In June 1853 two ordained Hawaiian ministers, Rev. James K. Kekela and Rev. Samuel Kauwealoha, and their wives, and two deacons and their wives, were chosen by the Hawaiian Missionary Board to sail on the English brigantine, Royalist, for the Marquesas Islands located 2,300 miles to the southeast. Accompanied by New England missionary Benjamin Parker of Kaneohe Mission Station, these native couples were the first Hawaiian families to serve as missionaries in the Marquesas, 1853-1909. Supported entirely by the Hawaiian churches and the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, the deputation of native Hawaiian missionaries was predicted to succeed where non-Polynesian missionaries had failed. Although support was strong at first, it diminished over time, and in 1909, with no hope of fresh reinforcements, the last surviving Hawaiian missionaries yielded their efforts to French Protestants from Tahiti.<P>

Also included in this collection is one folder of documents pertaining to an earlier mission to the Washington Islands (Marquesas), 1831-1834. A preliminary visit to explore the islands was made by Messrs. Whitney, Tinker and Alexander of the Sandwich Islands mission in 1832. A favourable report led to the departure in July 1833 of American Protestant missionaries Richard Armstrong, W. P. Alexander and Benjamin W. Parker and their wives to establish a mission in the Marquesas. Their labours proved unsuccessful, however, and the mission was aborted. They returned to the Sandwich Islands the following year to resume their missionary work.

The Marquesas Collection, 1831-1834, 1853-1918, consists of 2.5 linear feet of manuscript material, including personal letters, formal reports of general meetings and mission station reports. Correspondence by native Hawaiian missionaries to the Hawaiian Evangelical Association in Honolulu is in the Hawaiian language. A portion of this correspondence was translated into English in the 1930s by Rev. Henry Pratt Judd, a member of the Hawaiian Board of Missions and the grandson of American Protestant missionary, Gerrit P. Judd. Microfilm copies of these translations can be found at PMB 1171. See Finding aids for details.

In June 1853 two ordained Hawaiian ministers, Rev. James K. Kekela and Rev. Samuel Kauwealoha, and their wives, and two deacons and their wives, were chosen by the Hawaiian Missionary Board to sail on the English brigantine, Royalist, for the Marquesas Islands located 2,300 miles to the southeast. Accompanied by New England missionary Benjamin Parker of Kaneohe Mission Station, these native couples were the first Hawaiian families to serve as missionaries in the Marquesas, 1853-1909. Supportedentirely by the Hawaiian churches and the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, the deputation of native Hawaiian missionaries was predicted to succeed where non-Polynesian missionaries had failed. Although support was strong at first, it diminished over time, and in 1909, with no hope of fresh reinforcements, the last surviving Hawaiian missionaries yielded their efforts
to French Protestants from Tahiti.<P>
Also included in this collection is one folder of documents pertaining to an
earlier mission to the Washington Islands (Marquesas), 1831-1834. A preliminary visit to explore the islands was made by Messrs. Whitney, Tinker and Alexander of the Sandwich Islands mission in 1832. A favourable report led to the departure in July 1833 of American Protestant missionaries Richard Armstrong, W. P. Alexander and Benjamin W. Parker and their wives to establish a mission in the Marquesas. Their labours proved unsuccessful, however, and the mission was aborted. They returned to the Sandwich Islands the following year to resume their missionary work.

The <I>Marquesas Collection, 1831-1834, 1853-1918</I>, consists of 2.5 linear feet of manuscript material, including personal letters, formal reports of general meetings and mission station reports. Correspondence by native Hawaiian missionaries to the Hawaiian Evangelical Association in Honolulu is in the Hawaiian language. A portion of this correspondence was translated into English in the 1930s by Rev. Henry Pratt Judd, a member of the Hawaiian Board of Missions and the grandson of American Protestant missionary, Gerrit P. Judd. Nancy J. Morris, PhD. of the University of Hawai'i Special Collections, Hamilton Library, and author of Hawaiian Missionaries Abroad, 1852-1909, also provided translations for some of the documents in the 1980s. Microfilm copies of the original Hawaiian documents can be found at PMB 1170. See Finding aids for details.

NOTE Funded by the Hawaiian Evangelical Society, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and by the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society, the mission commenced when B.G. Snow, A.A. Sturges and Luther H. Gulick and their wives sailed out of Boston in November 1851. In Honolulu Rev. Ephraim Clark, Secretary of the Hawaiian Missionary Society, Rev James Kekela and two other Hawaiian missionaries, Daniela Opunui and Berita Kaaikaula and their wives joined the party which sailed for the Carolines, Marshalls and the Gilbert Islands on 15 July 1852. Mission stations were established in Kosrae and Ponape in August and September 1852. In 1857 George Pierson opened the first Protestant mission station on Ebon in the Marshalls. In the same year Hiram Bingham Jr. with his wife set up a mission station on Apaiang in Kiribati (then the Gilbert Islands), but poor health forced Bingham to return in 1864. He was replaced by two other American missionaries, Horace Taylor and Alfred Walkup, and several native Hawaiian pastors. In all nineteen Hawaiian families went to Kiribati – more than twice the combined number who travelled to the Marquesas, Marshalls and Carolines. The missionary work was gradually given up owing to changes in sovereignty in the Micronesian islands. The last missionary to work in Kiribati was Daniel P. Mahihila who went to Maiana in 1892 and returned to Hawai’i in 1904. (From notes by Kanani Reppun, Librarian, Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society Library, Honolulu.)

CONTENTS The Micronesian Collection, 1852-1923, consists of 7.5 linear feet of manuscript material. The main series is correspondence of missionaries and Hawaiian pastors from Micronesian islands, as follows: Ruk, Ponape, Kenan, Kosrae and Yap in the Caroline Islands; Apaiang, Tabian, Tarawa, Tabiteuea, Marakei, Maiana, Butaritari in the Kiribati group; Mille (Mulgrave), Ebon, Majuro, Jaluit, Arno, Namrik in the Marshalls; and Nauru and the Mortlock Islands. The papers also include: church statistics; reports of general and committee meetings; mission station reports; records of voyages of the mission ships, including the Morning Star; printing, publishing and postal records; education and training reports; and records of the Woman’s Board of Missions. <b>See Finding aids for details.</b>

Funded by the Hawaiian Evangelical Society, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and by the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society, the mission commenced when B.G. Snow, A.A. Sturges and Luther H. Gulick and their wives sailed out of Boston in November 1851. In Honolulu Rev. Ephraim Clark, Secretary of the Hawaiian Missionary Society, Rev James Kekela and two other Hawaiian missionaries, Daniela Opunui and Berita Kaaikaula and their wives joined the party which sailed for the Carolines, Marshalls and the Gilbert Islands on 15 July 1852. Mission stations were established in Kosrae and Ponape in August and September 1852. In 1857 George Pierson opened the first Protestant mission station on Ebon in the Marshalls. In the same year Hiram Bingham Jr. with his wife set up a mission station on Apaiang in Kiribati (then the Gilbert Islands), but poor health forced Bingham to return in 1864. He was replaced by two other American missionaries, Horace Taylor and Alfred Walkup, and several native Hawaiian pastors. In all nineteen Hawaiian families went to Kiribati – more than twice the combined number who travelled to the Marquesas, Marshalls and Carolines. The missionary work was gradually given up owing to changes in sovereignty in the Micronesian islands. The last missionary to work in Kiribati was Daniel P. Mahihila who went to Maiana in 1892 and returned to Hawai’i in 1904. (From notes by Kanani Reppun, Librarian, Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society Library, Honolulu.)

These English language translations of Hawaiian language documents in the Micronesian Collection consist of: correspondence of Hezekiah Aea, 1861-1871; J.D. Ahia, 1871-1872; S. Alika, Sep 1857; Daniel P. Aumai, 1862-1867; Samuela P. Kaaia, 1871-1875; Berita Kaaikaula, 1853-1858; Samuela Kamakahiki, 1855-1857; Simeon Kanakaolr, 1858; J.W. Kanoa, 1858-1879; W.B. Kapu, 1863-1879; George Leleo, 1868-1879; Joel H. and Olivia Mahoe, 1858-1868; Robert Maka, 1865-1877; Henry B. Nalimu, 1877-1881; Samuela Nawaa, 1877-1881; Z.S.K. Paaluhi, 1887-1898 ; together with Mary Kaaialii Kahelemauna, A reminiscence of her life as a missionary at Mille Island, 1877; a descriptive report of Kusaie (Kosrae) or Strong’s Island, 1867; Church reports for Apaiang, Kuma and Makin, Maiana and Noto, Makin and Butatitari, Marakei, Nonuti, Tapiteuea and Tarawa, 1866-1892; reports and minutes of Church general meetings, 1867-1895, and committee meetings, 1870-1881; reports of missionaries, 1880-1890; reports from the Marshall islands, 1864-1875. See PMB 1120 for complete set of original Micronesian Collection documents on microfilm. See Finding aids for details.