Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Happy Mother’s Day!

The image shows my mother, grandmother, grandfather and some of their friends in 1928 in front of Moku‘aikaua Church. (My mother is the littlest girl sitting near the middle, her mother is sitting next to her near the middle (wearing a hat) and her father is on the right.

This stone and mortar building, completed in 1837, is the oldest surviving Christian church in the state of Hawaiʻi, started by the first Protestant missionaries to land in Hawaiʻi and the oldest intact Western structure on the Island of Hawai‘i.

With the permission of Liholiho (Kamehameha II), the missionaries first built a grass house for worship in 1823 and, later, a large, thatched meeting house.

Missionary Asa Thurston directed the construction of the present Moku’aikaua Church, then the largest building in Kailua-Kona. Its massive size indicates the large Hawaiian population living in or near Kailua at that time.

Built of stones taken from a nearby heiau and lime made of burned coral, it represents the new western architecture of early 19th-century Hawaiʻi and became an example that other missionaries would imitate.

The original thatch church which was built in 1823 but was destroyed by fire in 1835, the present structure was completed in 1837. Moku‘aikaua takes its name from a forest area above Kailua from which timbers were cut and dragged by hand to construct the ceiling and interior.

In 1910, a memorial arch was erected at the entrance to the church grounds to commemorate the arrival of the first missionaries.

My mother was the great-great grand-daughter (and her father was great grandson) of Hiram Bingham, leader of first missionaries to Hawaiʻi who first landed in the Islands, here at Kailua-Kona in 1820.

Happy Mother’s Day!

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Manjirō

Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) unified Japan by defeating his enemies at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. He was made Shōgun in 1603 and set up his headquarters at Edo (modern Tokyo.)  The Edo period is also known as the Tokugawa period; Japan was ruled by the Shōgun of the Tokugawa family.

For reasons of national security, from 1639 the Shōgunate ordered that contacts with the outside world be severely limited. Japan’s only regular contacts were with the Dutch, Chinese and Koreans.  (British Museum)

Fast forward through a couple centuries of Japan isolation to the mid-1850s … the US hoped Japan would agree to open certain ports so American vessels could begin to trade. In addition to interest in the Japanese market, America needed Japanese ports to replenish coal and supplies for the commercial whaling fleet.

On July 8, 1853, four black ships led by USS Powhatan and commanded by Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, anchored at Edo (Tokyo) Bay. The Japanese thought the ships were “giant dragons puffing smoke” (they had not ever seen steam ships with smoke from their stacks.)

“On that great historic event when the Perry Mission from the United States landed at Uraga (Japan) in 1853, Manjirō served as interpreter.  No more suitable person could have been found in all Japan.  Manjirō knew the American spirit and desires.”

“Any blunder on his part might have resulted in an international disaster.  As it was, the Perry mission was a great success.  In spite of the powerful conservatism of Japan’s ruling classes at that time, the country was opened to world-wide commerce.”  (Japanese Embassy; Millicent Library)

Let’s look back …

Manjirō was born January 23, 1827 in Nakahama, Kochi Torishima prefecture of Japan during the isolation period. He had a tough life as a young man, the death of his father at age 9 forced him to work to support his family.

By age 14 he was part of a five man fishing boat (Manjirō, Jūsuke, Denzō, Goemon and Toraemon.) During one trip in January 1841, they were caught in a storm and stranded on Torishima Island, off the coast of Japan.

Then, the log book of Captain William Whitfield on the ‘John Howland’ noted (June 27, 1841,) “This day light wind from S. E. Isle in sight at 1 P.M. Sent in two boats to see if there was any turtle, found 5 poor distressed people on the isle, took them off, could not understand anything from them more than that they was hungry.”  (Millicent Museum)

After 6-months at sea (arriving in Hawaiʻi,) Whitfield made Manjirō (now called ‘John Mung’ by the crew) an offer – stay in Hawaiʻi and find a ride home, or come with him to America and receive an education. Manjirō continued to the continent with Whitfield, arriving in New Bedford on May 3, 1843 (reportedly, the first Japanese person to live in the US.)

There, he joined the Whitfield household (the Captain had been a bachelor, but shortly after he married) and Manjirō moved with them to the Whitfield home in Fairhaven (as a foster son, not a servant.)

Not accepted at the Whitfield’s church, the family joined the Unitarian Church; a member of the congregation there was the Delano family (a grandson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt later became US president.)

In the following years the young foreigner became well known to the Fairhaven townspeople as Captain Whitfield treated him like a son. He went to his first school ever (the Old Stone School) after being tutored by Miss Allen, a local teacher and neighbor of the captain. He later learned higher level math, navigation and surveying at the Bartlett School.

Then, an opportunity to go to sea came up; the Captain was away, Mrs Whitfield gave her permission for Manjirō to go back to the Pacific and wrote a letter of introduction to a family friend, chaplain of the Seamen’s Bethel in Honolulu, Reverend Samuel C Damon.

He eventually returned to the Island and was repatriated with his friends (Jūsuke had died prior to Manjirō’s return.)  After three years at sea, he returned to New Bedford in 1849 (never making it back to his home in Japan – though he yearned to return.)

In October 1849, he got gold fever and rushed to California.  After only 70-days in the mines, he earned $600 – about the equivalent of 3-years wages as a whaler.  He then headed for Honolulu to encourage his 3 shipmates to return to Japan with him.

They found a ship (‘Sara Boyd’) headed for Shanghai; with the help of Damon and others, they raised enough funds to buy and provision a small boat (‘Adventure’) that they would store on the Sara Boyd and, when they were close to Japan, use it to make it to the islands.

Damon also obtained for Manjiro a US passport and helped him devise a plan to get safely back to his homeland.  Next they loaded the Adventure onto a larger American vessel which dropped the small boat off in the waters off present-day Okinawa.  (Yamamoto)

On February 3, 1851, 10-years after being shipwrecked, Manjirō, Denzō and Goemon landed on an Okinawan beach (Toraemon did not make the trip, he stayed in Honolulu.)  He eventually saw his mother, again.

The Japan leadership recognized the value Manjirō’s fluency in the English language; in addition, he was the only person in Japan who had extensive knowledge of English and American culture at the time.  Manjirō was raised to lower rank of samurai due to his usefulness to the Government.

Manjirō began to work for the Japan government; he was given a higher rank of samurai and retainer to the Shōgun, and, as such, he earned the right to carry a family name (he chose Nakahama as his surname, after his hometown.)

He became a teacher at the Tosa School, lecturing on American democracy, on freedom and equality, on the independent spirit, and on his travels on the world’s seas.  (Keio)

Manjirō tutored senior officers on the geography and history of the US, and the physical and mental characteristics of Americans.  He described American politics and American expectations from Japan and told them how to build and navigate western ships.

With Manjirō’s encouragement, the Shōgunate discarded the 200-years isolation and took the first step toward opening the country in his negotiations with Commodore Perry.  It is impossible to measure the service rendered by Manjirō in enabling Japan to accept the Japan-United States Friendship Treaty.

Manjirō’s contributions to the modernization of Japan were invaluable.  The Japanese relied heavily on his language skills and knowledge of the West.

America’s 30th president, Calvin Coolidge, later said, “When John Manjirō returned to Japan, it was as if America had sent its first ambassador. Our envoy Perry could enjoy so cordial a reception because John Manjirō had made Japan’s central authorities understand the true face of America.”  (Manjirō Society)

The Shōgunate sent a delegation to America in 1860 to exchange ratifications of the Japan-US Commercial Treaty. Manjirō boarded the ‘Kanrin-maru’ as instructor and translator.

The success of the Kanrin-maru voyage across the Pacific impressed the US side with the skill and abilities of the Japanese, and became a basis for the success of later bilateral diplomatic negotiations.  (Keio)  Manjiro later taught at Kaiser Gakko, forerunner of Toko Imperial University.  He died in 1898 at the age of 71.

Manjirō’s contributions to the modernization of Japan were invaluable.  He worked hard to establishing good communication between Japanese and Americans.

Both East and West recognized the importance of the friendship and faith Whitfield had in taking the young Manjirō into his home.  In 1987, Fairhaven and Tosashimizu, Japan formalized a sister city agreement (Crown Prince Akihito, now Emperor of Japan, visited Fairhaven at that time.)  (Fairhaven has a ‘Manjiro Trail,’ highlighting some of the sites, there.)

Gifts of samurai swords were given to the City of Fairhaven and Damon.  A short film ‘Friend Ships’ documents the relationship of Manjirō and Whitfield.  (Lots of information from Rosenbach Museum, Millicent Museum and Whitfield-Manjiro.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Morse and the Missionaries

Jedidiah Morse was a country boy from Woodstock, Connecticut who attended Yale during the American Revolution. In the middle of his college career, a spiritual awakening came to Yale.

Jedidiah fell under conviction of sin, and, in the spring of 1781, gave his life to Christ – this energized him in all parts of his life.

Daniel Webster said Jedidiah was “always thinking, always writing, always talking, always acting.” Jedidiah’s motto was “better wear out than rust out.”  (Fisher)  Morse was a pastor, a graduate of Yale and a former teacher of young girls in New Haven.  (Spoehr)

Recognizing the inadequacy of the textbooks available in America at the time, Morse compiled and published the first American geography book.  Morse has been informally accredited by some as being “the father of American geography.”

Jedidiah and his sons started the first Sunday school in New England. (The family continued this kind of work when they moved to Connecticut; his son, Samuel, became the first Sunday school superintendent in New Haven.)    (Fisher)

Morse had set up a separate Theological Seminary at Andover in 1805. The Andover Seminary served as the recruitment and educational base of operations for a new American project, international missions to evangelize the world as the “School of Nations”.

In 1810, a group of Americans (including Rev. Jedidiah Morse) established the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missionaries (ABCFM) at Farmington, Connecticut.  (Wesser)

Jedidiah brought all the separate strands of the Christian community in New England together to found Andover Theological Seminary.  Out of Andover’s first graduating class came America’s first foreign missionaries, and the school became known as a missionary training ground. (Fisher)

To them, Christianity was not a “personal religious question” or “feeling,” but rather as a profound philosophical passion to “do good works”.  (Wesser)

Morse was an abolitionist and friend of the black community in Boston, when abolitionists were few. Also, a significant portion of his life was spent looking for ways to benefit Native Americans and preparing the way for missions among them.  (Fisher)

ABCFM accounted for 80% of all missionary activities in America; reformed bodies (Presbyterians and Congregationalists, in particular) made up nearly 40% of the participants.

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

These included two Ordained Preachers, Hiram Bingham and his wife Sybil and Asa Thurston and his wife Lucy; two Teachers, Mr. Samuel Whitney and his wife Mercy and Samuel Ruggles and his wife Mary; a Doctor, Thomas Holman and his wife Lucia; a Printer, Elisha Loomis and his wife Maria; and a Farmer, Daniel Chamberlain, his wife and five children.

With the missionaries were four Hawaiian students from the Foreign Mission School, Thomas Hopu, William Kanui, John Honoliʻi and Prince Humehume (son of Kauaʻi’s King Kaumuali‘i.)

Prior to departure, a portrait of each of the company had been painted by Samuel Morse; engravings from these paintings of the four native “helpers” were later published as fund-raisers for the Sandwich Islands Mission and thereby offer a glimpse of the “Owhyhean Youths” on the eve of their Grand Experiment.  (Bell)

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.

In addition to his religious endeavors, son, Samuel, showed enough artistic promise for his father to send him abroad to study painting after he graduated from Yale University in 1810.

Painting provided Samuel with pocket money to help pay his term bills at Yale. He became one of the small handful of important American painters in his generation, and many famous depictions of notable Americans are his work.

The portrait of Noah Webster at the front of many Webster dictionaries is his, as are the most familiar portraits of Benjamin Silliman, Eli Whitney, and General Lafayette.  (Fisher)

The problem was not a lack of talent, for Morse showed great promise as a painter, but he offered Americans grand paintings with historical themes, when all his paying patrons really wanted were portraits of themselves.

Eventually Morse accepted many portrait commissions, but even they did not bring the steady income he needed to support himself and his family.

At the same time, Morse was also deeply involved in trying to make a go of his newfound vocation as a daguerreotypist. Morse enthusiastically embraced this startling new technology and became one of the first to practice photography in America.  (LOC)

Morse the artist also became known as “the Father of American photography.” He was one of the first in the US to experiment with a camera, and he trained many of the nation’s earliest photographers.  (Fisher)

Oh, one more thing about Samuel Morse, while he did not invent the telegraph, he made key improvements to its design, and his work would transform communications worldwide.

First invented in 1774, the telegraph was a bulky and impractical machine that was designed to transmit over twenty-six electrical wires. Morse reduced that unwieldy bundle of wires into a single one.

Along with the single-wire telegraph, Morse developed his “Morse” code. He would refine it to employ a short signal (the dot) and a long one (the dash) in combinations to spell out messages.

Following the routes of the quickly-spreading railroads, telegraph wires were strung across the nation and eventually, across the Atlantic Ocean, providing a nearly-instant means of communication between communities for the first time.

Newspapers, including as the Associated Press joined forces to pool payments for telegraphed news from foreign locales. Railroads used the telegraph to coordinate train schedules and safety signaling. Morse died in 1872, having advanced a practical technology that truly transformed the world.  (PBS)

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Susanna Wesley Home

Born on January 20, 1669 in England, the 25th of 25-children, Susanna Wesley never preached a sermon, built a church or published a book, but she is identified as the “Mother of Methodism.” She managed her household, raised and educated more than a dozen children.  (Adams)

Following the example set at home by their mother, behaving methodically and purposefully, her sons, John Wesley and Charles Wesley, helped people reshape their lives for the better; a movement started from this that would reform not only individuals, but the church and the society of England – they became known as the “Method-ists.”  (Pellowe)

Fast forward a couple centuries to the Islands.

“Members of the Methodist Episcopal church in (San Francisco) interested in Oriental mission work have decided to establish a Japanese Christian home in Honolulu.”  (That was in 1902; Methodist mission work started in the Islands in 1887.)

“The Japanese women working in the island rice fields are particularly anxious to have the home established and are willing to contribute to the cause. … the name of the new institution (was suggested to) be the Susanna Wesley Home and the suggestion met the approval or all present.”  (Hawaiian Star, November 20, 1902)

“(T)he Home was open in May, 1903. About 85 women have been cared for and instructed in the Christian life. …. the Home receives both orphans and half-orphans (typically Japanese and Korean.)  There is a comfortable home for 40 children.  San Francisco and Honolulu people have aided the home ….”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 29, 1905)  (It also took in disillusioned picture brides.)

“The work of the Susanna Wesley Home has been conducted for some time in the old Dickey Homestead on Nuʻuanu Street under the direction of Miss Jayne assisted by Miss Morrison.  The object of the home is to care for unprotected women and children, and much work of this kind has been done among the Japanese and Koreans.”  (Hawaiian Star, January 30, 1906)

“To teach them the right, protect them in their helplessness, and try by precept and example to lead them to the Christ, has been our aim. Seeds have been sown. Our faith is not strong enough to believe that all have taken deep root, yet we believe some will spring up and bear fruit.”

“The most encouraging part of our work, as has often been repeated, is among the children. Here we can see results and take courage. We now have six children less than three years of age. … Some years ago it was decided to admit only children old enough to attend school, but we have always had children under school age.”  (Report of Susanna Wesley House)

“It has been my aim since the beginning of my work here to make a real home, and be a real mother to these helpless little children, many of whom know no other mother’s love and care.”

“We do not want Susannah Wesley Home to be merely a boarding school, or institution, but a home in the truest, and best sense of the word, using our best efforts to train the children for lives of usefulness, and tenderly leading them to Him who said ‘Suffer the little children to come unto me.’” (Report of Susanna Wesley House)

They later moved into and converted the ‘Melrose Hotel’ on King Street “near the Waikiki turn” into an expanded Susanna Wesley Home.

“There are three main buildings, two of which face on King Street.  These are connected by a spacious lanai.  The grounds are greatly improved and there are 50-rooms.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, January 30, 1906) (It was about where the parking lot of the Department of Agriculture is located.)

Though they were residents at the Home, the girls received their education from schools within the area. At the end of the school day, they would return to the Home where they were required to complete homework assignments.

In addition to their education, the house mothers at the Home taught the girls to sew their own clothing, cook meals, keep house and learn social etiquette. Older girls worked during the summer school vacation. Religious worship was encouraged, and the girls were free to attend the church of their own choosing.  (legacy-com)

One notable girl who temporarily resided at the Home was 14-year-old Kame Imanaga, orphaned at an early age.  Initially raised on Maui by Japanese neighbors, then a Hawaiian couple, it was arranged for her to move to Honolulu and enter the Home.

Shortly after arriving, Daniel Kleinfelter, a Caucasian minister, visited the home on an official inspection. Walking through the property, Kleinfelter handed a piece of candy to each child he met.

Kame declined the gift, explaining the only thing she wanted was a family of her own.  Kleinfelter was so impressed by the outspoken teenager that he promptly invited Kame to live with him, his wife and their two daughters in their Honolulu home.

Kame converted to Christianity and began to attend River Street Methodist Church.  Six years after her adoption, a young man – Hyotaro – caught her eye at a church social. A year later, they were married.

On September 7, 1924, almost 1-year after their wedding, Kame and Hyotaro became the proud parents of a baby boy.  His name combined Japanese and American culture, beliefs and values.

Kame gave him his first name, Daniel, in honor of her adoptive father, Daniel Kleinfelter – and recognition of the West.  Hyotaro gave the boy the middle name, Ken (a Japanese word for ‘to build,’) following customs of the East.

Hyotaro was the eldest son of the eldest sons for four generations – he hoped his firstborn would continue to build the family by someday fathering a son of his own.  (Slavicek)

That young child of Kame and Hyotaro eventually continued the tradition and had a son, Ken.

Oh, the child of Kame and Hyotaro … he was better known to us in the Islands and those in the US Senate as Daniel K Inouye.

The Susanna Wesley Home moved to Kaili Street in Kalihi in 1919 (the King Street land was subdivided into ‘cottage lots.’)  Others benefitted at the home.

“We were raised in Susanna Wesley Home on Kalihi Street until we finished high school after my parents divorced when I was eight…. It was a good plan because otherwise I would be still ignorant of a lot of things…. We went to public school, and we were raised in Kalihi Union Church, so we had a very good life.”

“I liked it in the Susanna Wesley Home, they educated me…. We had a beach house in Mokulēʻia. And so every summer we went to Mokuleʻia and spent the time there. And even sometimes when we were older, if we wanted to go Mokuleʻia spend the time, Susanna Wesley Home had it.” (Lum)

When the need for orphanages declined, the residence was closed and the center in the 1950s began its transformation to its present structure: a multipurpose community center that today offers services such as counseling to high-risk youths, mental health services to children, clothes for the poor and hot meals for the elderly.  (Tighe) (It’s now known as Susannah Wesley Community Center.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Keanianileihuaokalani – Healing Stone of Wahiawa

Cultures collided at Keanianileihuaokalani.

Keanianileihuaokalani was a large tongue-shaped stone that has since been split into three pieces. Hawaiians view it as a healing stone; Hindus see it as an embodiment of the god Shiva.  (According to reports, they appear to have worked (working) out how they work together.)

Reportedly, originally found in Kaukonahua gulch by a Waialua Sugar worker, the 6-foot stone broke when it fell off a wagon while being moved.  (They are now situated at the lower end of California Avenue in Wahiawa.)

Hawaiians believe that the stone has sacred healing properties. It was believed that all children of royal lineage were thrice blessed and elevated to a higher status if born at nearby Kūkaniloko, the center of the earth.  (Reveria)

After childbirth, the new mothers would bath in the cool springs of Helemano. It was this mingling of blood and water that culminated into the healing mystic rains that fell upon the land, people and most importantly Keanianileihuaokalani giving the healing stone its healing powers.  (Reveria)

On the day of a royal birth, all work stopped in anticipation of the first healing rains generated from the blessed event. These rains were Waiʻihiawa, mystical rains tainted with the blood of royalty. This healing rain fell freely on the people who lived and worked in Kūkaniloko.  (Reveria)

“This rock being visited by people to worship these days is becoming something that truly is stirring the thoughts of some people here in Honolulu, and some who are living near Wahiawa are appealing to the Government and to the power of the Board of Health to move that rock from where it first stood, because in their opinion, this action by the people will cause an epidemic to grow here where all ethnicities are going and touching themselves against the bodies of others, and this will perhaps cause sicknesses to spread from one to another.”

“The Board of Health refused to step in and block this action by people who believe their ailments will be healed by touching the sick area to that rock of Wahiawa, and the birthing stones of the High Chiefs of this land in ancient times.”

“Some people have said that their weakness due to rheumatism by them going there and touching their areas of pain to that rock. Some say that their weak areas were not cured by touching the rock.”  (Hoku o Hawaiʻi, November 1, 1927)

According to practitioners, the stone should be anointed with Waiʻihiawa rainwater.  Appropriate and appreciated gifts are awa root, olena sprigs, herbs, lei and flowers.  (Reveria)

In 1971 the Wahiawa Community and Businessmen’s Association asked the Hawaii Visitors Bureau to put up a sign to again call public attention to the “Healing Stone of Wahiawa.”

Hindu, who assumed a caretaker role for the stone also revere it as a manifestation of their deity, Shiva (it is interpreted to have a phallic shape.)

The Hindu recognized it as a Shiva image in 1988.  At the time, the structure that enclosed the stones on three sides was a dilapidated concrete shed; a Hindu family turned the shed into a white marble shrine.

Hindus anoint themselves with smoke from sacred candles, part of the ceremonial cleansing of the stones.  In their ritual, the stone is bathed in milk, rubbed with honey and draped with lei.  (Reportedly, contrary to some claims, Hindus do not put oil or candle wax on the stone.)

The “healing stones” of Wahiawa drew hundreds of pilgrims in the 1930s, but few local people or tourists find their way to the off-the-beaten-path location these days.   (star-bulletin)

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