Betsey Stockton

August 26, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Missionary, Educator … Former Slave

“Here begins the history of things known only to those who have bid the American shores a long adieu….” (Betsey Stockton)

The Second Company destined for the Sandwich Island Mission assembled at New Haven for the purpose of taking passage in the ship Thames, captain Closby, which was to sail on the 19th (November 1822.) (Congregational Magazine)

Among them was Betsey Stockton, “a colored young woman brought up in the family of the Rev. Ashbel Green, having been received with the Rev. Charles S Stewart & his wife, as a missionary to the Sandwich islands by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM.)”

Betsey Stockton was born into slavery in Princeton, New Jersey in 1798. She belonged to Robert Stockton, a local attorney. She was presented as a gift to Stockton’s daughter and son-in-law, the Rev. Ashbel Green, then President of Princeton College (later Princeton University.)

She was given books and was allowed to attend evening classes at Princeton Theological Seminary and was later freed. (Kealoha)

“(S)he is to be regarded & treated neither as an equal nor as a servant – but as an humble christian friend, embarked in the great enterprise of endeavoring to ameliorate the condition of the heathen generally, & especially to bring them to the saving knowledge of the truths as it is in Jesus.” (Portion of Approval for Betsey Stockton to be a Missionary to Hawaiʻi, ABCFM)

“On the 24th (March 1823,) we saw and made Owhyhee. At the first sight of the snow-capped mountains, I felt a strange sensation of joy and grief. It soon wore away, and as we sailed slowly past its windward side, we had a full view of all its grandeur.”

“The tops of the mountains are hidden in the clouds, and covered with perpetual snow. We could see with a glass the white banks, which brought the strong wintry blasts of our native country to our minds so forcibly, as almost to make me shiver.”

“Two or three canoes, loaded with natives, came to the ship … we asked them where the king was at Hawaii, or Oahu? They said at Oahu. We informed them that we were missionaries, come to live with them, and do them good. At which an old man exclaimed, in his native dialect, what may be thus translated – ‘That is very good, by and by, know God.’” (Stockton)

They landed on Oʻahu. “The Mission is in prosperous circumstances, and the hopes of its supporters here were never brighter. Truly the fields are already ripe for the harvest, and we may add, ‘The harvest is great, but the labourers are few.’”

“We have been received with open arms by the government and people, and twice the number of missionaries would have been joyfully hailed.” (Charles Samuel Stewart)

“On the 26th of May we heard that the barge was about to sail for Lahaina, with the old queen and princes; and that the queen (Keōpūolani) was desirous to have missionaries to accompany her; and that if missionaries would consent to go, the barge should wait two days for them.”

“(T)he king this morning hastened off in a small yacht, and left orders for the barge (the celebrated Cleopatra) and Waverley, to follow to Lahaina: they are now preparing to get under weigh, and I must secure a passage.”

“Two weeks after we arrived at the islands, we were sent to this place, which is considered the best part of the whole. The productions are melons, bananas, sweet potatoes, &c.” (Stockton)

“The prosperity of the mission is uninterrupted, and its prospects most encouraging. … We are very comfortably located at one of the most beautiful and important spots on the islands.”

“Mr. Richards and myself have an island with 20,000 inhabitants committed to our spiritual care – a solemn – a most responsible charge!” (Stewart)

“It was there, as (Betsey said,) that she opened a school for the common people which was certainly the first of the kind in Maui and probably the first in all Hawaii; for at the beginning the missionaries were chiefly engaged in the instructions of the chiefs and their families.” (Maui News, May 5, 1906)

“The 29th (June 1923) was the Sabbath. I went in the morning with the family to worship; the scene that presented itself was one that would have done an American’s heart good to have witnessed.”

“Our place of worship was nothing but an open place on the beach, with a large tree to shelter us; on the ground a large mat was laid, on which the chief persons sat. To the right there was a sofa, and a number of chairs; on these the missionaries, the king, and principal persons sat.”

“The kanakas, or lower class of people, sat on the ground in rows; leaving a passage open to the sea, from which the breeze was blowing. Mr. R. (Richards) addressed them from these words, ‘It is appointed unto all men once to die, and after death the judgment.’ Honoru acted as interpreter: the audience all appeared very solemn.” (Stockton)

“After service the favourite queen called me, and requested that I should take a seat with her on the sofa, which I did, although I could say but few words which she could understand. Soon after, biding them aroha I returned with the family. In the afternoon we had an English sermon at our house: about fifty were present, and behaved well.”

“In the morning one of the king’s boys came to the house, desiring to be instructed in English. Mr. S. (Stewart) thought it would be well for me to engage in the work at once. Accordingly I collected a proper number and commenced. I had four English, and six Hawaiian scholars. This, with the care of the family, I find as much as I can manage.” (Stockton)

Stockton has asked the mission to allow her “to create a school for the makaʻāinana (common people.) Stockton learned the Hawaiian Language and established a school in Maui where she taught English, Latin, History and Algebra. (Kealoha)

“It shows that a sincere desire to accomplish a good purpose need not be thwarted by other necessary engagements, however humble or exacting.” (Maui News, May 5, 1906)

Betsey Stockton set a new direction for education in the Islands. Stockton’s school was commended for its teaching proficiency, and later served as a model for the Hilo Boarding School and also for the Hampton Institute in Virginia, founded by General Samuel C. Armstrong. (Takara)

After residing in Hawaii for over two years, Betsey Stockton relocated to Cooperstown, New York, with the Stewarts. In subsequent years, she taught indigenous Canadian Indian students on Grape Island.

She later “led a movement to form the First Presbyterian Church of Colour in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1848.” In addition, between the period of 1848 to 1865, Stockton moved to Philadelphia to teach Black children.

Betsey Stockton made pioneering endeavors as a missionary in Hawaii, but her legacy is not well known. Still, Stockton’s school “set a new direction for education in the Islands … (It) served as a model for the Hilo Boarding School.”

Her teaching program have influence Samuel C Armstrong, the founder of Hampton Institute, who also worked as a missionary in Hawaii during this period. After a full and productive life of service for the Lord, Betsey Stockton passed away in October of 1865 in Princeton, New Jersey. (Johnson)

May 28, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Keōpūolani Sails to Lāhainā

On the arrival of the American missionaries in April 1820, all the chiefs were consulted respecting the expediency of their establishment in the islands. Some of the chiefs seemed to doubt; but Keōpūolani without hesitation approved their proposals. (Keōpūolani Memoir)

Keōpūolani welcomed them. As the highest ranking ali‘i of her time, her embracing of Christianity set a crucial seal of approval on the missionaries and their god. (Langlas & Lyon)

Keōpūolani was the daughter of Kīwalaʻo. Kīwalaʻo was the son of Kalaniʻōpuʻu by Kalola (sister of Kahekili.) Her mother was Kekuiapoiwa Liliha, Kīwalaʻo sister. She was aliʻi kapu of nī‘aupi‘o (high-born – offspring of the marriage of a high-born brother and sister or half-brother and half-sister.)

Her ancestors on her mother’s side were ruling chiefs of Maui; her ancestors on her father’s side were the ruling chiefs of the island of Hawai‘i. Keōpūolani’s genealogy traced back to Ulu, who descended from Hulihonua and Keakahulilani, the first man and woman created by the gods.

In the year 1822, while at Honolulu, she was very ill, and her attention seems to have been then first drawn to the instructions of the missionaries. (Anderson)

On April 27, 1823, the Second Company (First Reinforcements) arrived in the Islands. On board were missionaries Reverend Artemas Bishop and Mrs. Bishop, Dr. Abraham Blatchley and Mrs. Blatchley, Mr. Levi Chamberlain, Mr. James Ely and Mrs. Ely, Mr. Joseph Goodrich and Mrs. Goodrich, The Reverend William Richards and Mrs. Richards, The Reverend Charles S. Stewart and Mrs. Stewart, and Miss Betsey Stockton.

In May 1823, Keōpūolani and her husband Hoapili expressed a desire to have an instructor connected with them. They selected Taua, a native teacher sent by the church at Huaheine, in company with the Rev.William Ellis, to instruct them and their people in the first principles of the Gospel, and teach them to read and write. (Memoir)

Keōpūolani requested, as did the king and chiefs, that missionaries might accompany her. As Lāhainā had been previously selected for a missionary station, the missionaries were happy to commence their labors there under such auspices. (Keōpūolani Memoir)

Liholiho (King Kamehameha II) was the son of Kamehameha and Keōpūolani. Like his father, Liholiho had loved foreign ships; over time he had collected a sizable ﬂeet of Western vessels, which, with guns and training by the foreigners, were a major asset in unifying and maintaining his kingdom across the islands.

Liholiho purchased Cleopatra’s Barge and her cargo for 1.07-million pounds of sandalwood, worth $80,000 at the time. On January 4, 1821, King Liholiho took formal possession of Cleopatra’s Barge, appointing his personal secretary, Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Rives, as temporary captain. That ship was to take Keōpūolani to Lāhainā.

“On the 26th of May [1823] we heard that the barge was about to sail for Lahaina, with the old queen and princes; and that the queen was desirous to have missionaries to accompany her; and that if missionaries would consent to go, the barge should wait two days for them.”

“A meeting was called to consult whether it was expedient to establish a mission at Lahaina. The mission was determined on, and Mr. [Stewart] was appointed to go: he chose Mr. [Richards] for his companion, who was also appointed the next day. On the 28th we embarked on the mighty ocean again, which we had left so lately.” (Betsey Stockton)

As noted in Rev Stewart’s book of his time in Hawaii “The Cleopatra’s Barge, at sea, May 30, 1823. On Wednesday, the 28th, Mr and Mrs Richards, [Harriet Stewart] and myself, [Betsey Stockton] and [Stewarts’ son Charles – born at sea on the way to the Islands], with William Kamahoula, and Mr. [Elisha] Loomis, who makes the voyage to see us established at our station, embarked with the queen Keopuolani for Maui.”

“Our designation was so unexpected, and departure so sudden, that we had scarce leisure to turn a thought on the separation about to take place from our fellow laborers, or to cast a glance of anticipation at the possible trials that might await us, in a distant and solitary district of the islands.”

“The topsails of the barge had long been unfurled as a signal for sailing, before we had completed our preparations, and the last package was scarcely secured, before the farewell hymn and benedictions of our friends were sounding in our ears, and we hurried to the open bosom of the Pacific.”

“Left to the deliberate contemplation of our position, we almost trembled at the responsibility resting upon us, and at the arduous duties in prospect. Every thought was exquisitely awake to the life on which we had now actually entered.”

“Months indeed had passed since we bade adieu to our country, home, and friends; but during a voyage of 18,000 miles, we had still been surrounded by those we loved; and for the last few weeks, though on heathen shores, we had been calmly reposing in the bosom of a band of intelligent and affectionate Christians, without a participation of their labors and their cares. …”

“We were fully alive to the contrast; and, in the anticipation of the privations and trials, by which we believe the work in which we are engaged must be accomplished, we could scarce refrain exclaiming, ‘Farewell ease – farewell comfort – farewell every wordly joy.’”

“But with these feelings there was no mingling of despondency. No, in the kind providence of God, every circumstance attending our situation is too auspicious to admit the indulgence of any unbelieving fear of the ultimate success of our enterprise.

“We had been on board scarce an hour, before the polite and kind attention of those under whose immediate and express patronage we had embarked, made us almost forget that we were not still in the bosom of beloved friends. …”

“[I]n the evening, while a splendid moon gave a softened beauty to the receding promontories of Oahu, and brought to light the distant shores of Molokai and Lanai, overtopped by the loftier heights of Maui …”

“Previous to our embarcation, we had but little opportunity to judge, from personal intercourse, of the degree of civilization to which the chiefs have attained in minor points, and were somewhat surprised at the ceremonious attentions paid us.”

“Immediately on reaching the vessel, we were informed that the after-cabin was appropriated exclusively to-our use; though there were not less than two hundred persons on board, many of them high chiefs, with their particular friends; …”

“… and we had hardly cleared the harbor, when the steward waited on us, to know what we would order for dinner, and at what hour it should be served.

“Mr [Anthony] Allen had sent us a fine ready-dressed kid, with some melons, for our passage; and Mrs [Hiram] Bingham had kindly prepared coffee and other refreshments; but our table has been so regularly and comfortably spread, that our basket of cold provisions remains untouched.”

“This attention is the more noticeable, because the trouble is entirely on our account, all the natives eating their favorite dishes on their mats on deck. Kalaimoku [Kalanimōku], from courtesy, very politely took his seat with us the first time we sat down. to, meal, but excused himself from partaking of the dinner, by saying that he had eaten above.”

“There was something also in the attentions of the king to his mother, when leaving Honolulu, that had a pleasing effect on our minds. This venerable old lady was the last person that came on board.”

“After we had reached the quarter-deck of the barge, she appeared on the beach, surrounded by an immense crowd, and supported by Liholiho in a tender and respectful manner.”

“He would let no one assist her into the long-boat but himself; and seemed to think of nothing but her ease and safety, till she was seated on her couch, beneath an awning over the main hatch.”

“The king continued to manifest the utmost affection and respect for her till we got under way; and, apparently from the same filial feelings, accompanied us fifteen miles to sea, and left the brig in a pilot-boat, in time barely to reach the harbor before dark.” (Charles Stewart)

“On their passage [Keōpūolani] told [the missionaries] she would be their mother; and indeed she acted the part of a mother ever afterwards. On the evening of Saturday, the clay of their arrival, she sent them as much food, already cooked, as was necessary for their comfort at the time, and also for the next day, which was the Sabbath.”

“In the morning of the 31st, we all came on deck, and were in sight of land. In the middle of the day we came to anchor; the gentlemen left the vessel to see if they could obtain a house, or any accommodations for us. They returned in a few hours with Mr. Butler, an American resident, who had kindly offered us a house.” (Betsey Stockton)

“Immediately on their arrival, [Keōpūolani] requested [the missionaries] to commence teaching, and said, also, ‘It is very proper that my sons (meaning the missionaries) be present with me at morning and evening prayers.’”

“They were always present, sung a hymn in the native language, and when nothing special prevented, addressed through an interpreter the people who were present, when Taua, or the interpreter, concluded the service with prayer.” (Keōpūolani Memoir)

“In the afternoon our things were landed, and we took up our residence in Lahaina. We had not seen a tree that looked green and beautiful since we left home, until we came here.” (Betsey Stockton)

On April 24, 1873, while serving as Sheriff on Maui, William Owen Smith (a son of missionary Lowell Smith) planted Lāhainā’s Indian Banyan to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the first Protestant mission in Lāhainā.

August 26, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Blacks in Hawaiʻi

The history of the Black presence in Hawaiʻi goes back to the first sailors; Blacks were crewmembers of Captain Cook’s second and third Pacific voyages.

Thirty years later, Cook’s Black cabin boy was given the opportunity to prove his navigational prowess to George Crowninshield, then captain of the famous Salem, MA built yacht ‘Cleopatra’s Barge,’ in Genoa, Italy. (McGhee) (Liholiho, King Kamehameha II, later bought Cleopatra’s Barge for over 1-million pounds of sandalwood and renamed the yacht “Haʻaheo O Hawai‘i” (Pride of Hawaiʻi.))

There is a “high likelihood” of the presence of Blacks on many of the early ships that crossed the Pacific. Free and unfree Blacks had been serving onboard these ships in a variety of capacities.

Between about 1820 and 1880 hundreds of whaling ships annually pulled into (primarily) Honolulu and Lāhainā, and a significant number of Blacks stayed behind in the islands and became permanent residents, where they worked as cooks, barbers, tailors, sailors on interisland vessels and members of musical groups.

Work on sugar plantations was considered too close to slavery that Blacks were not considered for contract labor by the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Later, however, a significant influx of Blacks to Hawaiʻi involved the migration of the first Portuguese and Puerto Rican contract laborers to work on the sugar plantations (a significant portion of these were of African ancestry.)

Hawaiʻi experienced serious labor problems prior to 1900. Japanese and Chinese plantation laborers had sporadic strikes that began to present real problems for plantation owners.

“Paradise of the Pacific” quoted one sugar plantation owner as saying that his plantation could take 25-families. He stated that “…interest has also been awakened among housewives as to the desirability of Negroes as cooks, nurses, etc and many think they might supplant the Japanese in household duties.” (September 1897)

Over the following decades more Blacks came to the islands. The following is a sampling of some census data on African-Americans in Hawaiʻi:
1900 ……….233
1950 ……..2,651
1970 ……..7,517
1990 ……26,669
2000 ……22,003
2010 ……21,424
2020 ……23,417

A couple of the early, notable Blacks in Hawaiʻi include:

Anthony D Allen
The most notable among African Americans to settle in Hawaiʻi, Anthony Allen, arrived in 1810. Called Alani by the Hawaiians, Allen was a former slave; arriving in Hawaiʻi he served as a steward to Kamehameha and went on to become a successful entrepreneur.

He acquired land from high priest Hewa Hewa in 1811, starting a farm, ‘resort’ (he reportedly had the first ‘hotel’ in Waikīkī,) a bowling alley and a hospital for ill and injured sailors.

Allen died of a stroke on December 31, 1835, leaving behind a considerable fortune to his children. In tribute to Allen, Reverend John Diell noted, “The last sun of the departed year went down upon the dying bed of another man who has long resided upon the island. He was a colored man, but shared, to a large extent, in the respect of this whole community. …”

“He has been a pattern of industry and perseverance, and of care for the education of his children. … In justice to his memory, and to my own feelings, I must take this opportunity to acknowledge the many expressions of kindness which we received from him from the moment of our arrival.”

Click HERE for a link to a prior story on Anthony Allen.

Betsey Stockton
Another former slave on the continent, Betsey Stockton then belonged to Robert Stockton, a local attorney. She was given to Stockton’s daughter and son-in-law, the Rev. Ashbel Green, then President of Princeton College (later known as Princeton University,) as a gift.

When Stockton expressed her interest in becoming a Christian missionary, she was granted her freedom and accepted into membership by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missionaries. On November 20, 1822, Stockton and 20 other American Protestant missionaries in the 2nd Company set sail from New Haven, Connecticut for the Hawaiian Islands. Upon her arrival Stockton became the first known African American woman in Hawaiʻi. Stockton was assigned to a mission in Lāhainā, Maui, in 1823.

Up until that time, missionaries instructed Hawaiians in Christianity but had limited their teaching of reading, writing and math to their own children and the children of the Hawaiian chiefs. Stockton learned the Hawaiian Language and established a school in Maui where she taught English, Latin, History and Algebra.

The site of her school is the location of the current Lahainaluna School. Stockton left Hawaiʻi in 1825, returning to the mainland where she was assigned to teach Native American children in Canada. She spent the final years of her life teaching black children in Philadelphia. Betsy Stockton died in her hometown of Princeton, New Jersey in October 1865.

Click HERE for a link to a prior story on Betsey Stockton

Alice Augusta Ball
On June 1, 1915, Alice Ball was the first African American and the first woman to graduate with a Master of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Hawaiʻi. In the 1915-1916 academic year, she also became the first woman to teach chemistry at the institution.

But the significant contribution Ball made to medicine was a successful injectable treatment for those suffering from Hansen’s disease. She isolated the ethyl ester of chaulmoogra oil (from the tree native to India) which, when injected, proved extremely effective in relieving some of the symptoms of Hansen’s disease.

Although not a full cure, Ball’s discovery was a significant victory in the fight against a disease that has plagued nations for thousands of years. The discovery was coined, at least for the time being, the “Ball Method.” A College of Hawaiʻi chemistry laboratory began producing large quantities of the new injectable chaulmoogra.

During the four years between 1919 and 1923, no patients were sent to Kalaupapa – and for the first time some Kalaupapa patients were released. Ball’s injectable compound seemed to provide effective treatment for the disease, and as a result the lab began to receive “requests for their chaulmoogra oil preparations from all over the world.”

Click HERE for a link to a prior story on Alice Ball.

July 23, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Born in 1798 in Princeton, New Jersey, as a slave owned by the family of Robert Stockton, Esq., Betsey Stockton was presented as a gift to the Stockton’s eldest daughter and her husband, the Reverend Ashbel Green (who was later the President of Princeton College (later known as Princeton University.))

Although masters did not typically favor educating their slaves beyond proficient training as domestic nurse, seamstress and cook, Green gave her books and encouraged her to use the family library. She later attended evening classes at Princeton Theological Seminary.

In September 1816, Betsey’s application for admission to the First Presbyterian Church in Princeton was formally approved. Around 1817, Ashbel Green freed her.

Stockton often spoke to Green about her wish to journey abroad, possibly to Africa, on a Christian mission. Green introduced her to Charles S Stewart, a young missionary, newly ordained in 1821, who was about to be sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) to Hawaiʻi.

Through a special agreement between Green, the Stewarts and the ABCFM, Stockton joined the mission both as a domestic in the Stewart household and was commissioned by the ABCFM as a missionary.

She became the first single American woman sent overseas as a missionary.

Her contract with the Board and with the Stewarts said that she went “neither as an equal nor as a servant, but as a humble Christian friend” to the Stewarts, and provided that she was not to do more than an equal share of menial duties which might “prevent her being employed as a teacher of a school”.

In November 1822, Stockton, the Stewarts and the other missionaries in the 2nd Company set sail on the ‘Thames’ from New Haven, Connecticut for the Hawaiian Islands.

On April 24, 1823, “we saw and made Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi). At the first sight of the snow-capped mountains, I felt a strange sensation of joy and grief. It soon wore away, and as we sailed slowly past its windward side, we had a full view of all its grandeur.”

Upon her arrival, Stockton became the first known African American woman in Hawaiʻi.

Intelligent, industrious and frugal, she was aptly described as a devoted Christian, not only because of her constant attendance at church and her faith in God, but also because she supported the interests of the church, secured clothes for her students, and helped to heal the sick while continuing her domestic work to help the Stuarts. (Jackson)

“On Saturday, the 10th of May (1823,) we left the ship, and went to the mission enclosure at Honoruru. We had assigned to us a little thatched house in one corner of the yard, consisting of one small room, with a door, and two windows – the door too small to admit a person walking in without stooping, and the windows only large enough for one person to look out at a time.”

“The family all eat at the same table, and the ladies attend to the work by turns. Mrs. Stewart and myself took each of us a day separately.” (Betsey Stockton Journal)

“On the 26th of May (1823) we heard that the barge (Cleopatra’s Barge, or “Haʻaheo o Hawaiʻi,” Pride of Hawaiʻi) was about to sail for Lahaina, with the old queen (Keōpūolani) and princess (Nāhiʻenaʻena;) and that the queen was desirous to have missionaries to accompany her …”

“A meeting was called to consult whether it was expedient to establish a mission at Lahaina. The mission was determined on, and Mr. S. (Stewart) was appointed to go: he chose Mr. R. (Richards) for his companion … On the 28th we embarked on the mighty ocean again, which we had left so lately.” (Betsey Stockton Journal)

Per the requests of the chiefs, the American Protestant missionaries, at that time, were typically teaching their own children and the children of the Hawaiian chiefs.

“Now the chiefs have expressed their determination to have instruction in reading and writing extended to the whole population and have only been waiting for books, and an increase in the number of suitably qualified native teachers, to put the resolution, as far as practical, into effect.”

“A knowledge of this having reached some of the makaainana, or farmers of Lahaina … application was made by them to us for books and slates, and an instructor …”

“… and the first school, consisting of about thirty individuals, ever formed among that class of people, has, within a few days, been established in our enclosure, under the superintendence of B (Betsey Stockton), who is quite familiar with the native tongue.” (Charles Stewart Journal, August 1824)

In 1823, Kalākua Kaheiheimālie (ke Aliʻi Hoapili wahine, wife of Governor Hoapili) offered the American missionaries a tract of land on the slopes surrounding Puʻu Paʻupaʻu for the creation of a school.

Stockton founded a school for makaʻāinana (common people) including the women and children. The school was situated on what is now Lahainaluna School (and some suggest it served as the initial basis for that school.)

Stockton’s school was commended for its teaching proficiency, and later served as a model for the Hilo Boarding School and also for the Hampton Institute in Virginia, a historic Black college in Virginia established after the Civil War (founded by General Samuel C. Armstrong (son of missionary Richard Armstrong, former Pastor at Kawaiahaʻo Church.))

(Kalākaua visited Hampton Normal and Agricultural School – later known as Hampton Institute on one of his trips to the continent.)

Because of the serious illness of Mrs. Harriet Stewart, the Stewarts decided to return to Cooperstown, New York, after two and a half years in Hawaiʻi. Stockton accompanied them; leaving native Hawaiian teachers she had trained to take her place.

Stockton left Hawaiʻi in 1825, returning to the continent where she was assigned to teach Native American children in Canada. Then, Stockton returned to Princeton in 1835, living in a small house on Witherspoon Street, which was primarily an African American neighborhood.

Stockton was instrumental in the founding of the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, originally called the First Presbyterian Church of Color of Princeton. She also began teaching African American children in a public school in Princeton in 1837, which she continued to do for several years.

She spent the rest of her life in Princeton working on behalf of its African American and white residents to enrich the lives of the members of the local African American community.

Betsey Stockton began life as a slave, and went on to become a schoolteacher, medical nurse and missionary; she died in her hometown of Princeton, New Jersey in October 1865.

Here is a link to an expanded discussion on Betsey Stockton:

Click to access Betsey-Stockton.pdf

February 2, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lahainaluna High School

The missionaries who arrived in Lāhainā in 1823 explained to the Hawaiian Royalty the importance of an educational institution.

Betsey Stockton from the 2nd Company of Protestant missionaries initially started a school for makaʻāinana (common people) and their wives and children on the site.

Later, on September 5, 1831, classes at the Mission Seminary at Lahainaluna (later known as Lahainaluna (Upper Lāhainā)) began in thatched huts with 25 Hawaiian young men (including David Malo, who went on to hold important positions in the kingdom, including the first Superintendent of Schools.)

When Lahainaluna High School first opened, Lāhainā was the capital of the kingdom of Hawaiʻi, and it was a bustling seaport for the Pacific whaling fleet.

Under the leadership of Reverend Lorrin Andrews, the school was established by the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions “to instruct young men of piety and promising talents”. It is the oldest high school west of the Mississippi River.

In September 1836, thirty-two boys between the ages of 10 and 20 were admitted as the first boarding students, from the neighbor islands, as well as from the “other side of the island”; thus, the beginning of the boarding school at Lahainaluna.

The boarding program became coed in 1980. The two dorms are David Malo Dormitory for the boys and Hoapili Dormitory for the girls. Previously, Hoapili housed both genders. Lahainaluna is one of only a few public boarding schools in the nation.

The missionaries soon saw that the future of the Congregational Mission in Hawaii would be largely dependent upon the success of its schools. The Mission then established “feeder schools” that would transmit to their students’ fundamental reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, and religious training, before admission to the Lahainaluna.

Initially, Hawaiian was the language used in instruction; in 1877, there was a shift to English. The students engaged in a variety of studies including geography, mathematics and history to prepare them for leadership roles in the Hawaiian community.

Lahainaluna was transferred from being operated by the American missionaries to the control of the Hawaiian Monarchy in 1849. By 1864, only Lahainaluna graduates were considered qualified to hold government positions such as lawyers, teachers, district magistrates and other important posts.

A notable structure on the campus is Hale Paʻi (the house of printing,) a small coral and timber building. Starting in 1834, it served as the home of Hawaiʻi’s first printing press. Hale Paʻi is associated with a number of “firsts” in Hawaii.

The first actual publishing in Hawaiʻi was done in Honolulu in 1822. It was at Lahainaluna, however, that the first newspaper ever printed in the Hawaiian Islands was published on February 14, 1834. This paper, called Ka Lama Hawaii (The Hawaiian, Luminary) was also the first newspaper published anywhere in the United States or its territories west of the Rocky Mountains.

Also published at Hale Paʻi for the first time were many portions of the first Hawaiian translation of the Bible, the first English translation of the first Hawaiian Declaration of Rights, the first Hawaiian Constitution, the first set of Hawaiian laws on property and taxation, the first Hawaiian school laws, the first paper money engraved and printed in Hawaiʻi, the first history of Hawaiʻi printed in Hawaiian and the first history of Hawaiʻi printed in English appearing in the Islands.

In 1834, Lahainaluna students first began engraving on copper plates. The initial purpose of this engraving was to provide maps for study, not only at the Seminary, but at schools throughout the Islands.

In the 1840s commercial development in Hawaiʻi – both trade and agriculture – began to take off. As business grew, so did the need for money.

At this time, the nation had no official currency of its own, relying instead on a variety of foreign coins and bills which circulated at an agreed rate of exchange based on the U.S. dollar. As early as 1836, private Hawaiian firms began to issue paper scrip of their own redeemable by the issuing company in coins or goods.

In early 1843, apparently, Lahainaluna first printed and issued its own paper money. Its primary purpose was evidently to pay the students for their work on the campus (up to 25 cents per week,) which was then used for payment of their rent and tuition.

Later, counterfeiting of the school’s currency was discovered. Then, the faculty, in accordance with their vote of January 8, 1844, called in and destroyed all the paper money they could find. Then, authorized the addition of secret marks to all the new currency and re-issued it.

In 1903, Lahainaluna became a vocational trade school and, in 1923, a technical high school, admitting both girls and boys as day students. It continues today as Lāhainā’s public high school.

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