Mormon | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

September 10, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Standing Bear

“A Hawaiian by the name of Frank Grouard is living as a scout in the American Army under General Crook, fighting Sioux Indians.” (Kuakoa, September 30, 1876; Krauss)

Whoa, that’s getting waaay ahead of ourselves … let’s look back.

May 23, 1843, Elders Benjamin F Grouard, Addison Pratt, Noah Rogers and Knowlton F Hanks, intending for the Hawaiian Islands, set sail as the first Mormon missionaries to the Pacific Islands. Rather than Hawai’i, they ended up in the Solomon Islands. (Cluff)

In 1846, Elder Grouard married Ana, a local chieffess; a few years later, on September 20, 1850, Frank Grouard was born. A couple years later (1852,) the Grouards and Pratts left Polynesia. In California, young Grouard was turned over to Addison and Louisa Pratt, for care. (His own mother had returned to the islands and later died; Elder Grouard died in 1894.) (Trowse)

The Pratts, with Grouard, emigrated to Utah. Grouard ran away and at the age of nineteen, ended up a Pony Express mail carrier … “out West” through hostile Indian Country (between California and Montana.) (Trowse)

“During one of his trips on a lonely trail he was captured by Crow Indians and taken prisoner. The Crows took him many miles from the road, and in a lonely forest, stripped off his clothes and possessions, then released him to wander alone.”

“He wandered, cold and hungry, a piece of fur for clothing, eating grasshoppers and other bugs for food. When he had given up hope of surviving, he was discovered by a group of Sioux Indians. Because of his expressions of aloha, they took a liking to him.” (Kuakoa, September 30, 1876; Krauss)

There were two factions in the camp – one led by Chief Sitting Bull, the other led by Chief Crazy Horse. Grouard was held for nearly seven years, during the first two of which he was practically a prisoner.

He all but became an Indian, and, though he declared he never, as an Indian, fired upon a white man, he took part in scores of battles against other enemies of the Sioux and in hundreds of forays after game and the horses and cattle of settlers. (Trowse)

“The Sioux took him into a heavily forested area where he was cared for. Chief Sitting Bull adopted him to be his own child of his own blood but with a different language. He grew in stature to be greatly admired by the Indians for his skill and wit.” (Kuakoa, September 30, 1876; Krauss)

He was given the name ‘Standing Bear.’

“In a very short time, he became one of the best riders of wild Indian horses and he became one of the best shots. For nine years he lived with the Indians, his manner becoming much like them.” (Kuakoa, September 30, 1876; Krauss)

He learned the landscape, customs and traditions – all the while constantly on alert to escape captivity. Around age 26, he eventually escaped from his Indian captors. Then, Grouard became an Indian Scout in the American Army under General George Crook, fighting Sioux Indians.

Almost every summer for nearly a dozen years, Grouard was in the field as a scout, commanding as many as 500 scouts and friendly Indians with all the Indian fighters who made reputations in subduing the Indians. He was wounded many times, suffered almost incredible hardships, saved small armies on several occasions and often saved the lives of individual men and officers.

He never led a party to disaster, was invariably chosen to head any “forlorn hope” enterprise or to make any particularly perilous ride; with Grouard, victory followed victory. Gen. Crook never wearied of telling anecdotes of Grouard and praising his favorite. (Trowes)

Crook noted, “he would sooner lose one-third of any command than lose Grouard and accredits him as the greatest scout and rider and one of the best shots and bravest men that ever lived.” (Berndt)

By February 1876, believing there was peace, many Indians were leaving the reservations in search of food. Orders had been given by the American government to return, but they did not take it seriously. General Crook began his winter march from Fort Fetterman, March 1, 1876 with many companies of troops.

When Sitting Bull learned that Grouard was the scout for General Crook, he saw the chance to kill Grouard in battle. By March 17, Grouard located Crazy Horse’s village on the Powder River in Montana. (Dodson) In May 1876, in preparation for the summer campaign, the Army was fitted out at Fort Laramie, Wyoming.

Fort Laramie, founded as a local trading post in 1834 at the confluence of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers, soon served as a stop for folks emigrating West on the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails (the westward migration peaked in 1850 with more than 50,000 traveling the trails annually.)

The US military purchased the post in 1849 and stationed soldiers there to protect the wagon trains. The US Civil War took soldiers away from it and other outposts. The Western migration continued. With the ending of the Civil War, soldiers came back. (Talbott)

Tension between the native inhabitants of the Great Plains and the encroaching settlers resulted in a series of conflicts … this eventually led to the Sioux Wars. The most notable fight, fought June 25–26, 1876, was the Battle of Little Big Horn (Lt Col George Armstrong Custer lost – Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and others won.) (Grouard was not involved in that fight.)

Most native Americans were confined to reservations by 1877. In September 1877, Chief Crazy Horse left the reservation and General Crook had him arrested. When Crazy Horse saw he was being led to a guard house, he resisted and was stabbed to death by a guard. (Denardo)

In the fall of 1877, Sitting Bull headed north to Canada; life there was tough and in 1881 he surrendered to the US. In 1889 Sitting Bull was shot by Police. (NPS)

Grouard continued in the service of the US government until the end of the Indian Wars. Frank Grouard died at St. Louis, Missouri in 1905 where he was eulogized as a “scout of national fame”.

“To him perhaps more than to any other one man is due the early reclamation of that rich section of the mainland embraced in South Dakota, a large part of Montana, the whole of Northern Nebraska, and the whole of Northern Wyoming. Let us, then, write him as a factor – a Polynesian factor – in the making of the nation of nations.” (Trowse)

(There is conflicting information on the ethnicity of Grouard – Kuakoa reported in 1876 that Grouard was half-Hawaiian; he, himself, claimed to be “partial Hawaiian” (Dobson) and he told Trowse that his mother was a “woman of the Sandwich Islands”. (Trowse) Several others note he was son of a chiefess from the Solomon or ‘Friendly’ Islands (Tonga.))

There is more to the story … After serving with the Confederate Army during the Civil War, John Carpenter Hunton came West to work at Fort Laramie. His brother James came to join him in 1876; James’ headstone tells the rest of his history that ended later that year – “Killed by Indians”.

As noted above, the Sioux Wars military campaign provisioned at Fort Laramie, prior to heading north to South Dakota and Montana. Hunton was fort sutler (providing provisions out of the camp post) – Hunton and Grouard were at the fort at the same time, so it is likely they met.

They had closer ties than that. Hunton lived with/was married to LaLie (sister to fellow scout (and half-breed) Baptiste Garnier (Little Bat.)) LaLie later left Hunton and married Grouard – that marriage didn’t last either, and she left Grouard, too.

Oh, one other ‘rest of the story’ … John Hunton is Nelia’s Great Great Uncle. On a number of ocassions, we visited Fort Laramie and the John and James Hunton gravesites in Wyoming.

August 13, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Youth Developmental Enterprises

“There have been good years and bad years for hiring summer help to work the sprawling pineapple fields on [Lanai].”

“This happens to be a good year. In fact, the past few years have been good, because Castle & Cooke Inc which owns Lanai, finally found some good summer workers. Mormon boys from the Mainland.” (Hnl Adv-Jul 15, 1976)

During the first two years the Pineapple picking program was a joint venture between the LDS Church and the Boy Scouts of America. Then, it was decided to hand off the program to a newly created independent corporation. Ross Olsen was the founder and primary leader of the new corporation. Ross called this new corporation Youth Developmental Enterprises. (Alchetron)

Youth Developmental Enterprises was a program that ran from about 1971 to 1993. During the first two years the program was a joint venture between the LDS Church and the Boy Scouts of America; then Youth Developmental Enterprises (YDE) ran the program. (Alchetron)

The primary activity of YDE was taking men and slightly older supervisors to Hawaii to work in the pineapple fields of Lanai and Maui. YDE took around 18,000 young men to Hawaii to accomplish this work; the stated goal of the organization was not pineapple production, but rather building the character of young men. (Alchetron)

“Offered by Youth Developmental Enterprises of Salt Lake City, the program boasts 800 job openings for young men between the ages of 16 and 18 desiring work such as truck drivers, cafeteria workers and general field workers.” (The Newspaper, Park City, Utah, Dec 15, 1976)

Participants pay $1,300 in advance to cover round-trip air fare to Hawaii, accident insurance, equipment (a backpack and a T-shirt), and project development (maintenance on the buildings where they live, etc).

They work five days a week, eight hours a day and gross $6 an hour; $4.25/day is taken out of their wages for room and board. Transportation to various places on the island for leisure-time activities, where the boys go as a group, is provided. (Deseret News)

“Students can opt to work from March 10 through August 27, April 22 through September 31 or June 3 through August 27. According to Youth Development Enterprises, youths can expect to save between $1,300 and $2,000 during the five month programs and $300 to $700 during the June-August stay.” (The Newspaper, Park City, Utah, Dec 15, 1976)

“While working in Hawaii, the young men from the intermountain area agree to uphold the standards of the LDS Church. Youth Developmental Enterprises, however, is not an LDS program.” (American Fork Citizen, April 1, 1976)

“‘The program is not for every young man,’ said Ross Olsen, founder and president of YDE. ‘It’s very structured. The purpose is an opportunity to work in a structured environment free of alcohol, drugs and tobacco. These young men get a sense of belonging and that they’re of value. It builds self-esteem.’

“The youthful employees start out on equal footing. The youths board in groups of about 18, with a home leader and a team leader (the team leader is in charge at work). They do everything together, including planning leisure activities.”

“The leaders are at least 21 and have proven track records as decent, law-abiding men, Olsen said. Most of them are returned missionaries for the LDS Church. But religion is never an issue, although participants are required to attend a Sunday church service of their choice.” (Deseret News, Lois M Collins)

The program also had a school program that was linked to the local high school. Correspondence courses were also accredited through Salt Lake City’s Granite High School.

One-fourth of participants come back for more than one session. More return for schooling than for the money, according to Olsen. The program participates in an individual, self-paced learning program. Tutors, who are under the direction of certified teachers, work with the students.

The tutors don’t grade assignments; that’s done by an individual who will “probably never even meet the students but will grade him on his own merits.” Students earn credits through the Hawaii Department of Education. (Deseret News, Lois M Collins)

“The boys from the U.S. were flown to Hawaii on a chartered aircraft and will work for 11 weeks. During the last eight days of their stay they will be taken on a tour of three of the islands and then flown back to the mainland.” (Greeley Daily Tribune, July 28, 1976)

The teens arrived with who knows what on their mind about an experience in far away Hawaii, and found themselves on a remote island, living in dorms, and out in the fields doing hoe hana (weeding with a hoe), picking and all manner of work.

Team leaders with the Mormon youth crew kept the teens organized, rising for work in the early a.m., getting to the cafeteria for meals, to the labor yard for transportation to the work sites, and made sure that the youth got down to the island beaches and swimming spots. (Lanai Culture & Heritage)

“For several years, Dole had depended mainly on Mainland boys for most of its summer labor on Lanai and the Mainlanders had performed well, compared with ‘not so good’ experience with local youths in the 1960s”. (Hnl Adv, Sep 17, 1981)

“The Isle teenagers accounted for 21 of the 28 non-Lanai ‘gangs,’ the rest coming from the Mainland. A gang has 17 pickers who move through the field behind a truck-mounted boom, picking the fruit, breaking off the crowns and placing both on a conveyor belt.” (Hnl Adv, Sep 17, 1981)

“For the first time ever, Dole hired non-Lanai girls – 50 in all. The girls ‘added something we never had – a sense of stability,’ says Sakamoto, a Big Island native. ‘During off hours, it was like a big high school, with boys and girls sitting under coconut trees talking story’ he says. A bonus for the boys: ‘The girls would teach them how to w ash their clothes.” (Hnl Adv, Sep 17, 1981)

Maui Land & Pineapple also hired through YDE. … “Until five years ago Maui Pine recruited 100 per cent of its labor from the island. With the rapid increase in hotels and the resulting decrease in local agricultural labor the company was forced into recruiting from the off islands and finally from the Mainland.” (Hnl Adv-Jun 14, 1973)

“At 5 a.m. dawn just begins to break over the peaks on West Maui. The tourists slumber soundly in their cozy nests from Lahaina to Napili. Only the birds and crowing roosters stir in the dim light.”

“Off the coast and up a narrow, red dirt road lined by tall Norfolk pines, the pastoral scene is shattered by the crash of heavy boots and the sleepy cries of, ‘I’m hungry.’ The season has started for the summer pickers at Maui Land & Pineapple’s Honolua Plantation just outside of Napili.”

“Tumbling out of dormitories wearing clothes of all descriptions, the seasonal workers come to breakfast before heading out to the fields for a long day of picking. Hours later the scene is repeated when the night shift comes to life.”

“Several of this year’s gang are returnees from Hawaii and the Mainland. But 60 of the 110 ‘imported’ workers are 16 to 18 year olds from Utah, the home state of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.” (Deseret News, Lois M Collins)

When Hawai‘i programs eventually ended, various negotiations were begun to work for the LDS Church Farms in Bradenton, Florida, picking tomatoes and oranges, some independent tomato and squash growers in Beaufort, South Carolina and a tree-planting effort in Mississippi. None of these programs really got off the ground and the entire YDE program ended. (Alchetron)

September 1, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

City of Joseph in the Valley of Ephraim

“This is the place,” and joy seemed to fill all.

Elder Johnson then suggested that it should be called the Valley of Ephraim (a name that President Lewis had suggested to Brigham Young a few weeks before) and that the city be called Joseph. All agreed. (Britsch)

But we are getting ahead of ourselves, let’s step back.

In September 1850, Elder Charles C. Rich, one of the Church’s Twelve Apostles (the leading councils of the Church are the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles), visited a group of Mormon gold miners who were working on the American River near Sacramento, California.

Rich suggested to them that it would be well for them to spend the winter, when mining had to stop, on missions to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiʻi) because expenses were smaller in Honolulu than they were in the gold fields of California.

The next day eight miners were ordained to fill missions to Hawaiʻi, others were added and the whole group sailed for the islands. They arrived on December 12, 1850, the first group of Latter-day Saints missionaries to set foot on that land. (Britsch)

On October 17th, 1853, a special committee made a trip to Lānaʻi to inspect the ahupua‘a (native land division) of PāIāwai, which belonged to the chief Levi Ha‘alelea. On November 2nd, 1853, the committee reported back to Brigham Young in Utah, that:

“…They found the place well adapted in many respects for this purpose, the soil being good, the situation a central one and having ready intercourse with the two principal markets, Honolulu and Lahaina, and sufficiently isolated to be comparatively free from the surrounding evil influences…” (Maly)

In August 1854, Elder Ephraim Green (1807-1874), a Latter-day Saint missionary to Hawaiʻi, moved to Pālāwai Basin on Lānaʻi with the intention of establishing a new settlement. Ephraim Green described laying out the city on October 3, 1854 as follows:

“I tuck my cumpas and commenst to lay out a town at the fut of the mountain and laid out one stret runing south to the sea three mildes to a fine litle harbour whare we land out boats hear we intendt to build a (storehouse) to leave our produse. I then laid out three more streats thruing (turning) the town in to blocks fore acres each with the streats fore rods wide. This is a butiful location for a town.”

“This valley is supposed to be of sufficient altitude to admit the growth of wheat, corn, sweet potatoes; with many of the tropical fruits, and we hope that it will prove sufficiently moist to admit of the cultivation of the coffee and grape.” ((Lewis to Young; Britsch)

“We are situated on this Island, nearly two thousand feet above the level of the sea, in a beautiful valley containing three thousand acres of land. Here we catch the mountain breeze and the climate is beautiful and healthy. In many places in this country as high and alleviated as this, the rain makes it disagreeable. But here there is no inconvenience felt on that account. Only some times there is a lack for the want of it.” (Maly)

Over the next year the pioneers planted an amazing variety of seeds, slips, and starts. The list included wheat, oats, barley, grapes, sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes, beans of several kinds, peas, squash, pumpkins, bananas, corn, melons, peaches, plums, quinces, pears, tomatoes, cabbage, and “many kinds of garden seed.” (Britisch)

But, the weather, particularly the rainfall, had serious consequences – sometimes there was too much, most of the time there was too little. A spring was about 1-mile from where they lived and farmed.

“… there is not a single stream or spring in this district, and it is with much difficulty that the people manage to get enough drinking water. Sometimes they have brought water from Lāhainā, and lugged it four miles from the beach to their homes in Pālāwai valley.” (Gibson)

“The threatenings of war in Utah in 1857 induced every white Mormon Elder to return home. The native church was left to its own guidance.”

“The Utah Elders invariably told the natives that they did not come to establish themselves here, like the missionaries, but simply to teach them what they felt to be the truth, and then go their way to teach others.” (Gibson, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 24, 1861)

Walter Murray Gibson was sent on a mission by Brigham Young to the Far East and came to the Hawaiian Islands in 1861. He subsequently declared himself the “Chief President of the Islands of the Sea and of the Hawaiian Islands, for the Church of the Latter Day Saints.”

The Church sent a group to investigate Gibson’s activities. Upon arrival to the island of Lanai, Joseph F Smith described the situation as follows:

“We found that he had ordained twelve apostles. High priests, seventys, elders, bishops, and “priestesses of temples,” all of whom had to pay a certain sum corresponding to the various degrees of honor bestowed upon them….”

“Gibson had bought the district of Palawai (6,000 acres) by the donation of the Saints, assuring them he was doing it all for them for the Church. He persuaded them to give all they had to the Church and made it a test of fellowship….”

“Brothers Benson and Snow required him to sign the land over to the Church as it was deeded to him and his heirs. This he flatly refused to do informing them he should take his own course.”

Gibson was excommunicated from the Church, although he retained the land which was purchased under the auspices of the Church. (Mormon Sites)

In later years, Pālāwai Basin was planted in pineapple. In 2004, the Mormon Pacific Historical Society and the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation erected a monument to the Pālāwai Saints paying tribute to those early members who established the first gathering place for Mormons in Hawaiʻi.

June 25, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lāʻie

During ancient times, various land divisions were used to divide and identify areas of control. Islands were divided into moku (districts;) moku were divided into ahupuaʻa. A common feature in each ahupuaʻa was water, typically in the form of a stream or spring.

The Island of Oʻahu has six Moku (districts:) Kona, Koʻolaupoko, Koʻolauloa, Waialua, Waiʻanae and ʻEwa. The Moku of Koʻolauloa extends from Kalaeokaʻoiʻo (ʻOiʻo Point) in Kualoa to Waimea Bay.

Situated on the koʻolau (windward) side of the island, much of Koʻolauloa had ample rainfall, rich forests, streams, sheltered valleys, broad flat lands, reef protected shores, and rich estuarine environments to support nearshore fisheries.

The area that we refer to today as Lāʻie in Koʻolauloa (short for “lau ʻie; ʻie vine leaf; Pukui – referring to the red-spiked climbing pandanus tree) is made up of two ahupuaʻa, Lāʻiewai (wet Lāʻie) and Lāʻiemaloʻo (dry Lāʻie.)

Hawaiian mythology notes the ʻie vine is sacred to the god Kāne, the procreator, and the goddess of hula, Laka. The area of Lāʻie, prior to Western contact, provided rich resources with its many lo‘i kalo (taro terraces) and ke kai (the ocean ) filled with marine life. In historical times, it also provided sanctuary as a puʻuhonua, a sacred place where fugitives could seek safety from their pursuers. (Benham)

Early descriptions of of this area of Oʻahu were noted by Captain Clerke in 1779, who, following the death of Captain Cook, had succeeded command of the Resolution:
“Run round the Noern (northern) Extreme of the Isle (Oʻahu) which terminates in a low Point rather projecting (Kahuku Point;) off it lay a ledge of rocks extending a full Mile into the Sea … the country in this neighborhood is exceeding fine and fertile; here is a large Village, in the midst of it run up a large-Pyramid doubtlessly part of a Morai (heiau.)”

Lieutenant King also noted the north side of Oʻahu: “We…sailed along its NE & NW sides but saw nothing of the Soern (Southern) part. What we did see of this Island was by far the most beautiful country of any in the Group … Nothing could exceed the verdure of the hills, nor the Variety which the face of the Country display’d.”

“… the Valleys look’d exceedingly pleasant, near the N Point (Kahuku Point) we were charmd with the narrow border full of Villages, & the Moderate hills that rose behind them … the low land extended far back, & was highly cultivated. Where we Anchord was a charming Landscape (Waimea Bay.)”

With its favorable climate and environment, the Lāʻie area was traditionally divided into a number of smaller sections, each with a sizeable permanent population engaged in intensive cultivation of the relatively flat, low-lying lands between the hills and the coastline.

The area just mauka of the present day Mormon Temple was formerly the largest single wet taro location in the ahupuaʻa. As evidence of kalo cultivation in the area, just south of Lāʻie, towards Hauʻula, extensive systems of stone terraces for wet taro cultivation (loʻi) were widely distributed, from prehistory into historical times.

After the conquest of Oʻahu in 1795 by Kamehameha I, Lāʻie was given to his half-brother, Kalaʻimamahū who eventually passed it on to his daughter, Kekāuluohi, who in turn passed it to her son with Charles Kanaʻina, Lunalilo. The entire ahupuaʻa remained under the control of Lunalilo until the Great Māhele.

In March 1865, Brigham Young (President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877,) in a letter to King Kamehameha V, requested permission to locate an agricultural colony in Lāʻie. The king granted his request.

Mormon missionaries purchased 6,000-acres of the ahupuaʻa of Lāʻiewai to Lāʻiemaloʻo for the Mormon Church. One thousand acres were arable the remaining land was used for woodland and pasture for 500-head of cattle, 500-sheep, 200-goats and 25-horses.

By 1866, 125 Hawaiian members were living on property and helping with the planting and picking of a substantial cotton crop the land was considered to have a good potential for growing sugarcane.

At the time in the Islands, sugar production was growing in scale; in addition to farming for food for the mission, the Lāʻie land was considered to have a good potential for growing sugar cane. In 1867, the first sugar cane was planted; in 1868 a mule-powered mill was installed.

Sugar played a central role in providing early members of the Church of Jesus Chris of Later-day Saints (Mormons) on the Lāʻie Plantation with income and financial sustainability.

In less than two years the little colony had grown to seven families from Utah, a Scotsman and 300-Polynesians. By 1871, a store, dairy and several frame houses had been built there was also a school that nearly 100 boys and girls attended regularly. During 1883, a substantial new meeting house was built and dedicated the King Kalākaua attended the dedication

In 1890, Kahuku Plantation Company and Oʻahu Railway and Land Company (OR&L) worked together to establish a railroad connecting the sugar industry facilities between Kahuku to the north and Kahana to the south – passing through Lāʻie. (This served as a common freight carrier until 1931.)

By 1895 the old sugar mill had stood idle almost six years. The cane was being processed by the Kahuku mill at a much cheaper price than the Lāʻie plantation could produce it.

By the turn of the century many changes had taken place in Lāʻie. The old mission home was gone, although a new one was in its place; the old sugar mill was no longer functioning; the cane crop was being processed at the Kahuku mill; 450-acres were planted in cane; the homes of the Polynesians had been removed from the sugarcane fields; 250 acres of rice was being cultivated by Chinese families. (Berge)

The Mormon Temple in Lāʻie – started in 1915 and dedicated on Thanksgiving Day 1919 – was the first such temple to be built outside of continental North America. The over 47,000-square-foot temple’s exterior is concrete made of crushed lava rock from the area and tooled to a white cream finish. It attracted more islanders from throughout the South Pacific.

When the Mormon missionaries bought Lāʻie, they hoped to create a gathering place where Native Hawaiian converts could settle, grow strong in their faith, and learn Western-styled industry. (Compton)

Today, the Temple, Brigham Young University – Hawaiʻi, Polynesian Cultural Center and a variety of other Mormon facilities and followers dominate the Lāʻie landscape.

October 18, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Mormon Mission

New England Congregationalists first brought Protestant Christianity to the Islands in 1820. Roman Catholic missionaries came to Hawaiʻi in 1827. Quakers came in 1835; Methodists came in 1855 and members of the Church of England arrived in 1862.

As early as 1844, missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (popularly called the Mormons or LDS Church) were working among the Polynesians in Tahiti and surrounding islands.

“The Mormons are said to have commenced their mission in 1850. Their converts are scattered over all the islands. They number about nine per cent of all those who in the census returns have reported their religious affiliations. This mission owns a small sugar plantation at Laie, on the island of Oʻahu.” (The Friend, December 1902)

The Church traces its beginnings to Joseph Smith, Jr. On April 6, 1830 in Western New York, Smith and five others incorporated The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Fayette, New York.

In the summer of 1850, in California, elder Charles C Rich called together more elders to establish a mission in the Sandwich Islands. They arrived December 12, 1850. Later, more came.

The first gathering place for Mormon missionaries was established in the Palawai Basin on the island of Lānaʻi, in 1854. By 1855, the church claimed about 4,650 Hawaiian converts with more than 50 organized congregations scattered through several villages in the Islands.

In 1855, a Hawaiian edition of the Book of Mormon was printed through the help of George Q. Cannon, William Farrer and a native Hawaiian named Jonatana H. Napela. (Mormonism Research Ministry)

That year, Mormon missionaries (Francis Asbury Hammond and George Nebeker) purchased 6,000-acres of the ahupuaʻa of Laiewai to Laiemaloʻo (in Koʻolauloa) from Mr. Thomas T Dougherty for the Mormon Church.

One thousand acres were arable the remaining land was used for woodland and pasture for 500-head of cattle, 500-sheep, 200-goats and 25-horses (which were all included in the price ($14,000.))

At the time, sugar production was growing in scale; in addition to farming for food for the mission, the Lāʻie land was considered to have a good potential for growing sugar cane.

In 1867, the first sugar cane was planted; in 1868 a mule-powered mill was installed. This provided income and financial sustainability. A new mill was built in 1881 and production increased. Sugar provided the positive economic impact and gave financial support to the Mormon Church in Hawaiʻi.

The sugar produced at the mill had to be transferred by oxen teams to a landing where it was placed on a small boat carried through the surf and loaded on a steamship for transport to JT Waterhouse Company, agent of the plantation, in Honolulu.

Part of the area of the plantation now serves as the location for the Hawaiʻi Temple, the campus of Brigham Young University-Hawaii and one of the most popular locations in Hawaiʻi for visitors, the Polynesian Culture Center.

On October 16, 1875, the Mormon Church organized Brigham Young Academy at Provo, Utah. It eventually became Brigham Young University. On September 26, 1955, the Mormons started the two-year “Church College of Hawaiʻi” (CCH) in Lāʻie in war surplus buildings with 153 students and 20 faculty/administrators.

In 1889, several Hawaiian members of the Mormon faith were interested in being closer to the temples and headquarters of the Church in Utah and left Hawaiʻi and established the Iosepa Colony in Tooele County’s Skull Valley.

“Iosepa,” meaning Joseph in Hawaiian and named for the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith and for Joseph F Smith, who went to the Hawaiian Islands as a missionary in 1854.

Former Queen Liliʻuokalani was baptized a member of the LDS Church on July 7, 1906.

The LDS Temple in Lāʻie – started in 1915 and dedicated on Thanksgiving Day 1919 – was the first such temple to be built outside of continental North America.

The 47,224-square-foot temple’s exterior is concrete made of crushed lava rock from the area and tooled to a white cream finish. It attracted more islanders from throughout the South Pacific.

Utah’s Iosepa Colony lasted as a community until 1917, at which time the residents returned to Hawaiʻi where the Hawaiian Mormon Temple was under construction.

By the 1920s, LDS Church missionaries had carried their Christian teachings to all the major island groups of Polynesia, by living among the people and speaking their languages.

In 1960, CCH students performed in “The Polynesian Panorama” at the Kaiser Dome in Waikīkī (this program was the forerunner to the performances at Polynesian Cultural Center.)

Then in 1963, the Polynesian Cultural Center opened in Lāʻie. On April 13, 1974, Church College of Hawaiʻi was renamed Brigham Young University-Hawaiʻi Campus.

There are now about 75,000-Mormons living in Hawaiʻi, or about 5 percent of the overall population. There are 143 congregations, two temples and 26-Family Centers.

Worldwide Church membership today is over 17-million; 88,000-Mormon missionaries are currently serving in 350 missions.