Pioneer Company

The coming of Henry Obookiah (ʻŌpūkahaʻia) and other young Hawaiians to the continent had awakened a deep Christian sympathy in the churches and moved the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) to establish a mission in the Hawaiian Islands.

Among the other Hawaiian students at the Foreign Mission School were Thomas Hopu, William Kanui, John Honoliʻi and Prince Humehume (son of Kauaiʻi’s King Kaumuali‘i.)

When asked “Who will return with these boys to their native land to teach the truths of salvation?”  Hiram Bingham and his classmate, Asa Thurston, were the first to respond and offer their services to the Board.  (Congregational Quarterly)

Bingham and Thurston were ordained at Goshen, Ct on September 29, 1819; it was the first ordination of foreign missionaries in the State of Connecticut.

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)

There were seven American couples sent by the ABCFM to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity in this first company.

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; and a Farmer, Daniel Chamberlain, his wife and five children.

Although a large part of the motivation for the Hawaiʻi missionary movement, Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia unfortunately died of typhus fever in 1818 and didn’t return home to teach the gospel.  However, his book, “Memoirs of Henry Obookiah,” was the inspiration for this and subsequent Hawaiian missionary companies.

The Prudential Committee of the ABCFM in giving instructions to the pioneers of 1819 said: “Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. … Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high. You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization.”  (The Friend)

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

By the time the Pioneer Company arrived, Kamehameha I had died and the centuries-old kapu system had been abolished; through the actions of King Kamehameha II (Liholiho,) with encouragement by former Queens Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani (Liholiho’s mother,) the Hawaiian people had already dismantled their heiau and had rejected their religious beliefs.

One of the first things Bingham and his fellow missionaries did was begin to learn the Hawaiian language and create an alphabet for a written format of the language.   Their emphasis was on teaching and preaching.

On July 14, 1826, the missionaries selected a 12-letter alphabet for the written Hawaiian language, using five vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) and seven consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p and w) in their "Report of the committee of health on the state of the Hawaiian language."   The report is signed by Hiram Bingham and Levi Chamberlain.

The arrival of the first company of American missionaries in Hawaiʻi marked the beginning of Hawaiʻi’s phenomenal rise to literacy. The chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing.

By 1831, in just eleven years from the first arrival of the missionaries, Hawaiians had built 1,103 schoolhouses. This covered every district throughout the eight major islands and serviced an estimated 52,882 students.  (Laimana)

The proliferation of schoolhouses was augmented by the printing of 140,000 copies of the pīʻāpā (elementary Hawaiian spelling book) by 1829 and the staffing of the schools with 1,000-plus Hawaiian teachers.  (Laimana)

Interestingly, these same early missionaries taught their lessons in Hawaiian, rather than English.  In part, the mission did not want to create a separate caste and portion of the community as English-speaking Hawaiians.  In later years, the instruction, ultimately, was in English.

Within five years of the missionaries’ arrival, a dozen chiefs had sought Christian baptism and church membership, including the king’s regent Kaʻahumanu.  The Hawaiian people followed their native leaders, accepting the missionaries as their new priestly class.  The process culminated in Hawaiian King Kamehameha III’s adoption of Christianity and a Biblically-based constitution in 1840.  (Schulz)

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

Today, the Hawaiian Mission Children's Society, a nonprofit educational institution and genealogical society, exists to promote an understanding of the social history of nineteenth-century Hawai‘i and its critical role in the formation of modern Hawai‘i.

The Society operates the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives, comprised of three historic houses and a research archives with reading room. The Society also compiles the genealogical records of the American Protestant missionaries in Hawai‘i and promotes the participation of missionary descendants in the Society's activities.

Through the Site and Archives, the Society collects and preserves the documents, artifacts and other records of the missionaries in Hawai‘i's history; makes these collections available for research and educational purposes; and interprets the historic site and collections to reflect the social history of nineteenth century Hawai‘i and America.

The image shows the early Mission house and Chapel in Honolulu (the precursor of today’s Kawaiahaʻo Church.)  More images are added to a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Kaumualiʻi

Kaumuali‘i was the only son of Queen Kamakahelei and her husband, Aliʻi Kāʻeokūlani (Kā‘eo;) he was born in 1778 at Holoholokū, a royal birthing heiau specifically designated for the birth of high ranking children.

When Vancouver was anchored off Waimea, Kaua‘i, he became interested in Kaumuali‘i, who was then about twelve years old.  Vancouver found the child quiet and polite and good-tempered.  He was interested in the new things which he saw, and asked intelligent questions.

When Vancouver made his second visit, he brought sheep as a present to the young chief.  Kaumuali‘i entertained him with a dance of six-hundred women.

Kaumuali‘i kept up his interest in foreigners.  They were his friends and taught him to read and write.  Kaumuali‘i sent his son Humehume (Prince George) to America to be educated.  (The young Prince later returned to the islands with the first party of American missionaries, in 1820.)

Kaumuali‘i became ruling chief of Kaua‘i upon the death of his father Kā‘eo.

In 1784 Kamehameha I began a war of conquest, and, by 1795, with his superior use of modern weapons and western advisors, he subdued all other chiefdoms, with the exception of Kaua‘i.

King Kamehameha I launched his first invasion attempt on Kaua‘i in April of 1796, having already conquered the other Hawaiian Islands, and having fought his last major battle at Nu‘uanu on O‘ahu in 1795.

Kaua‘i’s opposing factions (Kaumuali‘i versus Keawe) were extremely vulnerable as they had been weakened by fighting each other (Keawe died and Kaumuali‘i was, ultimately, ruler of Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau.)

About one-fourth of the way across the ocean channel between O‘ahu and Kaua‘i, a storm thwarted Kamehameha’s warriors when many of their canoes were swamped in the rough seas and stormy winds, and then were forced to turn back.

Kamehameha’s second attempt was thwarted, again, when an epidemic, thought to be typhoid or dysentery, swept through the population, killing thousands.  The sickness delayed for a second time Kamehameha’s goal of conquering Kaua‘i.

In a renewed effort for a large-scale attack on Kaua‘i, Kamehameha began assembling a formidable armada of sailing ships in Waikīkī, using foreigners to construct the vessels.  The invasion never took place.

In the face of the threat of a further invasion, in 1810, at Pākākā on Oʻahu, negotiations between King Kaumuali‘i and Kamehameha I took place and Kaumualiʻi yielded to Kamehameha.

The agreement marked the end of war and thoughts of war across the islands.  Although Kaumuali‘i had ceded Kaua‘i and Niʻihau to Kamehameha I, he generally maintained de facto independence and control of the island following his agreement with Kamehameha.

It is believed that in 1816 Kaumuali‘i considered it possible for him to claim rule over Kaua‘i, Ni‘ihau, O‘ahu, Maui, Moloka‘i and Lāna‘i, if he had Russian support.  The Russians meanwhile were searching compensation for lost trade goods, as well as expanded trading opportunities.

Kaumuali‘i and Russian representative Georg Anton Schäffer had several agreements to bring Kaua‘i under the protection of Russia, as well as weapons and ammunition from Schäffer, in exchange for trade in sandalwood.  While agreements were made, subsequent battles never took place.

After King Kamehameha I died in 1819, Kaumuali‘i pledged his allegiance to Liholiho, Kamehameha's son and successor.  In 1821, Liholiho (King Kamehameha II) anchored his royal ship Ha‘aheo o Hawai‘i (Pride of Hawai‘i) in Waimea Bay, and invited Kaumuali‘i aboard.

After boarding the ship Kaumuali‘i was effectively taken as a prisoner and the ship sailed for O‘ahu.  Kaumuali‘i settled in Honolulu and became a husband of Ka‘ahumanu, widow of Kamehameha I.

Hiram Bingham was on a preaching tour of the island of Kaua‘i in 1824, shortly before King Kaumuali‘i died.  Kaumuali‘i had been living on Oahu for three years.  Bingham spoke to him just before coming to Kaua‘i.

Bingham writes:
“We found Kaumuali‘i seated at his desk, writing a letter of business.  We were forcible and pleasantly struck with the dignity and gravity, courteousness, freedom and affection with which he rose and gave us his hand, his hearty aloha, and friendly parting smile, so much like a cultivated Christian brother.”

When the king died, Bingham said a gloom fell over Kaua‘i.  Kaumuali‘i was buried at Waine‘e Church (Wai‘ola Church,) on Maui.

After Kaumuali‘i's death his son Humehume tried to seize the throne by leading a rebellion on Kauaʻi, but he was defeated and sent to O‘ahu, where he could be watched.

King Kaumuali‘i’s granddaughter Kapiʻolani (1834–1899) married King Kalākaua.

The image is the Mahiole (feather helmet) reportedly to be the gift from Kamehameha I to King Kaumualiʻi for agreeing to peaceful settlement; Kamehameha is said to have given Kaumuali‘i the mahiole, malo and some ‘ahu‘ula (feather capes.)

I have added some other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/peter.t.young.hawaii

© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC

War of 1812 – The Star Spangled Banner National Anthem

Often overlooked, twenty-nine years after the end of the American Revolution, conflict between the new United States and Britain flared up, again.

The War of 1812 broke out for a variety of reasons, including Britain’s seizure of American ships, forced taking of American sailors into the British navy and restriction of trade between the United States and France.

In June 1812, James Madison became the first US president to ask Congress to declare war (he sent a war message to the Congress on June 1, 1812 and signed the declaration of war on June 18, 1812.)  (The conflict ended with the Treaty of Ghent, in 1815.)

The tensions that caused the War of 1812 arose from the French revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815).

During this nearly constant conflict between France and Britain, American interests were injured by each of the two countries' endeavors to block the United States from trading with the other.

In Hawaiʻi, the issue of interest was the export of sandalwood - the War of 1812 interfered with trade in the Pacific.

Exports were interrupted by the battling nations as warships were sent to protect their own commerce and destroy that of the enemy.  Hawaiʻi was blockaded during the war.

In addition, several Hawaiians served with the US in the war, including Humehume (Prince Kaumualiʻi, son of King Kaumualiʻi,) Thomas Hopu and William Kanui (all three were also on the Thaddeus with the first missionary company to Hawaiʻi, in 1820.)

A lasting legacy of the War of 1812 was the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the US national anthem.  They were penned by the amateur poet Francis Scott Key after he watched American forces withstand the British siege of Fort McHenry (named for James McHenry, Secretary of War, 1796 - 1800.)

Following the Burning of Washington and the Raid on Alexandria, Key set sail from Baltimore aboard the ship HMS Minden, flying a flag of truce on a mission approved by President James Madison. Their objective was to secure the exchange of prisoners.

On September 13, 1814, nineteen British ships aimed their cannons and guns on the fort.  Amazingly, an estimated 1,500 to 1,800 British cannonballs failed to cause any significant damage to a fort which was unable to fire back on the ships because they were positioned just out of range of the American guns.

During the rainy night, Key had witnessed the bombardment and observed that the fort's smaller "storm flag" continued to fly, but once the shell and rocket barrage had stopped, he would not know how the battle had turned out until dawn.  By then, the storm flag had been lowered and the larger flag had been raised.

Key was inspired by the American victory and the sight of the large American flag flying triumphantly above the fort.  That morning, we penned the poem that eventually became our country’s National Anthem.

The flag, with fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, came to be known as the Star Spangled Banner Flag and is today on display in the National Museum of American History in the Smithsonian Institution.

The song gained popularity throughout the nineteenth century and bands played it during public events, such as July 4th celebrations.

On July 27, 1889, Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy signed General Order #374, making "The Star-Spangled Banner" the official tune to be played at the raising of the flag.

I was fortunate to have attended a Coastal States Organization meeting in Baltimore, Maryland while I served as Director at DLNR.  I took the time to visit Fort McHenry to better see and understand what it looked like.

Here is a link to the best rendition of The Star Spangled Banner:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupsPg5H6aE

I have added more images related to Fort McHenry and the Star Spangled Banner in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/peter.t.young.hawaii

© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC