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August 3, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Barque Flora

Francis Allyn Olmsted took a voyage to Hawai‘i, to which he noted, “During the latter part of my collegiate course, my health became very much impaired by a chronic debility of the nervous system, and soon after graduating, the cold air of Autumn admonished me to seek a milder clime for spending the winter.”

“While deliberating upon what would be most desirable in accomplishing the purposes I had in view, a favorable opportunity was offered me to go out as passenger in the whale-ship ‘North America,’ which was fitting out at New-London for a voyage to the Pacific.” (Olmstead)

He sailed as a passenger on the whale-ship ‘North America,’ that sailed from New-London, Connecticut, leaving on October 11, 1839 and arriving at O‘ahu on May 22, 1840, “having sailed more than five thousand miles in a leaky ship, with the pumps going night and day.”

After spending a little over 3-months in the Islands, on August 3, 1840, Olmstead, “bade a long adieu to many kind friends at Honolulu, and established myself in my quarters aboard the barque ‘Flora,’ Captain Spring, bound for New York.” (Olmstead)

“The Flora, is a barque of about two hundred and ninety-three tons burden, nearly a hundred tons smaller than the ‘North America’, and in many other respects is her inferior. She is a merchant vessel, and arrived at Honolulu a short time since, with stores for the Exploring Expedition (Wilkes Expedition).”

“The Flora, is chartered by one of the mercantile houses at Honolulu, and is principally freighted with sugar and molasses, novel exports from the Hawaiian Islands to the United States, a distance of eighteen thousand miles. …”

“The cabin of the Flora is very small, having three state-rooms, one of which belonging to the captain is the only one whose dimensions were intended, for comfort.”

“As the other two are situated upon each quarter of the ship, they are conformed to the shape of the vessel, and are somewhat triangular in their outlines, which renders them very inconvenient; for with the large sea chest I am obliged to admit into mine, there is hardly room enough left to stand up securely.”

“There are twenty passengers in all, who, with the exception of two or three that are to be left at the Society Islands, are to constitute a community by ourselves for many a month, while roving the ocean, in the long voyage to our native land. …” (Olmstead)

Among the passengers were Hiram and Sybil Bingham (and family); Mrs Lucy Thurston and children; and Caroline Armstrong, 9-year-old daughter of missionaries Richard and Clarissa Armstrong).

“The character of the passengers, gives the fairest promises of a happy and profitable voyage. Mr. and Mrs. Bingham, after a residence of twenty years at these remote isles of the sea, during which, amid toils and privations of which we have no adequate conception …”

“… they have seen the christian religion established among a race of idolaters, and have given permanency to a language existing but from generation to generation, have now embarked with their family of three young children, to revisit the land of their fathers, for the recovery of their health …”

“… and then to return again to these islands, after bidding farewell forever to their children, and committing them to the care of a benevolent public.”

“The tide of contending emotions that agitate their hearts can only be imagined. With the thousand perplexities and cares attendant upon making preparation for so long a voyage …”

“… and in separating themselves perhaps forever from a people that had grown up under their instruction, and to whom they had become tenderly attached, they were almost exhausted, and it seemed like a renewal of that depressing sorrow that attended their departure from their native land.”

“The poor natives accompanied them in crowds as they came down to the ship, and thronged the dock, with sorrow depicted in their countenances.”

“Soon the voice of wailing, which had been heard from one or two, became general, and a note of wild lamentation burst forth in a deafening chorus, until by the efforts of two or three of the missionaries, the sorrow of the people was restrained to a more quiet demonstration of their grief.”

“I could not but admire the heroic fortitude with which Mrs. Thurston tore herself away from her affectionate husband, to voyage with her family, consisting of two sons and three daughters, to a far distant country, which had almost become a foreign land, after an exile of twenty years.”

“Poor Mr. Thurston! When he returns to his home upon the rocky shore of Hawaii, how heavily must the lonesome hours pass by, which are no longer enlivened by the presence of his beloved family.”

“There are a father and mother too, who with bursting hearts, commit their little daughter (Caroline Armstrong), of only nine years of age, to the care of Mrs. Bingham, to be borne far away from their presence to a land of strangers.” (Olmstead)

Caroline Armstrong, looking at her father on the shore, the distance between them widening every moment … “Oh, father, dear father, do take me back!” (Judd)

Her plea echoed in the hearts of the community. In June of that year the mission voted to establish a school for the missionary children at Punahou. (Emanuel)

“Such are some of the heart-rending scenes that are often exhibited in the missionaries’ rife, who not only exile themselves from all they hold dear in their native land, but are ready to sunder every tie of affection, if required by a sense of duty.” (Olmstead)

“We stood alone in thus making the experiment of retaining children on heathen ground. At this time, when the mission was in its twentieth year, more than forty missionaries’ children have been conveyed away by parents, that have retired from this field of labor.”

“Eighteen have been scattered about in the fatherland without parents.” (Lucy Thurston) She was on the trip with her children to provide them with educational opportunities.

“Divine Providence seemed to indicate that one or both of the ordained pioneers of the mission should leave the ground temporarily, at least, though both could not well be spared at once.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Thurston, who thought it their duty to convey their children to the United States, myself, and Mrs. B., with health much impaired had permission to visit our native land. Mrs. B. was too much worn out to go without her husband.”

“Mr. T. chose to stand at his post at Kailua, and send his family with mine, and trusted the arrangement for their children with Mrs. T., the Board, and private friends. Mr. Armstrong took my post at Honolulu.” (Hiram Bingham)

They first headed to Tahiti, then headed to Cap Horn – Friday, January 1, 1841. Land ho! At four bells in the forenoon watch, the dim outline of the coast of South America, was just discernible through the gloom resting upon it, the first sight of terra-firma that has greeted our eyes since leaving Tahiti, a period of three months.”

Then, Wednesday, February 3. At daylight, this morning, the low outline of the coast of the United States, was seen stretching along to the westward of us, not more than ten or twelve miles off. … (February 4, 1841) we came to anchor off Sandy Hook, in six months from the Sandwich Islands.” (Olmstead) (Image shows the North America.)

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North America
North America

Filed Under: General, Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings, Place Names, Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks Tagged With: Sybil Bingham, Tahiti, Caroline Armstrong, Cape Horn, Flora, Clarissa Armstrong, Hawaii, Richard Armstrong, Lucy Thurston, Hiram Bingham

February 23, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Going to “the land of our fathers”

“The Flora, is a barque of about two hundred and ninety-three tons burden, nearly a hundred tons smaller than the ‘North America’, and in many other respects is her inferior. She is a merchant vessel, and arrived at Honolulu a short time since, with stores for the Exploring Expedition (Wilkes Expedition).”

“The Flora, is chartered by one of the mercantile houses at Honolulu, and is principally freighted with sugar and molasses, novel exports from the Hawaiian Islands to the United States, a distance of eighteen thousand miles. …”

“There are twenty passengers in all, who, with the exception of two or three that are to be left at the Society Islands, are to constitute a community by ourselves for many a month, while roving the ocean, in the long voyage to our native land. …” (Olmstead)

Among the passengers were Hiram and Sybil Bingham (and family); Mrs Lucy Thurston and children; and Caroline Armstrong, 9-year-old daughter of missionaries Richard and Clarissa Armstrong).

“Mr. and Mrs. (Asa) Thurston, who thought it their duty to convey their children to the United States, myself, and Mrs. B(ingham), with health much impaired had permission to visit our native land. Mrs. B. was too much worn out to go without her husband.”

“Mr. T(hurston) chose to stand at his post at Kailua, and send his family with mine, and trusted the arrangement for their children with Mrs. T., the Board, and private friends. Mr. Armstrong took my post at Honolulu.” (Hiram Bingham)

“Time passes rapidly on, and brings near the day of our departure from the land of our childhood. Our family, which has so long lived together, is soon to be separated.”

“Probably we shall not all meet again on earth; but it will be but a short time before we shall meet in a better, brighter world, if prepared. Our passage is engaged in the Flora, Captain Spring, bound to New York. The Captain is a pious man, and we are much pleased with him.”

“I hope you will write us whenever you can. We shall desire very much to hear from the Sandwich Islands. We shall always think of you with interest; and shall long remember the many pleasant visits we have made at your house, and the many kindnesses we have received at your hands. The Lord reward you for them all.”

“We shall often think of the many friends we leave behind, when far away. Pray for us. I hope you will often visit Kailua, and comfort our father in his lonely home at Laniakea.” (Lucy G Thurston to Mrs Forbes, July 29, 1840)

“Mrs. Thurston, with her family, arrived in New York on the 4th of February, 1841. She delayed going immediately on to the home of her kindred, in the eastern part of Massachusetts, in order to have the company and protection of a friend who was expecting to make the same journey.”

Upon arrival, young Lucy writes, “Brooklyn, Feb. 16th, 1841. “My Dear Father, We learn that a vessel is to sail for the Sandwich Islands in about a week, and I take my pen to inform you of our safe arrival in the land of our fathers.”

“We were six months and one day from the S. Islands to this place. Stopped a fortnight at the Society Islands, and three days at Pernambuco. We have been remarkably favored in our passage, and all enjoyed good health.”

“The captain has been as a father to us, and by his kind attentions we have felt your loss much less than we otherwise should have done.”

“Mr. B(ingham) has very kindly invited our whole family to remain at his house till we leave the place. We feel under great obligations to him for his kindness. ….”

“We have been thronged with visiters, who call to see us from morning till night. Mother has a trunk of curiosities, which she shows them, and thus excites a good deal of interest in the mission.”

“P(ersis) has several times dressed herself in native style, and marched about the room, much to the amusement of the company. We have received more kindness than we expected – far more than we deserved. …”

The Thurston children reached the continent, a new and different place – as written by young Lucy Thurston, ‘the land of our fathers’ – having left ‘the land of our childhood’.

Shortly after arriving, young Lucy Thurston ‘was taken sick.’ She noted in a letter she was drafting “… We visited the City Hall – a splendid building, where in the Governor’s room, we saw the full length portraits of all the Governors of the State of New York. They were elegant paintings; In the evening –”

Her sister Persis wrote to their father thereafter, explaining the abrupt ending of the letter “… Company calling, she was interrupted in the middle of a sentence, and never again resumed her pen.”

“Lucy was in most vigorous health; but she was seized with inflammation on the lungs just two weeks after their arrival, and on the morning of her coming to the family with whom she passed the last week of her life – the only week of physical pain and distress she ever experienced.”

“She told her mother, a day or two after the commencement of her illness, that she had no choice about its result. … ‘Mother, dear mother,’ many, many times repeated, still continued, and ‘Father, father,’ were the last that fell upon the ear.” Young Lucy Thurston died February 24, 1841.

“At the age of seventeen, she landed upon our shores, with the expectation of enjoying, for a season, the advantages of the society and institutions of Christian America; but within three weeks after the time of her arrival, she found a place in our sepulchres.” (Thurston) A book was written, her memoir, ‘The Missionary’s Daughter or Memoir of Lucy Goodale Thurston’.

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The Missionary's Daughter Cover
The Missionary’s Daughter Cover

Filed Under: Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings, Place Names, Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks Tagged With: Flora, Clarissa Armstrong, Hawaii, Richard Armstrong, Asa Thurston, Lucy Thurston, Hiram Bingham, Sybil Bingham, Caroline Armstrong

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