Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings | Page 2

October 7, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Bahá’í

“If the learned and worldly-wise men of this age were to allow mankind to inhale the fragrance of fellowship and love, every understanding heart would apprehend the meaning of true liberty, and discover the secret of undisturbed peace and absolute composure.” (Bahá’u’lláh)

Bahá’í’s believe God has sent to humanity a series of divine Educators – known as Manifestations of God – whose teachings have provided the basis for the advancement of civilization.

These Manifestations have included Abraham, Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad.

The Bahá’í Faith is an independent religion founded in Persia by Mirzá Husayn Alí (1817‐1892,) known as Bahá’u’lláh. It has its own sacred literature, religious and social tenets, as well as practices.

Bahá’u’lláh, the latest of these Messengers, explained that the religions of the world come from the same Source and are in essence successive chapters of one religion from God.

Bahá’í’s believe the crucial need facing humanity is to find a unifying vision of the future of society and of the nature and purpose of life. Such a vision unfolds in the writings of Bahá’u’lláh.

The Bahá’í commemorate May 23, 1844, when the Bab, the herald of the Bahá’í Faith, announced in Shiraz, Persia (now Iran,) that he was the herald of a new messenger of God. It is one of the nine holy days of the year when work is suspended.

Dr. Augur, Disciple of ’Abdu’l-Baha was born in New Haven, Connecticut and educated at Yale University. In 1898 Dr. Augur and his wife Ruth and their son Morris moved to Hawaii. Sometime in 1909 the Augur’s became Bahá’ís.

On December 26, 1901 Agnes Baldwin Alexander, a native of Hawaii, returned to Honolulu from a trip to Rome where she discovered the Bahá’í Revelation, and Hawaiʻi’s first Bahá’í.

She rejoiced that she was continuing work begun by her distinguished grandparents (Rev. Dr Dwight and Charlotte Baldwin and Rev. William Patterson and Mary Ann Alexander) who were in the fourth and fifth companies to bring Christianity to the Hawaiian Islands.

Miss Martha Louise Root, was born in Richwood, Ohio in 1872 encountered the Bahá’í Faith and became confirmed shortly thereafter. For the next twenty years she roamed the globe interviewing the famous and powerful while spreading the teachings of Baha’u’llah.

She was the first to travel and teach in South America. When Martha Root passed away in Honolulu on September 28, 1939, it was noted that, “unnumbered admirers throughout Bahá’í world lament … the earthly extinction of her heroic life.”

Two American Bahá’í, Mr Howard Struven and Mr CM (Charles Mason) Remey, were making a world trip in 1909 proclaiming the Faith; they first stopped in Honolulu. A local paper noted the following invitation for readers to learn about Bahá’í:

“The Bahá’í of Honolulu extend to all a cordial invitation to attend a lecture to be given at the Young Hotel on Monday night, at eight o’clock, by Prof CM Remey of the architectural department of the George Washington University, of Washington DC upon the history, teachings and reforms of the Bahá’í movement.”

“The object of the Bahá’í movement is the unification of all religions. Having had its birth in Persia over half a century ago, its truths have been taught the world over.”

“Mr. Remey and Mr. Struven, the Bahá’í workers, are now spending three weeks here, on a tour of the world which they are making in the interests of the Bahá’í cause.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 28, 1909)

Later (March 1915,) Remey returned to the Islands, with him were George O Latimer, a Portland attorney, and Miss Corrine True of Chicago.

While in the Islands, in addition to community gatherings to discuss the Bahá’í faith, Remey, Latimer and True met with former Queen Liliʻuokalani.

Today the Bahá’í communities can be found in over 200-nations. The voluminous Sacred Scriptures of the Bahá’í Revelation have been translated into more than 800-languages.

The spiritual heart of the American Bahá’í community is the Bahá’í House of Worship for North America, located in Wilmette, IL, just north of Chicago.

The Bahá’ís of Hawaiʻi are found on every inhabited island of the Hawaiian chain. Every race and ethnic group found in the islands is reflected in the Bahá’í community, as Baha’u’llah stated, we are all ‘fruits of one tree’ and ‘flowers of one garden’.

The Hawaiian Bahá’í community is a separate administrative community from the US Bahá’í community in the worldwide Bahá’í Faith. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Hawaiian Islands was established in 1964.

Its administrative association is Australasia and the Mother Temple of the Pacific is in Samoa. All temples are dedicated to humanity and open to all for prayer and meditation. (Rice) (Lots of information here is from Bahá’í and Hawaiʻi Bahá’í.)

October 4, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ka‘anapali Out Station

The American Protestant mission to the Islands had 19 Mission Stations with a mother mission station church (located in a larger population centers); in addition, ‘āpana (out station or branch) churches, each under the missionaries’ mother church.

As an example, by 1846, downtown Honolulu’s Kawaiaha‘o Church had established a series of at least 12 branch churches or ‘āpana, from Kalihi to Waikiki and well up into the valleys …

At Waikiki (sometimes called the Kalawina Church (or Calvinist or Congregational Church) – site was just mauka of the Moana Hotel), Kalihi, ‘A‘ala, Palama, Nuʻuanu, Mānoa (in the vicinity of the Manoa Valley Theatre), Kakaʻako (Puaikalani), Pauoa, Makiki, Pālolo, Kaimuki, and Moʻiliʻili (called Kamo‘ili‘ili, which is now the present site of the Mother Rice Preschool on King Street).

‘Āpana churches and Out Stations were in other areas; in 1841, Ephraim Clark reported, “An out station at Kaanapali has been maintained for 8 or 10 years. Since my residence at Lahainaluna, the principal care of this station has devolved on me. [Ephraim Clark].” (Ephraim Clark, Report of the Out Station at Kaanapali, May 1841)

“Ka‘anapali [also called Pōhaku-Kāʻana-pali and Kāʻanapali-pōhaku – lit. Kāʻana cliff] is the name of an ancient kalana [place name for sections of the island] that was obliterated by the Hawaiian Legislature in 1859 by combining its lands in a new Lahaina district.” [In 1859, Lāhaina and Kā‘anapali were merged to form the current Lahaina district. (Hawaiian Place Names)]

“The [Kā‘anapali] name was preserved by American Factors, Ltd, the developer of the Ka‘anapali resort complex. The outstanding geographical feature in the resort area is Pu’u Keka‘a, “the rumbling hill,” a volcanic cinder and spatter cone. Pu’u Keka‘a is most commonly known to local residents as Black Rock, a reference to the color of the cone.” (Clark)

“A good meeting house has been finished & dedicated during [1837]. It is 78 feet by 30 inside, built of dobies [adobe – mud bricks], with a good ti leaf roof, glass windows, pulpit, &c. The expenses defrayed by the people themselves.” (1837, Annual Report from Lahaina-1832-1847, Dwight Baldwin)

They built “a dobie house for the teacher with a room for the temporary accommodations of the missionary who supplies the pulpit. These have all been built by the people with the exception of the doors & windows of the dwelling house.” (Ephraim Clark, Report of the Out Station at Kaanapali, May 1841)

“Preaching has been maintained by Mr. Clark at Kaanapali during the year. He has also conducted a Bible class at the same place. A Sab. school has been taught by a graduate from the High School. The usual congregation has been about 500.”

“There has been no special attention to religion during the year. There are 14 chh [church] members at this station connected with the chh at Lahaina. One chh member has been under discipline with manifest [benefit] to himself & others.”

“A good school of children has been kept here by the graduate from the High School. He has also several other schools under his superintendance. His influence has been highly salutary in various ways. He has recently united with the chh at Lahainaluna.”

Kā’anapali was not the only Lahaina out station, “A native member of the chh has gone once each fortnight, during most of the year, on the Sab., to [Olowalu], 6 miles distant, where a congregation has met of about 200, & where a good meeting house of dobies has been finished & dedicated during the past year.”

“A dobie school house has since been built [at Kaanapali], & a dobie house for the teacher with a room for the temporary accommodations of the missionary who supplies the pulpit. These have all been built by the people with the exception of the doors & windows of the dwelling house.” (Ephraim Clark, Report of the Out Station at Kaanapali, May 1841)

“Until [1841] most of the church members residing at Kaanapali have been connected with the church at Lahaina. During the past year, it has been thought best to form a church in this place … There were also obvious advantages in having a church connected with the station.”

“A church was formed consisting of 16 members, 15 from the Lahaina church & 1 from Lahainaluna.” (Ephraim Clark, Report of the Out Station at Kaanapali, May 1841)

“The people have contributed something on the first [M]onday of the month, principally in work, which has been turned towards the support of the teacher, building dwelling houses &c. Children baptised 42. Marriages, since June 1st, 26.”

“Kaanapali embraces 10 or 12 miles of coast & containing 1341 inhabitants by the last census. In this district, there are 6 schools. These have been examined 3 times during the year. At the last examination there were 274 children present. A few were reported as absent.”

“Some impulse has been given to the schools by the new laws, but there is still much room for improvement. A small grant is needed from the Mission in aid of schools.” (Ephraim Clark, Report of the Out Station at Kaanapali, May 1841)

“This out Station is on the North West part of Maui, about 8 miles from Lahaina. It contains about 1500 inhabitants. The district is not well supplied with water except in the rainy season. Kalo, therefore, is not abundant, & the people are generally poor.”

“A church was organized here [in 1841] of 16 members which has since been increased to 88. Preaching, a Bible class & sabbath schools, church meetings &c have been sustained here during the year. Catholics have as yet made no inroads upon the district.”

“There are six schools in this district, the oversight of which has involved considerable time & care. Most of the children attend school. The schools have been examined three times during the year. “ (Ephraim Clark, report of labors at Kaanapali 1842)

“My labors among that people have been confined almost entirely to the sabbath owing to my duties in this Sem’y [Lahainaluna] during the week. I have, however, occasionally visited the different villages, & during this period have conversed several times with about 300 inquires.”

“During the first 10 months of this period, a theological student of this sem’y labored on Saturday in the different settlements & on the Sabbath preached at Honokohau, the last but one of the largest villages in the district.”

“The schools in the district are not flourishing. The cause is in the want of well qualified teachers. The inadequate pay, & even the failure of that for the portions of the year, have contributed to make even the poor teachers more inefficient & delinquent.”

“On the whole the year has been a prosperous one for the church. The attendance on pubic worship has been good, while the cases of discipline have been few.”

“They have rethatched their meeting house, while the church members at Honolulu have built & furnished a thatched house for my accommodations when I go among them & are now getting timbers for a roof to the stone meeting house whose walls have been up for 4 or 5 yrs past.”

“Perhaps the whole district of Kaanapali numbers 1200 people, stretched along the coast 8 miles in length & 2 or 3 in breadth. … We have reason to bless God & take courage.” (Timothy Hunt to Chamberlain, Sep 9, 1847)

“There are six schools in this district, the oversight of which has involved considerable time & care. Most of the children attend school. The schools have been examined three times during the year.” (Ephraim Clark, report of labors at Kaanapali 1842)

October 1, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Holy Moses’

In 1886, “a small whaling vessel anchored off the Island of Oʻahu, opposite the city of Honolulu. A wizened little man with knowing, twinkling eyes of jet black, and some sixty odd winters in his long white beard, and a wind-lashed face, disembarked the ship.” (Canadian Jewish Chronicle, April 15, 1938)

“His quick smile, his rapid wit, his good nature, his feats of magic, soon made him a popular figure among the natives of the flourishing community of Honolulu, and earned for him the affectionate name of ‘Rosey.’”

“It is by this name alone that the old-timers still remember him, and only after considerable inquiry was the writer able to learn that ‘Rosey’ was a contraction of ‘Rosenberg,’ the true name of this wandering prophet.” (His full name was Elias Abraham Rosenberg.)

“’Rosey’ amused the King by telling him prophetic stories and reading his horoscope. From this amusement Rabbi ‘Rosey’ turned to mysticism and interpretations of the Talmud, read and explained to King Kalākaua the Torah.” (Canadian Jewish Chronicle, April 15, 1938)

He also earned the name ‘Holy Moses.’ He befriended Kalākaua and was appointed appraiser at the Custom House. “A foreign fortune teller by the name of Rosenberg acquired great influence with the King.” (Alexander)

He had his detractors; “A curio by the name of Rosenberg, who is too well known in our neighborhood (San Francisco) to need much introduction, is cavorting around Honolulu and has succeeded in ingratiating himself in the King’s favor.”

“At last accounts he was teaching his Majesty Hebrew, and predicting all manner of disturbance in the line of earthquakes, fires, etc., thus endeavoring by a species of charlatanism to work on the superstitions of an easily deluded neighborhood.”

“The Islands, more especially Honolulu, have a Hebrew population of which they have ample reason to be proud, and when such a scalawag as Rosenberg comes floating around, putting himself forward as a prominent representative of Judaism …”

“… a good-sized boot should he effectively applied to the more delicate portion of his anatomy, and instead of the Custom House, a berth should be given him in some distant land where at least he might be far removed from respectable members of a refined Jewish community.” (Jewish Progress; Daily Bulletin, May 10, 1887)

However, Kalākaua took such a shine to him that at one point Rosenberg was actually granted a room in ʻIolani Palace for fortune-telling and drinking sessions which the King frequently took part in. (Kain)

“I struck old Holy Moses last Friday on his way to the Custom House. He looked as smiling as a summer morning and had a big envelope in his hand. I asked Holy Moses how he was getting along. He told me he had just got his appointment as appraiser …” (Flaneur, Hawaiian Gazette, April 5, 1887)

“I noticed my venerable friend Holy Moses knocking round the Custom House lately and the boys there have dropped calling him ‘Moses,’ ‘Rosy’ and other pet names. Now they are very circumspect and never forget the Mr when they address him. … Holy Moses has promised to tell them the number of the lucky ticket in the Louisiana lottery.” (Flaneur, Hawaiian Gazette, April 26, 1887)

“Though his stay on the island was only six months, Rosenberg made quite the impression on the reigning monarch, King Kalākaua. He spent time teaching the king to read Hebrew and gained the monarch’s trust.”

“His majesty is said to have been so impressed that he started the study of Hebrew in order that he could read from the ancient Torah that his Rabbi friend carried with him and temper the laws of his ocean-bound kingdom with many of its teachings.” (Canadian Jewish Chronicle, April 15, 1938)

A Sefer Torah (Pentateuch) and Pointer were brought to Hawaiʻi in 1886 by Elias Abraham Rosenberg who came here from San Francisco. Although the rabbinical lists do not contain his name, he called himself a rabbi.

He appears to have ingratiated himself with King David Kalākaua and became a royal soothsayer, of sorts, preparing horoscopes and prophecies for the King as well as telling him Bible stories and teaching him Hebrew. Rosenberg left the Torah and Pointer with Kalākaua for safe-keeping. (Temple Emanu-El)

Kalākaua presented Rosenberg with a silver cup and a gold medal; “Mr. A. Rosenburg, the Custom House Appraiser, received a present of a silver cup and a gold medal, on the first instant. The cup bears the inscription ‘His Majesty Kalākaua I to Abraham Rosenberg, June 1st, 1887.’”

“The gold medal, which is about the size of a $5 gold piece, is similarly inscribed, with the King’s features on the reverse side, and a small attachment on the upper rim in the shape of a crown, to which is fastened a strip of blue ribbon.” (Daily Bulletin, June 3, 1887)

“The king received the Torah scroll and yad … over the years that followed, the scroll and yad gradually made their way to Temple Emanu-El, where they remain to this day, safely ensconced in a glass cabinet.” (Canadian Jewish Chronicle, August 4, 2011) Rosenberg left the Islands June 7, 1887 and returned to San Francisco; he died a month later.

September 17, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

New Wives, New Mothers

The Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) announced that all overseas missionaries were required to have a wife before departure; their reason, the temptations for inappropriate relations were too great on the Polynesian islands.

Stories circulated about failed London Missionary Society stations where single male missionaries “went native” among South Sea islanders. (Brown)

Of the seven men in the Pioneer Company of missionaries to Hawai‘i, only Daniel Chamberlain was married, the other six men had a little over a month to find brides before the October departure date. Here are the newlyweds wedding dates:

Hiram and Sybil Bingham – October 11, 1819
Asa and Lucy Thurston – October 12, 1819
Samuel and Mercy Whitney – October 4, 1819
Samuel and Mary Ruggles – September 22, 1819
Thomas and Lucia Holman – September 26, 1819
Elisha and Maria Loomis – September 27, 1819

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”), the ABCFM sent twelve companies of missionaries, support staff, and teachers – about 184-men and women – to carry out the mission of the ABCFM in the Hawaiian Islands.

The ABCFM included Doctors/Physicians with the missionaries. “[P]hysicians, ordained and unordained, were all expected to be missionary physicians, that is, to make their medical practice subservient to the grand object of the missions. The employing of missionary physicians grows mainly out of the practice of employing married missionaries.”

“Their first care is of the mission families; but they are expected to exert a conciliating influence among the natives by the kindly offices of their profession. Missionary physicians have not been sent where the needful medical attendance was believed to be otherwise attainable.” (First Fifty Years of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions)

After 164-days at sea, on April 4, 1820, the Thaddeus arrived and anchored at Kailua-Kona on the Island of Hawaiʻi. The first missionaries to the Islands needed to receive permission to land and stay. Discussions and negotiations to allow the missionaries to stay went on for days. On April 10, “All the brethren went on shore to make one more united effort to obtain what appeared to all to be truly desirable.”

They sought and received assistance from some of the other foreigners. “After many inquiries with respect to our designs and to the number of arts which we were able to teach, they seemed to be satisfied that our intentions were good, and that we might be of some service to them.”

“To obviate what had seemed to be an objection, the fear of displeasing G. Britain, they concluded that Mr. Young should write to England to inform the people that American missionaries had come to settle here, not to do any harm but to teach the people of these Islands all good things.”

“They added that we must not send for any more missionaries, from fear that we might be burdensome or dangerous to the government. When we had finished our propositions and made all the statements which we thought proper, we left them to have a general consultation tonight, and to give us their result tomorrow. We believe ‘the Lord is on our side’ and that our wishes will be gratified.” (Thaddeus Journal)

Then, the decision was made …

April 11, 1820, “The king and chiefs held a consultation last night. Today Bro T [Thurston’ and Dr H [Holman] went on shore to hear the result. It was this – that two of the missionaries with their wives should be stationed at Kairooa [Kailua-Kona] together with two of the native youths [Hopu and Kanui].”

“We are to proceed to Hoahoo [O‘ahu] to make the principal establishment, leaving two of our brethren and sisters in this place. (Sybil Bingham Journal)

This raised initial concerns. For all, the initial anticipation was that the missionaries would be together. The king’s decision meant they missionaries would be separated …

“Such an early separation was unexpected & painful. But broad views of usefulness were to be taken, & private feelings sacrificed. At evening twilight, we surrendered ourselves from close family ties, from the dear old Brig, & from civilization.” (Lucy Thurston Journal)

“The separation is painful. – If nature might be allowed to speak, we should say our dear brother and sister Thurston we must have with us. She is a lovely sister. But the Lord’s will be done. We hope we are enabled to say if from the heart. Our physician is the other to be left.” (Sybil Bingham Journal)

“It is indeed trying to be separated from our dear brethren & sisters, & especially from our Physician. But is seems to be the will of the God & we ought cheerfully to submit, if in so doing, we might be more useful.” (Mercy Mhitney Journal)

“We found it very trying to separate after having been so long united, but feel comforted with the hope that we can be more extensively useful by this arrangement; than if we were all settled together.” (Loomis Journal)

“We plead earnestly that we might all go to Oahhoo … and become a little familiarized to the country before we separated – not knowing how a family could live upon a rock of Laver … Our entreaties however were unavailing.” (Lucia Ruggles Holman)

“The king had previously enquired what arts were possessed by the brethren & when he learned that we had a physician with us, it was his wish that he should remain.” (Loomis Journal, entry by Mrs Loomis)

For four of the missionary wives, there was an added (and serious) concern – four of the newlywed missionary wives were pregnant when they arrived. The king’s decision meant they would not have a doctor to assist them with childbirth and then care for the infants.

Maternal mortality was a concern. In addition, the child mortality rate in the United States, for children under the age of five, was 462.9 deaths per thousand births in 1800. This means that for every thousand babies born in 1800, over 46 percent did not make it to their fifth birthday. (Statista)

Sybil Bingam tried to calm the others (and herself, I suspect) saying, “Our physician is the other to be left. Do not be alarmed, dear sisters, GOD will be our physician. The king insists upon his remaining on account of his art.”

“As much as we may need that, some of the female part of our little band especially, yet, all things considered, I believe we are all disposed to view a kind providence in the present arrangement.” (Sybil Bingham Journal)

Starting a few short months after their arrival, the new missionary wives became new mothers.

The first child was Levi Loomis, born July 16, 1820 at Honolulu (Oʻahu), he was the first white child born in the Islands; the next was Maria Whitney, born October 19, 1820 at Waimea (Kauai), the first white girl born in the Islands; then, Sophia Bingham, on November 9, 1820 at Honolulu (Oʻahu); and then Sarah Ruggles, born December 22, 1820 at Waimea (Kauai).

(A sad side note is that Hiram and Sybil Bingham’s next two children died at early ages: Levi Parsons Bingham lived only 16 days (his was the first burial in the Kawaiaha‘o cemetery missionary plot); their next child (another son), Jeremiah Everts Bingham lived only 16-months.)

September 9, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Andover Theological Seminary

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the people of New England were taking a new interest in religion. The devotion to their Puritan faith, which was characteristic of the first generation of colonists, had yielded long since to the claims of everyday living. (Rowe)

At the time, there were three schools of religious thought among Congregationalists. The first was known as the Old or Moderate Calvinists (with convictions of their Puritan ancestors.)

A second group was called Hopkinsians (from their spokesman, Samuel Hopkins) stressed certain Puritan principles to an extreme, like divine sovereignty and predestination; and a third party in Congregational circles was more liberal in its theological interpretations.

Although Massachusetts had stayed fairly true to its Calvinistic Puritan beginnings in the form of Congregationalism, by 1800 a new sect had swept Boston by storm: Unitarianism. This form of Protestantism rejected the aspects of Calvinism inherent to Congregationalism at the time.

Rather than accepting that all people were fallen and could only be chosen by God to be saved – predestination – early Unitarians emphasized reason, free will and the power of people for both good and evil. Also, as the name suggests, they disavowed the idea of the Trinity, believing instead that Jesus was solely a prophet and an example to live by. (Balboni)

The Old Calvinists were especially desirous to have a theological school at Andover. The Legislature of Massachusetts on June 19, 1807, authorized the Trustees of Phillips Academy to receive and hold additional property “for the purpose of a theological institution and in furtherance of the designs of the pious founders and benefactors of said Academy.”

The Phillips family was loyal to religion, as well as to education. They provided a gift to erect two buildings for the Seminary, the first American foundation for a chair in theology outside a university (a foundation for purely theological education was almost unknown in America.) (Rowe)

The Seminary was built on the campus of Phillips Academy in Andover. The Academy was founded during the American Revolution as an all-boys school in 1778 by Samuel Phillips, Jr (the oldest incorporated boarding school in the US.) The great seal of the school was designed by Paul Revere.

The purpose of the Founders for the Seminary, according to their constitution, was to increase “the number of learned and able defenders of the Gospel of Christ, as well as of orthodox, pious, and zealous ministers of the New Testament ; being moved, as we hope, by a principle of gratitude to God and benevolence to man.” (Rowe)

Seminary students partook in three years of study and four major subjects: the Bible, church history, doctrinal theology, and practical arts of the ministry. (Balboni)

The Andover Theological Seminary was dedicated September 28, 1808. The establishment of a school of divinity was a part of the original plan of the founders of Phillips Academy, although not to make it a distinct institution. (Bailey)

In addition to ministers, the seminary also produced hundreds of missionaries. Over the school’s 100-year stay in Andover, its graduates proselytized in Greece, Bulgaria, Armenia, Palestine, Turkey, India, Burma, China, Japan and all over Africa and Latin America. (Balboni)

Two notable graduates were part of the Pioneer Company of missionaries to Hawaiʻi. Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston were classmates at Andover Theological Seminary (completed Seminary courses 1819;) they were ordained on September 29, 1819 at Goshen, Connecticut. (Joesting)

“On Saturday the 23d of October, the mission family, with a large concourse of spectators, assembled on Long Wharf; and after a prayer by the Rev. Dr. Worcester, Messrs. Bingham and Thurston sung, “When shall we all meet again?” and took a final farewell of their friends.”

“In this far distant land of strangers … it is a comfort to us to look back to that radiating point of missionary light and love, and to remember the privileges which we enjoyed, when treading, like you, on consecrated ground. The rising palaces of that hill of Zion, its treasures of learning and wisdom, and its fountains of consolation are still dear to us, though we shall never look upon its like again.”

“But it is the noble purposes of benevolent action, formed, matured, or Cherished and directed there, which gives us the most impressive view of its beauty and strength, and inspires our liveliest hopes, that that institution will be the most important to the church, and the most useful to the heathen, which the world has ever seen.”

“When we look at the history of that Seminary and of the American Board; when we see their connexion and their joint influence, hitherto so powerful, and so well directed, and the peculiar smiles which the Redeemer has bestowed upon them …”

“… our ears are open to hear the united song of heathen lands,—‘How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.’” (Letter from Bingham and Thurston to the Society of Inquiry, February 20, 1821)

In 1908, the Seminary moved to Cambridge and in the fall of 1931 shared a campus with Newton Theological Institution in Newton, Massachusetts. In 1965, after three decades together on one campus, the two schools officially merged, becoming Andover Newton Theological School.