Hiram Bingham | Page 9 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

December 3, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ka‘ahumanu Learns the Letters

“She would amuse herself for hours at cards, or in trimming and stringing the bright, yellow nuts of the Pandanus, for odoriferous necklaces or rude coronets, listen to vile songs and foolish stories, and sometimes make interesting inquiries.”

“Her stiffness towards the missionaries, to whom her little finger, instead of a right hand, had been sometimes extended, had unbent from the time of her severe illness …”

“(T)here was reason to hope that continued kindness and God’s blessing would bring her over, and make her a friend and coadjutor.”

“Deeming it of great importance to induce her, if possible, to substitute the reading of divine truth for her heathenish or trifling engagements at this period – more than two years after commencing our work – Mrs. B and myself called at her habitation, in the centre of Honolulu.”

“She and several women of rank were stretched upon the mats, playing at cards, which were introduced before letters. It was not uncommon for such groups to sit like tailors, or to lie full length with the face to the ground …”

“… the head a little elevated, the breast resting on a cylindrical pillow, the hands grasping and moving the cards, while their naked feet and toes extended in diverging lines towards the different sides or extremities of the room.”

“Being invited to enter the house, we took our seats without the accommodation of chairs, and waited till the game of cards was disposed of, when the wish was expressed to have us seated by her. We gave her ladyship one of the little books, and drew her attention to the alphabet, neatly printed, in large and small Roman characters.”

“Having her eye directed to the first class of letters – the five vowels, she was induced to imitate my voice in their enunciation, a, e, i, o, u.”

“As the vowels could be acquired with great facility, an experiment of ten minutes, well directed, would ensure a considerable advance.”

“She followed me in enunciating the vowels, one by one, two or three times over, in their order, when her skill and accuracy were commended. Her countenance brightened.”

“Looking off from her book upon her familiars, with a tone a little boasting or exulting, and perhaps with a spice of the feeling of the Grecian philosopher, who, in one of his amusements, thought he had discovered the solution of a difficult problem, leaped from the bath, exclaiming “Eureka! I have found,” the queen exclaimed, ” Ua loaa iau! I have got it”, or, it is obtained by me.”

“She had passed the threshold, and now unexpectedly found herself entered as a pupil.”

“Dismissing her cards, she accepted and studied the little book, and with her husband, asked for forty more for their attendants.”

“The next day, securing the co-operation of Kamāmalu, we invited her to accompany us to church. Hawaiian etiquette would hardly allow her to turn off the daughter unheeded.”

“Directing her plain, American-built wagon, with unpainted covering, to be brought to her door, though she had no trained steeds or coach-horses to draw it, she mounted it, and drawn by her willing servants, was conveyed half a mile, to the place of worship.”

“Numbers, at the same time, moved on over the plain, at the sound of the church-going bell, and came to the house of God in company, and listened to the teaching of Divine truth.”

“The following Sabbath, the church was full.”

“The Gospel was proclaimed, the Savior’s dying love was commemorated at his table, and the praise of God resounded in the songs of Zion, and all our hearts were encouraged by the decisive evidence of a new and important impulse being given to our cause.”

“The need of a great increase of native teachers and of the labors of a native ministry was now apparent.” (The entire text here is from Hiram Bingham, speaking of Ka‘ahumanu.)

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October 29, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Bingham’s Birthday

A week and almost 200 years ago … October 23, 1819 … the Pioneer Company of missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (the ABCFM) set sail for the Sandwich Islands. They arrived in Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.

There were seven couples aboard; their leader was Hiram Bingham – Sybil, his wife of 2-weeks, joined him. They are my great-great-great grandparents.

The Prudential Committee of the ABCFM in giving instructions to these pioneers said: “Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. …”

“Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high. You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization.” (The Friend)

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – what is generally referred to as the “Missionary Period”,) about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the ABCFM.

227 years ago (October 30, 1789,) Hiram Bingham, the fifth of the seven sons (from a family of 13-children) was born at Bennington, Vermont – he came from a family of preachers (he descended from Deacon Thomas Bingham who had come to the American colonies in 1650 and settled in Connecticut, his father was Deacon Calvin Bingham and his mother was named Lydia.)

When Captain Cook first visited the Hawaiian Islands forty years prior to the arrival of the missionaries, Hawaiian was a spoken language, not a written language. Historical accounts were passed down orally, through chants and songs.

After western contact, early writers tried to spell words based on the sound of the words they heard. People heard words differently, so it was not uncommon for words to be spelled differently, depending on the writer.

Hiram and others took on the task of developing a Hawaiian alphabet; on July 14, 1826, Hiram Bingham and Levi Chamberlain signed the “Report of the committee of health on the state of the Hawaiian language” – and the Hawaiian alphabet and formulation of the written Hawaiian Language was adopted … it is still in use today.

Hiram and the others were preachers and teachers – in a short time, the missionaries learned the language and these early missionaries taught their lessons in Hawaiian, rather than English.

The chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing. By 1832, the literacy rate of Hawaiians of about 78 percent had surpassed that of Americans on the continent. The literacy rate of the adult Hawaiian population skyrocketed from near zero in 1820 to an estimated of 91 percent by 1834.

As teaching expanded, the focus was educating the head, heart and hand. In addition to the rigorous academic drills (Head,) the schools provided religious and moral guidance (Heart,) and manual and vocational training (Hand.)

Soon after the first anniversary of the arrival of the Pioneer Company, Kaʻahumanu and Kalanimōku visited the mission and gave them supplies; this visit became important because during it Kaʻahumanu made her first request for prayer and showed her first interest in the teachings of the missionaries.

From that point on, Kaʻahumanu came into more constant contact with the mission. At a meeting of the chiefs and school teachers, Kaʻahumanu and Kalanimōku declared their determination to “adhere to the instructions of the missionaries, to attend to learning, observe the Sabbath, Worship God, and obey his law, and have all their people instructed.” Ka‘ahumanu was baptized on December 5, 1825.

Bingham found a friend in Kaʻahumanu, the favorite wife of Kamehameha and Queen regent during Liholiho’s and the early years of Kauikeaouli’s rule. She and other ali‘i worked collaboratively with the missionaries and visited often. Across the street, in the wood frame house at Missions Houses, you can correctly say, ‘Ka‘ahumanu slept here.’

A little side story on Kaʻahumanu … shortly after arriving in the Islands, with a piece of driftwood, Hiram managed to make a rocking chair for Sybil – in describing it she said, “A box or trunk has been our only seat. My husband, I believe, was never a chair-maker before, but happy for me and the Mission family, that he is everything.”

On Sundays, the rocker was taken to the old thatched Kawaiahaʻo church as a seat for Sybil, the pastor’s wife. Sybil’s wish was that when the last summons came, she might be found in that chair … and her wish was granted when she died in her rocking chair on February 27, 1848 in New Haven Connecticut.

The rocker had its admirers, including Kaʻahumanu. As Bingham notes, “On seeing and trying Mrs B’s chair, the first, probably, ever made (in the) islands, Ka‘ahumanu … wished me to make her one in every respect like it, for she said it exactly fit her.”

It wasn’t until 10-years later that he built Kaʻahumanu her rocker, one of the earliest known pieces of koa furniture in Hawaiʻi. Both are at Mission Houses and are occasionally put on display.

Kalanimōku served as chief councilor and prime minister to Kamehameha I, Kamehameha II and Kamehameha III. An 1826 letter written by Kalanimōku to Hiram Bingham (written at a time when missionaries were being criticized) states, “Greetings Mr Bingham. Here is my message to all of you, our missionary teachers.”

“I am telling you that I have not seen your wrong doing. If I had seen you to be wrong, I would tell you all. No, you must all be good.”

“Give us literacy and we will teach it. And, give us the word of God and we will heed it … for we have learned the word of God.”

“Then foreigners come, doing damage to our land. Foreigners of America and Britain. But don’t be angry, for we are to blame for you being faulted. And it is not you foreigners, (it’s) the other foreigners.”

“Here’s my message according to the words of Jehovah, I have given my heart to God and my body and my spirit. I have devoted myself to the church and Jesus Christ.”

“Have a look at this letter of mine, Mr Bingham and company. And if you see it and wish to send my message on to America to (your President,) that is up to you. Greetings to the chief of America. Regards to you all, Kalanimōku.”

Due to Sybil’s illness, after 21-years in the Islands, the Binghams left in 1840; Hiram never saw the completed church that he designed, Kawaiahaʻo. However, in this sanctuary, you will often sing a verse written by Hiram Bingham, what many call the Hawaiian Doxology.

Hoʻonani i ka Makua mau
Let us give praise to the eternal Father

Ke Keiki me ke ka ʻUhane nō
To the Son and to the Holy Ghost

Ke Akua mau, hoʻomaikaʻi pū
To God everlasting, let there ring praise

Ko kēia ao ko kēlā ao
Both in this world as well as the kingdom beyond

With collaboration with the Aliʻi, Hiram and the other missionaries
• Introduced Christianity to the Islands
• Created the written Hawaiian language and brought about widespread literacy
• Helped promulgate a constitutional government
• Made Western medicine available
• Introduced a distinctive musical tradition

Hiram died on November 11, 1869 at New Haven Connecticut at the age of 81.

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October 23, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Missionaries Departure

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) from the northeast United States, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)

The Prudential Committee of the ABCFM in giving instructions to the pioneers of 1819 said: “Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. …”

“Mr. Evarts, the treasurer, having engaged a passage for the mission on board the brig Thaddeus, Captain Blanchard, for $2,500, exclusive of provisions for a long voyage, she was made ready for sea, by the 23d of October.”

“In the forenoon of that day, Mr. Thurston gave the parting address of the mission to its friends, at Park St. Church, that monthly concert temple dear to many a missionary heart. They repaired together to the wharf, where they united in a parting hymn, pledging a close and permanent union though far and long separated.”

“A fervent and appropriate prayer was offered by the Secretary of the Board, and the mission was affectionately commended to the grace of God, and immediately conveyed to the brig by a barge furnished for the purpose by a U. S. Naval officer, they being still accompanied by the Secretary and Treasurer and a few other friends.”

“When these had given the parting hand and benediction, they descended into the boat and began to move off. The tender and benignant look of Dr. Worcester, as the boat left our vessel, turning his eyes upon the little band looking over the rail, as if he would say, my love be ever with you, will not soon be forgotten.”

“When they had reached the wharf, the brig weighed anchor and set sail, and as we dropped down the stream, they waved their handkerchiefs, till out of sight. Though leaving my friends, home and country, as I supposed for ever, and trying as was the parting scene, I regarded that day as one of the happiest of my life.”

“But loosing from our beloved country, and not expecting ever to tread its shores or look upon its like again, with what intense interest did we gaze upon its fading landscapes, its receding hills and mountains, till the objects successively disappeared In the distance, or sank below the horizon.” (Hiram Bingham)

There were seven couples sent to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity. These included two Ordained Preachers, Hiram Bingham and his wife Sybil and Asa Thurston and his wife Lucy; two Teachers, Mr. Samuel Whitney and his wife Mercy and Samuel Ruggles and his wife Mary; a Doctor, Thomas Holman and his wife Lucia; a Printer, Elisha Loomis and his wife Maria; a Farmer, Daniel Chamberlain, his wife and five children.

Along with them were four Hawaiian youths who had been students at the Foreign Mission School at Cornwall Connecticut, Thomas Hopu (his friend on board the ship when he first left the Islands,) William Kanui, John Honoliʻi and Prince Humehume (son of Kauaiʻi’s King Kaumuali‘i and also known as Prince George Kaumuali‘i.)

After 164-days at sea, on April 4, 1820, the Thaddeus arrived and anchored at Kailua-Kona on the Island of Hawaiʻi. Hawai‘i’s “Plymouth Rock” is about where the Kailua pier is today.

Collaboration between native Hawaiians and the American Protestant missionaries resulted in, among other things:
• 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.

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 ABCFM in the Hawaiian Islands. (The image shows the departure of the Second Company.)

Click HERE for more on the departure of the Pioneer Company.

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departure_of_the_second_company_from_the_american_board_of_commissioners_for_foreign_missions_to_hawaii

June 5, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kaʻahumanu and the Missionaries

Kaʻahumanu was born about the year 1768, near Hana, Maui. Her siblings include Governor John Adams Kuakini of Hawaiʻi Island, Queen Kalakua Kaheiheimalie (another wife of Kamehameha I) and Governor George Cox Keʻeaumoku II of Maui.

By birth, Kaʻahumanu ranked high among the Hawaiians. Her father was Keʻeaumoku, a distinguished warrior and counselor of Kamehameha the Great. Her mother Namahana was a former wife of the Chief of Maui, and the daughter of Kekaulike (a great Chief of that island.)

Kaʻahumanu was one of the most powerful people in the Islands at the time of the arrival of the missionaries. There were those who were higher by birth, and there were those who were higher by title, but there was probably none who held greater influence.

While her reputation is as a strong supporter of the missionaries and Christianity, in an early description of her, Hiram Bingham noted, “This woman, with all her haughtiness and selfishness”. Others felt the same.

“For a long time she stood aloof from the influence of the missionaries, was haughty, proud, and disdainful in their presence, and frequently passed them without speaking to them.” (Lucy Thurston)

“Kaahumanu too, for many months, was either heedless in regard to Christianity, or scornfully averse to our instructions, and at the same time not a little annoyed by the profligacy of Liholiho and his boon companions.”

“Some were watching to despoil us of our few goods, or to expel us from the islands, and others to nullify our influence by slander and misrepresentations.” (Bingham)

But “the gospel at length took hold of her mind, and through the influence of the Holy Ghost wrought a great and permanent and salutary change in her character.” (Lucy Thurston)

Soon after the first anniversary of their landing at Honolulu on April 19, 1821, Kaʻahumanu, Kalanimoku and Kalakua visited the mission and gave them supplies; this visit became important because during it Kaʻahumanu made her first request for prayer and showed her first interest in the teachings of the missionaries.

From that point on, Kaʻahumanu comes into more constant contact with the mission.

She was later described to have a kindly and generous disposition and usually had as pleasant relations with foreigners who respected her royal rights. She was cautious and slow in deciding – more business-like in here decision-making – but once her mind was made up, she never wavered.

On February 11, 1824, Kaʻahumanu made one of her first public speeches on religious questions, giving “plain, serious, close and faithful advice.”

At a meeting of the chiefs and school teachers, Kaʻahumanu and Kalanimōku declared their determination to “adhere to the instructions of the missionaries, to attend to learning, observe the Sabbath, Worship God, and obey his law, and have all their people instructed.”

She had requested baptism for Keopuolani and Keʻeaumoku when they were dying, but she waited until April, 1824, before requesting the same for herself.

“She was admitted to the church in, 1825, and was baptized by the name of Elizabeth. Soon after her conversion, she made a tour of the Islands; the people were astonished at the change in her, and remarked that it was ‘not Kaahumanu, but Elizabeth.’” (Lucy Thurston)

Of her baptism, Kamakau said: “Kaahumanu was the first fruit of the Kawaiahaʻo church … for she was the first to accept the word of God, and she was the one who led her chiefly relations as the first disciples of God’s church.”

“She became distinguished for her humility, kindness, and the affability of her deportment, regarded the missionaries as her own children, and treated them with the tenderness of maternal love.” (Lucy Thurston)

“Her influence and authority had long been paramount and undisputed with the natives, and was now discreetly used for the benefit of the nation.”

“She visited the whole length and breadth of the Islands, to recommend to her people, attention to schools, and to the doctrines and duties of the word of God, and exerted all her influence to suppress vice, and restrain the evils which threatened the ruin of her nation.” (Lucy Thurston)

Then, in mid-1832, Kaʻahumanu became ill and was taken to her house in Manoa, where a bed of maile and leaves of ginger was prepared. “Her strength failed daily. She was gentle as a lamb, and treated her attendants with great tenderness. She would say to her waiting women, ‘Do sit down; you are very tired; I make you weary.’”

Hiram Bingham’s account of her last hours is, in part, as follows: “On the third instant, Sabbath night, about midnight, Dr. Judd sent down to me to say he thought her dying. I hastened to Manoa and remained there until the fifth …”

“About the last words she used of a religious character were two lines of a hymn designed to express the feelings of a self-condemned penitent coining and submitting to Christ: ‘Here, here am I, O Jesus, oh – Grant me a gracious smile.’

“A little after this she called me to her and as I took her hand, she asked. ‘Is this Bingham?’ I replied. ‘It is I’—She looked upon me & added ‘I am going now’ I replied: ’Ehele pu Jesu me oe, Ehele pomaikai aku.’ ‘May Jesus go with you, go in peace.’ She said no more. Her last conflict was then soon over, – in 10 or 15 minutes she ceased to breathe.”

Her death took place at ten minutes past 3 o’clock on the morning of June 5, 1832, “after an illness of about 3 weeks in which she exhibited her unabated attachment to the Christian teachers and reliance on Christ, her Saviour.”

She was buried at Pohukaina at ʻIolani Place and later transferred to Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum in Nuʻuanu Valley. The image shows Kaʻahumanu. (Herb Kane)

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April 19, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

“A Quiet Retreat from the Noise and Bustle of Honolulu”

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of missionaries from the northeast US, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Islands. There were seven couples sent by the ABCFM to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity.

These included two Ordained Preachers, Hiram Bingham and his wife Sybil and Asa Thurston and his wife Lucy; two Teachers, Mr. Samuel Whitney and his wife Mercy and Samuel Ruggles and his wife Mary; a Doctor, Thomas Holman and his wife Lucia; a Printer, Elisha Loomis and his wife Maria; a Farmer, Daniel Chamberlain, his wife and five children. (The Honolulu contingent arrived on Oʻahu on April 19, 1820.)

In 1829, Kaʻahumanu wanted to give Hiram and Sybil Bingham a gift of land and consulted Hoapili. He suggested Kapunahou (although he had already given it to Liliha).

According to AF Judd, “Not unnaturally, Liliha objected to the proposal, but Hoapili consented. And Liliha’s resentment could avail nothing against the wish of her father, her husband, and the highest chief of the land.”

At first, the Binghams lived in a grass home erected by Kaʻahumanu beside a larger structure of her own. By 1831 the Binghams moved into a more permanent adobe cottage that stood beside a clump of hau trees.

While at Punahou, the Binghams created for themselves “a quiet retreat from the noise and bustle of Honolulu.” The building had two main rooms, a porch, a storeroom and a pantry. There was a separate cookhouse. (Punahou)

“Dear Punahou cottage, once my home sweet home, where the precious mother cherished her little ones.” (Hiram Bingham II, April 19, 1905)

The land was given to the Binghams (it was considered to be a gift from Kaʻahumanu, Kuhina Nui or Queen Regent at that time,) but by missionary rules, it was really given to the mission as a whole. (NPS) The Binghams left in 1840.

“The founding of Punahou as a school for missionary children not only provided means of instruction for the children, of the Mission, but also gave a trend to the education and history of the Islands. In 1841, at Punahou the Mission established this school and built for it simple halls of adobe.”

“From this unpretentious beginning, the school has grown to its present prosperous condition.” (Report of the Superintendent of Public Education, 1900)

“The trustees of Oahu College propose to set up a memorial in memory of the late Rev. Hiram Bingham, first missionary on the Island of Oahu, and a benefactor of the college.”

“The house occupied by Rev. Mr. Bingham was situated just mauka of the site now occupied by the president’s house on the college grounds and about 20 feet from the driveway.”

“The trustees will select a large bowlder and place it in position as nearly as possible on the spot where the house originally stood. One face of the rock will be trimmed off to receive a suitable inscription.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 20, 1897)

“The exact site of the cottage has since then been discovered by the unearthing of the foundation of the southern corner, and now, after the lapse of five years … we are here today to dedicate this memorial, and to witness to our belief in the propriety and usefulness of the same.” (Hiram Bingham II, April 19, 1905)

Like other missionaries who had benefitted from the generosity of the Hawaiian ali‘i, Bingham managed the land together with other mission members. As explained by fellow missionary Samuel Whitney on September 24, 1850, “The land could be received and immediately appropriated, as far as it was capable, to sustaining the missionary cause.”

“It was never my privilege to be a pupil at the Punahou Mission School but I can well remember how in summer days, when the heat was great and we were wont, for a change, to dwell in the humble cottage which stood here, an older sister and myself used to start out on foot to cross the dusty and arid plain two miles to Kawaiahao to attend the little mission school held in Dr. Judd’s back yard, the germ of this college.”

“Memory goes back sixty-six years to the delights of this refreshing spot, where, after the long weary walks of the day, I was wont to meet a mother’s welcome, and to refresh myself, not in this magnificent bathing tank so near at hand, but in an artificial pond originally constructed by my father for purposes of irrigation …”

“I remember with what delight I used to paddle about in my boat, only a box, in a fresh pond close to the spring. I remember how I was wont to stroll in the cool, shady spots so romantic to me in childhood among the banana trees which grew by the side of the taro patches”.

“… how in this cottage we children eagerly listened to the reading of “the Rollo Books” when they first appeared, and how we rejoiced over the toys as one by one they were taken from the box just arrived from around Cape Horn.”

“Finally, I remember how, in a neighboring shady grove, just a few yards makai of this cottage, not long before we went forth from it (was it prophetic?), I tried to sing with my sister the anthem ‘Daughter of Zion, awake from thy sadness,’ which we had heard sung by the choir in the old Bethel on King street.”

“Those were happy days, but they are forever gone. I would not have them back. It is enough for me, full enough that I have the memory of them, that in my oId age I hear the merry voices of the rising student generations as after school hours of faithful study they gleefully roam this campus, seeking rest and recreation”

“(M)y heart will to the last, beat with joy at the remembrance of the gift of my father and the continued prosperity of Oahu College.”

“In your walks through these shady avenues, kind friends, will you not once and again linger a moment here to reread this inscription (which I now unveil) and call to mind the labors of love which my dear father put forth in this city for the redemption of Hawaiʻi, and his parting gift, Punahou?” (Hiram Bingham II, April 19, 1905)

“The memorial tablet is a simple but beautiful affair. On a grass mound in the shape of a truncated pyramid is a pedestal of lava rock on which is a great rough lava boulder hewn out from the slopes of Rocky Hill.”

“On its rough face is an oval bronze tablet bearing in simple raised letters this inscription:” (Ceremonies In Memory of the Pioneer Missionary Rev Hiram Bingham, April 19, 1905)

“On This Spot
Stood The Home Of The
Rev. Hiram Bingham
Who Gave This Broad Estate
To The Cause Of
Christian Education”

(Hiram and Sybil Bingham are my great-great-great grandparents.)

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