Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings | Page 121

September 30, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Poni Mo‘i

‘Auhea wale ana ‘oe
Pua carnation ka‘u aloha
A ke lawe ‘ia ‘ala ‘oe
E ka makani pā kolonahe

Ke aloha kai hiki mai
Hō‘eha i ka pu‘uwai
Noho ‘oe a mana‘o mai
Ho‘i mai kāua e pili

Oh, thou fairest of all flowers
Sweet carnation I adore thee
Far from me thou art being borne, my love
By the soft and gentle zephyrs

Love for you is here with me
Filling my heart with pain
When you remember our love
Come back to be with me
(Charles E King, translated by Mary Pukui)

The original birthplace of the carnation is on the coast of the Mediterranean. The popularity of the flower goes back many centuries; the Romans were already making wreathes and fresh eau de toilette out of carnations. (Flower Council)

Later, Americans began to like the carnation … “So when (a florist) finds it necessary to his business to introduce a new ‘fashionable flower’ he takes care that it shall be very expensive and that his customers shall believe it to be very rare.”

“Such a flower is the carnation. It first leaped into prominence as a ‘florists’ flower’ nearly thirty years ago and its vogue at the time was greater even than that of the chrysanthemum in its best days.”

“One day everybody was wearing a rosebud, ten or Bon Selene, (the carnation craze succeeded the ‘Boston bud’ craze); the next day everybody was wearing a carnation.”

“And with a great many people it has remained in favor ever since. This is not only because of its beauty of form and color and its spicy fragrance. The carnation seems to have been especially designed by nature for a boutonniere.”

“It sets closely and neatly to the coat lapel, it keeps fresh and unfaded for a long time, it requires no pinning in place, and it never breaks from its stem”. (Democrat and Chronicle, New York, December 4, 1894)

“Chicago has a carnation day in honor of President McKinley, whose favorite flower was the carnation. Once a year Chicago government buildings bloom with carnations and the employees wear them.” (Hawaiian Star, February 27, 1908)

For years, McKinley had worn a ‘lucky’ red carnation on his lapel; but on September 6, 1901 he decided to gift it to a little girl at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Moments later, he was shot, and died 8-days later. (Kelly)

The carnation can be regularly seen in religious paintings, as a symbol of the Virgin Mary and as a symbol for the suffering of Christ. The Latin name for the carnation is Dianthus, derived from Dios (God) and anthos (flower) – divine flower. (Flower Council)

American Protestant missionary wives are credited with bringing the first carnations to the Islands in the mid-1800s. The first variety was a white, scented flower and it soon became the favorite for lei makers. Red carnations were introduced later. (Bird)

The Hawaiian name for carnation is poni mo‘i (that also means ‘coronation.’) The name is the result of the similarity between the words ‘carnation’ and ‘coronation.’

The major emphasis in the past has been on the production of carnations for lei flowers, and qualities demanded of cut flowers were generally ignored. Consequently, the types grown had small flowers, short stems, and bushy growths. (CTAHR)

Carnations were cultivated in the Koko Crater area on O‘ahu especially to meet the demands of the fast growing tourist industry. In 1900, gardens in Pauoa supplied lei sellers at the piers with carnations and other lei flowers.

Japanese and Korean farmers leased small parcels of land along Lunalilo Home Road and soon their ‘carnation plantations’ were familiar sights, likewise in Kaimuki and Palolo.

The white carnation lei is usually given to women and the red to the men: white being femininely pure and withdrawn – red representing masculine boldness, strength and power. (Ka Lei, Marie McDonald) Depending on the style and flower size, 50 to 100 flowers may be used.

Back in the 1950s-1970s, the fat, fragrant carnation lei was popular. Friends bestowed thick carnation lei at the airport gate, politicians regularly wore them and nightclub entertainers typically had a carnation lei.

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Eisenhower with red carnation lei-Dec 1952

Carnation Lei-1910s

Duke Kahanamoku-carnation

Martin Luther King in Hawaii-1959

Martin_Luther_King-others-wearing_lei_in_Selma

Frank Sinatra-carnation

Ernest Lovell, Royal Hawaiian Band member, and his nephew Dayton-PP-4-4-036-1935

Julia Niu entwining a carnation lei with maile-PP-33-10-007-1935

Jack_Lord-Carnation

McKinley wearing carnation

Carnation lei

Carnation lei-UH

Carnation-UH

Alfred Apaka-carnation

Andres sisters-carnation

September 26, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Damon Memorial

In 1887, Samual C Gale wrote a letter to the Holden town officials stating: “I am now able to say, that unless prevented by some misfortune, I shall commence the present season to erect upon the Chenery lot a building adapted to both High School and Library purposes.”

“This building and ground, together with some books which we hope to add, my wife and I will present to the Town of Holden as a free gift …”

The result of this wonderful gift is the Damon Memorial Building, built in 1888, in honor of his wife Susan Damon Gale. Susan was the daughter of Colonel Samuel Damon.

The building was designed to house both the Gale Free Library and the Holden High School. The first floor was the library with the high school on the second floor. The Worcester architect Stephen C Earle designed the Romanesque style building.

The Damon Memorial was the second high school in Holden. The first opened in 1880 as part of the second floor of the Center School.

The Damon Building served as the high school until Holden High School opened on Main Street in 1926. In 1954 Wachusett Regional High School opened as the first regional high school in Massachusetts. (Assumption College)

One of the model public buildings of the towns of central Massachusetts is the Damon Memorial of Holden. It is architecturally an ornament to the village. The Memorial stands near the Common.

From the tower wall a rough boulder projects, bearing the words ‘Damon Memorial, 1888.’ The building is trimmed with brownstone, uncut as far as possible. The clock tower is an attractive feature of the building. Inside the arrangements for school and library have been made with great care and foresight.

The Memorial was appropriately dedicated August 29, 1888. In his address Mr. Gale, the donor, said: “Thirty-four years ago I came to this village to teach school. The frame school house, still standing and in use, was then new and was a subject of much interest and pride.”

“The only instruction I received from the school committee as to the management of the school was that I should keep the scholars from marking and scratching the new school house.”

“I entirely neglected my duty in this respect. At the end of the winter, marks and scratches were very abundant; and I knew it was all my fault, for no school master ever had better boys and girls.”

“After thinking over my offense for thirty-five years I concluded that the only suitable recompense that I could make was to give the town a new school house, which I accordingly have done.”

“I do not say, however, that there were no other and more serious considerations for the enterprise. Here my wife was born and reared, and this, in the opinion of at least her husband, entitles the place to monumental honors.”

“May I also especially mention her brother, the late Dr Samuel C Damon, a resident of Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, a greathearted and broad-minded man, with a deep affection for his native town. He it was who first suggested to me the idea of aiding to establish here a public library.”

“It is in memory of him and of her other kinspeople and friends dear to us both, whose homes have been here in this and other generations, that we have sought to do this town some good thing, so important and permanent that the inhabitants will always kindly remember us.”

Charles E. Parker, who accepted the gift in behalf of the town, assured the donors that the simple conditions of the gift would be gladly observed.

At a town meeting, September 26, 1888, Holden formally accepted the gift and tendered its thanks and appreciation of the Memorial to the generous donors.

In addition to the building Mr. Gale added $3,000 for books, and John Wadsworth, of Chicago, sent $100 ‘as a slight recompense to Holden for having furnished him a wife.’

The Holden Library Association presented its library of fourteen hundred volumes to the town and the library opened in December, 1888, with forty-five hundred volumes, to which large additions have since been made. (Crane, Historic Homes, 1907)

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. Their children were: Samuel Mills, born July 9. 1843, died June 2, 1844; Samuel Mills, born March 13, 1845, who later was minister of finance under the monarchy in Hawaii; married Harriet M Baldwin, daughter of Rev. D. Baldwin, and their son (Samuel Edward Damon, born June 1, 1873) …

… Edward Chenery, born May 21, 1848; Francis Williams, born December 10, 1852; William Frederick, born January 11, 1857, died October 23, 1879.

Samuel Chenery Damon died February 7, 1885, at Honolulu, and his funeral the next day was attended by a very large congregation, including King Kalākaua and his ministers.

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Damon Memorial 1888-Assumption

Damon Memorial Holden, MA

Damon Memorial

Damon Memorial 1999 -Assumption

Samuel-Chenery-Damon

Julia_Sherman_Mills_Damon_son_Samuel_Mills_ Damon_and_Samuel_Chenery_Damon-1850

September 25, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Windows into a Time

Puakea Nogelmeier gave a talk at Mission Houses related to the translation project he worked on associated with letters from the ali‘i to missionaries. The following is a transcript of portions of his talk. He speaks of the missionaries and the ali‘i and their relationship ….

“The missionary effort is more successful in Hawaii 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 missionaries arrived here, and they’re a really remarkable bunch of people. They are scholars, they have got a dignity that goes with religious enterprise that the Hawaiians recognized immediately. …”

“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.”

“And the missionaries, that first bunch on the Thaddeus almost didn’t get to land. I am sure many of you know the story that Kamehameha had said, ‘yes send missionaries from England,’ so when they arrived from America, his son almost said, ‘no, we’ll wait for the pizza we ordered … this isn’t the group we asked for.’”

“But, they 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.”

“They cowered three really important things; they come with a set of skills that Hawaiians are really impressed with. Literacy, they had been waiting for it for forty years, basically. And so for forty years Hawaiians wanted everything on every ship that came. And they could get it; it was pretty easy to get. Two pigs and … a place to live, you could trade for almost anything.”

“But, they couldn’t get literacy. It was intangible, they wanted to learn to read and write, and there is proof they did. Kamehameha sets up a school for his sons in 1810. It doesn’t work very well because (his sons) aren’t particularly good students. So it lasts for only about a week or two.”

“Kamehameha tries, he signs his name to letters … they wanted, but nobody can really settle it down.”

“The missionaries were the first group of a scholarly background, but they also had the patience and endurance. So that’s part of the skill sets. … That’s really the more important things that are attracted first.”

“But the second thing is they are pono.”

“They have an interaction that is intentionally not taking advantage. It’s not crude. They don’t get drunk and throw up on the street … and they don’t take advantage and they don’t make a profit. So that pono actually is more attractive than religion.”

“They start in on the skill set and the pono, and those two that lead Hawaiians into religion.”

“But I have students who say the missionaries brainwashed the Hawaiians. Well then, how dumb were the Hawaiians?”

“This project really opens up the move from learning to read and write, which was really a big gun, and advancing the pono, which is the new sort of virtue – that everybody should be held to a standard. That led Hawaiians on a one-by-one.”

“This is not a brainwashing; it’s, as people bought in, they became Christian.”

“Not all of them did. You’ll notice that in 1840, twenty years into the project, the missionaries are still complaining about all the people who didn’t convert. So, if it was a brainwashing effort, it wasn’t that effective.”

“But, reading and writing starts immediately. And, of course, the missionaries can only teach in English. So they are teaching English reading and writing. We’re still playing with trying to open up that little window; there’s a very short window of probably a couple of months where those who have learned to read and write in English suddenly start to … write Hawaiian.…”

“The remarkable success here is that Hawaiians are given a new technology and what they started to put out in writing, they are transitioning from a … very sophisticated stone age culture into a very, very modern world. And now they’re empowered to write all that, and document it.”

“So the first ones who knew how to write are writing down history that had been held orally for hundreds of years. And then, writing becomes a national endeavor.…”

“Hawaii becomes more literate than America or England because the two things, actually Liholiho starts it Kauikeaouli takes it off and says ‘mine will be a nation of literacy.’ When he said that he could already read and write in both languages.”

“It’s not that he’s saying we should learn to read and write.’ He’s saying ‘let my people,’ and he made schools and he made teachers and he made a teachers’ college….”

“That notion that they appreciated the skill set and they appreciated the pono, and that led to appreciation of Christianity….”

An example is found in a letter written by Kalanimōku in 1826 to Hiram Bingham, in part, that letter translates to, “Greetings Mr Bingham. Here is my message to all of you, our missionary teachers.”

“I am telling you that I have not seen your wrong doing. If I had seen you to be wrong, I would tell you all. No, you must all be good.”

“Give us literacy and we will teach it. And, give us the word of God and we will heed it. Our women are prohibited, for we have learned the word of God.”

“Then foreigners come doing damage to our land. Foreigners of American and Britain. But don’t be angry, for we are to blame for you being faulted. And it is not you foreigners, the other foreigners.”

“Here’s my message according to the words of Jehovah, I have given my heart to God and my body and my spirit. I have devoted myself to the church and Jesus Christ.”

“Have a look at this letter of mine, Mr Bingham and company. And if you see it and wish to send my message on to America to our chief (President,) that is up to you. Greetings to the chief of America. Regards to you all, Kalanimōku.”

Here’s the audio of Puakea Nogelmeier’s presentation:

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Departure_of_the_Second_Company_from_the_American_Board_of_Commissioners_for_Foreign_Missions_to_Hawaii

Hiram Bingham I preaching to Queen at Waimea, Kauai, in 1826

The Mission Seminary at Lahainaluna on Maui in the 1830s

View of Hilo, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in the 1820s

View of Kealakekua Bay from the village of Kaʻawaloa in the 1820s

View of southern Oʻahu from ʻEwa in the 1820

Waimea, Kauai in the 1820s

Kawaiahao_Church_at_Honolulu_illustration-Bingham

September 11, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Ho‘ohano

“Farewell to the beautiful flower of the doctor’s garden;
It has fallen and vanished away;
The flower that budded first and blossomed fair.
Its splendor was seen; its fragrance exhaled;
But the burning sun came and it withered.
And that beautiful blossom has fallen!
The occupant of the garden then wondered
That a certain flower should have fallen. …
How beautifully did the plant flourish;
Great compassion for the tenant resident;
Mourning and searching with great lamentation;
Whither, O Gerrit, hast thou gone?
When wilt thou return to thy birthmates?
Alone hast thou gone in the way that is lonely;
Thou hast gone a stranger in an unknown path.”

Gerrit Parmele and Laura Fish Judd’s first child, Gerrit Parmele Judd II, was born March 8, 1829; he died November 13, 1839. Ho‘ohano an assistant of Dr Judd was much attached to the boy. The night after he died he watched by the body, and composed the above poem in Hawaiian. (Owen)

The Judd’s were part of the 3rd Company of missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM,) arriving in the Islands in 1828.

Judd, a medical missionary, had originally come to the islands to serve as the missionary physician, intending to treat native Hawaiians for the growing number of diseases introduced by foreigners. He immersed himself in the Hawaiian community, becoming a fluent speaker of Hawaiian.

Ho‘ohano, a graduate of Lahainaluna, was a medical student, of whom Mrs Judd said, “He was a valuable assistant both in the preparation of medicines and prescribing for office patients.” (Judd)

Dr Judd sought to learn of Hawaiian traditional medicine and incorporate it with his Western practice. Western medicine in the 1820s and 1830s was not as advanced as many people assume it to be. There were few endemic diseases before Western contact. The physical treatments of Western doctors and Kahana Lā‘au Lapa‘au were actually very similar. (Mission Houses)

“It has been an object with me not to oppose the practice of the native physicians in mass, but to endeavor by the best means in my power to correct and modify their practice so that it shall save, not kill, the people.”

“It is my intention, if possible, the coming year to make Ho‘ohano acquainted with the native practice as it now exists and make him the agent for collecting facts upon the subject.”

“It is out of the question for us to think of putting down the native practice unless we will attend to all the sick ourselves, since it is not in human nature to be sick and die without seeking some means of alleviation”

“The idea of improving the native doctors has therefore suggested itself to me as an exceedingly important on demanding immediate attention.”

“These investigations occupied several weeks of the year and have been continued as opportunity afforded. We also instituted a series of experiments on native medicines which resulted pretty much as all experiments of the kind usually do.” (Judd, 1839 Medical Report)

“The names of Medicines and diseases so far as we have proceeded are in the Hawaiian language. … Ho‘ohano is competent to do what in our common language is called giving out medicine, bleed, cup, dress wounds, open abscesses &c &c.” (Judd, 1839)

The student rooster of Lāhaināluna Seminary has a Ho‘okano listed for the class of 1833 who attended for four years from Honolulu on the island of O‘ahu. Ho‘okano would have graduated by 1837 and then could have returned to Honolulu to be employed by Dr. Judd. (Mission Houses)

“Some attention has been likewise been bestowed in teaching him to read proof sheets, which he is now qualified to do with tolerable correctness, for which he is paid a small sum out of the appropriation for the Printing Department.”

“His board I have furnished at my own expense & have drawn about 25$ for his clothing from the Department. Whether this experiment will prove a successful one is yet quite uncertain, although thus far appearances are favorable.” (Judd)

“It has been my object to place the common Office practice as much as possible into the hands of native assistants, and this has been attended with much encouraging success.”

“Hoohano & Kalili (another medical assistant) have both rendered themselves useful the former however much the most so as his previous acquirements and habits of mental application render him much the best qualified for the profession.” (Judd, 1839 Medical Report)

“Ho‘ohano died the last of June (1840) … his death must therefore be regretted as a loss to his people.” (Judd) He “followed his little friend along his ‘lonely pathway,’ both leaving some evidence of having been reconciled to God through the death of his Son.” (Bingham) (Judd’s assistant has been referred to as Ho‘ohano and Ho‘okano.)

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August 6, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Jonathan Hawaii Napela

“The moment I entered into the house of this native and saw him and his two friends, I felt convinced that I had met the men for whom I had been looking. The man who owned the house was a judge and a leading man in that section. His name was Jonatana H Napela.”

“His companions’ names were Uaua and Kaleohano. They were all three afterwards baptized and ordained to be Elders, and all are still members of the Church. They were graduates of the high school in the country, fine speakers and reasoners, and were men of standing and influence in the community.”

“Napela was very anxious to know my belief, and wherein our doctrines differed from those taught by the missionaries in their midst I explained to him, so well as I could, our principles, with which he seemed very well satisfied.” (Cannon; Millennial Star, April 10, 1882)

Let’s look back …

Two decades after the founding of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in 1830, Mormonism was introduced to the Hawaiian Islands.

In the fall of 1850, Elder Charles C Rich of the LDS Church Council of the Twelve Apostles called on a company of LDS (Mormon) gold miners working on the American River near Sacramento, California.

The miners had been sent from Utah the previous year on a “gold mission,” an unusual decision in light of the fact that church president Brigham Young was strongly opposed to the Saints running off to California in the pursuit of riches.

Yet he was willing to make an exception, for it was agreed that the Mormon missionaries would bring home to Utah whatever treasure they gleaned. (Woods)

Ten men accepted the call to preach Mormonism in what came to be known as the Sandwich Islands Mission. Embarking from San Francisco on November 12, they landed in Honolulu on December 12, 1850.

Elder George Q Cannon was called to serve in the Sandwich Islands, in October 1849 while fulfilling a unique assignment in California: He was mining for gold; it was not his favorite assignment. “I heartily despised the work of digging gold. … There is no honorable occupation that I would rather not follow than hunting and digging gold.” (Livingston; DeseretNews)

One of the early baptisms was Jonathan Hawai‘i Napela, who is considered by many to be the most influential Hawaiian convert to Mormonism. Descending from the ali‘i, Napela was born September 11, 1813, in Honokōwai on the island of Maui, to his father, Hawai‘iwa‘a‘ole, and his mother, Wikiokalani.

In 1831 at the age of 18, Jonathan began his formal education on Maui among the first group of 43 students to attend the Protestant school called Lahainaluna.

From this academic foundation, Jonathan developed a keen mind and went on to practice law. He later served as a district judge in Wailuku during the years 1848–51.

On August 3, 1843, Jonathan married Kitty Kelii-Kuaaina Richardson (half-Hawaiian and half-Caucasian), who was also from ali‘i blood. From them came one known child, Hattie Panana Kaiwaokalani Napela.

Napela was introduced to the Mormon Church by Cannon (who would later serve as a counselor in the LDS Church First Presidency.) (Woods)

Cannon first came into contact with the influential Hawaiian judge on March 8, 1851. He said Napela was “the most intelligent man I have seen on the Islands.” (and further noted the quotes at the beginning of this summary.) During their island years together, Napela and Cannon enjoyed a warm friendship.

Less than two weeks after their first meeting, Cannon noted, “I was invited by Napela to come and stay with (him.) I having told (him) I wanted to find somebody to learn me Hawaiian and I would him English; he told (me) he wanted (to learn) & to stay with him.” Ten months after their first meeting, Cannon recorded that he baptized Napela on January 5, 1852.

Not only did they learn each other’s language, but Napela, while also learning the principles of Mormonism from Cannon, was able to show Cannon and eventually other Utah missionaries a greater dimension of faith. (Woods)

Napela dedicated himself to building Mormonism in the islands and thus had a great influence in furthering the work in his native homeland. Not only did he collaborate with Cannon on the translation of the Book of Mormon (1852–1853,) Napela also deserves credit for having first suggested the idea of a missionary training center. (Woods)

Then in 1873, tragedy struck the Napela household; his wife Kitty contracted leprosy. She faced confinement on the island of Molokai at the settlement of Kalaupapa. Napela joined her as her kōkua (helper.) (This was the same year that Father Damien volunteered and started to serve at Kalaupapa.)

In the October conference at Laie, the members, reluctant to see him leave, sorrowfully sustained Brother Napela as the branch president of the Kalaupapa branch of the Church. His return to a conference in Laie the following year was his last opportunity to be blessed by a gathering of the Saints in a conference. (Spurrier; LDS)

He returned to Kalaupapa and served the settlement there. Notwithstanding their differences in religiosity and ethnicity, one resident in the Kalaupapa settlement noted that Jonathan and Father Damien “were the best of friends.”

In 1877, a Utah missionary who visited the Saints in this remote peninsula during the time of Jonathan’s spiritual supervision wrote, “At this place we found brother Napela, who is taking care of his wife and presiding over the Saints there; he is full of faith, and is still that good-natured, honorable soul.”

Napela contracted leprosy, and like Damien, literally gave his life to service, dying from Hansen’s disease on August 6, 1879. (Welch) Kitty passed away just over two weeks later from complications related to the same illness. (Woods)

The Hawaiian Studies Center at Brigham Young University Hawai‘i is named after Napela. In 2010, the Roman Catholic Church presented the Polynesian Cultural Center with a certificate commemorating Napelaʻs cooperation with Saint Damien. (NPS)

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