American Protestant Missionaries | Page 2

This is a summary, Click HERE to read more.

Lasting Legacies

Mission Houses

Lahainaluna

Lahaina banyan

Punahou

Mission Memorial

April 6, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

A Day in the Life

“June 29th. A busy day. – – – -”

In part, the sole entry for that day in Sybil Bingham’s journal (1820) helps to describe what life was like for the families of the early missionaries in Hawaiʻi.

The missionary family’s day began at 4 am (… it continued into the night, with no breaks.)

The mission children were up then, too; in the early morning, the parents taught their children. “We had one tin whale-oil lamp between us, with a single wick…. Soon after five we had breakfast.” (Bishop)

By 9 am, after accomplishing all domestic duties and schooling of the children, the wives would begin the instruction of the Hawaiian children – and taught them for six solid hours, occasionally running into the house to see that all was straight.

“Very soon I gathered up 12 or 15 little native girls to come once a day to the house so that as early as possible the business of instruction might be commenced. That was an interesting day to me to lay the foundation of the first school ever assembled”. (Sybil Bingham)

“It has been a busy day – have done fitting work, of gowns, for two or three native women, – attending to the reading of others, – instructing our school children, entertaining Mr. Allen, and his little Peggy who has been with us through the day, writing a little, etc., etc. The days glide smoothly with us inwardly.” (Sybil Bingham)

Mission Stations

The missionaries were scattered across the Islands, each home was usually in a thickly inhabited village, so that the missionary and his wife could be close to their work among the people.

By 1850, eighteen mission stations had been established; six on Hawaiʻi, four on Maui, four on Oʻahu, three on Kauai and one on Molokai.

Meeting houses were constructed at the stations, as well as throughout the district. Initially constructed as the traditional Hawaiian thatched structures; they were later made of wood or stone.
Life on the Neighbor Islands

“Visits To Kaawaloa … Our nearest missionary neighbor outside of the town of Kailua were the Ruggleses, who lived at Kaawaloa, twelve miles south. Their dwelling was at Kuapehu, two miles up the mountain, a most verdant and attractive spot.”

“It later became the residence of Rev. John D. Paris. Kaawaloa proper was a village on the north side of Kealakekua Bay.”

“We often visited Kaawaloa, probably twice a year, going by water in a double canoe, generally starting two or three hours before daylight, so as to carry the land breeze a good part of the way.”

“Missionary Visits To Kailua … Some mention should be interesting of memories of visits at Kailua from various missionaries. Such visits were always delightful to us.”

“Yet the ladies and sometimes the children were apt to be landed from their schooners in sad plight, after the hardships of the voyage. I remember two fair young women being brought in in fainting condition in the litters which they had occupied on the deck of the vessel.”

“These were Mrs. Dr. Chapin and Mrs. Ephraim Spaulding. The Spauldings made us a long visit, during which I formed an intense childish attachment to Mr. Spaulding, who was a sweet and devout man. An earlier visit is recalled made by the Bingham family about 1833. Most of their time was spent on the upland above us.”

“Mrs. Bingham was much of an invalid. Father Bingham was a somewhat stately, courteous gentleman, for whom I had much liking and a little fear. The Baldwins repeatedly visited us from Waimea. Dr. Baldwin we all liked. He was personally active, even breaking into a run, something rarely seen in grown men in Kailua.”

“My childish impressions of all these friends was wholly favorable, accompanied by the utmost reverence for their spirituality and devoutness.”

General Meetings

Very prominent in the old mission life was the annual “General Meeting” where all of the missionary families from across the Islands gathered at Honolulu from four to six weeks.

“Often some forty or more of the missionaries besides their wives were present, as well as many of the older children. … Much business was transacted relating to the multifarious work and business of the Mission. New missionaries were to be located, and older ones transferred.” (Bishop)

“That was an annual assembling at the capital of all the missionary families, occupying from four to six weeks. The hospitality of the missionaries residing at Honolulu was severely taxed in entertaining their rural associates.” (Bishop)

“The design of their coming together would naturally suggest itself to any reflecting mind. They are all engaged in one work, but are stationed at various and distant points on different portions of the group, hence they feel the necessity of occasionally coming together, reviewing the past, and concerting plans for future operations.”

“Were it not for these meetings, missionaries at extreme parts of the group might never see each other, and in some instances we know that persons connected with the Sandwich Island Mission, have never seen each other’s faces, although for years they have been laboring in the same work.” (The Friend, June 15, 1846)

This is a summary; click HERE for more on Collaboration between the Hawaiians and missionaries.

Mission Stations – MissionHouses-Map

March 9, 2020 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Collaboration

Definition of collaborate – “to work jointly with others or together …” (Merriam-Webster)

The recent Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives project “Letters from the Ali‘i,” more than 225 letters written by 42 different ali‘i between 1820-1907, helps illustrate the collaboration between the missionaries and the ali‘i.

These letters have been digitized, transcribed, translated and annotated by interns under the direction of Dr. Puakea Nogelmeier, Executive Director of the Awaiaulu Foundation.

The Ali‘i Letters project “changed my perspective on the anti-missionary, anti-Anglo-Saxon rhetorical tradition that scholarship has been produced, contemporary scholarship, and it is not to discredit that scholarship, but just to change a paradigm, to shift the paradigm, and it shifted mine.” (Kaliko Martin, Research Assistant, Awaiaulu)

Jon Yasuda was another of the intern translators who participated in the translation project. He received his Master’s Degree in Hawaiian Language from UH Mānoa.

In a November 4, 2016 interview on ‘Ōlelo’s ‘First Friday’, interviewer Manu Ka‘iama noted that “the nice thing about these letters is it kind of is a portal” that illustrate the feeling at the time and “you have some proof of that”. She asked what Yasuda found interesting in the letters; he noted:

“I think one thing that is interesting is that it really shows the way that the missionaries and a lot of the chiefs at the time needed to work together. They worked together, and through their letters we can see the ways … that they helped each other. And I think that both sides had things to share with each other that were beneficial to both sides.”

“I think that one thing that is commonly believed is that the missionaries really came in and started barking orders, and saying this is how it’s going to be … and you are going to do this and you are not going to do that and this is how you need to be. But what we are really seeing is that it wasn’t quite like that.”

“There were very few missionaries in comparison to how many Hawaiians there were at the time. And so, the letters really show us the way that the missionaries and Hawaiians worked together and how some of the things the missionaries brought, for example, sewing and some business, and trade were attractive to the Hawaiians at the time. And, they really had to work together for a lot.” (Jon Yasuda)

Puakea Nogelmeier had a similar conclusion. In remarks at a Hawaiian Mission Houses function he noted,

“The missionary effort is more successful in Hawai‘i than probably anywhere in the world, in the impact that it has on the character and the form of a nation. And so, that history is incredible; but history gets so blurry …”

“The missionary success cover decades and decades becomes sort of this huge force where people feel like the missionaries got off the boat barking orders … where they just kind of came in and took over. They got off the boat and said ‘stop dancing,’ ‘put on clothes,’ don’t sleep around.’”

“And it’s so not the case ….”

“The missionaries arrived here, and they’re a really remarkable bunch of people. They are scholars, they have got a dignity that goes with religious enterprise that the Hawaiians recognized immediately. …”

“The Hawaiians had been playing with the rest of the world for forty-years by the time the missionaries came here. The missionaries are not the first to the buffet and most people had messed up the food already.”

“(T)hey end up staying and the impact is immediate. They are the first outside group that doesn’t want to take advantage of you, one way or the other, get ahold of their goods, their food, or your daughter. … But, they couldn’t get literacy. It was intangible, they wanted to learn to read and write”. (Puakea Nogelmeier)

When the Ali‘i Asked, the Missionaries Collaborated

An 1826 letter written by Kalanimōku to Hiram Bingham (written at a time when missionaries were being criticized) states, “Greetings Mr Bingham. Here is my message to all of you, our missionary teachers.”

“I am telling you that I have not seen your wrong doing. If I had seen you to be wrong, I would tell you all. No, you must all be good. Give us literacy and we will teach it. And, give us the word of God and we will heed it … for we have learned the word of God.”

“Then foreigners come, doing damage to our land. Foreigners of America and Britain. But don’t be angry, for we are to blame for you being faulted.”

“And it is not you foreigners, (it’s) the other foreigners.” (Kalanimōku to Bingham, 1826)

Ali‘i Asked the Missionaries for Christianity, the Missionaries Collaborated

“Here’s my message according to the words of Jehovah, I have given my heart to God and my body and my spirit. I have devoted myself to the church and Jesus Christ.”

“Have a look at this letter of mine, Mr Bingham and company. And if you see it and wish to send my message on to America to (your President,) that is up to you. Greetings to the chief of America. Regards to you all, Kalanimōku.” (Kalanimōku to Bingham, 1826)

Kaumuali‘i and his wife, Kapule, reiterated appreciation of the missionaries in letters transcribed on July 28, 1820 to the ABCFM and mother of a recently-arrived missionary wife.

“I wish to write a few lines to you, to thank you for the good Book you was so kind as to send by my son. I think it is a good book – one that God gave for us to read. I hope my people will soon read this, and all other good books …”

“When your good people learn me, I worship your God. I feel glad you good people come to help us. We know nothing here. American people very good – kind. I love them.” (Kapule to the mother of Mrs Ruggles)

Ali‘i Asked the Missionaries for Literacy, the Missionaries Collaborated

The arrival of the first company of American missionaries in Hawai¬ʻi in 1820 marked the beginning of Hawaiʻi’s phenomenal rise to literacy. The chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing.

“By August 30, 1825, only three years after the first printing of the pīʻāpā, 16,000 copies of spelling books, 4,000 copies of a small scripture tract, and 4,000 copies of a catechism had been printed and distributed.”

“On October 8, 1829, it was reported that 120,000 spelling books were printed in Hawaiʻi. These figures suggest that perhaps 90 percent of the Hawaiian population were in possession of a pīʻāpā book!”

“This literacy initiative was continually supported by the aliʻi. Under Liholiho, ships carrying teachers were not charged harbor fees. During a missionary paper shortage, the government stepped in to cover the difference, buying enough paper to print roughly 13,500 books.”

“This legendary rise in literacy climbed from a near-zero literacy rate in 1820, to between 91 to 95 percent by 1834. That’s only twelve years from the time the first book was printed!” (KSBE)

Ali‘i Asked the Missionaries for More Teachers, the Missionaries Collaborated

On August 23, 1836, fifteen chiefs signed a letter addressed to the American missionaries, asking for more teachers,

Shortly after, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) sent the largest company of missionaries to the Islands; including a large number of teachers.

Ali‘i Asked for a Special School for their Children, the Missionaries Collaborated

In 1839, King Kamehameha III, Hoapili and Kekāuluohi (mother of William Charles Lunalilo, who became the Kuhina Nui or regent of the Hawaiian Kingdom) signed a letter asking missionaries to run the Chiefs’ Children’s School.

In a missionary general meeting, “This subject was fully considered in connection with an application of the chiefs requesting the services of Mr. Cooke, as a teacher for their children; and it was voted, …

“That the mission comply with their request, provided they will carry out their promise to Mr. Cooke’s satisfaction; namely, to build a school house, sustain him in his authority, over the scholars, and support the school.” (Sandwich Islands Mission General Meeting Minutes, 1839)

The school was unique because for the first time aliʻi children would be brought together in a group to be taught, ostensibly, about the ways of governance. The School also acted as another important unifying force among the ruling elite, instilling in their children common principles, attitudes and values, as well as a shared vision.

Ali‘i Asked for Instruction in Western Governance, the Missionaries Collaborated

It was a time of transition, when the Hawaiian people were faced with the difficult task of adjusting themselves to changing conditions. They turned to their teachers, the American missionaries, for guidance along this intricate path.

The king and chiefs, acknowledging their own inexperience, had sought for a man of probity and some legal training who could act as their advisor in matters dealing with other nations and with foreigners within the Islands. (Judd)

Richards “accepted the invitation of the Chiefs to become their teacher, and entered into engagements with them which were signed on the 3d of July (1838). According to those engagements, (he) was to devote (his) time at (his) discretion to the instruction of the King and chiefs, as far as (he) could and remain at Lahaina, and do the public preaching.”

“(He) also met king & chiefs daily when other public business did not prevent, and as fast as (he) could prepare matter read it to them in the form of lectures. (He) endeavored to make the lectures as familiar as possible, by repeating them, and drawing the chiefs into free conversation on the subject of the Lecture.”

“The conversation frequently took so wide a range that there was abundant opportunity to refer to any and to every fault of the present system of government. But when the faults of the present system were pointed out & the chiefs felt them & then pressed me with the question, ‘Pehea la e pono ai,’ (How will it be bettered?)”

“A system of laws has been written out by (Boaz) Mahune, a graduate of the (Lahainaluna) high school, and he was directed by the King to conform them to the principles of Political Economy which they had learned. Those laws are some what extensive and protect all private property.”

“According to this code, no chief has any authority over any man, any farther than it is given him by specific enactment, and no tax can be levied, other than that which is specified in the printed law, and no chief can act as a judge in a case where he is personally interested, and no man can be dispossessed of land which he has put under cultivation except for crimes specified in the law.” (Richards Report to the Sandwich Islands Mission, May 1, 1839)

Click HERE for a link to comments by Manu Ka‘iama and Jon Yasuda.

A_Missionary_Preaching_to_the_Natives,_under_a_Skreen_of_platted_Cocoa-nut_leaves_at_Kairua_by_William_Ellis-1823

December 2, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Literacy

“It was like laying a corner stone of an important edifice for the nation.” (Bingham)

“I think literacy was … almost like the new technology of the time. And, that was something that was new. … When the missionaries came, there was already contact with the Western world for many years…. But this was the first time that literacy really began to take hold.”

“The missionaries, when they came, they may have been the first group who came with a [united] purpose. They came together as a group and their purpose was to spread the Gospel the teachings of the Bible.”

“But the missionaries who came, came with a united purpose … and literacy was a big part of that. Literacy was important to them because literacy was what was going to get the Hawaiians to understand the word of the Bible and the written word became very attractive to the people, and there was a great desire to learn the written word. … Hawai‘i became the most literate nation at one time.”

“The Ali‘i Letters project “changed my perspective on the anti-missionary, anti-Anglo-Saxon rhetorical tradition that scholarship has been produced, contemporary scholarship, and it is not to discredit that scholarship, but just to change a paradigm, to shift the paradigm, and it shifted mine.” (Kaliko Martin, Research Assistant, Awaiaulu)

Click HERE for a link to comments by Kaliko Martin.

“(T)hey end up staying and the impact is immediate. They are the first outside group that doesn’t want to take advantage of you, one way or the other, get ahold of their goods, their food, or your daughter. But, they couldn’t get literacy. It was intangible, they wanted to learn to read and write”. (Puakea Nogelmeier)

Click HERE for a link to comments by Puakea Nogelmeier.

Many Are the People – Few Are the Books

“Having just begun to learn to read, Ka‘ahumanu, about this time (1822), embarked with her husband, and visited his islands with a retinue of some eight hundred persons, including several chiefs, and Auna, and William Beals, whom the queen requested us to send as her teacher.”

“On their arrival, the next day, at Waimea, they gave a new impulse to the desire among the people to be instructed, much to the surprise and gratification of Messrs. Whitney and Ruggles, who said their house for several days was thronged with natives pleading for books.”

“They immediately took three hundred under instruction. Their former pupils were now demanded as teachers for the beginners. Ka‘ahumanu, spurring on these efforts, soon sent back to Kamāmalu at Oahu the following characteristic letter.”

“‘This is my communication to you: tell the puu A-i o-e-o-e (posse of Long necks) to send some more books down here. Many are the people – few are the books.”

“I want elua lau (800) Hawaiian books to be sent hither. We are much pleased to learn the palapala. By and by, perhaps, we shall be akamai, skilled or wise. Give my love to Mr. and Mrs. Bingham, and the whole company of Long necks.’” (Ka‘ahumanu; Bingham)

Printing Press

“The first printing press at the Hawaiian Islands was imported by the American missionaries, and landed from the brig Thaddeus, at Honolulu …. It was not unlike the first used by Benjamin Franklin, and was set up in a thatched house standing a few fathoms from the old mission frame house”. (Hunnewell; Ballou)

Without the printing press, the written Hawaiian language, and a learned people of that time, we would know little about the past. (Muench)

“Perhaps never since the invention of printing was a printing press employed so extensively as that has been at the Sandwich islands, with so little expense, and so great a certainty that every page of its productions would be read with attention and profit.” (Barber, 1833)

In the meantime, a Wells-model press arrived at Lahainaluna in 1832 and it carried the major load of the printing there. The mission press also printed newspaper, hymnals, schoolbooks, broadsides, fliers, laws, and proclamations. The mission presses printed over 113,000,000 sheets of paper in 20 years. (Mission Houses)

Literacy was Sought by the People

“A key point in Liholiho’s plan required the missionaries to first teach the aliʻi to read and write. The missionaries agreed to the King’s terms and instruction began soon after.” (KSBE)

“That the sudden introduction of the Hawaiian nation in its unconverted state, to general English or French literature, would have been safe and salutary, is extremely problematical.”

“The initiation of the rulers and others into the arts of reading and writing, under our own guidance, brought to their minds forcibly, and sometimes by surprise, moral lessons as to their duty and destiny which were of immeasurable importance.” (Hiram Bingham)

“During this period, there were approximately 182,000 Hawaiians living throughout 1,103 districts in the archipelago. Extraordinarily, by 1831, the kingdom government financed all infrastructure costs for the 1,103 school houses and furnished them with teachers. Our kūpuna sunk their teeth into reading and writing like a tiger sharks and would not let go.” (KSBE)

“This legendary rise in literacy climbed from a near-zero literacy rate in 1820, to between 91 to 95 percent by 1834. That’s only twelve years from the time the first book was printed!” (KSBE)

It was through the cooperation and collaboration between the Ali‘i, people and missionaries that this was able to be accomplished.

Click HERE to view/download more on Literacy.

Ramage Press replica at Mission Houses

Hawaiian Alphabet

Baibala

Kaahumanu-(HerbKane)

Missionaries_preaching_under_kukui_groves,_1841

July 7, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“(Y)ou are not like other white men”

King Kaumuali‘i of Kauai decided to send his son Humehume (George Prince) to America, at least, in part, to receive a formal education.

Humehume was about six years old when he boarded the Hazard that ultimately sailed into Providence, Rhode Island on June 30, 1805 after a year-and-a-half at sea. Over the next few years he made his way to Worcester, Massachusetts.

Later, on October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US set sail on the Thaddeus for 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 Humehume. They arrived in Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.

“[April] 5th [1820]. The natives appear very kind, express their generosity by sending us hogs, potatoes, melons, and various kinds of fruits. Fresh provisions relish well after living almost half a year on salt food.”

“We understand that the Kings and Chiefs are all pleased, with our object in settling among them but some wicked white men are endeavoring to prejudice them against us, by telling them that our intention is to get possession of the Islands. We know not yet what God designs to do with us, but trust the enemy will not be suffered to triumph over us.” — Saml. Ruggles.

Then, Ruggles and Whitney took Humehume home to Kauai.

“May 2 (1820). To-day brother Whitney and myself have been called to leave our dear little number at Woahoo, to accompany George P. Tamoree (Kaumualii – Humehume) to his native Isle, and to the bosom of his Father.”

“[May] 10th [1820]. This morning Tamoree sent for me, said his interpreter was going away to be gone several days and he wished to say a few things to me before he went.”

“‘I want to know, says he, if you love Hoomehoome, if you love me, if you like to stay here and learn my people.’ I assured him, that I loved his son and him, wished to spend my life in doing them good, and not only I, but Mr. Whitney and all who came with us, wished the same.”

“‘Hoomehoome tell me so,’ says he; he then shed tears freely, and said, ‘I love Hoomehoome, I love him very much, more than my other children. (Tamoree has two other children besides George, a daughter older and a son younger.)”

“‘I thought he was dead; I cry many times because I think he was dead. Some Captains tell he live in (America) but I not believe; I say no, he dead, he no more come back.’”

“‘But he live, he come again, my heart very glad. I want my son to help me, he speak English well and can do my business. But he is young, young men are sometimes wild they want advice. I want you stay here and help Hoomehoome, and when vessels come, you & Hoomehoome go on board & trade, so I make you a Chief.’”

“I told him I wished not to be a Chief neither could I do any of his public business, but was willing to advise his son and assist him in every thing when it was consistent with the object for which we came to his Island.”

“He expressed some surprise when I told him I wished not to be a Chief, but when I explained to him what we wished to do, he appeared satisfied and pleased.”

“This afternoon the King sent to me and requested that I should come and read to him in his Bible. I read the first Chap of Gen. and explained to him what I read as well as I could.”

“He listened with strict attention frequently asking pertinent questions and said ‘I can’t understand it all, I want to know it. You must learn my language fast, and then tell me all. No white man before, ever read to me & talk like you.’” — S. R.

Kaumuali‘i naturally “expressed some surprise” when Ruggles and Whitney refused to be chief. In fact, the two missionaries continued to puzzle the residents of Kauai as they toured the island, for these were white men unlike any the Hawaiians had met before.

One family offered the missionaries a wife and a daughter “as a token of respect and kindness.” When Ruggles firmly refused the sexual favor, the family was confused, “all white men before say it was good, but you are not like other white men.” (Ruggles Journal)

“[June] Sat. 17th [1820]. The week past I have spent principally in visiting the different parts of Wimai; believe there is scarcely a house that I have not entered and my friendly Aloha.”

“The more I visit and become acquainted with this people, the more I feel interested in them, and the more I desire to spend my strength and life in endeavoring to secure to them the eternal welfare of their souls.”

“I sometimes feel almost impatient to know the language that I may explain to them the way of life and salvation. What little I can say they will listen to with the greatest attention, but their answer will be, ‘I want to know more, by and by I shall understand’”.

“One said yesterday, ‘the God of America is good but the Gods of Attooi are good for nothing; we throw them all away; by and by the American God will be the God of Attooi’”.

“The King appears more & more desirous for instruction; complains that he cannot spend time enough with his book, but says it is a time of unusual hurry at present, and he is soon to give his mind more thoroughly to it.”

“He with his Queen and several servants are able to read in words of four letters. Neither of them knew the alphabet when we arrived.”

“Says the King at one time when I visited him, ‘Hoomehoome says you no tell lie like some white men, now you must not tell lie when you go Woahoo, but you must come back and live with me’”.

“The week past has been a busy time with the natives. The King’s rent has been brought in from all parts of the Island and from Onehow (Niihau) a small Island about 15 miles to the westward. It consisted of hogs, dogs, mats, tappers, feathers, pearl fishhooks, calabashes and paddles.”

“This rent is to go to Owhyhee (Hawaii) as a present to the young King. It was interesting to see the natives come, sometimes more than a hundred at a time, with their loads on their backs and lay down their offerings at the feet of their great and good Chief as they call him.”

“When will the time arrive that they shall come and bow down to Jehovah, and give themselves living sacrifices to Him who has purchased them with His blood. I trust the day is at hand.” — S. R.