Benjamin Parker | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 28, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kāne‘ohe Congregational Church

The Rev. Benjamin Wyman Parker (born October 13, 1803 in Reading, Massachusetts) and his wife Mary Elizabeth Parker (known in Hawaiʻi as “Mother Parker” – of Branford, Connecticut) were in the Sixth Company of American Protestant missionaries to Hawai‘i, arriving in Honolulu on May 1, 1833 on the ship “Mentor.”

Almost immediately, they joined the Alexander and Armstrong families to open a mission in the Marquesas, on July 21, 1833. Their first and only son, Henry Hodges Parker was born there. They returned to Honolulu and were assigned to the “Kāneʻohe Station” on Windward Oahu.

“We reached this little nook after a voyage of two days in safety. This little bay – Kaneohe – is now our home. The people speak to us in an unknown tongue, yet are exceedingly kind. We have a large grass house to live in, without a window, partition or floor – not one fixture – not even a shelf.”

“Almost all we had was left behind … Surely we may live and feel like pilgrims without any difficulty. Our cookhouse is two stones sheltered only by the open heavens.” (Mary Parker, The Friend, May 1933)

When the Kāneʻohe Mission Station first opened in 1835, “high chief Liliha, who officiated as a sort of ‘Mother-superior’ of the place [Koʻolaupoko], located her ‘new teachers’ [Missionary Parker and his family] on a little bluff on the edge of a beautiful bay [Kaneohe Bay].”

In 1835, Parker opened a school for 60 children; and another for men and women. The following year, he had 100 children.

“The high Chiefess Liliha had located her ‘New Teachers,’ as she called them, on this bluff overlooking a beautiful bay. The locality was called ‘Aipaakai,’ literally an invitation to eat salt. Here they began the work of a lifetime.”

“The Hawaiians from Waimanalo, one extreme, to Kualoa, the other extreme of the district, numbered about 10,000. The barrier of language was soon removed as they learned to speak the Hawaiian language; and within a few weeks (Parker) preached his first sermon to his people.” (The Friend May, 1933)

The Kāneʻohe Congregational Church located on Waikapoki Road in Kāne’ohe is the oldest Protestant church on the windward side of Oʻahu established by missionary, Rev. Benjamin Wyman Parker.

After the division of lands known as the Great Mahele in 1848, the church was granted seven acres of land in 1849 by King Kamehemeha III. The first building was a hale pili or grass hut followed by other wooden structures located at the fork in the roads of Waikalua and Waikapoki in Kāne’ohe.

The last wooden structure was replaced by the present building, which was completed in 1956 and moved to the back of the property where it sits today on a little less than an acre of land. (Kāne‘ohe Congregational Church)

Throughout its history, the church has had numerous names, such as Kāne‘ohe Protestant Church, Lanakila Church, Kāne‘ohe Hawaiian Church and its current full name, Kāne‘ohe Congregational Church of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.

This church in Windward Oahu is Hawai‘i’s second-oldest continuously operated organization, based on date of incorporation. It received its charter of incorporation on November 19, 1849. The church was founded in 1834 by Rev. Benjamin Wyman Parker.

The majority of the lands were transferred to cemetery use in the early 1950s. Kaneohe Bay View Memorial Park started in 1954; the 7-acre site was organized by the Sunset Memorial Park Cemetery firm in Pearl City. (Hnl Adv Dec 19 1954) In early-1965, the Greenhaven Memorial Park took over the cemetery and renamed it as such. (Hnl Adv, Jan 19, 1965)

Rev. Parker’s first congregation in 1834 was called Kāneʻohe station, in 1849 after the land grant, the church name became Kāneʻohe Protestant Church.

The same message of Christianity that Rev. Parker brought is the same message that is being preached each Sunday at this church in Kāneʻohe. Throughout the years we have been blessed to have many esteemed faithful men of faith preach from our pulpit.

During World War II the church was a staging area for the military and was known for its benevolence to the community.

Today, this congregation’s outreach is its community service to Parker Elementary school, a woman’s shelter, community cleanup at Kalaupapa, visitation of the sick and elderly, and the provision of food donations to people in need.

As part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance it continues to fund and support missions throughout the world. (Kāne‘ohe Congregational Church)

December 26, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Benjamin and Mary Parker

From the time of early Polynesian settlement the ahupuaʻa of Kāneʻohe was a desirable place to live.

With its fertile land and abundant water sources, it is estimated that the 1779 population of the Kāneʻohe Bay area was probably somewhere between 15,000 and 17,000 people.

When foreigners began to settle in Hawaiʻi, Kāneʻohe was relatively isolated. The Bay did not provide a good anchorage and the trail over the Pali was treacherous.

The American Protestant missionaries decided to open a mission in Kāneʻohe.

The Rev. Benjamin Wyman Parker (born October 13, 1803 in Reading, Massachusetts) and his wife Mary Elizabeth Parker (known in Hawaiʻi as “Mother Parker” – of Branford, Connecticut) were in the Sixth Company of the Sandwich Island Mission, arriving in Honolulu on May 1, 1833 on the ship “Mentor.”

Almost immediately they joined the Alexander and Armstrong families to open a mission in the Marquesas, on July 21, 1833. Their first and only son, Henry Hodges Parker was born there. They returned to Honolulu and were assigned to the “Kāneʻohe Station” on Windward Oahu.

“We reached this little nook after a voyage of two days in safety. This little bay—Kaneohe—is now our home. The people speak to us in an unknown tongue, yet are exceedingly kind. We have a large grass house to live in, without a window, partition or floor—not one fixture—not even a shelf.”

When the Kāneʻohe Mission Station first opened in 1835, “high chief Liliha, who officiated as a sort of ‘Mother-superior’ of the place [Koʻolaupoko], located her ‘new teachers’ [Missionary Parker and his family] on a little bluff on the edge of a beautiful bay [Kaneohe Bay]”

In 1835, Parker opened a school for 60 children; and another for men and women. The following year, he had 100 children.

“The high Chiefess Liliha had located her “New Teachers,” as she called them, on this bluff overlooking a beautiful bay. The locality was called “Aipaakai,” literally an invitation to eat salt. Here they began the work of a lifetime.”

The school was initially in a grass hut. Later, they moved into a stone mission house provided again by Liliha, a quarter mile inland.

“Our new stone meeting-house, now nearly finished, is 95 feet in length by 42 in width. It has been erected by the voluntary effort of the church members. Our old grass house, in which we had worshipped eight years, had become too poor to allow of our assembling in it much longer. …”

“The people are poor, and destitute of every facility for erecting a permanent house. Yet they entered more than willingly upon the work … not more than 75 (of the 100 male members) are able to labor at such work, a number being aged and infirm.

“Yet these 75 have collected the materials for the house, consisting of stone, wood, and lime; they have assisted in laying the walls; they have been to the mountains to cut and draw timber, besides contributing in other ways to pay the carpenters and masons. The female members of the church have contributed monthly 12 ½ cents in money, or in some available articles, for the same object.” (The Friend, May 1933)

“(Parker) preached to large congregations; organized schools; taught classes; took long journeys either on foot or horseback to outlying districts, going from house to house, advising, helping, instructing his people; inspected the schools, guided the Hawaiian teachers; collected timber in the mountains for building purposes; superintended the building of churches and schoolhouses; planted trees; laid out roads; and directed the course of a stream of water from the mountains.”

“The brook which runs its way in front of the modern public school is due to his foresight.” (The Friend, May 1933) He also helped survey the Koʻolau lands for the Great Māhele.

Their three daughters were born at the Kāneʻohe Station, Mary in 1835, Harriet in 1837 and Caroline in 1840. All of their children carried on their parents work. Mary and Caroline were in charge of a boy’s reform school in Pālama. Their son, Henry became pastor of Kawaiahaʻo Church in 1863 and served in that position for 54-years.

“A telescope leveled on the pali for coming visitors told the Parker girls how much taro and sweet potato to prepare for dinner. That telescope and the handbell used as a signal for the sexton to ring the church bell, were part of the family belongings for years.” (The Friend, May, 1933)

In 1848, Rev. Parker reported the foreign population of Koʻolaupoko to be only seven (one Swede, two Englishmen and four Americans) , three of whom were married , each having one child. One was a house carpenter and the others “cultivate the soil to some extent”.

Following the Māhele, Parker acquired Koʻolaupoko lands, the ʻili of Lilipuna and other Kāneʻohe lands (over 55-acres total in 1851) and almost 650-acres of Waiheʻe, in 1855. By 1869 Parker owned all the land of Waiheʻe except for the kuleana lands.

His son Henry formed the Parker Sugar Company and had about 80-acres in cultivation in 1880; they were only planters, the grinding was done at the nearby Kāneʻohe Sugar Plantation.

In 1894, the Parker family, the major landholder in Waiheʻe, leased rice property to the Sing Chong Company, a hui that also possessed or leased lands in Kaʻalaea and Kahaluʻu

In 1853, the Hawaiian Missionary Society reopened the Marquesas mission; Reverend Parker accompanied local emissaries in 1853 and 1867. Later in 1867, he retired and moved to Honolulu. He died in Honolulu March 23, 1877 at the age of 74.

In December 1905, the Hawaiian Mission celebrated the one-hundredth birthday of Mother Parker, noting, “For many years you have remained the sole survivor of that large band of missionaries with whom you labored more than sixty-five years ago …”

“… for the spiritual and social uplifting, through Christ, of these beloved Hawaiian people, while children who remember those early days have grown aged or gone on before.” Governor Carter came with congratulations, and a call from the former Queen was highly appreciated.

In 1927, The Reverend Benjamin Parker School (originally called Kāneʻohe School) opened in Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu, on land donated by the Parker family. It is the first school in the Windward district. It started as an elementary and intermediate school, grades 1-8.

Over the years, it expanded in size and grades taught; in 1937 it became an elementary and high school, grades 1-12. In 1951, when Castle High School opened, Parker reverted to an elementary school, serving grades K – 6.

A fire destroyed portions of the school and it was reconstructed in 1973. (Lots of stuff here from The Friend, Kāneʻohe: A History of Change and the Benjamin Parker School website.)

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November 7, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

A Gold Watch From President Abraham Lincoln

While there were several other participants, this story really relates to two people – James Kekela and Jonathan Whalon … and because of the meeting between these two, President Abraham Lincoln stepped into the picture.

James Kekela was born in 1824 at Mokuleia, in Waialua. After public schooling, he was selected as a promising candidate to attend the mission school at Lahainaluna.

“Here he acquired what that center of light had to give; some knowledge of life, of the world in which we live, and of the divine revelation made in the Sacred Scriptures. And more than all else, he acquired a firm faith in a personal Savior and Redeemer.” (The Friend)

Mr. Kekela was the first Native Hawaiian to be ordained as a minister in Hawaiʻi, ordained at Kahuku on December 21, 1849 and settled as pastor of the Hauʻula church.

He served as pastor for two or three years until he was called to foreign missionary work – in 1853, the Hawaiian churches decided to unite to support a mission to the Marquesas Islands, sending out missionaries from among their own ranks.

Rev. James Kekela and Rev. Samuel Kauwealoha, and their wives, were accompanied by New England missionary Benjamin Parker of Kāneʻohe Mission Station; these native couples were the first Hawaiian families to serve as missionaries in the Marquesas, 1853-1909.

They settled on the island of Hiva-Oa in Puamau, a large valley with 500 inhabitants – the valley rises two miles inland, where it terminates in an abrupt precipice 2,000 feet high.

Kekela’s counterpart in this story, Jonathan Whalon, was born at Dartmouth, Massachusetts, in 1822. On July 13, 1841, he applied for and was granted Seaman’s Protection Certificate #58 at Fall River, Massachusetts.

He served on whaling ships and made a total of seven whaling voyages, working his way up the chain of command, from green-hand to captain on his fifth and sixth voyages.

His seventh and final voyage (in 1864) was on board the whaling ship Congress 2, as first mate. Evidently everything went smoothly until he decided to visit the natives on the island of Hiva-Oa.

Unbeknownst to all, previously, a Peruvian vessel had stolen men from Hiva-Oa, and the Marquesans were waiting for an opportunity to revenge the deed.

Mr. Whalon went on shore to trade for pigs, fowls, etc, and the natives, under the presence of hunting pigs, decoyed him into the woods, where, at a concerted signal, large numbers of men had been collected. Mr. Whalon was seized, bound, stripped of his clothing, and taken to be cooked and eaten.

“Kekela and others made haste to rescue the mate. At first the wrathful chief refused to give up his victim; but he yielded at length to Kekela’s entreaties, and offered to receive as a ransom his new six-oared boat, given him by his benefactor in Boston, which he greatly prized, and greatly needed in his missionary work. But the good man did not hesitate a moment to accept the hard terms.” (Hiram Bingham Jr.)

The dramatic circumstances of Jonathan Whalon’s capture and rescue were reported when his ship reached America, and the incident eventually came to the attention of President Abraham Lincoln.

Although the President was engrossed in the ‘War Between the States,’ he was so moved that he sent $500 in gold to Dr. McBride, US Minister resident in Honolulu, for the purchase of suitable gifts that would express his gratitude to those who had participated in the rescue.

The President presented a total of 10-gifts: two gold hunting case watches; two double-barreled guns (one to the Marquesan chief who rescued Mr. Whalon and the other to B. Nagel, the German who assisted the chief;) a silver medal to the girl who hailed the whaleboat and told the men to “pull away”; and, lastly, a spy-glass, two quadrants and two charts to the Marquesan Mission. All were inscribed in Hawaiian. (The Friend)

“This act of the President, in rewarding these persons, will have a good effect all through the ocean, for it will be circulated far and near, and will show them that the President not only hears of the good deeds of Polynesian islanders, but stands ready to reward them.” (The Friend)

Most interesting among the gifts was a large gold watch the President gave to Kekela (a similar watch was given to Kaukau, Kekela’s associate in the rescue.)

The inscription on it is translated from Hawaiian as follows:
“From the President of the United States to Rev. J. Kekela For His Noble Conduct in Rescuing An American Citizen from Death
On the Island of Hiva Oa January 14, 1864.”

Rev. Kekela sent a thank you letter, in response. In part, it stated: “Greetings to you, great and good Friend! … When I saw one of your countrymen, a citizen of your great nation, ill-treated, and about to be baked and eaten, as a pig is eaten, I ran to save him, full of pity and grief at the evil deed of these benighted people.”

“As to this friendly deed of mine in saving Mr. Whalon, its seed came from your great land, and was brought by certain of your countrymen, who had received the love of God. It was planted in Hawaii, and I brought it to plant in this land and in these dark regions, that they might receive the root of all that is good and true, which is love.”

“I gave my boat for the stranger’s life. This boat came from James Hunnewell, a gift of friendship. It became the ransom of this countryman of yours, that he might not be eaten by the savages who knew not Jehovah. This was Mr. Whalon, and the date, Jan. 14, 1864.” (Kekela as quoted by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Unfortunately, President Lincoln never received the thank you note; Lincoln was assassinated shortly before the note’s arrival.

After forty-seven years of foreign missionary service in the Marquesas, Rev. and Mrs. Kekela returned to their native islands. Kekela died in 1904. He is buried in Mission Houses cemetery a few steps from where his gold watch and letters are kept at the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives.

The story is depicted in a recent Mysteries at the Museum – here is a link to the full program, the Kekela Watch sequence is within this video (go to 20:44):

https://www.travelchannel.com/content/travel-com/en/shows/m/mysteries-at-the-museum/episodes/1700/fleeing-fidel-murder-by-shark-and-inflated-feud.html

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James Hunnewell Kekela (1824–1904) and wife Naomi Kaenaokane Maka Kekela (1826–1902)-PP-74-8a-014

January 2, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Benjamin Parker High School

In 1927, the Reverend Benjamin Parker School (originally called Kāneʻohe School) opened in Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu. It started as an elementary and intermediate school, grades 1-8.

Over the years, it expanded in size and grades taught; in 1937 it became an elementary and high school, grades 1-12. In 1940, Benjamin Parker School was a founding member of the Rural O‘ahu Interscholastic Association (ROIA – with Kahuku, Leilehua, Waialua and Waipahu.)

That group later grew into the O‘ahu Interscholastic Association (OIA sports league.) Benjamin Parker was ROIA football champion in 1945.

Parker began bursting at the seams … “Congestion and inadequate accommodations at Benjamin Parker School in Kaneohe, was disclosed Thursday in a letter to the Mayor and board of supervisors by Joseph T Ferreira, of the department of public instruction, who has asked for the installation of three Quonset huts to relieve the conditions.”

“Maximum accommodations at the school, Mr Ferreira told the Advertiser yesterday, are for 940 pupils. The present enrollment is 1,065.”

“The school has 17 classrooms, all filled, and in addition uses four basement rooms and two Quonset huts for classroom purposes.” In addition, 2-classes were held at Luluku Japanese School, 1-class was at Windward Community Assn, 1-class in the Methodist Church, 1-class in the school auditorium and another in the school library. (Advertiser, October 3, 1947)

Ground was broken in 1949 for a new windward school. On “January 2, 1951, Principal Clinton Kanahele and his 700 students of Benjamin Parker Elementary and High School made their move to the new Benjamin Parker Annex on Kāne‘ohe Bay Drive.”

“During the first year of operation, approximately 750-students enrolled in grades 7-12. A library, an office and four more classrooms were under construction.” (Star Bulletin)

“At the start of the 1951-1952 school year, the name changed to James B Castle High and Intermediate School. In June, 1952, 108-seniors made up the first graduating class of the James B Castle Intermediate and High School. (In 1965, Castle became a high school servicing grades 9-12. Grades 7-8 were then served at King Intermediate School.) (Allen)

(When Castle High and Intermediate started, the old Parker School reverted to an elementary school, serving grades K – 6. A fire destroyed portions of the school and it was reconstructed in 1973. (DOE))

Parker School was named after American Protestant missionary Benjamin Wyman Parker. When the Mission Station first opened in 1835, “The high Chiefess Liliha had located her ‘New Teachers,’ as she called them, on this bluff overlooking a beautiful bay.”

The school was initially in a grass hut. Later, they moved into a stone mission house provided again by Liliha, a quarter mile inland.

“The locality was called ‘Aipa‘akai,’ literally an invitation to eat salt. Here they began the work of a lifetime. The Hawaiians from Waimanalo, one extreme, to Kualoa, the other extreme of the district, numbered about 10,000.”

“The barrier of language was soon removed as they learned to speak the Hawaiian language; and within a few weeks (Parker) preached his first sermon to his people.” (The Friend May, 1933)

The original Benjamin Parker School that started in 1927 was on land donated by the Parker family. The second Parker School (now Castle High School) is on land donated by the Castle family.

Hawai‘i-born James Bicknell Castle was son of American Protestant Missionary Samuel Northrop Castle (also founder of Castle and Cooke.) “Not satisfied with the mere amassing of wealth, Mr. Castle invariable turned over properties as soon as they were brought to the point of financial stability, and launched new enterprises.”

Castle expanded Castle & Cooke in sugar and rail and is credited with taking control of the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company from Claus Spreckels in 1898. He bought large amounts of land, such as Kaneohe Ranch.

Today, James B Castle High has over 1,550 students, the largest of four high schools on the Windward side (Castle, Kailua, Kalaheo and Kahuku.) Rev. Benjamin Parker Elementary School has 336 students in grades PK and K-6.

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