Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings | Page 128

October 16, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Laniākea Cave

Reverend Asa and Lucy Thurston were in the Pioneer Company of American Christian Missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands, arriving in Kailua-Kona on the Thaddeus in 1820.

“After an accurate investigation of the places adjacent, in which they thought it might be found, they chose a valley, about half a mile from the residence of the governor, and near the entrance of Raniakea, as the spot where they were most likely to meet with success.” (Ellis)

They made their home in Kailua Village, in a home the Hawaiians named Laniākea. Thurston received Laniākea, a 5.26 acre homestead parcel as a gift from Governor Kuakini.

As noted by Rev. Sereno Edwards Bishop, in his book “Reminiscences Of Old Hawaii” (1916:) “In the early (1830s,) Kailua was a large native village, of about 4,000 inhabitants rather closely packed along one hundred rods of shore, and averaging twenty rods inland.”

“It had been the chief residence of King Kamehameha, who in 1819 died there in a rudely built stone house whose walls are probably still standing on the west shore of the little bay. Nearby stood a better stone house occupied by the doughty Governor Kuakini.”

“All other buildings in Kailua were thatched, until Rev. Artemas Bishop built his two-story stone dwelling in 1831 and Rev. Asa Thurston in 1833 built his wooden two-story house at Laniākea, a quarter of a mile inland.”

“Most of the native huts were thatched with the stiff pili grass. The better ones were thatched with lau-hala (pandanus leaf) or with la-i.” (Bishop)

“Five acres were enclosed with a stone wall three feet wide and six feet high, with simply the front gate for entrance. A large thatched house was erected. Space was allowed for a yard twenty-five feet in breadth.” (Lucy Thurston)

“Thatched houses are not durable, therefore, in the course of years, we had a succession of dwellings, but this was the general arrangement. In the 12th year of the Mission, a two-storied wooden house was erected in the children’s yard, and the wall for their special enclosure removed, as the times no longer required such an accommodation.” (Lucy Thurston)

In 1823, English protestant missionary William Ellis joined forces with American protestant missionary Asa Thurston and a party of explorers to circumnavigate the island of Hawaii.

“In the course of the forenoon, two of our number visited the ruins of an old military fortification, formerly belonging to the makaʻāinana, (common people.)”

“All that at present remains, is a part of the wall, about twelve feet high, and fourteen feet thick at the bottom, built of lava, and apparently entire.”

“In the upper part of the wall are apertures resembling embrasures; but they could not have been designed for cannon, that being an engine of war, with which the natives have but recently become acquainted.”

“The part of the wall now standing, is near the mouth of Raniakea (Laniākea,) the spacious cavern … which formed a valuable appendage to the fort.” Ellis)

“The whole face of the country marked decisively its volcanic origin; and in the course of their excursion they entered several hollows in the lava, formed by its having cooled and hardened on the surface, while, in a liquid state underneath, it had continued to flow towards the sea, leaving a crust in the shape of a tunnel, or arched vault, of varied thickness and extent.

“After entering it by a small aperture, they passed on in a direction nearly parallel with the surface; sometimes along a spacious arched way, not less than twenty-five feet high and twenty wide…”

“… At other times, by a passage so narrow, that they could with difficulty press through, till they had proceeded about 1,200 feet; here their progress was arrested by a pool of water, wide, deep, and as salt as that found in the hollows of the lava within a few yards of the sea.” (Ellis)

“One may walk along it for about fifteen minutes, through a passage which often reaches a considerable height. … The cave runs into a deep subterranean pool of very cold water, and further progress can be made only by swimming through an aperture in the makai end, when one may enter an inner cave, which is said to lead to the sea.” (Kinney, 1913)

“More than thirty natives, most of them carrying torches, accompanied (Ellis’ group) in their descent; and on arriving at the water, simultaneously plunged in, extending their torches with one hand, and swimming about with the other.”

“The partially illuminated heads of the natives, splashing about in this subterranean lake; the reflection of the torch-light on its agitated surface; the frowning sides and lofty arch of the black vault, hung with lava, that had cooled in every imaginable shape …”

“… the deep gloom of the cavern beyond the water; the hollow sound of their footsteps; and the varied reverberations of their voices, produced a singular effect; and it would have required but little aid from the fancy, to have imagined a resemblance between this scene and the fabled Stygian lake of the poets.”

“The mouth of the cave is about half a mile from the sea, and the perpendicular depth to the water probably Not less than fifty or sixty feet.”

“The pool is occasionally visited by the natives, for the purpose of bathing, as its water is cool and refreshing. From its ebbing and flowing with the tide, it has probably a direct communication with the sea.” (Ellis)

When war threatened the early inhabitants of Kona, and it was not uncommon, those who could not fight took refuge in the cave, and while the battles raged overhead, the refugees sent forays up the mountain and to the sea, via the cave, to gather food and water. (laniakea)

“In this cavern, children and aged persons were placed for security during an assault or sally from the fort, and sometimes the wives of the warriors also, when they did not accompany their husbands to the battle.”

“The fortification was probably extensive, as traces of the ancient walls are discoverable in several places; but what were its original dimensions, the natives who were with us could not tell. They asserted, however, that the cavern, if not the fort also, was formerly surrounded by a strong palisade.” (Ellis)

When the Thurstons retired to Honolulu, the house and land became the property of Mokuʻaikaua Church.

In 1980, sections of the cave had collapsed and the entrance was choked with debris and the entrance near the Thurston House was disturbed by squatters.

Waste products and debris have been dumped into the cave, causing an accumulation of sediment and muck within the cave. The western entrance to the cave near Hale Halawai is blocked. Large concrete pillars within the cave apparently were place to support improvements above. (Rasmussen)

The Laniākea house fell into disrepair, and in the 1990s the Laniākea Foundation was formed to save the ruins of the cave and home site from development. (laniakea)

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August 20, 2015 by Peter T Young 7 Comments

Kawaiahaʻo Female Seminary

“The inception of this school emanated from Mrs Halsey Gulick. In 1863, when living in the old mission premises on the mauka side of King street, she took several Hawaiian girls into her family to be brought up with her own children … The mother love was strong in that little group as some of us remember.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 23, 1897)

The usefulness of such a school became evident; as the enrollment grew, the need for a more permanent organization was required.

“It might be claimed that the real beginning was when Rev. Dr. Gulick and wife first occupied the Clark house, and on March 6, 1865, opened a family school for girls.” (The Friend, April 1, 1923)

In 1867, the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society (HMCS – an organization consisting of the children of the missionaries and adopted supporters) decided to support a girls’ boarding school. An early advertisement (April 13, 1867) notes it was called Honolulu Female Academy.

HMCS invited Miss Lydia Bingham (daughter of Reverend Hiram Bingham, leader of the Pioneer Company of missionaries to Hawaiʻi) to return to Honolulu to be a teacher in this family school; she was then principal of the Ohio Female College, at College Hill, Ohio.

“Her love for the land of her birth and Interest for the children of the people to whom her father and mother had given their early lives, led her to accept the position, and in March, 1867, she arrived on the Morning Star via Cape Horn.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 23, 1897)

HMCS appropriated funds for repairs and additions to the buildings; “(t)he old stone buildings which had formerly been used as printing office and bindery by the mission, with the house of Rev EW Clark, then occupied by Dr. H. Gulick, were repaired and remodelled, to enlarge and make more comfortable the necessary rooms for the school now successfully started.”

“It would be impossible to tell those of you who only know the present building, how crowded and uncomfortable some of those rooms were but we rejoiced, for it was improvement! Miss Bingham soon became principal of the school.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 23, 1897) It was later named Kawaiahaʻo Female Seminary.

It started with boarders and day students, but after 1871 it has been exclusively a boarding school. “Under her patient energy and tact, with the help of her assistants, it prospered greatly, and became a success.” (Coan)

At first the school was designed to prepare Hawaiian girls to become ‘suitable’ wives for men who were at the same time preparing to become missionaries and work in the South Seas.

This objective took the back seat to industrial education as new industrial departments were added. This included sewing, washing and ironing, dressmaking, domestic arts and nursing.

The mainstay of the curriculum involved furnishing complete elementary courses, including music, both vocal and instrumental, and training in the household arts. Concerts given by the girls helped the school to make money.

In January 1869, Miss Elizabeth Kaʻahumanu (Lizzie) Bingham arrived from the continent to be an assistant to her sister. Lizzie was a graduate of Mount Holyoke and, when she was recruited, was a teacher at Rockford Female Seminary. (Beyer)

“To those of us who were then watching the efforts of these Christian ladies the school became the centre of great interest. The excellent discipline, the loving care, the neatness and skill shown in all departments of domestic life, the thoroughness of the teaching and the high Christian spirit which pervaded it all caused rejoicing that such an impulse had been given to education for Hawaiian girls.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 23, 1897)

“Every Sunday one of the teachers accompanied the Girls to Kawaiahaʻo Church diagonally across the street to the morning service.” (Sutherland Journal)

“When Miss Bingham came to Hilo (on October 13, 1873 she married Titus Coan,) the seminary was committed to the charge of her sister, whose earnest labors for seven years in a task that is heavy and exhausting so reduced her strength, that in June, 1880 she was obliged to resign her post.” (Coan)

While Kawaiahaʻo was both growing and changing into an industrial school, two other female seminaries came into existence: Kohala Female Seminary and Maunaʻolu Seminary (East Maui Female Seminary.)

At the end of the century, all the female seminaries began to lose students to the newly founded Kamehameha School for Girls. This latter school was established in 1894.

It was not technically a seminary or founded by missionaries, but all the girls enrolled were Hawaiian, and its curriculum was very similar to what was used at the missionary sponsored seminaries.

Since Kawaiahaʻo Seminary was located only a few miles from this new female school, it experienced the biggest loss in enrollment and adjusted by enrolling more non-Hawaiian students.

In 1905, a merger with Mills Institute, a boys’ school, was discussed; the Hawaiian Board of Foreign Missions purchased the Kidwell estate, about 35-acres of land in Mānoa valley.

By 1908, the first building was completed and the school was officially operated as Mid-Pacific Institute, consisting of Kawaiahaʻo School for Girls and Damon School for Boys.

Finally, in the fall of 1922, a new coeducational plan went into effect – likewise, ‘Mills’ and ‘Kawaiahaʻo’ were dropped and by June 1923, Mid-Pacific became the common, shared name.

Kohala Female Seminary and Maunaʻolu Female Seminary continued to exist through the 1920s, offering a high school diploma to their graduates. (Hiram and Sybil Bingham, parents of Lydia and Lizzie, are my great-great-great grandparent.)

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Kawaiahaʻo_Female_Seminary,_Honolulu,_c._1867

Lydia Bingham-1866

Kawaiahaʻo_Female_Seminary

Kawaiahaʻo_Female-Seminary

Honolulu Female Academy-PCA-April_13,_ 1867

Gulick_Home_expanded_to_house-Kawaiahaʻo_Female-Seminary

August 18, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Toketa

Toketa, a Tahitian, arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1818; he probably landed on the island of Hawaiʻi. He was a member of the household of the chief (Governor) John Adams Kuakini, at that time a prominent figure in the court of Kamehameha I in Kailua, Kona.

A convert to Christianity (he likely received missionary instruction in his homeland – first Europeans arrived in Tahiti in 1767; in 1797 the London Missionary Society sent 29 missionaries to Tahiti,) he became a teacher to Hawaiian chiefs, made a visit to Honolulu with Kuakini in January-February of 1822. (Barrere)

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of missionaries from the northeast US, set sail for the Sandwich Islands. After 164-days at sea, on April 4, 1820, they arrived and anchored at Kailua-Kona on the Island of Hawaiʻi; the Honolulu contingent arrived on Oʻahu on April 19, 1820.

One of the first things Hiram Bingham and his fellow missionaries did was begin to learn the Hawaiian language and create an alphabet for a written format of the language. Their emphasis was on teaching and preaching.

Initially, the missionaries worked out a Hawaiian alphabet of 17-English letters. On January 7, 1822, on the mission press set up in the (Levi) Chamberlains’ thatched house, “we commenced printing the language in order to give them letters, libraries, and the living oracles in their own tongue, that the nation might read and understand the wonderful works of God.” (Bingham)

(Later, on July 14, 1826, the missionaries established a 12-letter alphabet for the written Hawaiian language, using five vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) and seven consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p and w) in their “Report of the committee of health on the state of the Hawaiian language.” The report was signed by Bingham and Chamberlain. The alphabet continues in use today.)

On February 4, 1822, “Adams (Kuakini) sent a young Tahitian to us (Toketa,) to obtain for him that part of the spelling book which is printed, with a view to commence learning to read his own language. … This young Tahitian is one of the three, whom we have found here from the Society Isles, able to read and write their native language.”

“He, with one hour’s instruction, is able to read the Hawaiian (Owhyhean) also, and to assist the chief to whom he is attached.” (Missionary Herald, 1823) Toketa then began to teach Kuakini to read and write.

Shortly after (February 8, 1822,) “Adams (Kuakini) sent a letter to Mr B (Bingham) written by the hand of Toleta the Tahitian, which Mr. B answered in the Hawaiian language. – ‘This may be considered as the commencement of epistolary correspondence in this language.’” (Missionary Herald, 1823)

Kuakini’s interest in learning to read had not stopped, and he continued to study under Toketa. Kuakini later requested that the missionaries send him more books and teachers. In response, Elisha Loomis was sent to Kailua-Kona in mid-October to organize a school.

By early November 1822, that school had fifty students under Kuakini and Toketa, the latter being “sufficiently qualified to take charge of it for a season till a teacher could be sent from Honolulu.” Within a few weeks Thomas Hopu, a Hawaiian youth trained as a teacher by the American missionaries and part of the Pioneer Company, was sent to Kailua and put in charge of the school. (Barrere)

Later, Toketa moved to Maui and entered the service of Hoapili, a high chief of great note and foster father of the princess Nahiʻenaʻena (sister to Kiholiho and Kauikeaouli.)

While on Maui Toketa taught classes for the chiefs and helped in the translating of the Scriptures. Early in 1824, “The most interesting circumstance of the day, is an application for baptism from Kaikioewa and wife, from another chief and wife, Toteta, a Tahitian in the family of our patron Hoapili …”

“Every thing in the characters of these persons, as far as we can ascertain, sanctions the hope, that, through the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, they have been turned from darkness to light … and are proper subjects for the administration of the ordinance, the benefits of which they are desirous of receiving.” (Stewart, February 24, 1824)

Toketa “continues a favorite with the chiefs, a diligent teacher and has given pleasing evidence of piety. He and several others would probably have been baptized before this had it not been for the difficulties that lie in the way respecting some of the chiefs who have requested baptism but which we hesitate to comply with and who would probably take great offence were any to be admitted to that ordinance before themselves.” (Ellis; Barrere) (It is not clear if Toketa was ever baptized.)

Toketa then goes to Honolulu, still engaged in teaching the chiefs. Chamberlain wrote, “Some very interesting classes were examined. The classes of Toteta and Haʻalilio were particularly so. In the former class were Boki, Kekauruohe (Kekāuluohi,) Kekauōnohi, Liliha, Akahi, and other chiefs of high grade …”

“… in the latter were Kaʻahumanu, Opiia, Tapule, and others – all stood forth like pupils made obeicence at the signal of their teacher with the docility of children spelled a lesson from the spelling book read in the tract repeated a number of hymns & the whole of the catechism.” (Chamberlain, November 23, 1825)

While in the Islands, Toketa wrote a journal. In part, he notes, “Those of Hawaiʻi talk much – day and night – about farming. In the cultivation of the land there is life. But it must be done continuously, otherwise death comes. They make great efforts in cultivating. There is no land which they do not ready for planting – they even raise taro (ʻai) on ʻaʻa lava.” (Toketa Journal; Barrere)

Toketa was but one of a number of Tahitians in such a position during the 1820s and 1830s. The earliest, and model for the rest, was the Tahitian missionary Auna who came to Hawaii with a visiting English delegation of missionaries in 1822.

Others among the Tahitian teachers were Tauʻa and his wife Tauʻawahine and a female teacher, Kaʻaumoku, who came to Hawaii with William Ellis when he returned in February of 1823.

The three were taken into the household of the queen mother Keōpūolani and after her death that September, into that of Hoapili on Maui.

Stephen Pupuhi (Popohe), a Tahitian youth educated at the Cornwall School, accompanied the Second Company of missionaries to Hawaii in 1823. He entered the service of Boki, governor of Oahu, and later that of Kalanimōku, the prime minister.

Another is Kahikona, who took over Toketa’s journal. Kahikona’s first entry refers to incidents of 1838 and may indicate the time of Toketa’s death or perhaps his return to Tahiti. We believe one or the other to have occurred at some time before 1843. (Barrere)

The image shows a view of Kailua, Kona, at about the time Toketa was there, teaching Kuakini how to read and write Hawaiian. (Thurston, Lahainaluna Engraving) (Lots of information here is from Barrere.)

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P-02 View of Kailua

July 28, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

John Davis Paris

John Davis Paris was born to George and Mary (Hudson) Paris, September 22, 1809 near Staunton, Virginia, the eldest of six sons. His father was a farmer of Scotch-Irish extraction, originally from France; his mother’s parents came from Wales and the north of England.

“My father was very industrious, working hard early and late. His farm was on the main valley road leading to Lexington; he owned about ninety acres which he improved and to which he added in after years. On it he erected a saw mill and a flour mill and did an enormous business for one man.”

“He and my mother were members of Hebron church, strict Presbyterians, and known by all as consistent Christians. My father’s house was a home for ministers and missionaries, and under its hospitable roof all good men ever found a hearty welcome.”

“From a little boy I had a secret desire to he a minister of the gospel, partly I think because my parents always spoke in the highest terms of those who preached the gospel.” (Paris; The Friend, April 1, 1926)

At the age of nineteen, his father gave him permission to go to school. He carted firewood and lumber on Saturdays to pay tuition and extras.

In 1835, he distributed bibles and religious books for the American Bible Society. “Traveling once in North Carolina, I came to a hotel about sun set. … I was requested to offer prayers … In the morning I was again requested to lead the family worship, which I was glad to do.”

“Then calling for my horse which had been well fed and groomed, I was about to pay my bill, when the Landlord very courteously said, ‘No, I never charge ministers of the gospel. … we have all enjoyed family worship with you…’ I protested that I was not a minister, but he declared that I was equal to one”. (Paris; The Friend, April 1, 1926)

Paris entered Bangor Theological Seminary in 1836, graduating in 1839 with Rev Daniel Dole and was ordained the same year.

That year, he offered to serve as a missionary in Africa. He was accepted by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, but, after consultation, was appointed to the Indian Mission in Oregon Territory.

He was married to Miss Mary Grant of New York City, on October 25, 1840, and sailed from Boston November 14 in the company of Dole, Bond and Rice. They arrived in the Islands on May 21, 1841.

“News had just been received at the Island of the unsettled and hostile state of the Indians which afterwards terminated in the tragical and terrible massacre of Dr. Whitman ma! (Ma, the Hawaiian collective, means ‘with all his family or associates.’)”

“Mr. William Rice and his wife, together with ourselves, who had been destined for the Oregon Mission, were advised to remain at the Islands where there was urgent need.” (Paris; The Friend, April 1, 1926)

Paris was first stationed in Kaʻū. It was a remote district, difficult of access. He was the first resident missionary there.

“In these years of 1843 and 44, while our own dwelling was in building and not yet finished, we undertook the great work of building a stone House of Worship at Waiohinu. This first Christian temple was built entirely by the natives … “

“Since that time I have builded and consecrated nine houses of worship and crowned them with sweet-toned bells, ordered from the United States and paid for by the people”. (Paris; The Friend, May 1, 1926)

Mrs Paris died on February 18, 1847; Paris returned with two daughters to the U.S. On September 7, 1851, Paris married Miss Mary Carpenter of New York City; they returned to the Islands in 1852 and he was stationed at Kaʻawaloa.

One notable incident is worth mentioning – “For several years past, one (Joseph Ioela) Kaʻona … imbibed the idea that he was a prophet sent by God to warn this people of the end of the world. For the three years he has been preaching this millerite doctrine on Hawaiʻi, and has made numerous converts.” (PCA, October 24, 1868)

“By the mid-1860s, Kaʻona claimed to have had divine communications with Elijah, Gabriel, and Jehovah, from whom he’d received divine instructions and prophetic.” (Maly) Followers called him ‘The Prophet;’ his followers were referred to as Kaʻonaites.)

“These fanatics believe that the end of the world is at hand, and they must be ready. They therefore clothe themselves in white robes, ready to ascend, watch at night, but sleep during the day, decline to cultivate anything except beans, corn, or the most common food.” (PCA, October 24, 1868)

“For a time, all went on smoothly enough, until Kaʻona began to introduce some slight innovations in the form of worship, which were opposed by Mr. Paris and minority of the congregation and the church became split into two factions. … The feud continued to increase …” (Hawaiian Gazette, November 18, 1868)”

Eventually a riot broke out and Sheriff Neville and another were both brutally killed. The event has been referred to as Kaʻona’s Rebellion, Kaʻona Insurrection and Kaʻona Uprising. Kaʻona eventually surrendered; David Kalākaua and Albert Francis Judd had been appointed Kaʻona’s defense attorneys.

Here’s a summary on Kaʻona and the rebellion: http://wp.me/p5GnMi-8e

Until 1870, Paris had the general supervision of the mission work on Western Hawaiʻi. That year he moved to Honolulu where he lived for some time in the old mission house. He started a Theological Seminary there.

He later returned to Kona. The last eleven years of his life were spent in the upper Kaʻawaloa. The house was built on the foundations of Kapiʻolani’s home.

Davis died at his home at Kaʻawaloa at 9:30 am, July 28, 1892, after an illness of seven days. “He took a severe cold, which settled on his lungs. His strength failed rapidly, and he was unable to take nourishment to keep.” (The Friend, September 5, 1892)

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July 23, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mission Stations

The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM,) based in Boston, was founded in 1810, the first organized missionary society in the US.

One hundred years later, the Board was responsible for 102-mission stations and a missionary staff of 600 in India, Ceylon, West Central Africa (Angola,) South Africa and Rhodesia, Turkey, China, Japan, Micronesia, Hawaiʻi, the Philippines, North American native American tribes, and the “Papal lands” of Mexico, Spain and Austria.

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of ABCFM missionaries set sail on the Thaddeus to establish the Sandwich Islands Mission (now known as Hawai‘i.)

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.

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.

As an example, in June 1823, William Ellis joined American Missionaries Asa Thurston, Artemas Bishop and Joseph Goodrich on a tour of the island of Hawaiʻi to investigate suitable sites for mission stations.

On O‘ahu, locations at Honolulu (Kawaiahaʻo,) Kāne’ohe, Waialua, Waiʻanae and ‘Ewa served as the bases for outreach work on the island.

By 1850, eighteen mission stations had been established; six on Hawaiʻi, four on Maui, four on Oʻahu, three on Kauai and one on Molokai.

Meeting houses were constructed at the stations, as well as throughout the district. Initially constructed as the traditional Hawaiian thatched structures; they were later made of wood or stone.

One of the first things the first missionaries did was begin to learn the Hawaiian language and create an alphabet for a written format of the language.

Their emphasis was on preaching and teaching.

Interestingly, as the early missionaries learned the Hawaiian language, they then taught their lessons in the mission schools in Hawaiian, rather than English. In part, the mission did not want to create a separate caste and portion of the community as English‐speaking Hawaiians.

The missionaries established schools associated with their mission stations across the Islands. This marked the beginning of Hawaiʻi’s phenomenal rise to literacy. The chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of Chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing.

The instruction of students in schools (initially, most of whom were adults,) in reading, writing and other skills initially fell to the missionaries.

The schools generally served as both native churches and meeting houses, and were established in most populated ahupua‘a around the islands; native teachers and lay-ministers were appointed to oversee their daily activities.

The most difficult problem was that of obtaining enough competent teachers. As far back as 1825 the missionaries had taken steps to establish teacher training classes at the various stations, but the plan of station schools was not very fully carried out until after 1830.

There were never enough missionaries to make the plan uniformly effective. Station schools were intended not only to train teachers but to serve as model schools, and much attention was given to children. In some places there were two station schools, one for teachers and one for children. (Kuykendall)

In eight years from the date of the landing of the Pioneer Company there were 32-missionaries, 4,455-native teachers, 12,000-Sabbath hearers, and 26,000-pupils in schools in the islands.

Many influences were at work, the Bible was circulated, high chiefs were converted and began to work vigorously, the people gathered from great distances in crowds to hear the Word, and in 1828, simultaneously and without communication, a revival unexpectedly commenced in Hawaiʻi, Oʻahu, and Maui.

For weeks and months the missionaries could scarcely get time for rest and refreshment. (Bliss)

By 1831, in just eleven years from the first arrival of the missionaries, Hawaiians had built over 1,100‐schoolhouses. This covered every district throughout the eight major islands and serviced an estimated 53,000‐students. (Laimana)

By 1840, the decline of the Hawaiian population, financial restraints, and a move to separate church and school operations led to the consolidation of the church-school meeting houses.

On October 15, 1840, Kamehameha III enacted a law that required the maintenance and local support of the native schools (the Constitution of 1840).

The Constitution provided a “Statute for the Regulation of Schools,” which required that in a village with 15 or more students, the parents were to organize and secure a teacher. (Maly)

By 1853, nearly three-fourths of the native Hawaiian population over the age of sixteen years was literate in their own language. The short time span within which native Hawaiians achieved literacy is remarkable in light of the overall low literacy rates of the United States at that time. (Lucas)

The image shows Meeting House at Lāhainā, the first stone Church in Hawaiʻi (corner stone laid in 1828.)

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