually by nineteen American vessels engaged in the Northwest fur, South American, China and Manila trades, and by one hundred whalers.

The little community of respectable traders and missionaries, with a disreputable fringe of deserters from merchantment and whalers, was so predominantly Bostonian that ‘Boston’ acquired the same connotation in Hawaii as along the Northwest Coast. It stood for the whole United States.

Hawaii had, in fact, become an outpost of New England. The foreign settlement at Honolulu, with its frame houses shipped around the Horn, haircloth furniture, orthodox meeting house built of coral blocks, and New England Sabbath, was as Yankee as a suburb of Boston.

(The bulk of this post is from the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society; Samuel Eliot Morison presented the paper to the October, 1920 meeting of the Society.)