Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Teacherages

The teacher’s home stands in almost the same relation to the school that the parsonage or manse does to the church.

Various names, such as teacher’s home, manse, teacherage, attic apartment, “lean-to,” and dominage, are applied to the district-owned buildings or to rooms in the schoolhouse that provide living quarters for teachers.  (Muerman)

In the New England States the academies of the early days usually provided dormitories for the pupils. In these dormitories rooms were frequently set apart for members of the faculty who had supervision over the students who lived in the dormitories.

Several of these academies have been purchased by the school committees for use as public-school buildings, and with this purchase a home is provided for the teacher.

In the year 1894 rural school district No. 1, in Hall County, Nebraska, built a teachers’ home at a cost to the district of $1,000. This is perhaps the first one built by a school district for this purpose.

100 years ago, “It is not difficult to secure the services of competent teachers for such schools as have been supplied with teachers’ homes …”

“… and when good teachers schools as have been supplied with teachers’ homes, and when good teachers have been hired for these schools there seems to be less difficulty in retaining them for a greater number of years than they would be willing to stay in schools where teachers’ homes have not been provided.”

“The teachers who live at these homes are able to do better work; they live at a lower cost; they are happier; they have a place in which to prepare their work undisturbed …”

“… they are free from liability to entanglement in neighborhood differences; they are not so apt to make enemies during the school year because of a change of boarding places …”

“… they have a place in which to entertain patrons of the school, who as a rule are inclined to call on the teachers more often than where they are expected to go to the homes of their neighbors in order to do so …”

“… they go home less frequently on Friday evenings; in fact they live at home, feel at home, act at home, and are at home at the school.”  (Muerman)

As part of the national discussion about teacherages 100 years ago, “The discourse about the cottages reveals that the issue is larger than just providing housing for teachers.”

Some saw them as a way to accomplish the goal of integrating scientific management techniques into the education system.   “For them, teacherages provided an opportunity to put into practice their theories about home economics, vocational training and the cultivation of community life through schools.”

Others, particularly women, saw teacher housing as one of the several reforms needed to remediate women’s position in education and society.  (Felber)

“The system of providing teachers’ cottages is an old one in Hawaii, going back to the middle of the last century.  The teachers’ residence was built on the school lot, which was owned either by the Mission or by the Crown. The first cottages were small and primitive, in keeping with the simple architecture of the time.”

“It must be remembered that Hawaii had a highly developed educational system long before the western States were extensively settled. At one time, children were sent from the Northwest and from California to Hawaii to receive their education.”

“From those early days down to [100-years ago], there has been a steady growth in the number and character of the teachers’ cottages.”

100 years ago in Hawai‘i, “constructed cottages compare favorably with the better suburban bungalows and cottages. For example, the type of cottage [then] provided at a number of our larger rural schools would rent in Honolulu for from sixty to ninety dollars per month.” (MacGaughty)

“The school cottages are almost invariably built on the school lot adjacent to the regular school buildings. In most of the larger rural schools, the principal has a separate cottage for himself, or herself, and family.”

“[T]here is no other part of the United States where the teachers’ cottage system has been developed to the degree found in Hawaii. Here, it is a regular feature of all rural schools throughout the Territory.”

“The teachers who are assigned to the rural schools are given lodgings gratis, with no additional charge and in addition to their regular salary.” (MacGaughey)

The following letter from a group of mainland teachers, who came to the Islands 100-years ago, will indicate one reaction of newcomers to the teachers’ cottage system in Hawaii: “To the Editor of the Hawaii Educational Review” …

“Dear Sir: From the deepest gratitude we write this public testimony to the unexpected and very generous welcome the six coast teachers received. No one can fully appreciate the pleasure that we felt unless she too has been a coast girl plunged into the new and not altogether easily adaptable circumstances of a teacher in a plantation school of the Hawaiian Islands.”

“From the moment we crossed the landing place, where we were met by some kindly citizens with cars, and given the best breakfast obtainable at one of the local hotels, until we crossed the threshold of the cottage which was to be our home for the next year, we have felt welcome and wanted.”

“But more especially when we entered the cottage did we see evidences on every side of the thoughtfulness of the men and women of the interior of the cottage had been freshly painted, the necessary furniture had been made the previous school year by the manual training boys and nicely stained during the summer.”

“The windows shone clear and were hung with dainty curtains, and the dressers and tables were fitted out with covers to match. The kitchen was almost completely equipped with the needed utensils, and there was a very complete set of tasteful and pretty dishes – all of which girls especially appreciate.”

“From the outset of the school year, we have been called upon by the women of the plantation, and we really have felt an enthusiasm for entering into community affairs.”

“The clean and dainty appearance of our cottage as we explored it made us long to do the best we could for the boys and girls whose parents had been so thoughtful of us who were almost strangers to them.”

“Since all these things have been done for our comfort, we feel that it would be the least we could do in return to give their boys and girls the best we have of ourselves, our ideals, and our advantages”. (signed, the teachers)

“The effects of the teachers’ cottage system in stabilizing the teaching force are obvious.”

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The Manual

Before her death in 1884, Bernice Pauahi Bishop, heir to the vast lands of the Kamehameha dynasty, established through her will the design to create two private schools, one for boys and one for girls. (Beyer)

Bernice Pauahi died childless on October 16, 1884.  She left her large estate of the Kamehameha lands in a trust “to erect and maintain in the Hawaiian Islands two schools, each for boarding and day scholars, one for boys and one for girls, to be known as, and called the Kamehameha Schools.”

She further stated, “I desire my trustees to provide first and chiefly a good education in the common English branches, and also instruction in morals and in such useful knowledge as may tend to make good and industrious men and women”.

Bernice Pauahi Bishop, by founding the Kamehameha Schools, intended to establish institutions which should be of lasting benefit to her country; and also to honor the name Kamehameha.

After Pauahi’s death, Charles Reed Bishop, as president of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate’s board of trustees, ensured that his wife’s wish was fulfilled. He generously provided his own funds for the construction of facilities and added some of his own properties to her estate. (KSBE)

Because Pauahi’s estate was basically land rich and cash poor, Bishop contributed his own funds for the construction of several of the schools’ initial buildings on the original Kalihi campus: the Preparatory Department facilities (1888,) Bishop Hall (1891) and Bernice Pauahi Bishop Memorial Chapel (1897.)

In the fall of 1887, preparations for the opening of the boys’ school were nearly complete. A workshop, dining hall, and the first two dormitories had been built at the Kaiwi‘ula campus, where the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum stands today.

An invitation had been sent to all Hawaiian boys over the age of 12 to take the admission test, and on October 3, thirty-seven boys arrived on campus to begin their schooling instruction.  (Armstrong-Wassel)

“King Kalākaua addressed the boys in Hawaiian and his remarks were then translated into English. He told the boys that ‘the name the school bears is the name of one who was famous first of all for habits of industry in the fields before he became famous as a warrior.’”

“He emphasized that it was not simply the work of the hands that would lead to success in life, but the intelligence for which His Majesty urged the boys to strive.” (Kilolani Mitchell, noted by Armstrong-Wassel)

“Bishop had supported industrial and moral education for the masses and elite English-standard education for the highest tier of society. His administration marked a turn toward manual and industrial education, as well as increased funding for English-medium education.”

“Although there was already a history of educating Kānaka in higher branches of academic pursuit, Bishop argued against education that failed to produce an industrial agricultural workforce.”  (Goodyear-Kaʻōpua)

Reverend William Brewster Oleson was hired from the Hilo Boarding School to become the first principal of the Kamehameha School for Boys at an annual salary of $3000.00 with house and pasturage.

Hilo Boarding school was the first manual labor type school in the Pacific.  It instituted a program of rural education based on the idea of learning by doing.  (Moe) Oleson brought that philosophy and program to Kamehameha.

By then, Hilo Boarding School was also the model for educating students at Hampton Institute in Virginia and Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

The Kamehameha school was commonly known as the Manual Department or “The Manual.” (Beyer) The original name of the first school sponsored by the Bishop Estate was actually called the Manual Training School for Boys. (Broadbent)

Oleson penned the school song, “Sons of Hawai’i” together with Theodore Richards who adapts the tune from Yale’s “Wake, Freshman, Wake” and chose the school colors based on Yale school colors. (KSBE)

Oleson brought nine of his most prized pupils with him to Kamehameha Schools to create the school’s inaugural class.

Joining Oleson were WS Terry served as superintendent of shops, Mrs F Johnson was a matron, instructor Miss CA Reamer would later become the principal of the preparatory school and Miss LL Dressler also served as an instructor.  (KSBE)

At the opening ceremonies, “Prof Alexander on being asked for remarks expressed his regret that Hon C R Bishop who had such an interest in the school was absent on the Coast. The institution of a technical school had often been discussed in Honolulu.”

“He rejoiced that the wishes of the noble lady foundress had been so successfully carried out. Founded upon a rock the institution he hoped would long stand on the rock and that it would keep the memory of its foundress green until generations yet unborn should call her blessed.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, November 8, 1887)

A year later the Preparatory Department, for boys 6 to 12 years of age, opened in adjacent facilities.  (Organization of the Kamehameha School for Girls was delayed until 1894.)

During a visit to see General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, Hampton’s founder, Oleson picked up the idea of including military training in Kamehameha’s curriculum (1888.)  (Rath)

Officers were appointed by Oleson and were responsible for discipline and marching to and from town. Oleson was in charge of drills, but teachers joined in the marches to church or other meetings.  In September 1899, the boys wore their uniforms to class and drills.

An interesting side note relates to the role and relationship Pauahi and Liliʻuokalani had with William Owen Smith, the son of American Protestant missionaries.

During the revolutionary/overthrow period, Smith was one of the thirteen members of the Committee of Safety that overthrew the rule of Queen Liliʻuokalani (January 17, 1893) and established the Provisional Government and served on its executive council.

When not filling public office, Smith had been engaged in private law practice – Smith and his firm wrote the will for Princess Pauahi Bishop that created the Bishop Estate.

Pauahi recommended to Queen Liliʻuokalani that he write her will for the Liliʻuokalani Trust (which he did.) As a result, Liliʻuokalani and Smith became lifelong friends; he defended her in court, winning the suit brought against her by Prince Jonah Kūhiō.

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Binghams and Mid-Pacific Institute

“It was a little acorn, planted in missionary soil, watered by some trials and tears, nourished by the prayers and gifts of many friends, protected and blest, we trust, by one who is our Master, even Christ.”

“A vigorous oak, it is soon to be transplanted to the hills, to spread its branches under the sunshine, the showers and the rainbows of beautiful Manoa Valley.”

“May the blessing of the Lord ever rest upon it, and upon her through whose munificence it is to find its new home.” (Lydia Bingham, 1907)

“Honolulu Female Academy (is) another of the schools provided by Christian benevolence for the benefit of the children of this highly favored land.  This institution will, it is hoped, supply a felt need for a home for girls, in the town of Honolulu, yet not too near its center of business.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, April 13, 1867)

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

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

In 1867, the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society (HMCS – an organization consisting of the children of the missionaries and adopted supporters) decided to support a girls’ boarding school.

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

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

What is not generally known is that Lydia and Lizzie’s niece, Clara Moseley, came to Hawai‘i to help at the school.

“(B)efore I was fifteen, a wonderful thing happened to me which probably changed the whole course of my life. Two of my mother’s sisters, Aunt Lydia and Aunt Lizzie, returned to Honolulu, the home of their birth and engaged in teaching in a school for Hawaiian girls which was called Kawaiahaʻo Seminary.”

“It was located at that time on King St. just opposite the Old Mission house where the Mission Memorial Building now stands.”

“My Aunt Lydia was Principal of this school and she wrote to my mother asking if she couldn’t spare me and let me come out and teach music to her girls, knowing that I was musically inclined.”

“When my aunt wrote asking for me, she said she wanted me to have a teacher for a few months intervening before I should leave home, and she would pay for my lessons, so I took lessons … for about three months.”

“Of course my parents were willing to let me go, knowing it was too fine an opportunity for me to miss. A friend of my aunt’s, Miss Julia Gulick, was coming to the states that year so it was planned that I should go back with her.”

“I had planned to stay five years when I first went out to the Islands (however) ‘Old Captain Gelett) felt he must do something to change the course of my life. So he persuaded my aunts to let him send me away to school as soon as I had finished my third year at the Seminary.”

“Accordingly, in August, 1875, I sailed from Honolulu on the ‘DC Murray’ with a group of other young people who were going over to school. This sailing vessel was twenty one days in getting to San Francisco”. (Clara Lydia (Moseley) Sutherland)

Those weren’t the only Binghams involved with the school.  Lydia and Lizzie’s brother, Hiram Bingham II, and his wife Minerva (Minnie) Brewster Bingham (she was also called Clara) lived and helped at Kawaiaha‘o Female Seminary.

Their son, Hiram III was born at Kawaiaha‘o Female Seminary.  (On July 24, 1911, Hiram III rediscovered the “Lost City” of Machu Picchu (which had been largely forgotten by everybody except the small number of people living in the immediate valley). Hiram III has been noted as a source of inspiration for the ‘Indiana Jones’ character.)

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

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

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

The Bingham children involved at Kawaiaha‘o, Lydia, Lizzie and Hiram, are my GG Aunts &Uncle.  Young Clara Moseley is my great grandmother.  I was fortunate to have served as the president of the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society for 3 ½ years.

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Aloha from Vermont

In 1777, the thirteen colonies were fighting the Revolutionary War with England.  Vermont was not one of the 13 Colonies; rather, in January of that year, delegates from towns around Vermont held a convention and declared their independence.

They called the new republic ‘New Connecticut;’ later that year, they changed the name to Vermont. (Vermont Secretary of State)

Although an independent republic, Vermonters fought with the Colonists against the British.  A turning point in the revolution was at the Battle of Bennington, Vt.  It was a major victory for the Americans and helped to convince France that the rebels were worthy of support.

Between 1777, when Vermont established its independence, and 1791 (when Vermont joined the Union as the 14th state,) Vermont was truly independent – as a republic it had its own coins and its own postal service.  (Vermont Secretary of State)

At this same time (October 30, 1789,) Hiram Bingham was born to Calvin and Lydia Bingham in Bennington Vermont.  Thirty years later (October 23, 1819,) Bingham led the Pioneer Company of Protestant missionaries to Hawaiʻi.

This is not the only tie Vermont has to the Islands.  A lasting legacy is through descendants of another Hawaiʻi missionary, Peter Johnson Gulick, a member of the Third Company of missionaries to the Islands.

First of all, Hawaiʻi-born grandson Luther Halsey Gulick, Jr. MD and his wife Charlotte ‘Lottie’ Emily Vetter founded Camp Fire Girls (now known as Camp Fire.)

Another Hawaiʻi born grandson Edward Leeds Gulick and his wife Harriet Marie Gulick later settled in Vermont and started the “Aloha Camp” there in 1905.  It started as a success and is still going strong today.

“Aloha began as a picnic. Three young couples, one summer day of 1898, were cycling around Lake Morey, seeking the loveliest spot at which to enjoy their lunch, brought from Hanover, NH. At just the very place where all agreed the views were most beautiful, stood a plain, substantial house, with no paint, no blinds, and a porch only big enough for two small chairs.”

“The sign, ‘For Sale; Inquire at the next house,’ fired the imagination, and while Mr. Gulick, ‘just for fun,’ went over to make inquiries, the rest ran around, peeking in at each window, and promptly imagining themselves spending a gay summer in that ideal spot.”

“July 1899 found the Gulicks with a new baby, Harriet, later known to campers as ‘Johnnie, the bugler,’ taking the long ride from New Jersey to their new summer home.”

“The name of the new cottage was a source of lively and humorous discussions. Aloha, meaning ‘Love to you,’ in Hawaiian, was finally chosen, for its euphonious sound, and its kindly meaning. Who better should name this cottage Aloha, than one who was son and grandson of men who had spent their lives in uplifting the natives of those beautiful Islands?”

“For six happy summers Aloha cottage housed the quartette of Gulick children, and their cousins and uncles and aunts and friends, filling it full from the attic down.  But just when and how Aloha camp was thought of, it is hard to say.”

“Believing that girls and their parents would soon see the immense advantages of camp life, – the health, the beauty, the sanity, and the wholesome democracy of such a life, – we started bravely in.”  (Harriet Farnsworth Gulick)

In 1905 – 15 years before women were allowed to vote, when floor length skirts and lace up boots were mandatory for playing any sport; when popular conduct books for girls encouraged a “retiring delicacy” and declared that “one of the most valuable things you can learn is how to become a good housewife” – Harriet and Edward Gulick created a world in which every girl could discover her most adventurous self.

That world, Aloha Camp on Lake Morey in Fairlee, Vermont, afforded young women the knowledge, skills and freedom to explore wild nature on foot and on horseback, by skiff and by canoe; to kindle campfires in the woods and cook meals in the open air; to pitch tents over rough ground and sleep out of doors under the stars.

“Imagination necessary. The very fabric of human civilization depends on it.” Harriet Farnsworth Gulick wrote these words in a notebook of ideas for assembly talks at Aloha Camp, a camp for girls.

Next, the Gulicks turned their imagination to opportunities for women ‘age eighteen to eighty,’ opening Aloha Club in 1910 on the secluded shore of Lake Katherine in Pike, New Hampshire. The success of Aloha Camp and Aloha Club inspired the Gulicks to imagine how camp could benefit younger girls. Having purchased 400-acres of farmland on Lake Fairlee in Ely, Vermont, they developed Aloha Hive, which opened in 1915.

At the turn of the century (1900,) girls’ camps were rare.  Then, the girl camper was about twelve to twenty. She usually came from a home of luxury and enjoyed the novelty of sleeping in tents, the unhampered opportunities for learning to swim, to row, to paddle – in short, to live close to friendly Mother Nature – through eight or nine happy weeks of the camp season.  (Coale)

At Aloha Camp, girls received ‘Kanaka’ awards – “The little figure in bloomers is won by a camper whose tent and land adjoining it is perfect as to order and neatness for a week. If to that virtue is added punctuality at all the appointments of a week – meals, assembly, crafts, etc – the girl wins a Kanaka”.  (Aloha Kanaka)

Every summer one whole camp has an opportunity to vote for just one girl. It is not the most popular girl; nor the most athletic; nor yet the best-looking. Not any of these. The highest honor the camp has to bestow is given for Camp Spirit – and it goes to the girl who has proved to be the most thoughtful, generous, and kind-in short, the best friend.  (Worthington)

After launching Hive, the next question for the Gulick’s imagination was “what about all the little brothers of Aloha and Hive campers?” Far from the military camps that prevailed for boys in those days, they envisioned Camp Lanakila, a camp that promoted a spirit of adventure, discovery, creativeness, respect for others and individual growth.

After Edward Gulick’s death in 1931, Harriet Gulick continued for twenty years as the central, caring presence for all the camps. She passed away in February 1951 at the age of 86. In the mid-1960s, the camps faced a major challenge as members of the Gulick family’s next generation followed pursuits other than the management of Aloha (1905,) Hive (1915) and Lanakila (1922.)

The Aloha Foundation was formed as a nonprofit organization that continues operating the camps and endeavors to sustain the Gulick traditions.

In Hawaiʻi, one of the lasting legacies and reminders of the Gulick family in Hawaiʻi is heard in almost every morning’s Honolulu traffic report with reference to conditions at the Gulick Avenue overpass in Kalihi.  (Lots of information here from Aloha Kanaka and Aloha Camp website.)

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First Corporation

The first corporation granted a charter by the Hawaiian government were Punahou School, on June 6, 1849. (Schmitt)

In anticipation of the future growth of the Kingdom, in 1853 a new and enlarged charter was applied for and granted by the government to the Trustees of ‘the Punahou School and Oahu College.’ This granted the formation of Oahu College, which would offer two years of advanced coursework and delay students’ departures for U.S. colleges.  (Punahou)

 At the Privy Council meeting on May 23, 1853, Mr. Armstrong read the Charter of the Punahou School. After which state, in part:

“Resolved; That a Charter of incorporation for a school and Prospective College at Punahou, near Honolulu having been submitted to this council by the Minister of the Interior for the concurrence of the council in granting the same, said Minister is hereby authorized & empowered to grant said Charter to the persons therein named.”

In the 1856 Annual Report of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions noted that, “The aim which the Board and its fellow-laborers at the Sandwich Islands have in view …”

“… is to assimilate the religious and educational institutions of the Hawaiian Christian community, in their constitution and methods of support, as nearly as possible to what exists in the newly occupied districts of our own country.”

“Of course, but a portion of the new Christian institutions will, for a time, find their full support at the Islands. It is desirable, were it possible, that a greater proportion of the island resources be devoted to the support of pastors, preachers and teachers of native growth …”

“… thus rooting the institutions of the gospel more speedily and firmly in the soil. We should be thankful, however, for the unexampled progress already made at these Islands.”  It goes on to state,

“The ‘Oahu College’ was mentioned in the last Report. It has grown out of the Punahou school, commenced in 1841 for the children of the missionaries. Five years ago that school was opened to others besides the children of missionaries.”

“In May, 1853, the Hawaiian Government converted it into a College, by incorporating a Board of Trustees for ‘the Training of Youth in the various branches of a Christian education.’”

The charter further states, that, “as it is reasonable that the Christian education should be in conformity to the general views of the founders and patrons of the institution …”

“… no course of instruction shall be deemed lawful in said institution, which is not accordant with the principles of Protestant Evangelical Christianity, as held by that body of Protestant Christians in the United States of America, which originated the Christian mission to the Islands, and to whose labors and benevolent contributions the people of these Islands are so greatly indebted.”

There is also an additional security for the institution in the following article, namely: “Whenever a vacancy shall occur in said corporation, it shall be the duty of the Trustees to fill the same with all reasonable and convenient dispatch.”

“And every new election shall be immediately made known to the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and be subject to their approval or rejection; and this power of revision shall be continued to the American Board for twenty years from the date of this charter.”

“The Prudential Committee regard this institution as essential to the development and continued existence of the Hawaiian nation. ‘It is so because the missionary portion is really the palladium of the nation, and because a college is essential to that part of the community.’”

“The religious foreign community cannot otherwise long continue to perform its functions. It must have the means of liberally educating its children on the ground.”

“Without a college, its moral, social and civil influence will tend constantly to decay. This most precious Christian influence, now rooted on the Islands, now no longer exotic, needs only the proper culture to perpetuate itself.”

“The cheapest thing we can do for the Islands and for that part of the world, is to furnish this culture. It is better to educate our ministry there, than to send it thither from these remote shores. Indeed we are shut up to this, as our main policy.”

“The time is come for the reasonable endowment of this institution, which of course must be effected, if at all, chiefly in this country; and $50,000 are asked for this purpose by the Trustees.”

“It is interesting to know that the Hawaiian Government has engaged to give $10,000, or one-fifth of the whole, in case $40,000 more are secured by July 6, 1858.”

“The Prudential Committee have voted to subscribe $5,000, on behalf of the Board, towards this endowment; and also to pay the salaries of the President and a Professor for the years 1856 and 1857.”

“Meanwhile they commend the object most cordially to the benevolent in the United States, and especially to those large-hearted merchants whose wealth has been chiefly derived from the Pacific Ocean.” 1856 Annual Report ABCFM)

Dr Rufus Anderson, Foreign Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions traveled from Boston to Hawai‘i to attend the annual meeting of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association (the name attributed to the Hawaiian Mission). The General Meeting was held from June 3, 1863 to July 1, 1863.

Subsequent meeting minutes and other references noted that, “Dr. Anderson having recently returned from a visit to the Sandwich Islands, which he made at the special request of the Prudential Committee … for the purpose of ascertaining, by personal intercourse with the missionaries, the members of their churches, and the people generally to whom they had ministered, more fully than could be done in any other way, …”

“… the real condition of the people, the state of the churches, and the character of their members, and witnessing on the ground the results effected among the people of the Islands by the power and Spirit of  God, through the labors of the missionaries; …”

“… for the further purpose of freely conferring and advising with the missionaries, and with members of the Hawaiian churches, upon the present condition and further prospects of the missionary work there …”

“… and devising such plans of future action, as should bring the native churches, as speedily as possible, in what is believed to be the natural order in such cases, (1) to a condition of self-government, and (2) by means of the greater activity and earnestness which would be developed by this self-government, to a condition of complete self-support …”

“… and, also, for the purpose of determining, by such free conference with the missionaries, what may best be their future relations to the Board and its work”.  (Action of the Prudential Committee; Proceedings of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association)

“The state of things at the Islands is peculiar. They have been Christianized.  The missionaries have become citizens. In a technical sense they no longer are missionaries, but pastors, and as such on an official parity with the native pastors.”  (Anderson)

“Nearly one third of the population are members of Protestant churches; the native education is provided for by the government; houses for the worship of God have been everywhere erected, and are preserved by the people; regular Christian congregations assemble on the Sabbath …”

“… and there is all the requisite machinery for the healthful development of the inner life of the nation, and for securing it a place, however humble, among the religious benefactors of the world.”

“In short, we see a Protestant Christian nation in the year 1863 … self-governing in all its departments, and nearly self-supporting.  And the Hawaiian nation is on the whole well governed. The laws are good, and appear to be rigidly enforced. The king at the time of this meeting was in declining health, and did not long after.”

“Better educated by far than any of his predecessors, more intelligent, more capable of ruling well, he was subject to strong feeling, and was said to be less an object of veneration and love to his people than was his immediate predecessor.” (Anderson)

The Prudential Committee of the ABCFM “Resolved, That … the Protestant Christian community of the Islands has attained to the position of complete self-support, as to its religious institutions, there is yet ample occasion for gratitude to God for his signal blessing upon this mission”.

It further “Resolved, That the proposition made by the Protestant Christian community at the Sandwich Islands, who have organized a working Board, called ‘The Board of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association,’ to relieve the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and the American churches, from the responsibility of future oversight and direction in the work …”

“…And this Committee joyfully commits to the Board of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association the future care and direction of this evangelizing work in those Islands; and hereby concedes to that Board the right of applying for grants-in-aid, as specified in said proposition.”  (Action of the ABCFM Prudential Committee)

Anderson wrote to inform Kamehameha IV of the Hawaiian Evangelical actions and dissolution of the mission in his July 6, 1863 letter noting, in part: “I may perhaps be permitted, in view of my peculiar relations to a very large body of the best friends and benefactors of this nation, not to leave without my most respectful aloha to both your Majesties.”

Click the following link for more information on Punahou/Oahu College:

Click to access Oahu_College-Punahou.pdf

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