Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings | Page 81

February 7, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Father Damon

“Samuel Damon … was known to sailors from all the Four Seas as Father Damon, pastor of the Seaman’s Bethel of Honolulu. The wife of Father Damon was the daughter of Samuel Mills of “Haystack Meeting” fame …”

“… one of the five young men who met and decided that they should go out into the world to advance the cause of Christianity among heathen people.” (Honolulu Times, December 1, 1909)

“Beloved by all – he and his wife always collecting & caring for the poor. Old whalers like him.” (Twain)

“Samuel Chenery Damon, chaplain of the American Seamen’s Friend Society and pastor of Bethel Union Church at Honolulu. His (wife) Julia Sherman Mills Damon, no less a tireless worker in Christ’s service, was first president of the Stranger’s Friend Society.” (Dye)

Damon came of Hawaii in 1842. On January 1, 1843 he began publication of the American Temperance Advocate, briefly called The Friend of Temperance & Seamen and then simply The Friend. (Twain)

Damon served as the chaplain at O‘ahu Bethel Church (Seamen’s Bethel) for 42 years, serving the sailors of vessels who entered the port of Honolulu.

“Beth-el” was designated as a refuge for sojourners. At that time more than 100 whaling vessels with approximately 6,000 sailors aboard entered the port of Honolulu annually.

Materials for the building had been contributed by several ship owners in Norwich and New London, Connecticut. A residence for the chaplain was also built nearby.

The chapel was of average size, measuring 48 feet by 30 feet. The main hall seated 300 persons; the basement had a reading room, a book depository, and a marine museum. Dedicated in 1833, the chapel stood until 1886. (Watson)

“Father Damon’s chief life-work has flowed in a different channel … Whereas their mission was emphatically to those Islanders who had never before heard the Gospel message, his was distinctively to the white settlers at Honolulu …”

“… but especially to the multitude of sailors from all lands who forty years ago flocked to the Hawaiian isles in very far larger numbers than at the present day, and many being wild and reckless, proved far more serious foes to mission-work than any which arose from mere indigenous heathenism.”

“In those days Honolulu was the winter rendezvous for the American whaling fleet, and about a hundred and fifty ships sometimes assembled here; bringing, of course, an immense influx of wild, undisciplined men.”

“Of those days Dr. Damon himself has said: ‘During the years between 1842 and 1867, at the lowest estimate, six thousand sailors annually entered the port, sometimes far more.’”

“‘I recollect one Sunday morning over thirty whale-ships and sixteen vessels of war rounded Diamond Head, besides all the merchant vessels. There could not have been less than ten thousand seamen during that year in the port of Honolulu.’”

“‘The Rev. S. E. Bishop reports from three to four thousand as visiting Lahaina, while the Rev. Titus Coan reports as many more, calling at Hilo.’” (Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine, August 1886)

“Leaving New York in March, 1842, he and his bride sailed for Honolulu, where he at once commenced work as pastor of the Bethel Chapel, which had been erected in 1833, and was the only place of worship for the English-speaking community.”

“Busy as was his life, he yet found time to care for all. Every traveller who has visited the isles can tell the same tale, of how ‘Father Damon’ was the first to welcome the coming, the last to speed the parting guest …”

“… and so he remains linked in the first and last Hawaiian memories of many a wanderer in distant lands, all of whom will assuredly endorse words spoken concerning him:”

“‘All will feel that the Honolulu they have known will not be Honolulu to them without Dr. Damon’s genial cordiality to give warmth and brightness to their enjoyment of its sunshine, and memories of bis courteous friendliness.” (Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine, August 1886)

“After a short but severe illness he passed away on the 7th of February (1885), carried off by inflammation of the brain, when within eight days of completing his seventieth year.”

“I believe that to many besides myself, it must have been a surprise to learn that he had so nearly attained the three-score years and ten …”

“… for he was so young-looking, and so full of unbounded energy, both physical and mental, and so eager to enlarge his work in a new field of usefulness, that, though he likewise was honoured with the affectionate title of ‘Father,’ it seemed as though he must belong to a younger generation than those of whom I have hitherto spoken.”

“His funeral was attended by His Majesty King Kalākaua, and various members of the Royal Family; also by the Anglican bishop and the majority of the Anglican congregation; for all the community have good reason to mourn the death of one of Honolulu’s noblest citizens.” (Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine, August 1886)

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The Seamen’s Bethel Chapel-1896

Bethel’s Church, Honolulu, Hawaii, founded in 1833 as Seamen’s Bethel Church

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February 1, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Some Views of American Missionaries

“The internal condition of the Sandwich Islands and their position with regard to Foreign Powers, and especially to Great Britain, are so peculiar that a few words of observation on my part may be required in order to enable you to form a correct judgment …”

“… respecting the proposed policy of HM Govt, and the manner in which they would wish you to regulate your own conduct towards the Govt, of a Country so situated.”

“The Sandwich Islands are scarcely more than nominally governed by a Native Sovereign and native Chiefs. Citizens of the U States are in fact the virtual Rulers and Directors of the Govt.”

“The Constitution and the Laws are framed, and are administered chiefly by Americans; and American Missionaries in like manner direct the affairs of the Church, and keep, as it were, the consciences of the King, the Chiefs, and the native subjects.”

“It is obvious that the King and his native Councillors could of themselves have possessed little capacity for devising a Constitution or code of laws like those of the Sandwich Islands, and can have as little practical ability for administering them.”

“It must be fairly admitted that great credit is due to those American Missionaries who by their pious and unwearied labours first introduced the lights of Christianity and Civilization into those Islands …”

“… nor ought an equal share of credit to be withheld from those who, following up the advantages thus originally conferred by the Missionaries, have brought the Islanders, however imperfectly as yet, under subjection to a regular administrative system.”

“We have no right to entertain jealousy of the influence thus honourably acquired by the Americans amongst that people.”

“The changes effected by the Americans may have been somewhat over-hasty, considering the circumscribed intellectual condition of the people amongst whom they were introduced; but undoubted advantage has accrued to them from those changes.”

“It is certain, however, that the natives are, of themselves, incompetent to administer either their constitution or their laws.” (Earl of Aberdeen, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to William Miller, British Consul General for the Hawaiian Islands, September 28, 1843)

“The American Missionaries deserve the highest credit for their untiring perseverance in, the work of elevating and reforming the savages of the Hawaiian Islands. It was their effort which laid the foundation of the order and peace which now prevail.”

“They established a polity almost republican in its character, and differing but in few particulars from our own institutions.”

“Naturally, the advisers of the King and Chiefs, they counselled judicious reforms, & did much to lessen & finally abolish the absolute dominion which trod the unfortunate masses under foot.”

“If they sometimes committed errors, it was because they lacked knowledge in political science, and gave too little heed to considerations of worldly policy. Thus it was, that morals were sometimes enforced by severe royal and legislative enactment, and, thus it now is, that trade is fettered by restrictions, which in the general estimation, are regarded as injudicious, and unwise.

“While I see some things to be censured, I find much to praise, and I trust that no consideration will ever prevent me from giving credit where it is justly due.” (David L. Gregg, United States Commissioner to Hawaii, to EW Tracy, (Private), February 3, 1854)

“The American Missionaries have been badly treated by the Cabinet & by the King acting under its influence. His Majesty is conscious of the error, & has to my knowledge, expressed regret for it.” (Gregg to W. L. Marcy (Private), June 5, 1856)

“(T)he results of Missionary teaching & American influence and of themselves, are sufficient to disprove the wholesale allegations of such persons as take it upon themselves to represent that the efforts of our countrymen to carry the lights of civilization to savage lands, have been without avail.” Gregg to Marcy, June 14, 1855) (All from Report of the Historical Commission of the Territory of Hawai‘i, 1925)

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January 28, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Ōpūkaha‘ia – The Inspiration for the Hawaiian Mission

In about 1807, a young Hawaiian man, ʻŌpūkahaʻia, swam out to the ‘Triumph’, a China-bound seal skin trading ship anchored in Kealakekua Bay. Both of ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s parents and his younger brother had been slain during the battles on the island.

Click HERE to view/download Background on ʻŌpūkahaʻia.

Also on board was Hopu, another young Hawaiian. They set sail for New York, stopping first in China. Russell Hubbard was also on board. “This Mr. Hubbard was a member of Yale College. He was a friend of Christ. … Mr. Hubbard was very kind to me on our passage, and taught me the letters in English spelling-book.” (ʻŌpūkahaʻia)

They landed at New York and remained there until the Captain sold out all the Chinese goods. Then, they made their way to New England.

ʻŌpūkahaʻia was eager to study and learn. He “was sitting on the steps of a Yale building, weeping. A solicitous student stopped to inquire what was wrong, and Obookiah (the spelling of his name, based on its sound) said, ‘No one will give me learning.’”

The student was Edwin Dwight. “(W)hen the question was put him, ‘Do you wish to learn?’ his countenance began to brighten. And when the proposal was made that he should come the next day to the college for that purpose, he served it with great eagerness.” (Dwight)

Later, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) formed the Foreign Mission School; ʻŌpūkahaʻia was one of its first students. He yearned “with great earnestness that he would (return to Hawaiʻi) and preach the Gospel to his poor countrymen.” Unfortunately, ʻŌpūkahaʻia died on February 17, 1818.

Dwight put together a book, ‘Memoirs of Henry Obookiah’ (the spelling of the name based on its pronunciation). It was an edited collection of ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s letters and journals/diaries. The book about his life was printed and circulated after his death.

ʻŌpūkahaʻia, inspired by many young men and women with proven sincerity and religious fervor of the missionary movement, had wanted to spread the word of Christianity back home in Hawaiʻi; his book inspired missionaries to volunteer to carry his message to the Hawaiian Islands.

In giving instructions to the first missionaries, the ABCFM, noted: “You will never forget ʻŌpūkahaʻia. You will never forget his fervent love, his affectionate counsels, his many prayers and tears for you, and for his and your nation.”

“You saw him die; saw how the Christian could triumph over death and the grave; saw the radient glory in which he left this world for heaven. You will remember it always, and you will tell it to your kindred and countrymen who are dying without hope.”

Click HERE to view/download Background on ʻŌpūkahaʻia

Missionary Period

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) from the northeast United States, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Hawaiian Islands – they anchored at Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”), about 184-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in the Hawaiian Islands. Collaboration between Native Hawaiians and American Protestant missionaries resulted in, among other things, the
• Introduction of Christianity;
• Development of a written Hawaiian language and establishment of schools that resulted in widespread literacy;
• Promulgation of the concept of constitutional government;
• Combination of Hawaiian with Western medicine; and
• Evolution of a new and distinctive musical tradition (with harmony and choral singing)

On August 15, 1993, ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s remains were returned to Hawai‘i from Cornwall and laid in a vault facing the ocean at Kahikolu Church.

Click HERE to view/download Background on ʻŌpūkahaʻia.

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Opukahaia

January 24, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Lanihau

“I started looking for property in Kona in 1921 when I graduated from Yale [University] and I think between then and 1932, why, I must have seen every beach property from Milolii to Kawaihae, no matter how you got to it–by air or by sea or by boat or by donkey or by mule or on foot.”

“And I finally decided on [William] Doc Hill’s place down at Keauhou as being the ideal spot that I wanted to live in but through a long combination of funny circumstances, why, I didn’t get it.”

“I’d inquired about this place from Mr. Childs who was then local head of American Factors. He said, ‘Oh hell, that property’s so tied up with owners you never could clear title.’”

“‘Well,’ I said, ‘you live here’ – and he was a big shot of the community at the time. ‘Tell you what I’ll do. If you can clear the titles, I’ll put up the money and we’ll subdivide the thing into large pieces and go fifty-fifty on it.’ And he said, ‘Well, that’s fair enough. That doesn’t cost me anything.’”

“So I waited seven years and nothing happened. Then I happened to meet an old-timer from up here who’d been in the tax office and knew land problems–who my father helped to keep out of jail–and he was very fond of the Thurstons.”

“So I said, ‘Who owns that property next to Factors?’ ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘that belongs to so-and-so and so-and-so. You want to buy it?’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t know whether I can afford it or not.’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘the girl right at this moment needs money badly, I know, and I’m quite sure she would sell.’”

“So, this was four in the afternoon and at 9:30 the next morning I got a call and he said, ‘If you’ll have so much money available by eleven o’clock, I can buy her half-interest in thirty-eight acres.’”

“So I said, ‘Well, I don’t know where I’m going to get the money but I’ll have it.’ I did. Five years later, for five times as much, I bought the other half. So that brings us up to about 1938 and going into 1939.”

“An old kahuna who lived down at Kahaluu – I can’t remember his name at the moment but it’ll come to me – through his grandson who worked for [Theo. H.] Davies and Company, said that his grandfather wanted to come see me.”

“His grandfather had known my great-grandfather as a little boy and his great-grandfather was, at that time, in his late nineties and Asa [Thurston] died when he was well along in the eighties, so there is quite a span there. So I said I’d be delighted.”

“So the old man came over and his grandfather … he was ashamed to speak English so he spoke in Hawaiian and I spoke English. I could understand him and he could understand me. So he said, ‘I would like to know what Mr. Thurston’s plans are for the development of this property,’ which was translated duly.”

“And I replied and gave him a general idea of what I was trying to accomplish here. We’d planted quite a few trees at that time.
So the old man sat here for quite a long time and just nodded his head; and then he started in talking Hawaiian very rapidly and he talked for about ten minutes without taking a breath.”

“So the old man thanked me with tears in his eyes and we talked a little bit about his remembering my grandfather. He was a young man at the time. And he died, oh, within two or three months after that down at Kailua.”

“The name of this place is Lanihau. L-A-N-I-H-A-U. There’s Lanihau-nui which is next door and this is Lanihau-iki, meaning little Lanihau, and Lanihau-nui is back of it [and means large or great Lanihau]. That belongs to the Greenwells.”

“The name puzzled me. Lani means heavenly; beauty. Hau–H-A-U–is normally the tree from which they make the Hawaiian outriggers or the amas [float for canoe outrigger] or ‘iako [canoe outrigger]. H-A-0 is iron or steel or very strong.”

“So I submitted this to John Lane, who was then alive, and Mary Pukui, who’s still alive, and Reverend Henry Judd and two others … and asked them what this name meant, because many times Hawaiian meanings were hidden.”

“They asked a great many questions about the place. Was it on a point? Yes. You had a beautiful view up and down the coast? Yes. You had a beautiful view of the ocean? Yes. And the surf? Yes.”

“And out on the point at times it’s enormous; and is there a current that comes past that you can see sometimes? Yes, you can see it coming down the coast, coming around the point. And you have a beautiful view of the sunrise and of the sunset?”

“They finally came up with this hidden meaning which I think is very interesting; Lanihau is the place where the forces of the heavens and of the earth meet and all is quiet and peaceful. The moonlight and the sunshine, the waves, the grand weather, the storms, and so on, which is rather interesting, I think.”

“I would say that you are really in a very blessed spot.”

“I started to work here on the 28th of December of 1939. It was all just lava, nothing else. And this place evolved as a result of exposure and watching the surf and studying and seeing what one could do.”

“I always wanted a harbor for a boat to go fishing and to go swimming. And so, this gradually evolved and then I began to find out things about it.”

“Kamehameha the Great lived right here for some time – seven years – prior to his death. This is where he slept and over there was where he ate and over where the guest house is, is where his servants lived; and over at the far end there, beyond the entrance to the pond – going into the King Kamehameha [Hotel] lot – was the old heiau.”

“So he was self -contained and nobody was allowed on this place in the old days. You had to go around it. It was tabu. … Sacred.”

Back to the old man and his grandfather … “His grandson laughed when the old man ran down and said, ‘Well, my grandfather has said quite a few things. I will try to translate.’”

“In essence, what he said was this, that he will now die happy and he now understands why the good Lord never let anybody buy this over all the years.”

“He said, ‘He was waiting till you could come – till you had the money to come – and till you could develop this place, which certainly is even farther than Kamehameha would have been able to had he chosen to do it, and it will become a place of great beauty.’”

“‘I will now die happy because this property is in the hands of the man the Lord intended it to go to.’” (Lorrin P Thurston; Watumull Oral History)

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January 20, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Chinatown Evacuations to Kawaiaha‘o Church

“Chinatown is no more. …”

“It was intended by the Board of Health that that portion of Block 15, between Kaumakapili Church and Nu‘uanu street and mauka from Beretania, should be given to the flames, as has been done with several other plague spots.”

“The Fire Department proceeded as usual to carry out the instructions of the Board. Chief Hunt, with the entire Fire Department forces, and four engines, got to work at about 9 o’clock yesterday morning (January 20, 1900).”

“A fair northeast wind was blowing across the city at the time, and realizing the danger from a break away should the wind rise, one engine (No. 1) was placed at the Intersection of Maunakea and Beretania streets while the others obtained connection with the water mains along Beretania street.”

“It was intended that the fire should eat its way back against the wind toward Kukui street and with this object in view a two-story frame structure back of the church was selected as the best situated for the application of the torch.”

“All went well for about an hour, when the wind began to rise and changed about two points eastward. This combination carried the blazing embers upon the dry roofs of the closely packed buildings in the vicinity”.

“The high wind fanned the flames till they took leaps of fifty and sixty feet along the doomed buildings of Block 1, from which the occupants had hastily removed, carrying as many personal effects as could be collected, and in many cases returning three and four times for more.”

“The Fire Department, as soon as it was discovered that the flames were beyond control …” (Hawaiian Gazette, January 23, 1900)

“Four thousand three hundred and twenty-five men, women and children, Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiians and white were rendered homeless by the flames today.”

“Tonight they are the wards of a community which has risen to the humanity and generosity demanded by the emergency and with an energy seldom equaled has provided shelter and food and made the refugees as comfortable as it is possible under the circumstances.” (Hawaiian Star, January 20, 1900)

“Japanese and Chinamen are being marched by the hundreds to Kawaiaha‘o church yard, guarded all the way from Nu‘uanu street by a line of volunteer citizen guards. There they will remain until some accommodations can be prepared for them.”

“Included in this mass of Asiatics are a great number of women with their children and all that can be done for them is being done.”

“The citizens have the situation well in hand. Every man is out with some kind of a club and there is a set determination that there shall be no outbreak from Chinatown.” (Evening Bulletin, January 20, 1900)

“No church ever held a more extraordinary assemblage than that which gathered in Kawaiaha‘o when the tired inhabitants of Chinatown reached there after their march of four blocks between lines of Honolulu citizens armed with clubs.”

“The march was a very hard one for some of the people who were compelled to move, and the line was a most pitiful spectacle as it moved along King street.” (Hawaiian Star, January 20, 1900)

“‘Women first’ was the natural order, as soon as the business of getting people into the church was begun. In two hours the big-church was packed up stairs and down with Chinese women and children. They occupied all of every pew.”

“The big place of worship was so crowded that those who had seats could not even turn in their places. The gallery held a throng that filled nearly all the aisles and the reception rooms, as well as the auditorium, was the same.”

“Still women were coming and asking for places, and a thousand men were outside with no place to do anything but sit down and await developments. Inside the church the women and children sat and waited for what was coming.”

“Some of the mothers walked up and down the aisles trying to quiet infants that cried for food, while Board of Health men ran up and down doing all they could to help their charges.”

“It was a pitiful scene of suffering, as a climax to what the victims have suffered in the quarantined district ever since the beginning of the dread visitation of black plague. The Chinese Consul and the Japanese Consul were both in the building, watching the efforts that were being made to look after their countrymen.” (Hawaiian Star, January 20, 1900)

“Under the shadow of the clouds of smoke and fire the hordes of Chinatown stood in mute terror. Depressed by their long quarantine, when the literal baptism of fire came, it found them without spirit.”

“Beyond the confines of the district, particularly along the main thoroughfares of King and Beretania, they beheld not only the guardsmen with bayonetted guns, but a mass of people which must have overawed them by its very numbers.”

“Hundreds of these citizens had voluntarily offered their services to hold the Chinese and Japanese of the plague-infected district in check, should the advancing fire cause a riot before the unfortunate could be brought out in an orderly manner.”

“There was very little time for the quarantined people to gather their personal belongings. As the first of them came along King street the novelty of their appearance attracted great attention.”

“Stout little (Japanese) carried sewing-machines on their shoulders, and beside them brown infants bobbed up and down on the backs of mothers. Bundles of every conceivable description were carried, some large, some small, but everybody able to lug a parcel had his or her hands employed.”

“Veritable hordes of Asia, they marched along, casting frequent glances back at the red tongues licking up their homes. But there was no wailing – no loud complaint that might have made a bad situation worse.”

“Following the first batch of Chinese and Japanese – men, women and children, who were led out of the burning district down King street, came others from Beretania street down around Nu‘uanu street into King and hundreds of Hawaiians from toward the waterfront …”

“… all being led by guards into King street and along that thoroughfare down past the Executive building gates to the spacious grounds of Kawaiaha‘o Church, at the corner of King and Punchbowl streets.”

“In through the wide gates they passed, the women and children being allowed to take possession of the big stone church building, while the men swarmed over the grounds. Guards were immediately placed along the stone wall surrounding the premises, and crowds of curious people filled up the adjoining streets.”

“The church and the adjacent streets presented a scene of great animation from about 1:30 o’clock in the afternoon, when the quarantined Asiatics first began to arrive there, until a late hour last night.”

“At 5 o’clock in the afternoon the guardsmen and volunteers who patrolled the outer edge of the church premises were relieved by Batteries R and K of the Sixth Artillery, USA …”

“… who, in khaki uniforms and with rifles, took up the work of keeping the Chinese and Japanese within the church yard. The soldiers cleared the sidewalks of spectators and loungers and went at their task of patrolling like veterans.”

“Some of the most prominent men in the city volunteered to assist in looking after the unfortunates, and getting them settled.”

“The Chinese Consul deserves great praise for his efforts, which went far toward bringing order out of chaos. Toward evening it was ascertained that 1,780 Chinese, 1,025 Japanese and about 1,000 Hawaiians were within the walls of Kawaiahao Church yard.”

“These figures did not include the Japanese and Chinese women and children in the church building, estimated to number fully half a thousand.”

“The hospitality and liberality of the people of Honolulu was never before so much in evidence. Soon after it was learned that the thousands of homeless Chinese and Japanese were at the Kawaiaha‘o Church, transfer wagons, trucks and carriages began to arrive there in great number, with supplies of provisions.”

“Tons of cooked rice and other victuals were received through the gates, Mr. George Carter and a number of other gentlemen directing the work or receiving and distributing the provisions.”

“A large awning belonging to the church was also brought into use. Inside the church building the women and children were well provided with mattresses and blankets. No army brigade was ever so comfortably sheltered and fed, in so short a time, as these thousands of Chinese and Japanese were looked after last night.” (Hawaiian Gazette, January 23, 1900)

“In 1886 Honolulu was visited by a fire almost as disastrous as the Chinatown plague fire of last January. The ancient fire occurred in that section of the town now known as the burnt district, and it served to clear out blocks of miserable hovels and to clean up the most filthy section of the city.”

“Prior to the visitation the streets in Chinatown were only 36 feet wide. The houses were of a miserable character, mere shacks, and more suited for stables than the abode of human beings. Honolulu’s greatest cesspool had been cleared out and great chances for improvement were admitted to have been given the city.”

“The men in power at the time were not long in seizing the opportunity. Streets were widened to 50 feet and the majority of the houses were built of brick.” (Honolulu Republican, December 22, 1900)

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