Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kāne‘ohe Congregational Church

The Rev. Benjamin Wyman Parker (born October 13, 1803 in Reading, Massachusetts) and his wife Mary Elizabeth Parker (known in Hawaiʻi as “Mother Parker” – of Branford, Connecticut) were in the Sixth Company of American Protestant missionaries to Hawai‘i, arriving in Honolulu on May 1, 1833 on the ship “Mentor.”

Almost immediately, they joined the Alexander and Armstrong families to open a mission in the Marquesas, on July 21, 1833.  Their first and only son, Henry Hodges Parker was born there.  They returned to Honolulu and were assigned to the “Kāneʻohe Station” on Windward Oahu.

“We reached this little nook after a voyage of two days in safety. This little bay – Kaneohe – is now our home. The people speak to us in an unknown tongue, yet are exceedingly kind. We have a large grass house to live in, without a window, partition or floor – not one fixture – not even a shelf.”

“Almost all we had was left behind … Surely we may live and feel like pilgrims without any difficulty. Our cookhouse is two stones sheltered only by the open heavens.” (Mary Parker, The Friend, May 1933)

When the Kāneʻohe Mission Station first opened in 1835, “high chief Liliha, who officiated as a sort of ‘Mother-superior’ of the place [Koʻolaupoko], located her ‘new teachers’ [Missionary Parker and his family] on a little bluff on the edge of a beautiful bay [Kaneohe Bay].”

In 1835, Parker opened a school for 60 children; and another for men and women. The following year, he had 100 children.

“The high Chiefess Liliha had located her ‘New Teachers,’ as she called them, on this bluff overlooking a beautiful bay.  The locality was called ‘Aipaakai,’ literally an invitation to eat salt. Here they began the work of a lifetime.”

“The Hawaiians from Waimanalo, one extreme, to Kualoa, the other extreme of the district, numbered about 10,000. The barrier of language was soon removed as they learned to speak the Hawaiian language; and within a few weeks (Parker) preached his first sermon to his people.” (The Friend May, 1933)

The Kāneʻohe Congregational Church located on Waikapoki Road in Kāne’ohe is the oldest Protestant church on the windward side of Oʻahu established by missionary, Rev. Benjamin Wyman Parker.

After the division of lands known as the Great Mahele in 1848, the church was granted seven acres of land in 1849 by King Kamehemeha III. The first building was a hale pili or grass hut followed by other wooden structures located at the fork in the roads of Waikalua and Waikapoki in Kāne’ohe.

The last wooden structure was replaced by the present building, which was completed in 1956 and moved to the back of the property where it sits today on a little less than an acre of land. (Kāne‘ohe Congregational Church)

Throughout its history, the church has had numerous names, such as Kāne‘ohe Protestant Church, Lanakila Church, Kāne‘ohe Hawaiian Church and its current full name, Kāne‘ohe Congregational Church of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.

This church in Windward Oahu is Hawai‘i’s second-oldest continuously operated organization, based on date of incorporation. It received its charter of incorporation on November 19, 1849. The church was founded in 1834 by Rev. Benjamin Wyman Parker.

The majority of the lands were transferred to cemetery use in the early 1950s.  Kaneohe Bay View Memorial Park started in 1954; the 7-acre site was organized by the Sunset Memorial Park Cemetery firm in Pearl City. (Hnl Adv Dec 19 1954) In early-1965, the Greenhaven Memorial Park took over the cemetery and renamed it as such. (Hnl Adv, Jan 19, 1965)

Rev. Parker’s first congregation in 1834 was called Kāneʻohe station, in 1849 after the land grant, the church name became Kāneʻohe Protestant Church.

​The same message of Christianity that Rev. Parker brought is the same message that is being preached each Sunday at this church in Kāneʻohe. Throughout the years we have been blessed to have many esteemed faithful men of faith preach from our pulpit.

During World War II the church was a staging area for the military and was known for its benevolence to the community.

Today, this congregation’s outreach is its community service to Parker Elementary school, a woman’s shelter, community cleanup at Kalaupapa, visitation of the sick and elderly, and the provision of food donations to people in need.

As part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance it continues to fund and support missions throughout the world.  (Kāne‘ohe Congregational Church)

© 2023 Ho‘okuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lorenzo Lyons (Makua Laiana – Father Lyons)

The family name was originally Lyon, to which his grandfather, David Lyon, arbitrarily added an ‘s.’

The Lyon or Lyons family traces its descent back to the time of the Norman Conquest and William the Conqueror.  The first of the family to immigrate to America was William Lyon, who went from London to Boston in 1635.

General Nathaniel Lyon, who lost his life in the Civil War, was of the same stock, as also was Mary Lyon, the founder of Mt. Holyoke Seminary.

A tradition in the Lyons family says that some of its members took part in the celebrated “Boston Tea Party,” returning home with some of the tea in their shoes. (Williams College)

Lorenzo and Betsy Lyons arrived in the Hawaiian Islands as missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM,) arriving on the ‘Averick’ on May 17, 1832.

They were part of the large Fifth Company, including the Alexanders, Armstrongs, Emersons, Forbes, Hitchcocks, Lymans and others.

On July 16 1832, Missionary Lorenzo Lyons replaced Reverend Dwight Baldwin as minister at Waimea, South Kohala, Hawai‘i. Lyons’ “Church Field” was centered in Waimea, at what is now the historic church ‘Imiola.

In a May 8, 1835 letter to the ABCFM, Lyons notes: “Mr. Baldwin in consequence of ill health is removed from Waimea, and never expects to return. Hence 15,000 souls are thrown upon me, a burden greater than I can bear. Waimea is the most central station. A man located there can do something – not much – for Kohala and Hāmākua.”

“It is my conviction and the conviction of many others that Waimea, including its outposts, is the most difficult and uninviting of all stations now occupied. No one who is acquainted with it wishes to be located there. Perhaps I am mistaken. But I shall sink unless I am speedily aided. “

“To be alone in this wide, desolate and lone region, 40 or 50 miles from any missionary brother, and no physician nearer than Oahu, is unpleasant. But to have the care of so many thousands weighing upon me is unsupportable. Pray for me”.

He stayed, stuck to it, succeeded and spent the rest of his life in Waimea.

Father Lyons was eminently popular with Hawaiians and with all men.  His nature was guileless, cordial, enthusiastic, cheering. He was remarkable for hospitality to Hawaiians always seeing that his visitors passing through Waimea had something to eat.  (Hawaiian Gazette, October 19, 1886)

His base was at ʻImiola Church in Waimea.  The first ʻImiola Church was a grass hut built and dedicated sometime before 1832 by King Kamehameha III.  Lyons wrote in his journal that at least one hundred little grass schoolhouses were scattered around the immediate Waimea area at that time.

His first wife, Betsy, died in 1837.  From that time on Lyons continued the tireless and devoted worker wholly thoughtless of self, joyous, enthusiastic, ardent and kindly to others.

His constant tours extended from near Laupāhoehoe to Waimanu in Hāmākua and to Kawaihae and Puako in Kohala South. He always went on foot, unsparing of his slight and wiry frame.  (Hawaiian Gazette, October 19, 1886)

On July 14, 1838, he married Lucia G. Smith of Truxton, New York.

By February of 1843, the first ʻImiola Church had been torn down and was replaced by a stone structure with thatched roof and windows.  Hundreds of Hawaiians helped in the collection of stones, often carrying them miles to the construction site.  However, it ran into disrepair.

On August 29, 1855, the cornerstone of a new church was laid. “Under the cornerstone (SW corner) was deposited a tin box wrapped in mamaki kapa – Hawaiian Bible, hymn books, newspapers, laws, etc.” (Lyons) By 1857, the church was completed and dedicated. The ceiling rafters, floor and exterior clapboard are made of koa.

As was the practice, the early missionaries learned the Hawaiian language and taught their lessons 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.  In later years, the instruction, ultimately, was in English.

Lyons was an avid supporter of the Hawaiian language.  He wrote a letter to the editor in The Friend newspaper (September 2, 1878) that, in part noted: “An interminable language…”

“[I]t is one of the oldest living languages of the earth, as some conjecture, and may well be classed among the best…the thought to displace it, or to doom it to oblivion by substituting the English language, ought not for a moment to be indulged. … Long live the grand old, sonorous, poetical Hawaiian language.”

He was lovingly known to Hawaiians as Ka Makua Laiana, Haku Mele o ka Aina Mauna – Father Lyons, Lyric Poet of the Mountain County.

Lyons was fluent in the Hawaiian language and composed many poems and hymns; his best known and beloved work is the hymn “Hawaiʻi Aloha” sung to the tune of “I Left It All With Jesus” (circa 1852.)  The song was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 1998.

“Widely regarded as Hawaiʻi’s second anthem, this hymn is sung in both churches and public gatherings. It is performed at important government and social functions to bring people together in unity, and at the closing of Hawaiʻi Legislative sessions.”

“The first appearance of “Hawaiʻi Aloha” in a Protestant hymnal was in 1953, nearly 100 years after it was written. Today, people automatically stand when this song is played extolling the virtues of ‘beloved Hawaiʻi.’” (Hawaiian Music Museum).

Hawaiʻi Aloha – Israel Kamakawiwoʻole
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_17vGYa81s

“In 1872, he published Buke Himeni Hawaii containing over 600 hymns two thirds his own composition. Some years later he prepared the Sabbath School Hymn and Tune Book Lei Aliʻi … The Hawaiians owe entirely to his exertions their introduction to modern enlivening styles of popular sacred music.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, October 19, 1886)

After leaving the mission, he stayed in Waimea.

He was known in the town as the man who carried out many functions.  In October, 1854 Father Lyons became the first official Postmaster of Waimea, a post he held until he was very old. The Honolulu Directory of 1884 listed him as pastor of ʻImiola Church, postmaster, school agent and government physician.

His love for his native country was all that might be expected in such a deeply affectionate and idealistic nature. … But it was to another flag that Laiana affectionately and unreservedly dedicated his allegiance and his life.  (Doyle)

It was the desire of Laiana’s heart that when laid in his last resting place he be wrapped in his dearest flag, the flag of Hawaiʻi Nei. Kalākaua himself sent the flag and the frail little body was encased in its soft silken folds.  (Doyle)

Lorenzo Lyons died October 6, 1886.  He was buried some distance from the church on the grounds of his old homestead.  In April, 1939, his remains were moved to the grounds of ʻImiola Church, Waimea, South Kohala, Hawaiʻi.

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Oldest Wood Frame Structure in Hawaii

The wood-framed Mission House, built in 1821, was one of the first wood-framed buildings built in Hawai‘i; it is now the oldest in Hawai‘i.  It recently celebrated its 200th birthday.

The frame house stands on the grounds of the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives, near Kawaiahaʻo Church on the makai side of King Street.

The timbers of Maine white pine were cut and fitted in Boston in 1819 and came around the Horn on the brig Thaddeus with the first mission company in April 1820, arriving first in Kona.  The frame of the house arrived in Honolulu on Christmas morning of that year on board the ship Tartar.

Since the lumber for this New England plan type was actually pre-cut prior to shipment, it could also be considered in a broad sense a very early example of prefabrication.

Architecturally, it has a simple and straight-forward design; the relatively low ceilings, and basement are strong evidence of its New England concept, foreign to the temperate climate of Honolulu.

It has two stories plus a basement and measures about 40-feet in length and 24-feet in width, excluding the kitchen wing (which extends the basic rectangular plan on the right rear (Ewa-makai) by about 20-feet.)  The overall height is just over 23½ feet.

The first floor (which has been altered by both additions and demolition) consists of two rooms across the front.  A smaller room and hall are located behind the front room on the left.  The second floor consists essentially of two large rooms separated by a stair-hall.

The foundation wall is about a foot thick, except on the Waikīkī side where it becomes an average of almost 2-feet (where a now-demolished wing once stood.)

The basement walls are adobe brick set in a mud mortar.  The basement consists of one room on the left (Waikīkī) and a larger space on the right.

Basement access is by an exterior coral stair on both the front and rear and an interior concrete stair leading down from the kitchen.  All walls are plastered, the floors are brick and the ceiling exposed wood.

The Frame House was used as a communal home by many missionary families who shared it with island visitors and boarders.

It served as a residence for various missionaries, including Hiram Bingham, Gerrit Parmele Judd and Elisha Loomis.

In 1904, several contractors were called in to examine the building which was found to be so badly eaten by insects it was considered beyond repair.  After considerable study extensive repairs were undertaken to restore the house to its original appearance.

In 1925, the premises were again inspected and again extensive insect damage was found.  By 1935, the house was completely renovated and restored.

Since 1935, various minor repairs such as repainting and some plastering have been undertaken.

Today the frame house is maintained by the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society as a memorial to the early missionary effort in the Hawaiian Islands.

Furniture and other articles of the first mission families are displayed in the house, together with photographs of the men and women who lived and worked there.

Guided tours of the house and other parts of the historic site are offered Tuesday through Saturday, starting on the hour every hour from 11 am with the last tour beginning at 3 pm.

Nominal fees include: $20 General; $15 Kama‘aina, Senior Citizens (55+) & Military; $10 and Students (age 6 to College w/ID). Kama‘aina Saturday (last Saturday of the Month) 50% off admission for residents.  (Reservations for groups of 10 or more are required.)

© 2023 Ho‘okuleana LLC

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Pōhakuloa

“E ku a mu mu.” (Be still! It is a god!)

“In ancient time women when they were to become Mothers made a pageant of love and ambition to this stone (Pōhakuloa) giving a Mohai (offering) laying before this God a fish called Hilu and emblem of gentleness, graceful, and good disposition in the child.”

“The fish Hilu was accompanied with the leaves of the Lama (a very large wood used in building houses for the Gods), and Emblem of wisdom, ambition and brightness for the child, Lamalama a torch (a beacon of light.)” (Montano – Galioto)

Pukui says it’s a “Large stone believed to bless expectant mothers and endow children with strength and wisdom.”  “The Pōhakuloa stone … was worshipped by Hawaiian women who prayed for their children to have wisdom and strength.”  (Aluli & McGregor)

About 1830, Queen Ka‘ahumanu ordered that a wall should be built from Punchbowl past Punahou to keep cattle from the inland residential areas. The stone wall also marked a path across Makiki that was first called Stonewall Street (it’s now known as Wilder Avenue.)

The Queen wished to form a gateway at Punahou School through this wall, and wanted two large stones on each side of the gate.

The stone would not move at first, so a kahuna was consulted.  The kahuna suggested that a lūʻau, or feast, be prepared with certain foods. After the lūʻau, the stone was moved easily to its new spot.

“My father had great difficulty in persuading them to move a large stone, which they revered as a Kupua, or local deity.  This was to be placed at one side of the upper gate as a part of the wall. It was considered very dangerous to move a Kupua, and disaster was almost sure to follow.”

“The workmen believed that the rock would remain stationary and refuse to be up-rooted, but it was displaced without any calamity and dragged by a team of oxen to the gate.”  (Rice, The Friend, March 1924)

“The stone was to be transported from the northeastern slope of Round Top (near the former home of Mrs. FM Swanzy). Its sacred nature required that ‘So sacred was Pōhakuloa that none but the king himself could sanction its removal and for that ceremony even the presence of the king was necessary, stripling though he was.'” (Damon, The Friend, March 1924).

“The big rock was exhumed from its bed (on the west side of the road leading to Manoa Valley, opposite the old “Cow Pen”) and rolled upon a framework of ship’s spars. The young King (Kamehameha III) then seated himself upon the apex of the rock, and gave the word of command …”

“… when rock, King and all were lifted upon the shoulders of the hulumanus – numerous as ants tugging at a kernel of corn – and carried down to its place.”  (Damon, The Friend, March 1924)

Pōhakuloa was shaped like a “mammoth taro leaf.”  Originally nine feet in length, the rock stood seven feet above ground and two below.

“(T)he huge lava boulder that stood guard at the Punahou gate. A monumental pyramid it seemed, towering upward in grim majesty, – probably ten feet.”

“A challenge it was to enterprising boys, with an instinct to decorate scenery with their initials, to climb its dizzy heights and leave their sculptured letters on the only “Walhalla” within reach.”  (Weaver, The Friend, March 1924)

“This rock was a curiosity about twelve feet high, and weighing several tons, and of the shape of a mammoth kalo. Often have I climbed to its top and eaten my lunch from my tin-pail thereon, and to my childish imagination it seemed as high as a church-tower.”  (Judd, The Friend, March 1924)

In 1854-59, Pōhakuloa, too large to move, was broken into pieces because it stood in the way of a road widening project.  A remainder of Pōhakuloa still stands at Punahou’s front gate.

“The other part of the stone … was given to a Japanese consul living at the corner of Beretania and Makiki streets. Kapiʻolani Maternity Home was later built at this site and some believe that the mana (divine power) of this pōhaku was a factor in its siting.”  (Aluli & McGregor)

Reportedly, there is another significant stone at Punahou, called Keapopo.  The story suggests it and Pōhakuloa would call to each other: “You come over here,” “No, you come here.”  (Manoa Heritage)

The image shows a remnant of the once larger Pōhakuloa at the Punahou School entrance (the plaque states “Punahou School Founded 1841”.)

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Betsey Stockton

Born in 1798 in Princeton, New Jersey, as a slave owned by the family of Robert Stockton, Esq., Betsey Stockton was presented as a gift to the Stockton’s eldest daughter and her husband, the Reverend Ashbel Green (who was later the President of Princeton College (later known as Princeton University.))

Although masters did not typically favor educating their slaves beyond proficient training as domestic nurse, seamstress and cook, Green gave her books and encouraged her to use the family library. She later attended evening classes at Princeton Theological Seminary.

In September 1816, Betsey’s application for admission to the First Presbyterian Church in Princeton was formally approved. Around 1817, Ashbel Green freed her.

Stockton often spoke to Green about her wish to journey abroad, possibly to Africa, on a Christian mission. Green introduced her to Charles S Stewart, a young missionary, newly ordained in 1821, who was about to be sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) to Hawaiʻi.

Through a special agreement between Green, the Stewarts and the ABCFM, Stockton joined the mission both as a domestic in the Stewart household and was commissioned by the ABCFM as a missionary.

She became the first single American woman sent overseas as a missionary.

Her contract with the Board and with the Stewarts said that she went “neither as an equal nor as a servant, but as a humble Christian friend” to the Stewarts, and provided that she was not to do more than an equal share of menial duties which might “prevent her being employed as a teacher of a school”.

In November 1822, Stockton, the Stewarts and the other missionaries in the 2nd Company set sail on the ‘Thames’ from New Haven, Connecticut for the Hawaiian Islands.

On April 24, 1823, “we saw and made Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi). 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.” (Betsey Stockton Journal)

Upon her arrival, Stockton became the first known African American woman in Hawaiʻi.

Intelligent, industrious and frugal, she was aptly described as a devoted Christian, not only because of her constant attendance at church and her faith in God, but also because she supported the interests of the church, secured clothes for her students, and helped to heal the sick while continuing her domestic work to help the Stuarts. (Jackson)

“On Saturday, the 10th of May (1823,) we left the ship, and went to the mission enclosure at Honoruru. We had assigned to us a little thatched house in one corner of the yard, consisting of one small room, with a door, and two windows – the door too small to admit a person walking in without stooping, and the windows only large enough for one person to look out at a time.”

“The family all eat at the same table, and the ladies attend to the work by turns. Mrs. Stewart and myself took each of us a day separately.” (Betsey Stockton Journal)

“On the 26th of May (1823) we heard that the barge (Cleopatra’s Barge, or “Haʻaheo o Hawaiʻi,” Pride of Hawaiʻi) was about to sail for Lahaina, with the old queen (Keōpūolani) and princess (Nāhiʻenaʻena;) and that the queen was desirous to have missionaries to accompany her …”

“A meeting was called to consult whether it was expedient to establish a mission at Lahaina. The mission was determined on, and Mr. S. (Stewart) was appointed to go: he chose Mr. R. (Richards) for his companion … On the 28th we embarked on the mighty ocean again, which we had left so lately.” (Betsey Stockton Journal)

Per the requests of the chiefs, the American Protestant missionaries, at that time, were typically teaching their own children and the children of the Hawaiian chiefs.

“Now the chiefs have expressed their determination to have instruction in reading and writing extended to the whole population and have only been waiting for books, and an increase in the number of suitably qualified native teachers, to put the resolution, as far as practical, into effect.”

“A knowledge of this having reached some of the makaainana, or farmers of Lahaina … application was made by them to us for books and slates, and an instructor …”

“… and the first school, consisting of about thirty individuals, ever formed among that class of people, has, within a few days, been established in our enclosure, under the superintendence of B (Betsey Stockton), who is quite familiar with the native tongue.” (Charles Stewart Journal, August 1824)

In 1823, Kalākua Kaheiheimālie (ke Aliʻi Hoapili wahine, wife of Governor Hoapili) offered the American missionaries a tract of land on the slopes surrounding Puʻu Paʻupaʻu for the creation of a school.

Stockton founded a school for makaʻāinana (common people) including the women and children. The school was situated on what is now Lahainaluna School (and some suggest it served as the initial basis for that school.)

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, a historic Black college in Virginia established after the Civil War (founded by General Samuel C. Armstrong (son of missionary Richard Armstrong, former Pastor at Kawaiahaʻo Church.))

(Kalākaua visited Hampton Normal and Agricultural School – later known as Hampton Institute on one of his trips to the continent.)

Because of the serious illness of Mrs. Harriet Stewart, the Stewarts decided to return to Cooperstown, New York, after two and a half years in Hawaiʻi. Stockton accompanied them; leaving native Hawaiian teachers she had trained to take her place.

Stockton left Hawaiʻi in 1825, returning to the continent where she was assigned to teach Native American children in Canada. Then, Stockton returned to Princeton in 1835, living in a small house on Witherspoon Street, which was primarily an African American neighborhood.

Stockton was instrumental in the founding of the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, originally called the First Presbyterian Church of Color of Princeton. She also began teaching African American children in a public school in Princeton in 1837, which she continued to do for several years.

She spent the rest of her life in Princeton working on behalf of its African American and white residents to enrich the lives of the members of the local African American community.

Betsey Stockton began life as a slave, and went on to become a schoolteacher, medical nurse and missionary; she died in her hometown of Princeton, New Jersey in October 1865.

Here is a link to an expanded discussion on Betsey Stockton:

Click to access Betsey-Stockton.pdf

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC