Lahainaluna | Page 2 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

June 16, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Boaz Mahune – Declaration of Rights (1839)

Born in the early-1800s, Boaz Mahune was a member of the lesser strata of Hawaiian nobility, subordinate to the high chiefs or aliʻi. He was a cousin of Paul Kanoa, who served as Governor of Kauai from 1846 to 1877.

He adopted the name “Boaz” after a figure in The Book of Ruth in the Bible, after his conversion to Christianity (it was sometimes spelled Boas.)

Boaz Mahune was a member of the first class at Lahainaluna Seminary, graduating in 1835 after four years there. His classmates included historian David Malo and royal diplomat Timothy Haʻalilio.

He was considered one of the school’s most brilliant scholars and was one of the ten chosen to remain as monitors, teachers in the children’s school and assistants in translating.

Mahune (with others from Lahainaluna) drafted the 1839 Hawaiian Bill of Rights, also known as the 1839 Constitution of Hawaiʻi. This document was an attempt by King Kamehameha III and his chiefs to guarantee that the Hawaiian people would not lose their tenured land, and provided the groundwork for a free enterprise system.

It laid down the inalienable rights of the people, the principles of equality of between the makaʻāinana (commoner) and the aliʻi (chiefs) and the role of the government and law in the kingdom.

Many refer to that document as Hawaiʻi’s Magna Charta (describing certain liberties, putting actions within a rule of law and served as the foundation for future laws.) It served as a preamble to the subsequent Hawaiʻi Constitution (1840.)

It was a great and significant concession voluntarily granted by the king to his people. It defined and secured the rights of the people, but it did not furnish a plan or framework of the government. (Kuykendall)

After several iterations of the document back and forth with the Council of Chiefs, it was approved and signed by Kamehameha III on June 7, 1839 – it was a significant departure from ancient ways.

As you can see in the following, the writing was influenced by Christian fundamentals, as well as rights noted in the US Declaration of Independence.

Ke Kumukānāwai No Ko Hawaiʻi Nei Pae ʻĀina 1839 (Declaration of Rights (1839)

“God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the earth, in unity and blessedness. God has also bestowed certain rights alike on all men and all chiefs, and all people of all lands.”

“These are some of the rights which He has given alike to every man and every chief of correct deportment; life, limb, liberty, freedom from oppression; the earnings of his hands and the productions of his mind.”

“God has also established governments and rule for the purpose of peace; but in making laws for the nation it is by no means proper to enact laws for the protection of the rulers only, without also providing protection for their subjects; neither is it proper to enact laws to enrich the chiefs only, without regard to enriching their subjects also, and hereafter there shall by no means be any laws enacted which are at variance with what is above expressed, neither shall any tax be assessed, nor any service or labor required of any man, in a manner which is at variance with the above sentiments.”

“These sentiments are hereby proclaimed for the purpose of protecting alike, both the people and the chiefs of all these islands, while they maintain a correct deportment; that no chief may be able to oppress any subject, but that chiefs and people may enjoy the same protection, under one and the same law.”

“Protection is hereby secured to the persons of all the people, together with their lands, their building lots, and all their property, while they conform to the laws of the kingdom, and nothing whatever shall be taken from any individual except by express provision of the laws. Whatever chief shall act perseveringly in violation of this Constitution, shall no longer remain a chief of the Hawaiian Islands, and the same shall be true of the Governors, officers and all land agents.”

The Declaration of Rights of 1839 recognized three classes of persons having vested rights in the lands; 1st, the Government; 2nd, the Chiefs; and 3rd, the native Tenants. It declared protection of these rights to both the Chiefly and native Tenant classes.

Mahune is more specifically credited with nearly all the laws on taxation in the introduction to the English translation of the laws of 1840, not published until 1842.

Later he was Kamehameha III’s secretary and advisor. When the king attempted to start a sugar cane plantation at Wailuku on Maui, Mahune was the manager. The project was not a success.

Mahune returned to Lāhainā, where he acted as a judge for a time. About 1846 he went back to his home in Honolulu to work for the government. Mahune died in March 1847.

January 13, 2022 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Dwight Baldwin

Dwight Baldwin was born on September 29, 1798 to Seth Baldwin (1775 –1832,) (a farmer) and Rhoda Hull Baldwin in Durham, Connecticut, and moved to Durham, New York, in 1804. His father, He was the second of 12 children. (Baldwin Genealogy)

He was employed with his father on the farm, enjoying the benefits of the common school, and generally in winter of a select school, till the age of sixteen. In the fall of 1814, he commenced the study of Latin, with a view to prepare for College.

The last of his teachers being a graduate of Williams College, he was induced to enter at Williams, where he spent two years; and then he left Williams and entered Yale College, where he graduated in September, 1821.

By the recommendation of President Day, the next two years he was employed as Principal of the Academy in Kingston, Ulster County, NY. A third year was spent in teaching a select school in Catskill, Greene county. He then devoted himself to the study of medicine, at the same time teaching a select school in Durham, NY.

Then, he got caught in the religious fervor; about the first of March, 1826, he found relief in believing in an Almighty Redeemer, a hope which has never forsaken him. Religion became the all-absorbing subject of his thought by day and by night. (Baldwin Genealogy)

He soon came to the decision to join a mission, and September 3, of that year, he united with the Congregational Church in Durham, NY, and soon after he entered the Theological Seminary at Auburn, where he spent three years, offering his services into the American Board of Boston for a Foreign Mission … and they were accepted.

He did not have time to await official recognition of his medical degree so at direction of the Prudential Committee he took his diploma as Master of Science. He was ordained at Utica, NY on October 6, 1830.

He was introduced by a friend to Charlotte Fowler, daughter of Deacon Solomon Fowler of North Branford, Connecticut, and a few weeks later was married to her on December 3, 1830. Twenty-five days later they set sail with the Fourth Company of missionaries to Hawaiʻi on the ship ‘New England;’ he arrived at Honolulu, June 7, 1831. (Baldwin)

Soon after their arrival, the Missionaries were assigned to different stations over the group, wherever there seemed to be the greatest opportunity of doing good. After a few months in Honolulu he was assigned to help Lorenzo Lyons in Waimea, Hawaiʻi Island. He remained there three years, from 1832 to 1835. (The Friend, December 1922)

In 1835, ill health caused Baldwin to leave Waimea and seek recovery in the Society Islands. “Such was the opinion of all I consulted at Honolulu, & though I could preach & attend to other duties, & it was trying to part with my dear family, yet I was afraid I might hereafter repent, should I not go; so I came to the conclusion to go.” (Baldwin, November 20, 1835)

“We sailed from Honolulu the 14th of July (1835) … We anchored at Papeete bay, on the NW side of Tahiti, in just one month from the time we sailed. … During the ten days we were at Tahiti, I did all I could, to visit the several stations”. (Baldwin)

“From Tahiti we sailed to Huahine, (then) we set sail for these islands. We were favored with good winds & in 20 days saw Hawaii … I landed Sept. 20th thankful at finding wife & little ones safe & well.” (While he was in Tahiti, his family had settled into their new home at Lāhainā.) (Baldwin, November 20, 1835)

The Lāhainā mission was started in 1823; William Richards had been pastor for 13-years. Lāhainā was then the favorite Royal Center of the King, and nearly all the high Chiefs of the Islands; it was the Kingdom’s capital (from the 1820s through the mid-1840s.)

It was also a thriving harbor in those days, being a port of call for the whale ships which sometimes filled the bay so full that one could jump from one deck to another.

Father and Mother Baldwin as they were often called, opened their home to all. Officers and masters of ships were the recipients of their wholehearted hospitality. Dr. Baldwin was physician for the mission families, and the government physician for Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi. (The Friend, December 1922)

“A barrel of whale oil furnished light for a year. The flour brought by the missionary steamer Morning Star came once a year and several times it had been so wetted in the storms off Cape Horn that it had hardened and it was necessary to chisel off the daily measure for cooking.”

“Vegetables, however, grew in their own garden and there was an abundance of fruit, such as bananas, grapes, and watermelons, and one does not hear that they suffered from their poverty.” (Baldwin)

Baldwin preached at the Waine‘e Church (“Moving Water;”) the cornerstone was laid on September 14, 1828, for this ‘first stone meeting-house built at the Islands,’ It was dedicated on March 4, 1832. The Hawaiian royalty attended services there.

(After fire destroyed the church in 1894, Baldwin’s son, Henry Perrine Baldwin, helped fund its restoration. Damaged and restored several times, the Church finally changed its name from Waine‘e Church, to Waiola Church (“Water of Life”) in 1954, and has safely-stood since.)

A series of epidemics swept through the Hawaiian Islands in the 1840s, whooping cough and measles, soon after followed by waves of dysentery and influenza; then, in 1853, a terrible smallpox epidemic. Although precise counts are not known, there were thousands of smallpox deaths on O‘ahu; Baldwin is credited with keeping the toll to only a few hundred on Maui.

“My journal has been long laid aside – not because I have not had thousands of things to record but mainly because press of cares has left little leisure to record what is passing in & what we are engaged. … 1853 was wonderfully taken up with our war with small pox on the islands.” (Baldwin, October 8, 1854)

“(Baldwin) was constant in his ministrations, taxing his strength almost to its limit. He was obliged to cross the channel to Molokai and Lanai often when the weather was very stormy, and too, very dangerous.”

“He never hesitated for a moment when the call came, night or day, but hurried on with his little bag, stepped into a double canoe and was off to Lanai and from there he took a whaleboat to Molokai. It was not unusual for Dr. Baldwin to take a trip of 80 or 90 miles on horseback to visit patients in Hana.” (The Friend, December 1922)

In 1856 the health of Father Baldwin, who had worked thirty-six years without a vacation, failed and the “American Board” granted him a year’s leave of absence. He and his wife left the Islands for a year’s visit in “the states.” (Baldwin)

In 1859 Baldwin belatedly received an honorary medical degree from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. Without having this he had suffered much embarrassment at the hands of the medical society of Honolulu who, despite the fact that he had been combining an exhausting medical practice for 27-years with his ministry, would not recognize him with a medical license unless he could produce documentary evidence of his medical degree. (HMCS)

It was with regret that Baldwin resigned his pastorate at Lāhainā, in September, 1868. That year Father Baldwin became associated with Reverend Benjamin Parker in the conduct of the native Theological Seminary at Honolulu; the Baldwins moved to Honolulu in 1870.

Mother Baldwin died on October 2, 1873; the inscription on her tombstone reads, “A life of work, love and prayer;” Dwight Baldwin died on January 3, 1886.

The Baldwins had eight children: David Dwight (1831–1912), Abigail Charlotte (1833–1913), Charles Fowler (1837–1891), Henry Perrine (1842–1911), Emily Sophronia (1844–1891) and Harriet Melinda (1846–1932). A daughter, Mary Clark died at about 2½ years of age in 1838; a son, Douglas Hoapili, died at almost 3 in 1843.

The Baldwin’s coral and stone Lāhainā Home, Baldwin House, is the oldest house in Lāhainā (completed in 1835.) It is now home to Lāhainā Restoration Foundation; they oversee and maintain 11 major historic structures in Lāhainā and provide tours of the Baldwin House. (Lots of information here from Baldwin Journals, Baldwin Genealogy and Mission Houses.)

May 5, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Haʻalilio

Timothy (Timoteo) Haʻalilio was born in 1808, at Koʻolau, Oʻahu. His parents were of respectable rank, and much esteemed.

His father died while he was quite young, and his widowed mother subsequently married the Governor of Molokai (after his death, she retained the authority of the island, and acted as Governess for the period of some fifteen years.)

At the age of eight years, Haʻalilio moved to Hilo where he was adopted into the family and became one of the playmates of the young prince Kauikeaouli (later, King Kamehameha III.) He travelled around the Islands with the prince and remained one of the most intimate companions and associates of the King.

At the age of about thirteen, he learned to read, and was a pleasant pupil and made great proficiency. There were then no regularly established schools, and, consistent with the wish of Kamehameha III, he was a private pupil of Hiram and Sybil Bingham.

In April or May, 1821, the King and the chiefs gathered in Honolulu and selected teachers to assist Mr. Bingham. James Kahuhu, John ʻĪʻi, Haʻalilio, Prince Kauikeaouli were among those who learned English. (Kamakau)

In addition to English, Haʻalilio learned to read Hawaiian and was taught arithmetic and penmanship, and was soon employed by the King to do his writing – not as an official secretary, but as a clerk.

On June 7, 1826, Haʻalilio married Hannah Hooper (Hana Hopua;) wedding entertainment was served at the house of Kīnaʻu, at which several of the members of the mission were present. (Chamberlain)

In 1831, the Lahainaluna School was founded, and Haʻalilio continued his education there.

During the brief conflict with Captain Cyrille-Pierre-Theodore Laplace and his fifty-two-gun frigate L’Artemise to Hawaiʻi in July, 1839 – where Laplace issued a ‘Manifesto’ “to put an end either by force or by persuasion to the ill-treatment of which the French are the victims at the Sandwich Islands” – Haʻalilio was taken hostage by the French. He was later exchanged for John ʻĪʻi who went on board the L’Artemise.

“The Kings and Chiefs could not fail to see the real value of such a man (Haʻalilio,) and they therefore promoted him to offices to which his birth would not, according to the old system, have entitled him.”

“He was properly the Lieutenant Governor of the Island of Oahu, and regularly acted as Governor during the absence of the incumbent. He was also elected a member of the council of Nobles.” (Polynesian, March 29, 1845)

When the Hawaiian government needed to raise funds, as early as 1842, certain government lands were set aside to produce revenue for government needs.

To support this, a Treasury Board was formed, Haʻalilio severed on the Board with Dr. Gerrit Judd and John ʻĪʻi; they accepted taxes paid into the treasury. (Van Dyke)

King Kamehameha III recognized the need for his kingdom to be recognized internationally and he decided to send abroad a first-class delegation composed of Haʻalilio and William Richards.

Although neither individual was a professionally trained or experienced diplomat, both were men of the highest intelligence and trustworthiness who had the unequivocal backing and confidence of the King.

The importance placed on this diplomatic mission by Kamehameha III was apparent in his choice of Haʻalilio, whose integrity and lofty reputation among native Hawaiians gave enormous respectability and political clout to the monarchy’s latest international endeavor. (Crapol)

Haʻalilio was a man of intelligence, of good judgment, of pleasing manners, and respectable business habits. Few men are more attentive to neatness and order, at home, on shipboard, or in foreign climes, than he; and few public officers possess integrity more trustworthy. (Bingham)

The other half of Kamehameha’s frontline team was William Richards, the American missionary who was the primary architect of the Hawaiian monarchy’s campaign for legitimacy and international acceptance. Prior to this mission, in recognition of talents and service to the Crown, Richards was chosen in 1838 to be the principal counselor to the King and his chiefs. (Crapol)

Haʻalilio had acquired a very full knowledge of the political relations of the country. He was a strenuous advocate for a constitutional and representative government. He was well acquainted with the practical influence of the former system of government, and considered a change necessary to the welfare of the nation. (Richards)

“In the month of April 1842, (Haʻalilio) was appointed a joint Commissioner with Mr. Richards to the Courts of the USA, England and France. (He and Richards sailed from Lāhainā, July 18, 1842, and arrived in Washington on the fifth of December.) …”

“After spending a month at Washington, and having accomplished the main objects of embassy there (and subsequent US recognition of the independence of the Hawaiian Kingdom,) he proceeded to the north.” (Polynesian, March 29, 1845)

While on the continent, a newspaper noted a note Haʻalilio passed to a friend: “We are happy that our Christian friends have so much reason to congratulate us on our success in the prosecution of our official business at Washington.”

“May the cause of righteousness and of liberty, and the cause of Christ every where be prospered. (Signed) T. Haalilio, William Richards.” Boston Harbor, Feb. 2. (The Middlebury People’s Press, Vermont, February 15, 1843)

On February 18, 1843, Haʻalilio arrived in London and within six weeks “after accomplishing the object of his embassy to England, he proceeded to France, where he was received in the same manner as in England, and …”

“… succeeded in obtaining from the French Government, not only a recognition of independence, but also a mutual guarantee from England and France that that independence should be respected. (Similar responses were made from Belgium.)” (Polynesian, March 29, 1845)

While in London, Haʻalilio commissioned the College of Arms in London to prepare the Hawaiʻi Coat of Arms (following his design;) a May 31, 1845 story in the Polynesian newspaper reported that the National Coat of Arms was adopted by the Legislative Assembly.

Haʻalilio was a man of intelligence and judgment, of agreeable manners, and respectable business habits. While employed on his embassy, he read his Hawaiian Bible through twice.

The proofs of his piety appeared in his love for the Scriptures, for secret and social prayer, for the Sabbath, and for the worship of the sanctuary. He was gratified by what he saw of the regard for the Lord’s day in the United States and England, and was shocked in view of its desecration in France and Belgium. (Anderson)

After fifteen months in Europe, he returned to the USA and prepared to return to the Islands.

“On his arrival in the western part of Massachusetts, was attacked by a severe cold, brought on by inclemencies of the weather, followed by a change in the thermometer of about sixty degrees in twenty-four hours. Here was probably laid the foundation of that disease by which his short but eventful life has been so afflictingly closed.” (Polynesian, March 29, 1845)

“On Sabbath evening, just before his death, he said; ‘This is the happiest day of my life. My work is done. I am ready to go.’ Then he prayed; ‘O, my Father, thou hast not granted my desire to see once more the land of my birth, and my friends that dwell there; but I entreat Thee refuse not my petition to see thy kingdom, and my friends who are dwelling with Thee.’” (Anderson)

Timothy Haʻalilio died at sea December 3, 1844 from tuberculosis. He was 36 years old.

“Great hopes had been entertained both among Hawaiians and foreigners, of the good results that would ensue to the kingdom from the addition of its councils of one of so intelligent a mind, stores as it was with the fruits of observant travel, and the advantages derived from long and familiar intercourse in the best circles of Europe and the United States. … (Upon news of his death) every attention affection or sympathy could suggest was afforded the deceased.” (Polynesian, March 29, 1845)

“Let us not forget that Haalilio was permitted to live to accomplish the great objects of his mission, that he had represented his country with honor, and with a dignity which had inspired respect for him abroad both as an individual and as the Representative of (Kamehameha III.) …”

“In his death the nation has ample cause for mourning, and has met with a heavy loss, which time cannot repair.” (The Polynesian, April 12, 1845) (Lots of information from Polynesian, Richards, Chamberlain, Crapol and Kamakau.)

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February 2, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lahainaluna High School

The missionaries who arrived in Lāhainā in 1823 explained to the Hawaiian Royalty the importance of an educational institution.

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 (including David Malo, who went on to hold important positions in the kingdom, including the first Superintendent of Schools.)

When Lahainaluna High School first opened, Lāhainā was the capital of the kingdom of Hawaiʻi, and it was a bustling seaport for the Pacific whaling fleet.

Under the leadership of Reverend Lorrin Andrews, the school was established by the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions “to instruct young men of piety and promising talents”. It is the oldest high school west of the Mississippi River.

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.

The boarding program became coed in 1980. The two dorms are David Malo Dormitory for the boys and Hoapili Dormitory for the girls. Previously, Hoapili housed both genders. Lahainaluna is one of only a few public boarding schools in the nation.

The missionaries soon saw that the future of the Congregational Mission in Hawaii 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.

Initially, Hawaiian was the language used in instruction; in 1877, there was a shift to English. The students engaged in a variety of studies including geography, mathematics and history to prepare them for leadership roles in the Hawaiian community.

Lahainaluna was transferred from being operated by the American missionaries to the control of the Hawaiian Monarchy in 1849. By 1864, only Lahainaluna graduates were considered qualified to hold government positions such as lawyers, teachers, district magistrates and other important posts.

A notable structure on the campus is Hale Paʻi (the house of printing,) a small coral and timber building. Starting in 1834, it served as the home of Hawaiʻi’s first printing press. Hale Paʻi is associated with a number of “firsts” in Hawaii.

The first actual publishing in Hawaiʻi was done in Honolulu in 1822. It was at Lahainaluna, however, that the first newspaper ever printed in the Hawaiian Islands was published on February 14, 1834. This paper, called Ka Lama Hawaii (The Hawaiian, Luminary) was also the first newspaper published anywhere in the United States or its territories west of the Rocky Mountains.

Also published at Hale Paʻi for the first time were many portions of the first Hawaiian translation of the Bible, the first English translation of the first Hawaiian Declaration of Rights, the first Hawaiian Constitution, the first set of Hawaiian laws on property and taxation, the first Hawaiian school laws, the first paper money engraved and printed in Hawaiʻi, the first history of Hawaiʻi printed in Hawaiian and the first history of Hawaiʻi printed in English appearing in the Islands.

In 1834, Lahainaluna students first began engraving on copper plates. The initial purpose of this engraving was to provide maps for study, not only at the Seminary, but at schools throughout the Islands.

In the 1840s commercial development in Hawaiʻi – both trade and agriculture – began to take off. As business grew, so did the need for money.

At this time, the nation had no official currency of its own, relying instead on a variety of foreign coins and bills which circulated at an agreed rate of exchange based on the U.S. dollar. As early as 1836, private Hawaiian firms began to issue paper scrip of their own redeemable by the issuing company in coins or goods.

In early 1843, apparently, Lahainaluna first printed and issued its own paper money. Its primary purpose was evidently to pay the students for their work on the campus (up to 25 cents per week,) which was then used for payment of their rent and tuition.

Later, counterfeiting of the school’s currency was discovered. Then, the faculty, in accordance with their vote of January 8, 1844, called in and destroyed all the paper money they could find. Then, authorized the addition of secret marks to all the new currency and re-issued it.

In 1903, Lahainaluna became a vocational trade school and, in 1923, a technical high school, admitting both girls and boys as day students. It continues today as Lāhainā’s public high school.

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November 7, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

A Gold Watch From President Abraham Lincoln

While there were several other participants, this story really relates to two people – James Kekela and Jonathan Whalon … and because of the meeting between these two, President Abraham Lincoln stepped into the picture.

James Kekela was born in 1824 at Mokuleia, in Waialua. After public schooling, he was selected as a promising candidate to attend the mission school at Lahainaluna.

“Here he acquired what that center of light had to give; some knowledge of life, of the world in which we live, and of the divine revelation made in the Sacred Scriptures. And more than all else, he acquired a firm faith in a personal Savior and Redeemer.” (The Friend)

Mr. Kekela was the first Native Hawaiian to be ordained as a minister in Hawaiʻi, ordained at Kahuku on December 21, 1849 and settled as pastor of the Hauʻula church.

He served as pastor for two or three years until he was called to foreign missionary work – in 1853, the Hawaiian churches decided to unite to support a mission to the Marquesas Islands, sending out missionaries from among their own ranks.

Rev. James Kekela and Rev. Samuel Kauwealoha, and their wives, were accompanied by New England missionary Benjamin Parker of Kāneʻohe Mission Station; these native couples were the first Hawaiian families to serve as missionaries in the Marquesas, 1853-1909.

They settled on the island of Hiva-Oa in Puamau, a large valley with 500 inhabitants – the valley rises two miles inland, where it terminates in an abrupt precipice 2,000 feet high.

Kekela’s counterpart in this story, Jonathan Whalon, was born at Dartmouth, Massachusetts, in 1822. On July 13, 1841, he applied for and was granted Seaman’s Protection Certificate #58 at Fall River, Massachusetts.

He served on whaling ships and made a total of seven whaling voyages, working his way up the chain of command, from green-hand to captain on his fifth and sixth voyages.

His seventh and final voyage (in 1864) was on board the whaling ship Congress 2, as first mate. Evidently everything went smoothly until he decided to visit the natives on the island of Hiva-Oa.

Unbeknownst to all, previously, a Peruvian vessel had stolen men from Hiva-Oa, and the Marquesans were waiting for an opportunity to revenge the deed.

Mr. Whalon went on shore to trade for pigs, fowls, etc, and the natives, under the presence of hunting pigs, decoyed him into the woods, where, at a concerted signal, large numbers of men had been collected. Mr. Whalon was seized, bound, stripped of his clothing, and taken to be cooked and eaten.

“Kekela and others made haste to rescue the mate. At first the wrathful chief refused to give up his victim; but he yielded at length to Kekela’s entreaties, and offered to receive as a ransom his new six-oared boat, given him by his benefactor in Boston, which he greatly prized, and greatly needed in his missionary work. But the good man did not hesitate a moment to accept the hard terms.” (Hiram Bingham Jr.)

The dramatic circumstances of Jonathan Whalon’s capture and rescue were reported when his ship reached America, and the incident eventually came to the attention of President Abraham Lincoln.

Although the President was engrossed in the ‘War Between the States,’ he was so moved that he sent $500 in gold to Dr. McBride, US Minister resident in Honolulu, for the purchase of suitable gifts that would express his gratitude to those who had participated in the rescue.

The President presented a total of 10-gifts: two gold hunting case watches; two double-barreled guns (one to the Marquesan chief who rescued Mr. Whalon and the other to B. Nagel, the German who assisted the chief;) a silver medal to the girl who hailed the whaleboat and told the men to “pull away”; and, lastly, a spy-glass, two quadrants and two charts to the Marquesan Mission. All were inscribed in Hawaiian. (The Friend)

“This act of the President, in rewarding these persons, will have a good effect all through the ocean, for it will be circulated far and near, and will show them that the President not only hears of the good deeds of Polynesian islanders, but stands ready to reward them.” (The Friend)

Most interesting among the gifts was a large gold watch the President gave to Kekela (a similar watch was given to Kaukau, Kekela’s associate in the rescue.)

The inscription on it is translated from Hawaiian as follows:
“From the President of the United States to Rev. J. Kekela For His Noble Conduct in Rescuing An American Citizen from Death
On the Island of Hiva Oa January 14, 1864.”

Rev. Kekela sent a thank you letter, in response. In part, it stated: “Greetings to you, great and good Friend! … When I saw one of your countrymen, a citizen of your great nation, ill-treated, and about to be baked and eaten, as a pig is eaten, I ran to save him, full of pity and grief at the evil deed of these benighted people.”

“As to this friendly deed of mine in saving Mr. Whalon, its seed came from your great land, and was brought by certain of your countrymen, who had received the love of God. It was planted in Hawaii, and I brought it to plant in this land and in these dark regions, that they might receive the root of all that is good and true, which is love.”

“I gave my boat for the stranger’s life. This boat came from James Hunnewell, a gift of friendship. It became the ransom of this countryman of yours, that he might not be eaten by the savages who knew not Jehovah. This was Mr. Whalon, and the date, Jan. 14, 1864.” (Kekela as quoted by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Unfortunately, President Lincoln never received the thank you note; Lincoln was assassinated shortly before the note’s arrival.

After forty-seven years of foreign missionary service in the Marquesas, Rev. and Mrs. Kekela returned to their native islands. Kekela died in 1904. He is buried in Mission Houses cemetery a few steps from where his gold watch and letters are kept at the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives.

The story is depicted in a recent Mysteries at the Museum – here is a link to the full program, the Kekela Watch sequence is within this video (go to 20:44):

https://www.travelchannel.com/content/travel-com/en/shows/m/mysteries-at-the-museum/episodes/1700/fleeing-fidel-murder-by-shark-and-inflated-feud.html

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