John Chauner Williams (1819-1874) was a son of the noted South Seas LMS missionary, the Rev. John Williams, who was killed at Erromanga, New Hebrides, in 1839. From 1858 to 1873, J.C. Williams was British consul in Samoa, and he was also United States consul for several years until 1864. Williams was married twice - the second time in 1855 to Amelia (Amy) Crook.

This microfilm contains journal-letters (in two exercise books) of John Chauner Williams for the period October 25, 1873 to February 20, 1874. The journal-letters were written to Williams' wife in Samoa while he was in Sydney for medical treatment. The microfilm also contains journal-letters of Williams' wife (in four exercise books) for the periods October 22, 1855 to January 4, 1856; and October 25, 1873, to February 20, 1874, and one on loose sheets for September 1 to September 19, 1864. The first of these was kept in Sydney to send to her husband in Samoa; those for 1873-1874 were kept in Samoa to send to her husband in Sydney; that for 1864 was kept in Samoa to send to a woman friend in England to give her some little idea of our daily life. The letters contain many intimate glimpses of Samoan life and personalities. For a fuller outline of their content see the Bureau's newsletter Pambu, Jan. 1969:6. The Mitchell Library holds the originals of all except that for September 1 - September 19, 1864.

John Chauner Williams (1819-1874) was a son of the noted missionary to the Pacific, employed by the London Missionary Society, Rev. John Williams. From 1857 to 1873, J.C. Williams was British Consul in Samoa. Other journals kept by Williams, and by his wife Amelia, have been microfilmed as PMB MS 24.

A daily journal covering the period from February 24, 1868, to March 20, 1872, describing events in Apia, Western Samoa. Also on the microfilm is Williams' letter of appointment as consul, dated September 28, 1857, and signed by the British Foreign Minister, Lord Clarendon.
See also the Bureau's newsletter, Pambu, August 1969:13 pp.6-8.

Captain William Driver (1803-1886) was born Salem, Massachusetts, USA. He went to sea aged 14, and made his first voyage to Fiji in quest of beche-de-mer in September, 1872, in the ship Clay under Captain Benjamin Vanderford. He spent 49 months in the South Seas beche-de-mer trade before returning to Salem. Given command of the Charles Doggett, he sailed for the Pacific again in January, 1831. He remained at sea until 1837 when he retired to Nashville, Tennessee.

The logbook is for the voyage of the Charles Doggett. It begins on January 30, 1831, when the ship was 2,098 sea miles from Salem en route to New Zealand, and ends in March, 1832, when the ship was gathering a cargo of beche-de-mer in Fiji. In the interval, calls were made at Tubuai, Tahiti (French Polynesia), Pitcairn Island, Samoa, Tahiti and Niuatoputapu (Tonga). Driver's visit to Pitcairn Island from Tahiti was for the purpose of returning 65 descendants of the Bounty mutineers, who had been moved from Pitcairn to Tahiti four months earlier as it was feared that their island was becoming overpopulated. Driver describes this episode in some detail in an 1871 memoir accompanying his logbook of the Charles Doggett.
See also the Bureau's newsletter Pambu, December 1969:17.

Captain Fowler went to the Pacific in 1868 as captain of the London Missionary Society vessel JOHN WILLIAMS III. He was dismissed in 1871 because of his treatment of Pacific Islanders. The logbook begins on 12 November 1868 when Captain Fowler left London. It continues to 25 February 1869 when the JOHN WILLIAMS III passed Jervis Bay, NSW. It resumes on 30 March 1869 when the JOHN WILLIAMS III left Sydney for a cruise to the Pacific Islands, which extended to Tahiti, back to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and then to Raiatea before returning to Sydney on 31 December 1869. The cruise took in Raiatea, Tahaa, Huahine, Tahiti, Mangaia, Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Niue, Pago Pago, Apia, Aneityum, Mare, Lifu, Uvea, Tubuai and Savai'i. The logbook resumes again on 4 April 1870 when the JOHN WILLIAMS III was at Huahine. Subsequent calls were made at Raiatea, Tahiti, Mangaia, Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Manihiki, Rakahanga, Pukapuka, Mitiaro, Mauke, Atiu, Tutuila, Niue, the Tokelau, Ellice (Tuvalu) and Gilbert Islands (Kiribati), the southern New Hebrides and the Loyalty Islands. The JOHN WILLIAMS III returned to Sydney on 20 December 1870. Captain Fowler returned to England in 1871 in the ship BUCKLEY CASTLE.

The Rev. Henry Nisbet, LL.D. (1818-76), a missionary of the London Missionary Society, left England for the Pacific Islands in August 1840. He reached Samoa from Sydney in August 1841, and went to Tanna, New Hebrides (Vanuatu), in the following June. He returned to Samoa in February 1843 and was stationed there for the rest of his life. In 1846 and 1848 he visited Niue, the New Hebrides and the Loyalty Islands on behalf of his mission. He visited Australia in 1854 and 1867-68; and England and Canada in 1869-70.

Nisbet began the practice of keeping a daily diary several years before he left England and continued it until ten days before his death.
One notebook (numbered 1), 13 journals (numbered 2-14), some hymns in Samoan, and letters from Nisbet to his second wife, Lydia Lantoret.

Reel 1: Notebook (5pp) recounting Nisbet's interest in missionary labours, 1835-6, and his connection with the LMS, 1836. Diaries numbered 1-3, 21 September 1836 to 26 July 1840. Journal of a voyage from England to Tanna, New Hebrides, 10 August 1840 - 8 February 1841. Diary No.4, 8 Sept. 1840-3 Jan. 1851. Correspondence register, 1840-67.
Reel 2: Journal Nos 5-9, 6 January 1851 to 12 February 1869.
Reel 3: Journal Nos 10-14, 13 February 1869 to 29 April 1876. 'Mr Nisbet's Hymns', circa 1850 - hymns in the Samoan language. Letters from Nisbet to his second wife, Lydia Lantoret, 1870-76, and a few of her letters to the family and other miscellaneous letters, 1870-82.

See PMB MS 432, material relating to Roman Catholic Mission Fiji.

Correspondence from New Caledonia, Wallis, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Moruroa (Tuamotu archipelago), Sydney, New Zealand, France, Belgium, Naples.

The English summaries of papers relating to the German administration of Western Samoa were made by Mrs Trudi Newbury for the then Department of Pacific History, to assist the late Mr R.P. Gilson in preparing a Ph.D. thesis on the administration of Samoa. A book by Gilson, entitled 'Samoa: 1830-1900', was published posthumously by Oxford University Press in 1970.

A brief description of the contents appears at the beginning of the microfilm. See also PMB MS 1003 and 1009 which contain Gilson's drafts and research materials.