Hansen’s Disease | Page 2 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

Charles Hinckley Wetmore was born at Lebanon, Connecticut, on February 8, 1820. He was the son of Augustus Wetmore (1784-1887) and Emily T Hinckley Wetmore (1789-1825.)

By teaching school in the winter and studying in the summer, he attained his medical degree, graduating from the Berkshire Medical Institute in Massachusetts in 1846. After graduation he practiced in Lowell, Mass., continuing to teach in school to supplement his earnings.

Wetmore married Lucy Sheldon Taylor on September 25, 1848; three weeks after their wedding, they were off to Hawaiʻi under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM) as a missionary doctor.

They were not attached to any Missionary Company; the Wetmores sailed from Boston on October 16, 1848 on the Leland and landed in Honolulu on March 11, 1849 (a voyage of 146 days).

The Wetmores were assigned to Hilo on the Island of Hawaiʻi and were at their post by May 18. “This morning Hawaiʻi was in sight. It could be distinctly seen by the bright light of the moon but it remained for the sun to reveal in all its grandeur lofty Mauna Kea.”

“We gazed at it with feelings of deep interest. We know not but this very island is to become our future home. Our prayer is that we may be stationed where we shall do the most good.” (Lucy Wetmore’; The Friend, February 1920)

As missionary doctor, his first duty was to the care of the missionary families, then the natives and after that to the foreigners.

His patients were scattered over the entire island and he travelled by canoe or foot, and on many occasions, his wife accompanied him.

When smallpox broke out in the Islands in 1853, Wetmore was appointed by the King to serve as a Royal Commissioner of Public Health. As the outbreak spread to the neighbor Islands, Wetmore was down with varioloid (a mild form of smallpox affecting people who have already had the disease or have been vaccinated against it.)

The Commissioners decided to build a hospital to deal with the anticipated illness; Wetmore, the doctor from the region, was the first to occupy it. Wetmore recovered and was able to later assist in the efforts. (Greer)

In 1855 he severed relations with the ABCFM and continued in practice upon his own account. He was appointed to be in charge of the American Hospital, where sailors from American ships and ether Americans in need were cared for.

After the hospital was given up, the building was turned over to ‘The First Foreign Church of Hilo.’ A founding member of the church, Wetmore was closely identified with it and gave it great financial assistance and much personal work. (Evening Bulletin, May 18, 1898)

Later (December 2, 1886,) Wetmore purchased and presented to the Library Association the frame building formerly occupied by the First Foreign Church. In making the gift of the building with his ‘Aloha,’ Wetmore “‘hoped it would prove very useful to our Hilo community for many many years to come.’” They moved the building to the library site on Waiānuenue street. (Hilo Tribune, October 25, 1904)

The Protestant Wetmore also had ties with the nearby St Joseph Catholic Church. Wetmore and Father Charles Pouzot developed a lasting friendship. Father Charles was tutoring the Wetmore children and Wetmore gave medical basics of caring for diarrhea, dermatitis, respiratory illness and the like.

At one time, Father Charles shocked Father Damien (now St Damien) by revealing he also learned to treat the wounds and ulcers of leprosy. Damien was much surprised since he didn’t know the infection was present in Hawaiʻi. Father Charles promised to show him a case at the next opportunity. (Hilo Roman Catholic Community)

Dr. Wetmore’s family consisted of one son and three daughters. On February 16, 1850, Wetmore administered ether to his wife, Lucy, as she was giving birth to their first child. Dr Wetmore’s subsequent account of this delivery appears to be the earliest known reference to the use of general anesthesia in the Islands. (Schmitt)

Eldest son, Charlie, was an active boy who assisted in his father’s dispensing pharmacy, the first in Hilo. (Hilo Drug Store was reportedly founded by Wetmore; it was situated on ‘Front Street’ (Kamehameha Avenue.) (Valentine)

Charlie planned to follow his father into the profession of medicine. Their first daughter, Frances (Fannie), also worked and enjoyed learning science in the pharmacy.

When Charlie died suddenly at age 14, 12-year-old Fannie (the eldest daughter) stepped up to announce that she would become the next doctor of the family, taking her brother’s place.

She was sent away to school in Pennsylvania, returning to Hilo after graduation to help her father. She eventually returned to the mainland to get her MD, and was the first woman doctor in Hawaiʻi. Frances then practiced medicine in partnership with her father. (Burke)

In the early days of sugar, Wetmore was engaged with the Hitchcocks in the establishment and management of Papaikou plantation. Wetmore was also interested in Kohala and other sugar plantations. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 19, 1898)

After the death of his wife in 1883, Wetmore, serving as a delegate from the Hawaiian Board, and his daughter, Lucy, spent the entire year of 1885 in the Marshall and Caroline Islands.

Dr. Wetmore died on May 13, 1898. “He was trusted by all. Whatever he said he meant, and his word in business was as good as his bond. He was to the front in every good work, and his gospel was one of action rather than of words.”

“His generosity was proverbial and his services as a physician were constantly given to those who were too poor to pay.” (Evening Bulletin, May 18, 1898)

Several years later, the Lydgate family from Kauaʻi donated a stained glass window at the First Foreign Church in Hilo. The image represents the good Samaritan as he bends solicitously over the almost lifeless body of the man who was the victim of thieves.

“The expression on the good Samaritan’s face is a beautiful one, and the picture is typical of the life of the friend in whose memory it was given.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 6, 1907)

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Hilo Drug Co., Ltd. near left started by Wetmore-Hilo-PP-29-3-049-1928

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Envelope to CH Wetmore (aupostalhistory)

Within the seconds, the minutes, and the hours,
Within your loneliness and sorrow,
Within the flowers, the leaves and everything,
Within you and without, I am with you.

He stood before the officer of the government and said, “I first ask whether my wife will be allowed to go with me, the one I swore before Almighty God to care for, to become one blood with me, from whom only death could part me?”

Denied, he replied, “the cord of my love for her is to be cut, and I am commanded to break my sacred promise before God and live alone in a strange land”.

“The consecrated law of marriage has come to us, and we swore by the holy book to live together in the time of food and of famine, in sickness and in health … until death should part us, and now, the power of the government wants to break the law of man and of God and make the oath before Almighty God as nothing.” (Koʻolau)

He was born in 1862; his name, Kaluaikoʻolau, may be translated as ‘the grave at Koʻolau,’ a commemorative name and, as fate would have it, prophetic. (Frazier) He was a cowboy from Kekaha, Kauai.

He was reared with care and vigilance, and his growth was unrestricted. And when he reached the age he was entered by his parents, in 1868, in the school of Father George Rowell at Waimea, Kauai.

In a very little while at the school he displayed understanding and enthusiasm for his lessons, and his energy and alertness was unfailing. He also was willing and active in the tasks given him by the parents, showing his love and attention to their voices.

In these days of his growth there was planted in his heart the reverence for the word of God, and the beauty of the sacred lessons was wound in his conscience. Therefore, with the growth of Koʻolau’s body, these spiritual qualities grew also.

Thus he sought the learning of the school until he was grown and he was physically ready for work, between sixteen and seventeen years of age, and he spoke to his parents of setting aside school and going to work, and his request was granted by his parents with serenity.

He became the foreman of the cowboys, under Mr. Francis Gay (Palani Ke.) He was also placed in this position over the length and the breadth of Mr. Valdemar Knudsen’s (Kanuka) lands at Kekaha. He divided his duties as Head of the Cowboys between his two employers.

In 1881, at the age of 19, he married Piʻilani (age 17.) A year later, they had a son, Kaleimanu.

In 1889, Koʻolau noticed a little rash on his cheeks – he thought it was because of his work out in the sun. It would later disappear and reappear.

“In a couple of years the disease developed quite noticeably, and in 1891 and 1892 when the gathering of the lepers started, he was in a bad state, and Mr Stolz, the deputy sheriff, told him to go to Doctor Campbell and be examined.” (The Garden Island, December 19, 1916)

Koʻolau and his young son Kaleimanu contracted leprosy; the Hawaiian government’s way of coping with the problem was to attempt to strictly segregate leprosy patients from the rest of the world at Kalawao (Kalaupapa,) on the Island of Molokai.

In the early years of the settlement, those who contracted leprosy were allowed to be accompanied by helpers, or kokua, usually a family member, but this practice caused problems. In 1893, Koʻolau, agreed at first to go to Molokai if Piʻilani, his wife, could accompany him.

The authorities denied this. Koʻolau refused to be parted from his wife. Vowing he would never be taken alive, the husband with wife and young son took refuge in the isolated Kalalau Valley, descending into it by an ancient and most difficult trail.

Government forces pursued them. Koʻolau shot a policeman who had been pursuing them (Louis Stolz (known familiarly by the name of Lui), the Deputy High Sheriff of Waimea.)

“On June 30th the districts of Waimea and Hanalei, which included the village of Kalalau, were placed under martial law and an armed force of police and military, under the command of Deputy Marshal Larsen, was sent to Kalalau to effect the capture of the desperado.”

“It was the intention to secure the murderer alive, if possible, and establish the majesty of the law without further bloodshed. … but Koʻolau sent defiance and a statement that he would never be taken alive.” (Polynesian, July 13, 1893)

The Provisional Government determined to send an army of 35-men, under Capt W Larsen to Kalalau to carry out the orders of the Government; ultimately, 15-soldiers landed and set up ‘Camp Dole.’ All lepers were directed to be taken prisoner within 24-hours. If the lepers failed to obey after the time given them they were to be taken dead or alive. (Frazier)

Hidden in the valley, “We listened quietly to the noise and understood that the soldiers were climbing up to our place where we sat. It was not far, but we could not be seen or see because of the vegetation. Then we were again startled by the firing of guns and the bullets began to strike … but no one harmed us.” (Piʻilani)

Koʻolau shot back, killing three soldiers, P Johnson, JMB McCabe and Hirschberg (Hursberg.)

The firing continued without rest for four full days.

On Friday morning, July 13, the steamship Iwalani arrived from the battle site at Kalalau. The leper Koolau and his wife and son had not been found. Perhaps another search will be made for his hiding place, or perhaps he fell from the cliff. His hiding place had been blanketed by gunfire. There was no sign of refuge, only a very small flat place at the edge of the cliff, protected in front by steep drops and ʻōhia trees. (Frazier)

They fled. “After this we began to wander, never staying anywhere more than one, two, or three days in one place, when we would leave and move on. … During this time of living in loneliness and inaction, for a long time afterwards, my husband would not allow us to show ourselves.”

“It was three years and five or more months of wandering life in the wild valleys and rows of steep cliffs, in the midst of an awesome loneliness. We set aside love of parents and family, cast away our fears and sighs, and I sacrificed my life for my husband and child, so beloved to me.” (Piʻilani)

“During this time of living as a threesome, we were well and we had sufficient to eat and drink.” Then, tragedy struck; “our beloved child began to show the spread of the disease upon his body, and he became very weak in his limbs.”

“(O)ne day, he gestured to me and when I went to his side, he put his arms around my neck and rubbed his cheek against mine, and I saw that his lashes were wet with tears, and he whispered; ‘Where is Papa? I am going to sleep.’”

“We attempted to speak with him, calling him, but his ears were done hearing, his eyes gently closed, his last breath flew away, and he was asleep in the Lord, his Saviour in the beyond.” (Piʻilani)

Then it was Koʻolau’s time. “My cheeks were often wet with tears, seeing the body and the features of my husband quietly ebbing away, without being able to help and save him although I tried, with every means available to me.”

“When the sun began to spread its warming rays over the land that morning, and the palis and ridges of that beloved valley were spread out, Koʻolau slept quietly in death.” (Piʻilani)

“I wandered alone in the cloaking darkness, with the rustling murmurs of the little stones of the stream and the sweet murmuring land shells of the ti-plants, and when the dawn came and the clouds of night crept softly behind the high peaks and the light of the sun flashed forth, I had arrived at a place close to the kamaʻāinas’ homes.” She hid for nearly a month before revealing herself.

In 1906 in Honolulu, Kahikina Kelekona (John GM Sheldon) published a book in the Hawaiian language (later translated by Frances N Frazier) to be preserved in ink and disseminated to the many people of the true story of Kaluaikoʻolau, the one boasted of as “The Fierce Brave One of the Kalalau Cliffs who Glides along the Peak of Kamaile whence the Fire was Flung.” It was the basis of this summary.

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