Hawaii | Page 368 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

March 13, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Convalescent-Nursing Home

Its name has also evolved from Convalescent Nursing Home … to Maunalani Hospital … to, finally, the present Maunalani Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (as of March 1998).

It started as the home of Hattie Ethelwyn Alfred Castle. She “was born in this city (Honolulu) on December 21, 1872, in the days of King Lunalilo …”

“… one of the two daughters of Charles Alfred Castle and Claire Eloise Coleman, his wife, and a grand-daughter of Samuel Northrup Castle, one of the founders and pioneers of the Hawaiian Mission from New England.” (Hawaiian Church Chronicle, January, 1941)

“After her father’s early death on April 30, 1874, which occurred in the fourth year of his married life and when Miss Castle was less than a year old, her mother took her and her sister, Eloise – now Mrs. BL Marx of this city, east to Canada …”

“… the birthplace of their maternal grandmother, where they spent thirteen years of their girlhood and young womanhood in what is locally known as the ‘Eastern Townships’, or English-speaking section of the Province of Quebec.”

“In her later years, Miss Castle’s recollection of this period of her life, with its ice and snow and jingling sleigh-bells, its rustic simplicity and kind-hearted neighborliness …”

“… was as keen and vivid as though its events had happened but yesterday; and one of her delights was to converse of that country with those who also know it.” (Hawaiian Church Chronicle, January, 1941)

She bought nine and a half acres of land atop Maunalani Heights and built her home. She died November 2, 1940.

In her will, she made provisions that, subject to the life tenures of several relatives, her home would become a residence for seniors in need of comfort and care.

The home was incorporated in 1945 as a non-profit, non-discriminatory organization.

The matter didn’t sit well with everyone … “As a result of petitions received from residents of Maunalani Heights a public hearing will be held …”

“… to air their objections to the proposed location of the Convalescent Nursing home in that area.” (Star Bulletin, September 3, 1947)

In January 6, 1950, with the diligence of prominent Honolulu community leaders, Maunalani opened its doors and welcomed its first residents.

“‘We had a hard row to hoe this first year,’ admits Mrs. Elaine P. Johnson, administrator of the home, adding that it has taken time to educate the public and build up clientele. ‘But we have gained the confidence of the public,’ she adds.” (Practical Nursing Scrapbook)

“The home started out with five patients. ‘We wanted to see what our capabilities were before we went too far,’ said Mrs Johnson.” After the first year it grew to 22. With 8 more scheduled to enter. (Practical Nursing Scrapbook)

Over the years, Maunalani has experienced a series of additions and renovations to the original Castle family residence. A part of her home still exists as part of the facility.

Today, Maunalani Nursing and Rehabilitation Center offers 24-hour nursing support to residents with varied levels of need on a long-term or temporary care basis.

Because residents vary in age and need, individualized rehabilitation therapy programs are provided based on physician recommendation.

Maunalani’s physical, occupational and speech therapists offer restorative and maintenance therapy to residents who need to practice, strengthen and sustain daily living skills. (MNRC)

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Convalescent-Nursing Home

Maunalani Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

March 11, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Alii Letters – Nāmāhāna to Evarts (1828)

Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives (Mission Houses) collaborated with Awaiaulu Foundation to digitize, transcribe, translate and annotate over 200-letters written by 33-Chiefs.

The letters, written between 1823 and 1887, are assembled from three different collections: the ABCFM Collection held by Harvard’s Houghton Library, the HEA Collection of the Hawaii Conference-United Church of Christ and the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society.

These letters provide insight into what the Ali‘i (Chiefs) were doing and thinking at the time, as well as demonstrate the close working relationship and collaboration between the aliʻi and the missionaries.

In this letter, Lydia Nāmāhāna writes to Jeremiah Evarts testifying to her strong Christian faith and practice.

Lydia Nāmāhāna Piʻia, a high ranking chiefess, was a wife of Kamehameha I and daughter of Keʻeaumoku Pāpaʻiahiahi, also being Kaʻahumanu’s sister. Nāmāhana was an early convert to Christianity and wife of Gideon Laʻanui, another early supporter of the missionizing effort.

Jeremiah F. Evarts was an early leader of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions (ABCFM). He was a reformer who advocated for the rights of Native Americans and wrote under the pseudonym William Penn.

“Oahu, March 12, 1828”

“Mr. Evarts,”

“May you live well into your old age. I send great affection to you and all the brethren.”

“Here is my message to you, I am informing you that the holy word of Christ, his laws and all his good practices are being taught.”

“We have obtained some small portions, but have gained no more.”

“The desire of my heart moves day and night to ask him that my spirit attain eternal life in heaven.”

“My wishes, my affection, my heart, and my intention, I have bundled them securely and submitted them to him; his words and his laws are what I follow in my heart …”

“… that my house be populated with his powerful spirit, his eternal love, his true goodness and his patience that all of us from where the sun rises to where it sets be saved by him.”

“The heart fears God because of the extent of physical wrongs, existing in a house of earthly pleasures, nearly killing the body and spirit in a house of earthly delights.”

“Thus my fear of God that makes my heart repent every night and day of my life, yet the heart does not say that it needs to pray to God or repent wrongdoing, no.”

“Goodness is up to God, as is wrongdoing.”

“And what I do is repent of my wrongs and place them upon him, with the confidence of my heart, spirit and my will being with him, so that I may be eternally saved through Jesus Christ. This concludes my message.”

“By Lidia Namahana”

Here’s a link to the original letter, its transcription, translation and annotation:

Click to access b3b4f77b0675ecac208bac25a2e67171.pdf

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US, led by Hiram Bingham, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.) They arrived in the Islands and anchored at Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”,) about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in the Hawaiian Islands.

One of the earliest efforts of the missionaries, who arrived in 1820, was the identification and selection of important communities (generally near ports and aliʻi residences) as “stations” for the regional church and school centers across the Hawaiian Islands.

Hawaiian Mission Houses’ Strategic Plan themes note that the collaboration between Native Hawaiians and American Protestant missionaries resulted in the
• The introduction of Christianity;
• The development of a written Hawaiian language and establishment of schools that resulted in widespread literacy;
• The promulgation of the concept of constitutional government;
• The combination of Hawaiian with Western medicine, and
• The evolution of a new and distinctive musical tradition (with harmony and choral singing).

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Namahana – Evarts Mar 12, 1828-1.

Namahana – Evarts Mar 12, 1828-2

Namahana – Evarts Mar 12, 1828-3

Namahana – Evarts Mar 12, 1828-4

March 10, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Asa Thurston Turns to a Christian Life

“John Thurston came to Fitchburg from Rowley, Mass., about 1765, with his wife, Lydia, and seven children. He settled on the farm … in the easterly part of the city, and entered with enthusiasm into the pursuit of agriculture, raised the finest apples in this region, and owned a cider mill.”

“He had been a soldier in the French and Indian war, and was enrolled as a minute man in 1775. He was also one of the first deacons of the first church in Fitchburg.”

“His fifth son was Thomas (generally called Captain Tom Thurston), who grew up on the farm until he was of an age to leave the paternal roof, when his father apprenticed him to a Mr. Brown of Concord, Mass., to learn the shoemaker’s trade.”

“The homestead of Captain Thomas Thurston was … in the northwest part of Fitchburg, at the end of the Thurston road, leading from the Ashby West road”.

“Here Asa Thurston was born on the twelfth day of October, 1787, the fourth child and second son of Thomas Thurston, and here he grew up in a large family of good New England stock, in a typical New England home. His brothers and sisters were Thomas, Hannah, Elizabeth, Ebenezer, Polly, Cyrus, Sylvania, Mahala and Maria.”

“When he reached the age of fourteen years there was a change in his life. He was apprenticed for seven years to John and Joseph Farwell, scythe makers (a long curving blade to cut grass/grain), whose shop was on the south side of what is now West Main street, a short distance above the River street bridge, and he boarded with Joseph Farwell”.

“He enjoyed life and action. Always fond of active sports, he early became proficient in wrestling, and seldom was there found an antagonist who was his superior.”

“In those days wrestling was one of the principal diversions of the young men, and these trials of strength and agility were of common occurrence at the store, or after work at the shop, or at any place of general gathering.”

“As he grew older, Asa’s temperament led him into social life and made him a leader there. At dances and social gatherings he was brim full of life, and if there was any young man in Fitchburg who thoroughly enjoyed life it was probably Asa Thurston.”

“But disease and death are factors to be reckoned with in this world. In the autumn of 1805 typhoid fever was prevalent in Fitchburg, and to quite a number it proved fatal. Asa contracted the disease and for some time his life trembled in the balance.”

“It is related that his elder brother, Thomas, who was studying for the ministry, watched with him one night, and that he spent a greater part of the time in prayer. The next morning, when asked about his brother, he said: ‘Asa will get well and be a missionary, but I shall not live long.’”

“Mrs. Thurston nursed her son with a mother’s care and devotion, and he recovered, but she was taken down with the same disease and died January 19, 1806. This sad loss to him was quickly followed by the death of his brother Thomas, February 15, and thirteen days later by the death of his sister Elizabeth, both of the same disease.”

“These sad events had a powerful and lasting effect upon him. Now Asa Thurston began to feel the effect of character and environment. With a deeply affectionate disposition, fond of music, a natural lover of pleasure, and possessed of a keen sense of humor, he had also a tender conscience and a vein of strong and serious feeling.”

“For years his mind had been at times turned to the subject of religion; members of his family had urged him to profess a Christian life, and now, again, his thoughts turned in that direction, and most seriously. But it was hard for him to give up worldly pleasures and take only the will of God for his guide.” (Bailey)

Asa wrote some words of his life … “I lived almost entirely unconcerned about my precious soul till I was past sixteen years of age. I sometimes thought that religion was of importance and that I would attend to it at some future period, but I felt disposed to put off repentance to a more convenient season.”

“I thought that after I had become old I should have nothing else to do but to attend to religion, but could not bear the thought of attending to the concerns of eternity so young. I thought that I was as good as many others, and that I should fare as well.”

“When I was about sixteen years old it pleased God to send his Holy Spirit to convince and convict many in this place of their sins, by which I was alarmed.”

“I began to think religion was of some importance, that I would attend to it. Seeing some of my young friends and connexions embracing the Saviour and singing the wonders of redeeming love, I thought I should like to be one of the happy number.”

“I felt somewhat anxious about being prepared for death and eternity, but I had very little if any conviction of sin by the law. I knew that I was a sinner, but I had no realizing sense of the opposition of my heart to God and holiness.”

“I knew that I must repent of my sins or perish forever, but notwithstanding all this knowledge, I soon lost all my serious impressions and anxious thoughts about myself and became as careless as ever. But I could not go on in sin with so calm a conscience as before.”

“Some of my friends and connexions that formerly had been my most intimate companions in sin became faithful witnesses against me, and in particular my sister. She would often reprove me for my folly.”

“And thus I went on in my own chosen way till at length God appeared in judgment against me and visited me with sickness, at which time few, if any, expected I should recover; but God, being rich in mercy, saw fit to for bear, and restored me to health.”

“I felt somewhat rejoiced, but had no heart to sing praises to God for his mercy. My spared life, which ought to have been devoted to God, was spent in the service of Satan. I expected I should have no more to trouble me, but I was soon arrested by a most solemn providence.”

“God was pleased to take from me a most affectionate and loving mother. This, indeed, was a most solemn scene to me. To think that but a few weeks before she was in sound health, and I, to all appearance, on the verge of eternity, and then to look back and behold the hand of God in restoring me to health, while she was called into the eternal world!”

“Twenty-two years of my precious life had been trifled away … I was brought, as I humbly hope and trust, to feel willing to say,
with my heart, to my God, ‘Glorify thyself with me, do with and for me that which shall be most for thine honor and glory.’”

“I thought I felt willing that God should take the throne that I had been long contending with him about, likewise I was willing to cast myself down at the foot of sovereign mercy.” (Thurston; Bailey)

“Asa Thurston now felt that he must become a minister of the gospel, and to that end he must obtain a suitable education. He entered Yale college in 1812. … He graduated in 1816, and immediately entered Andover Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1819, ready to enter upon his chosen career of a missionary.”

On October 23, 1819, Asa Thurston was in the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US that set sail from Boston on the Thaddeus for the Hawaiian Islands. They landed at Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.

“After forty years of missionary work he was stricken with paralysis, and was obliged to go to California for health and rest. He was there in 1863, but soon returned to Honolulu, where he passed the remainder of his life.”

“The disease made progress, till at last it affected his brain. At times he would seem to behold crowds of people, and pointing, would exclaim, ‘Ke Aupini, Ke Aupini,’ (the kingdom, the kingdom).”

“For the last two days of his life he could not speak, and he passed quietly away on the eleventh day of March, 1868, at the age of eighty years, – a veteran in the service of the Lord.” (Bailey)

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Asa_Thurston

Asa Thurston and Lucy Goodale Thurston

March 9, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Top Gun

Edward Henry “Butch” O’Hare became the first US Navy flying ace in World War II and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the South Pacific, February 20, 1942. (National WWII Museum)

James Henry “Jimmy” Flatley Jr was awarded the Navy Cross for “fearlessly engag(ing) enemy fighters, destroying one and assisting in the destruction of another with no loss to his escort group. That evening, he led a division on combat air patrol in a fierce attack and resultant dispersal of a formation of enemy scouting planes, assisting in the destruction of two of them.” (Navy Cross Commendation)

John Smith “Jimmy” Thach, while commanding Fighting Squadron Three, developed the fighter combat technique that came to be known as the ‘Thach Weave’, a tactic that enabled the generally mediocre performing US fighters of the day to hold their own against the Japanese ‘Zero’.

In 1943, Naval Air Station Pu‘unēnē was established as a “Top Gun” school for fighter-aircraft tactics, based on the Navy’s use of highly-decorated veteran fighter pilots, including O’Hare, Flatley and Thach.

They and other instructors relayed the latest intelligence from the front lines to new pilots rotating into combat. (Cultural Surveys)

“Maui Group Local Naval Defense Forces”, based at NAS Pu’unēnē, controlled the training airspace over the Kaho‘olawe aerial bombing ranges, and administered the training schedule.

Aircraft carriers were modified for combat in the Pacific Ocean at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, while their air groups were flown to one of nine Navy airfields in Hawaii for advanced training – NAS Pu‘unēnē being the premiere airfield. (Cultural Surveys)

Before the war (and before Kahului Airport), Governor’s Executive Order No. 804 set aside about 300-acres of land at Pulehunui for the new Maui Airport to be under the control and management of the Superintendent of Public Works.

The Department of Public Works started construction on the new airport shortly after July 1, 1938. ‘Maui Airport’ was opened on June 30, 1939 (the new Maui Airport replaced a smaller airfield at Māʻalaea.)

Inter-Island Airways, Ltd (to be later known as Hawaiian Air) constructed a depot; a taxiway and turn-around were completed and graveled to serve the depot and in 1940 Inter-Island Airways funded airport station improvements.

During the time between June 30, 1939 and December 7, 1941, the civil air field was gradually enlarged and improved with some areas being paved. A small Naval Air Facility was established at the airport by the US Navy. Maui Airport became one of the three most important airports to the Territorial Airport System.

Immediately after December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, the military took control of all air fields in the Territory and began the expansion of Maui Airport at Puʻunēnē.

“On December 11, 1941 Commander John L. Murphy, USN, Commander Utility Wing Base Force came to Maui under verbal orders of the Commander Task Force Nine to prepare for the basing on Maui of personnel and equipment of one Naval Aircraft Carrier Group and one Army Air Corps Heavy Bombardment Group.” (Pu‘unēnē Unit History)

Army forces eventually concentrated on Oʻahu, leaving the Navy as the primary user of the field. An expansion lengthened and widened the runways. Under Navy control, the facility was renamed Naval Air Station Puʻunēnē, the airport served as a principal carrier plane training base.

By the end of the war, Puʻunēnē had a total complement of over 3,300-personnel and 271-aircraft. The total number of structures built numbered over 300. A total of 106-squadrons and carrier air groups passed through during WW II.

The demands of the war were such that the Navy found Puʻunēnē inadequate for the aircraft carrier training requirement and it was necessary to establish another large air station on Maui.

Accordingly, a site was chosen near the town of Kahului and, after the purchase of 1,341-acres of cane land, construction was started in 1942 on what was to become Naval Air Station, Kahului (NASKA.)

NASKA became operational in late 1943. Air crews were trained at both Puʻunēnē and NASKA. The NASKA facility later became known as Kahului Airport, under the jurisdiction of the Hawaii Aeronautics Commission.

By 1949, the land of NAS Pu‘unēnē was transferred back to the Territory of Hawaii and the structures that once stood to serve the 565 officers and 2798 enlisted men were demolished. The Kahului airport now serves as the major hub for commercial aircraft. (Cultural Surveys)

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Puunene Airport, Maui, 1948

NAS Pu`unēnē looking westward, Maalaea Bay-(Maui Historical Society-NOAA)

March 8, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Āinapō Trail

The canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawai‘i; land travel was only foot traffic, over little more than trails and pathways.

Extensive cross-country trail networks enabled gathering of food and water and harvesting of materials for shelter, clothing, medicine, religious observances and other necessities for survival.

Ancient trails, those developed before western contact in 1778, facilitated trading between upland and coastal villages and communications between ahupua‘a and extended families.

These trails were usually narrow, following the topography of the land. Sometimes, over ‘a‘ā lava, they were paved with water-worn stones.

One such overland trail, leading to Mokuʻāweoweo, the summit crater at the summit of Mauna Loa, is ‘Āinapō Trail (darkened land (often heavy with fog)).

It is a narrow, single-file, twisting, and occasionally slightly abraded trail above the 11,600 elevation. It leads up the broad southeast flank of Mauna Loa volcano to and along the east side of Mokuʻāweoweo, the major summit crater (HHF)

Hawaiians laid out the ‘Āinapō foot trail to assure availability of shelter, drinking water, and firewood between their nearest permanent settlement, Kapāpala village, and Mokuʻāweoweo. Kapāpala village could be reached over easy-grade trails from the coastal Hawaiian settlements.

Most Mauna Loa ascents by Hawaiians were made during summit eruptions, when the volcano goddess Pele was present, to honor her with chanted prayers and offerings; and perhaps at other times to honor a site she frequented. (NPS)

“The Hawaiian style of ascent to Mokuʻāweoweo lay in moving upslope in easy stages to lessen fatigue and permit acclimatization to the increasingly rarefied atmosphere.

The major stages were a series of overnight camps, each complete with small, warm, thatched houses and well supplied with food, drinking liquid, and firewood. In each camp, the elite were supported in the style of Hawaiian high chiefs. The lesser stages consisted of frequent rest stops, perhaps in natural rock shelters, warmed by fires as necessary. (NPS)

In 1840, Lt Charles Wilkes, as part of the US Exploring Expedition, came to Hawai‘i to conduct experiments and make observations, including swinging pendulums on Mauna Loa’s summit to calculate the force of gravity. They hiked from Hilo to the summit.

Wilkes substituted his own route for the Hawaiian ‘Āinapō trail. Wilkes’ line of march was through wooded country, but without streams or waterholes. Shoes of the Caucasians scuffed and soles abraded on the lava they crossed.

Most of the Hawaiians were barefoot. To mark the path for the straggling porters, Wilkes’ associates built fires and blazed trees. Bushes were broken with their tops laid down to indicate the direction of travel. (NPS)

Much unnecessary thirst, hunger, cold, altitude sickness, fatigue, and snowblindness were suffered by both Caucasians and Hawaiians of the expedition when Wilkes substituted his own route for the Hawaiian ‘Āinapō trail.

‘Mountain’ sickness, probably caused from the combination of fatigue, dehydration, chill, hunger, and the altitude, was prevalent.

To the rescue came the Hawaiian guides ‘Ragsdale’ and Keaweehu, a famous bird catcher. Both had apparently been waiting at Kapāpala for the expedition to arrive and planned to guide the expedition up the ‘Āinapō trail.

Ragsdale was hired to supply water for the camp. His men delivered it the next day – fifteen gallons carried in open-top vessels over the trackless ten miles of rugged lavas which separated Wilkes’ camp from the ‘Āinapō trail.

At about the same elevation on the Āinapō was a large lava tube with pools of water inside. This tube was used by Hawaiians on the ‘Āinapō trail and was easily supplied with grass (for insulation from the cold ground) and firewood from a point on the trail not far below. (NPS)

Up until around 1916, the customary route to the summit of Mauna Loa was the 34-mile long ‘Āinapō Trail. Most Mauna Loa ascents by Hawaiians were made during summit eruptions, when the volcano goddess Pele was present, to honor her with chanted prayers and offerings. (HHF)

In 1916, With the assistance of the US Army, Thomas A Jaggar, a geologist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) had a trail constructed from Kīlauea to the Mauna Loa summit along the northeast flank of the mountain.

That year, the summit of Mauna Loa, the Army-built trail, and the summit of Kilauea volcano were incorporated within Hawaii National Park, established by Congress.

With the trail completed, horses and mules could go as far as Pu‘u ‘Ula‘ula (Red Hill), where a 10-man cabin and 12-horse stable had been built. The remaining 10-mile trail to the summit was pedestrian only.

After 1916, for the next half century, there were two trails to the summit, but the Āinapō received diminishing usage and was not maintained. Below the barren lavas, the savannah-forest areas through which the ‘Āinapō passed became ranching country private land through which public passage was discouraged. (NPS)

From the trailhead, ʻĀinapō Trail ascends 7,600-feet in 10.2 miles to the National Park Service cabin on the rim of Mokuʻāweoweo crater.

Vegetation varies from mixed mesic koa /ʻōhiʻa forest to alpine stone desert. Intermittent, and in places infrequent, stacks of loose lava boulders (ahu) line the sides of the trail.

Abraded spots occur only on the rare surface types subject to pockmarking by metal blows; this was done by iron-shod hooves since 1870s, when horses and mules began to be used. (NPS)

Day use of ʻĀinapō trail does not require a permit; however, hikers are required to contact Kapāpala Ranch at 808-928-8403 to obtain the combination for the locked gate.

Users are required to call the night before between 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm.to schedule entry. Lock combinations are changed daily and given out daily at the same phone number from 4:30 am to 7:00 am on entry day. Everyone using this public access will sign in and out on the log sheet located in the mailbox on the gate.

Reservations and permits for camping at the trail shelter may be obtained from Hawaiʻi District Division of Forestry and Wildlife, at 808-974-4221 or at the link below. Hikers continuing to the summit need to register with the National Park Rangers (808 985-6000). (DLNR)

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