Kamehameha Schools | Page 4 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

April 1, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

William Brewster Oleson

On April 1, 1886, Reverend William Brewster Oleson was hired from Hilo Boarding School to become the first principal of the Kamehameha School for Boys.

Oleson was born in Portland, Maine, September 9, 1851, educated at the University of Maine, and graduated from the Theological Seminary at Oberlin, Ohio, in 1877; after a short pastorate at Gambler, Ohio, came to Hawaiʻi.

For eight years he held the principalship of Hilo Boarding School, so long occupied by Father David Belden Lyman, resigning only to accept the pioneer work of organizing the Kamehameha Schools. (HMCS)

“Only a limited number of Students will be received this year, and those desiring to enter the School in the future must apply on the 1st day of September 1887.”

“Each student will occupy a separate room furnished with bed, table, and chair; and a list of items to be furnished by each student will be sent if asked for in advanced to the teacher.”

“Each student will be allowed to carry out 12 hours a week of manual labor. For industrial arts, two hours a day, and five days a week. Military drilling and physical education will be a portion of the curriculum everyday.”

“Arithmetic, English Language, Popular Science (Akeakamai,) Elementary Algebra (Anahonua,) Free-hand and Mechanical Drawing (Kakau me Kaha Kii,) Practical Geometry (Moleanahonua,) Bookkeeping (malama Buke Kalepa,) tailoring (tela humu lole,) printing (pai palapala,), masonry (hamo puna,) and other similar things, and blacksmithing.” (Kuokoa, June 28, 1887)

Oleson brought nine of his most prized pupils with him to Kamehameha Schools to create the school’s inaugural class. By then, Hilo Boarding School was the model for educating students at Hampton Institute in Virginia and Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

On October 3, 1887, Kamehameha Schools for Boys opened for students and holds classes. By October 12, 37 boys over the age of twelve are enrolled; there were 4 teachers. On November 4 1887, opening day ceremonies take place with much pomp and circumstance.

Oleson was the principal, WS Terry served as superintendent of shops, Mrs F Johnson was a matron, instructor Miss CA Reamer would later become the principal of the preparatory school and Miss LL Dressler also served as an instructor. (KSBE)

At the opening ceremonies, “Prof Alexander on being asked for remarks expressed his regret that Hon C R Bishop who had such an interest in the school was absent on the Coast. The institution of a technical school had often been discussed in Honolulu>”

“He rejoiced that the wishes of the noble lady foundress had been so successfully carried out. Founded upon a rock the institution he hoped would long stand on the rock and that it would keep the memory of its foundress green until generations yet unborn should call her blessed.” (Hawaiian Gazette, November 8, 1887)

A year later the Preparatory Department, for boys 6 to 12 years of age, opened in adjacent facilities. (Organization of the Kamehameha School for Girls was delayed until 1894.)

During a visit to see General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, Hampton’s founder, Oleson picked up the idea of including military training in Kamehameha’s curriculum (1888.) (Rath)

Officers were appointed by Oleson and were responsible for discipline and marching to and from town. Oleson was in charge of drills, but teachers joined in the marches to church or other meetings. In September 1899, the boys wore their uniforms to class and drills.

He was disciplinarian, nurse, mother and father to each boy, and he attended every baseball game.

Oleson wrote the Kamehameha Schools alma mater, “Sons of Hawaiʻi” together with Theodore Richards, who adapted the tune from Yale’s “Wake, Freshman, Wake” and chose the school colors based on Yale school colors (‘Yale Blue’ and white.)

“Into this noble institution he threw the whole of his ability and energy for another eight years, and then returned to the continent for the education of his children.”

There he served as pastor at Worcester, Ware, Holyoke and for other Congregational churches for about fourteen years. He came again to Honolulu in 1908 and was elected Secretary of the Hawaiian Board of Missions, a position he has filled with honor till called to higher service.

Oleson’s executive ability, his clear thinking and good judgment, his firmness and decision, his ability to understand human nature, his optimism, his kindness, all combined to make him an excellent instructor.

His clear, concise statements also, so helpful for an educator were equally effective as a speaker, as a counselor, and as a leader of thought among men with whom he had later to deal. His courteous manners and winsome personality made for him many friends, while his courageous portrayal of the “faith of the fathers” won for him the respect of all. (HMCS)

Oleson was outspoken and politically active, becoming a member of the Reform Party, a founding member and executive officer of the Hawaiian League, and one of the “persons chiefly engaged in drawing up the (Bayonet) constitution.” (Williams)

On December 19, 1907, Reverend William B Oleson delivered a stirring address at an impressive and well-attended Founder’s day ceremony (alumni have raised funds among themselves to defray the expense of the Oleson’s trip from the continent to Hawaii:)

“For twenty years our youth have had a training that has justified itself in the results. Work has been treated as an honorable and necessary thing. Self-mastery in work-shop and class-room has been the constant goal.”

“Constantly widening opportunities have been afforded here for the development of aptitude, and that always in the direction of ability to earn a living. And this training has not been in vain. There are men and women all over these islands today who are living industrious and useful lives for which they gained the incentive and preparation here.” (Oleson; KSBE)

Reverend William Brewster Oleson died on the eastward-bound train at Seligman, Arizona, on March 19, 1915. His health had not been good and he was anticipating a six months’ vacation among the scenes of his youth. (HMCS)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Rev. William Oleson is the first principal to serve at Kamehameha Schools

Early Teachers at Kamehameha Schools

v2_7B [Dormitory Row]-(KSBE)

Kamehameha School for Boys campus-(KSBE)-before 1900

L2R-Dormitory A, Dormitory B, the Dining-Kitchen-Classroom Building, Dormitory C-ksbe

Bishop Memorial Chapel-(KSBE)-1897

Teacher’s Cottage is visible behind this grove of trees on the Kaʻiwiula campus

Reunion of Kamehameha Schools 1st graduating class-kuokoa-06_16_1916

Kamehameha_School_for_Girls_sewing_class,-(WC)_late_1890s

Kamehameha_School_for_Boys_Print_Shop,-(WC)_1897

Kamehameha Schools Advertisement-HawnGazette-May 31, 1887

January 4, 2016 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

Tutasi

“No other clubs compared to the Hawaiian Room.” (Tutasi Wilson; Imada)

“Although the Lexington Hotel is located in New York City, it still had the ability to play an integral role in sharing and perpetuating the Hawaiian culture and traditions.”

“The Hawaiian Room was the hub of all things Hawaiian in the Big Apple, and these people were the ambassadors of Hawaiʻi to America.” (English)

‘The girls’ saw their mission as selling Hawaii in a nice way. (Imada)

From 1937-1966, in the heart of what was the largest city in the world at the time, the Hawaiian Room was a pioneering venue where authentic hula and Hawaiian music were shared with millions from around the world.

Its performers represented the finest talent Hawai‘i had to offer, and they were readily embraced and celebrated by the diverse New York community.

The Room itself was the first of its kind and featured a glamorous dining room with island decor, large dance floor and American orchestra, and a Hawaiian music and floor show that was unmatched in its professionalism, elegance, and beauty.

It was New York after all – the land of Broadway shows, fast- paced lifestyles, ethnic diversity, and celebrities. (hula preservation society)

Some of the important names in Hawaiian entertainment performed at the Lex. They include Alfred Apaka, Ed Kenney, Kui Lee, Manu Kanemura Bentley, Lei Becker Furtado, TeMoana Makolo, Mona Joy, Ray Kinney, ‘Uncle’ Keola Beamer, Olan Peltier Carpenter, Leialoha Kaleikini, Jennie Woodd and Lani McIntire. (Wood)

Tutasi was one of the performers at the Lexington Hotel’s Hawaiian Room.

Helen Tutasiilemauosamoa Wilson was born in Leone, Pago Pago American Samoa on March 7, 1914; she was the daughter of Helen Ripley of Leone, and Frederick Roy Wilson of Hope, Michigan.

In 1925, when Tutasi was 10 years old, she was sent to Honolulu where she attended Lincoln School and later Kamehameha School for Girls; thus, in 1933, becoming the first non-Hawaiian girl to graduate from the school.

Between trips back to Samoa, she studied at the University of Hawaiʻi, worked in social services, and later returned to Samoa to work in this field.

Eventually, Tutasi left Samoa for California to further her studies, but the offer of a role in ‘Mutiny On the Bounty’ was too tempting, and thus her career in movies began. (PPSEAW)

During her time in Hollywood, she was a roommate with actress Jane Wyman. She also met Jane’s boyfriend Ronnie, another actor, and quickly they all became good friends. (Ronnie was Ronald Reagan, the 40th US President.)

Movie life soon paled and she then accepted an offer to join the Honolulu Maids at the Hotel Lexington’s Hawaiian Room in New York where she started a new career that included Polynesian dancing, costume design and catering services.

Tutasi became a valued addition to Arthur Godfrey’s weekly CBS-TV program in New York with her dancing and acting. Also featured on the show was her lifelong friend Duke Kahanamoku. They were a big hit with the Hawaiʻi-conscious audience.

Later, Tutasi launched her own business called Polynesian Services and Entertainment, and became involved in the lucrative New York tourist business by featuring travel packages for a ‘Hawaiian South Seas Weekend in Atlantic City,’ where she supervised everything from the luau dinners to the Polynesian dancing and fashion shows. (SamoaNews)

Her first husband was Charles Simmons; they married in 1936, when she was 21 years old. Simmons, a Navy pilot, died less than two years later, killed during a test flight.

In 1960, Tutasi married Dr Lewis Steinhilber, the head surgeon at the American Samoa Hospital. Dr Steinhilber passed away in 1982; following his death, Tutasi relocated to Hawai’i.

“An advocate for education, Tutasi mentored many young Samoans, encouraging them to pursue professional goals not merely for personal advancement, but to help the aiga (family) and others. So many people have benefited from her kind generosity.” (SamoaNews)

‘Aunty Tutasi’ died April 5, 2013 in Hawaiʻi at the age of 99. She was buried in the Ripley Family Cemetery in Sogi, Saita’a. In her last will and testament she gave this tender farewell:

“My heartfelt wishes and aloha shall go to all my dear relatives and friends in Samoa and Hawaiʻi for their friendship and kindness extended to me throughout my lifetime. Aloha nui loa – Tutasi”. (SamoaNews)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Hotel Lexington New York Hawaiian Room (1953)

Hawaiian_Room_Hotel_Lexington ca1937

November 4, 2015 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Early Days at Kamehameha Schools

October 3, 1887 Kamehameha Schools for Boys opens for students and holds classes. By October 12, 37 boys over the age of twelve are enrolled; there were 4 teachers. On November 4 1887, opening day ceremonies take place with much pomp and circumstance.

A year later the Preparatory Department, for boys 6 to 12 years of age, opened in adjacent facilities. In 1894 the Kamehameha School for Girls opened on its own campus nearby.

At the first Founder’s Day ceremony in December, 1889, Charles Reed Bishop, Pauahi’s husband and a member of Kamehameha’s first Board of Trustees, elaborated on her intentions.

“Bernice Pauahi Bishop, by founding the Kamehameha Schools, intended to establish institutions which should be of lasting benefit to her country…The founder of these schools was a true Hawaiian. She knew the advantages of education and well directed industry. Industrious and skillful herself, she respected those qualities in others.” (KSBE)

“The hope that there would come a turning point, when, through enlightenment, the adoption of regular habits and Christian ways of living, the natives would not only hold their numbers, but would increase again.”

“And so, in order that her own people might have the opportunity for fitting themselves for such competition, and be able to hold their own in a manly and friendly way, without asking any favors which they were not likely to receive, these schools were provided for, in which Hawaiians have the preference, and which she hoped they would value and take the advantages of as fully as possible.” (KSBE)

Uldrick Thompson, Sr was a teacher at Kamehameha School for Boys (1889-1898 and 1901-1922) and served as the school principal (1898-1901.) Here are excerpts of his explanation of the early days at Kamehameha Schools.

“You who come to Kamehameha and find it as it now is, cannot conceive the degree of barrenness that greeted us that day. No rain for two years! Not a blade of green grass or even a weed in sight!”

“The few algaroba trees scattered about were not taller than a man, and seemed as stunted and discouraged as the mesquite of Arizona. And rocks, rocks, rocks everywhere, with cracks in the clay between large enough to put your foot in.”

“Only two reasons were never given me for selecting such a site for these schools. The fact that this site was a part of the Bishop Estate was one reason. And the fact that Mr SM Damon, one of the original Trustees, had already begun to develop his beautiful Moanalua Estate and wanted the schools here to prevent the Orientals from spreading out in that direction is another reason.”

“The campus provided two companies in Honolulu with thousands of loads of rock for ballast. Several boys paid for their school expenses by breaking rocks, but this was considered unpopular ‘Portuguese’ work. In 1889, the only area cleared of rocks was the baseball diamond.”

“The roads were made of coral rock and so were trying to the eyes. This coral rock ground up easily and when rain came the mud of the roads mingled with the campus mud and the floors of the dormitories and dining hall were coated with the combination. At times hoes were needed in cleaning the floors because brooms were useless.”

The principal William B Oleson organized the military system at the school in 1888. Officers were appointed by Oleson and were responsible for discipline and marching to and from town. Oleson was in charge of drills, but teachers joined in the marches to church or other meetings. In September 1899, the boys wore their uniforms to class and drills.

“One and one half hours work, before breakfast was required of every boy, from the first day of organization. The rising bell sounded at 5:30 am; the Morning Work began at 5:45 and continued till 7 o’clock. Then breakfast.”

“This work consisted of care of the buildings, grounds; helping about the kitchen and dining room; cutting wood for the school fires and for the teachers; and in clearing the Campus of rocks and weeds. Mr Oleson was out nearly every morning, supervising the work of the boys.”

“But so many colds developed, attributed to exposure to rain and to severe exercise without food, that early in 1898, each boy was given a cup of coffee and a piece of pilot bread before beginning work. And in October 1899, breakfast was served before the boys went to their morning work.”

“Up to October, 1895, each boy was assigned to some definite work when he entered school; and he continued that special work during the whole of that year. Possibly, longer.”

“For example, a boy was assigned to ringing the bell for each change of class or of work; meals etc. and he did nothing else. He learned that one thing; and he learned nothing else. It was astonishing how quickly one of those giants could ring a ten-pound bell to pieces.”

“But early in the fall term of 1895, a system was worked out by which every boy was scheduled for the year; and changed his work at the beginning of the month…this system went into effect and has continued, with modifications”.

There was a great need for trained, skilled local labor, and businessmen anticipated that Kamehameha Schools would provide the training for young Hawaiians in the trade and service industries.

“They believed also that a good percent would prove capable of filling positions of responsibility. These men were sincerely interested in the Hawaiian youth; and they promptly showed this interest by sending boys here and paying all expenses.”

“But the results were not always just what the patrons hoped for. Too many of the boys, feeling that their expenses were paid; and feeling sure of three meals a day, did not seem to care a cent whether school kept or not.”

“One of the experiments (then-principal) Richards worked out was to give the boys a chance to pay their own way at Kamehameha, rather than be dependent upon others.”

“Acting upon Mr Richards’ suggestion, our Trustees on June 15th, 1894, authorized twenty-five Work Scholarships. The plan was to select twenty-five reliable boys; pay each ten cents an hour for his work; and have them do only such work as would otherwise be done by outside labor and paid for by the Estate. In short each boy was to earn that money for the Estate.”

“Getting the boys to realize that self-support as better for each boy than depending upon either their parents or patrons, was not managed in one day. But Mr Richards succeeded in getting the twenty-five boys to try the experiment.”

“One plan was to have the Work Scholarship boys produce all the taro the Schools needed and to this end several taro fields up Kalihi were turned over to the Schools by the Estate. Another plan was to have the Work Scholarship boys produce all the milk the Schools needed and to this end several cows were bought, sorghum was planted and a dairy started.”

“Mr Oleson was both orthodox and practical in religious matters. He believed the Bible implicitly and there was no compromise in his nature; but his sermons and talks for our boys were quite as much about every-day affairs as about a future state.”

“We had devotional exercises every morning at 8:30; and every evening before study began. There was a prayer meeting every Wednesday evening; and every Sunday afternoon. The boys usually marched down to Kaumakapili every Sunday morning for Sunday School and remained to church service.”

(Reminiscences of Old Hawaii with Account of Early Life by Uldrick Thompson, Sr (1941) and Reminiscences of the Kamehameha Schools (1922,) provide information about his experiences in Hawaiʻi and at the Kamehameha School for Boys. Information here comes from those (KSBE.))

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

$V2_3A {KSB dormitories-rocky field-Punchbowl in the background]-(KSBE)$

V2_3A {KSB dormitories-rocky field-Punchbowl in the background]-(KSBE)

Campus of the three historical schools-(KSBE)-1932

V4_4-C [KSB Band and Cadets in front of Bishop Museum]-(KSBE)

Early Teachers at Kamehameha Schools

Kamehameha School for Boys campus-(KSBE)-before 1900

Bishop Memorial Chapel Old Kamehameha Schools Campus-(KSBE)

Bishop Memorial Chapel-(KSBE)-1897

BPBishopMuseum-BishopHall-(WC)

v2_7B [Dormitory Row]-(KSBE)

First Graduating Class of the Kamehameha School for Boys-(KSBE)-1891

Kamehameha_School_for_Boys_Print_Shop,-(WC)_1897

V2_6A[Dormitory Row-(KSBE)-c1890]

School_for_Boys-L_to_R- Dormitory A, Dormitory B, the Dining-Kitchen-Classroom Building, Dormitory C-(KSBE)

Kamehameha_School_for_Girls-(KSBE)

Kamehameha_School_for_Girls_sewing_class,-(WC)_late_1890s

First Graduating Class of the Kamehameha School for Girls-(KSBE)-1897

Girls_Uniform-1920s

Preparatory_Department-(KSBE)-1888

Preparatory_Department-students_and_teacher-(KSBE)-1888

Honolulu_Harbor-Diamond_Head-Monsarrat-Reg1910-(1897)-portion-noting_Kamehameha_Schools

September 23, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Student Farmers

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.

They quickly reduced the Hawaiian language to written form and established schools in which the native Hawaiians were taught to read and to write.

Their instruction was not confined, however, to the ‘three R’s.’ Included in the original band of missionaries was a New England farmer, Daniel Chamberlain, indicating the importance they attached to giving some instruction in western agriculture to the native Hawaiians.

Effectively, they were teaching to the Head, Heart and Hand. Let’s look at some examples.

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 high school.

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.

Each scholar was expected to furnish himself with food and clothing by his own industry. Accompanying the work in the fields, a small amount of organized instruction in western agriculture was given. (History of Agricultural Education)

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.

It soon was apparent to the missionaries that the future of the Congregational Mission in Hawaiʻi 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.

In 1835, they constructed the Hilo Boarding School as part of an overall system of schools (with a girls boarding school in Wailuku and boarding at Lahainaluna.)

On January 6, 1835 “our children’s school commenced, eighty children present, sixty knew their letters. A number of the more forward children are employed as monitors to assist the less forward. (ie. advanced)” (Sarah Lyman)

The school was operated to an extent on a manual labor program and the boys cultivated the land to produce their own food. (The boys’ ages ranged from seven to fourteen.)

“Mr. Lyman who was brought up on a farm had an abiding faith in the value of manual labor; and his work in Hilo had convinced him that such activity in both primitive and introduced vocation was as necessary as book learning during the period of transition from one culture to another.” (Lorthian)

Rev. William Brewster Oleson had served as principal of the Hilo Boarding School for 8 years. Then, on November 4, 1887, Kamehameha School for Boys opened with 37 students and four teachers – Oleson was appointed its first principal and helped organize the school on a similar model.

Manual labor has a regular feature of the activities of the Kamehameha Boys’ School. Between 1889 and 1893 the school experimented with the raising of cows, pigs, chickens, and vegetables.

Later, the Kamehameha School flocks and herds were improved, and they began the production of forage crops, vegetables, and fruits on a larger scale, and strengthened the classroom work. (History of Agricultural Education)

Punahou, another boarding school, formed in 1841, required that “All students who entered the Boarding department were required to take part in the manual labor of the institution, under the direction of the faculty, not to exceed an average of two hours for each day.” (Punahou Catalogue, 1899)

“We had a dairy, the Punahou dairy, over on the other side of Rocky Hill. That was all pasture. We had beautiful, delicious milk, all the milk you wanted.” (Shaw, Punahou)

Later, in January 1925, Punahou bought the Honolulu Military Academy property – it had about 90-acres of land and a half-dozen buildings on the back side of Diamond Head. (The Honolulu Military Academy was originally founded by Col LG Blackman, in 1911.)

It served as the “Punahou Farm” to carry on the school’s work and courses in agriculture. “We were picked up and taken to the Punahou Farm School, which was also the boarding school for boys. The girls boarded at Castle Hall on campus.” (Kneubuhl, Punahou) The farm school was in Kaimuki between 18th and 22nd Avenues.

In addition to offices and living quarters, the Farm School supplied Punahou with most of its food supplies. The compound included a big pasture for milk cows, a large vegetable garden, pigs, chickens, beehives, and sorghum and alfalfa fields that provided feed for the cows. Hired hands who tended the farm pasteurized the milk in a small dairy, bottled the honey and crated the eggs. (Kneubuhl, Punahou)

While the programs of ‘manual labor’ and farming have been dropped by almost all of the respective school’s curriculums, a lasting legacy and reminder of the prior farming is seen in the Lahainaluna Time Clock.

Between 1941 and 1976, Lahainaluna boarders punched in their “in” and “out” times (according to their assigned student number) to keep track of their daily hours worked for their room and board. (It stopped when the only repairman familiar with the clock passed away.)

While Lahainaluna still has farming activity (raising pigs and cultivating dryland taro, corn, butter lettuce, beans, ti and other crops (Advertiser,)) they don’t punch in/out with the clock.

However, according to the Boarder’s Handbook (2014-2015,) every weekday afternoon and Saturday morning, boarders are to “Check in at the time clock” before they start their 3 ½ hours of work. Likewise, “All Boarders must report to the Time Clock every day and sign out with the Farm Manager when working Overtime until all hours are cleared.”

“Boarders will be evaluated on their dorm and farm work performances; farm and school attendance records; dorm, school, and farm discipline records; school academic effort and achievements; and their overall attitude and behavior in the Boarding Program.” (Lahainaluna High School Boarder’s Handbook, 2014-2015)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Lahainaluna_Time-Clock

Lahainaluna-Kahu Earl Kukahiko (right), teaches students about farming -1980s-(mauinews)

Lahainaluna boarding student Josh Arata, 16, a senior from Ha’iku, tends to the 5-month old pigs-(advertiser)

Lahainaluna_Time-Clock

Lahainaluna-Chef Paris Nabavi-Sangrita Grill+Cantina-donated $1,200 to Lahainaluna High School’s Agriculture Program-(mauitime)

Hilo_Boarding_School_and_Gardens-from_Haili_Hill-(Lothian)-1856

Hilo_Boarding_School-(75-years)

Hilo_Boarding_School-garden-(75-years)

Kamehameha-Campus of the three historical schools-(KSBE)-1932

Kamehameha [Dormitory Row]-(KSBE)

Kamehameha School for Boys, 1890, (right) Rev. Wm. Oleson, Principal, (far left) Charles E. King-(WC)

Punahou-Gardens-1880

Punahou-Manual-Arts-Class–1924

Punahou-Campus-from-the-air-1939

August 23, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Uldrick Thompson

Uldrick Thompson, Sr was orphaned at the age of 4 – his father, Ambrose Thompson, died of tuberculosis when he was 3 years old. While caring for her husband, his mother contracted the same disease, and died a year later.

His maternal uncle, Uldrick Reynolds and his wife Sarah Myners-Reynolds took him in as one of their own according to the wishes of Thompson’s mother. They farmed halfway between Glens Falls and Saratoga Springs in New York.

Thompson was raised in a Methodist community and in the Methodist church. Uncle Uldrick attended Church regularly, revival meetings occasionally and Camp meetings not at all. The family kept the Sabbath day by attending church, avoiding unnecessary work and reading the Bible and good literature.

But Uncle Uldrick’s personal conduct was more influential; he didn’t swear, drink or gamble and paid his debts, his word being as good as a bond. Thompson sought to do likewise throughout his life.

Thompson was encouraged to become a professional teacher and enrolled at Oswego Normal School. There he met Alice Haviland of Brooklyn, New York; they were married at her parents’ home on July 5, 1882.

On November 4, 1887, the Kamehameha School for Boys opened with 37 students and four teachers. A year later the Preparatory Department, for boys 6 to 12 years of age, opened in adjacent facilities. (Organization of the Kamehameha School for Girls was delayed until 1894.)

Then, Thompson received a letter from General Samuel C Armstrong, the founder of Hampton Institute and son of Hawaiʻi missionary Reverend Richard Armstrong. He was recommended to teach in Hawaiʻi. He met with Charles Reed Bishop and agreed to teach at the new Kamehameha School for Boys.

On August 23, 1889, Rev William Brewster Oleson, principal of the Kamehameha School for Boys (popularly called the Manual School or Department) and Mr Harry Townsend, the vice-principal, met the Thompsons on the dock; they stayed at the Oleson home for a few days.

Thompson (1849-1942) was a teacher at Kamehameha School for Boys (1889-1898 and 1901-1922) and served as the school principal (1898-1901.)

The core classes were arithmetic, algebra, geometry, English, geography, penmanship, business, health, book-keeping and mechanical drawing. “The curriculum emphasized industrial training considered necessary for a Hawaiian to achieve personal and social success.”

For the girls, along with the standard curriculum, there were sewing, cooking, laundering, nursing and hospital practice classes. Girls 13 and older learned how to be homemakers and mothers. (Ruidas)

“Mrs. Thompson and I and the children, had an ideal life on The Kamehameha Campus. We would not have exchanged our experiences there for anything that might have been offered on the mainland.”

A lasting legacy of Thompson is a clock he made when he was 80; in 1928 he donated it to Oswego Normal School, where Thompson first received his teacher training. (Charles King and Sam Keliinoi of the first graduating class at Kamehameha (1891) came to the Oswego Normal School.)

It took Thompson a year to complete the towering grandfather clock made of koa; “His friend, DH McConnell, donated the Oxford-Whittington-Westminster chimes and works.” Thompson “requested it be placed in Sheldon Hall when built.”

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger