| Mormons and the Smallpox Epidemic of 1853 (1) |
by Scott G. Kenney
Opening of the mission in 1851. George Q. Cannon's early success on Maui, aided
by Napela, Kaleohano, and Uaua. Appeal of Mormon teachings. On Oahu, Kauwahi
aids Farrer and Bigler. More missionaries arrive. Opposition by Protestant and
Catholic clergy. Mormons known as healers. By 1853, 1200 had been baptized.
Reprinted by permission of
the Hawaiian Journal of History.
| Christianization begins in 1820 | The first Protestant missionaries
arrived in 1820, just months after the death of Kamehameha I and the abolition
of the taboo system. The missionaries converted leading chiefs were converted
to Christianity and the people followed. Congregations, schools, and hospitals
were established throughout the islands, and missionaries became principal
advisors to the king. By the time the first ten Mormon missionaries arrived
in December 1850, Hawai'i had been officially Christian for ten years. |
Hawaiian Kingdom, 1:100–116. For a general history of Mormonism in the Hawaiian islands, see Unto the Islands, 91-191. | ||
| No
interest in Mormons among foreign population Missionaries |
The Mormons quickly discovered that the foreign population had little or no interest in Mormons. Unable to understand or speak Hawaiian, five became discouraged and left the mission within two or three months, leaving George Q. Cannon, James Keeler, William Farrer, and Henry Bigler on Maui; and James Hawkins on the big island. | The first Mormon missionaries and their initial assignments were: Mission president Hiram Clark, Thomas Morris, and Thomas Whittle (Honolulu); Henry W. Bigler, George Q. Cannon, and James Keeler (Lahaina); John Dixon and William Farrer (Kaua'i); and Hiram Blackwell and James Hawkins (Hawai'i). | ||
| Cannon befriended by Napela, Kaleohano, Uaua | In March 1851 George
Q. Cannon left his companions in Lahaina and set out on his own to live
among the natives and learn the language. He was befriended by a prominent
lawyer and landowner in Wailuku, Jonathana H. Napela. Napela and two friends,
K. H. Kaleohano and William Uaua, all English-speaking graduates of Lahainaluna,
were baptized and became the Mormon nucleus on Maui. They provided Cannon
and his companions with food, clothes, housing, and horses. They translated
for the elders and taught them the language. |
Cannon
note Napela / Kaleohano / Uaua note |
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| Cannon: Hawaiians Israelites | Cannon preached Mormonism from the Bible, and from the Book of Mormon—the sacred record, he testified, of ancient Israelites who left Jerusalem in 421 B.C. and sailed to America. In time, some of their descendants sailed west and became the progenitors of the Polynesian people. As Israelites, Hawaiians had a special relationship to God. When Cannon preached to the Hawaiians from the Book of Mormon, he reported, tears flowed down their cheeks "like little Children." | Francis
A. Hammond to Parley P. Pratt Jr., 28 August 1852, Parley
P. Pratt Collection, "Brother C spoke on the organisation of the Church in the Last days and the Comeing forth of the Book of morman … the peoples eyes ware filled with tears. They felt to regonise in the truth." J. Keeler, August 18, 1851. relationship: See note. |
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| Teaches
Daniel 2 Destiny of the Hawaiian people |
Cannon also emphasized the prophecy
in Daniel 2 regarding a small stone cut out of the mountain without hands,
which would roll forth and break in pieces the kingdoms of the earth, ushering
in the kingdom of God. The stone, Mormons taught was the restored church
of Jesus Christ, organized by Joseph Smith in 1830. The church had grown
rapidly as missionaries were sent to the far reaches of the earth, and when
Jesus returned to begin the millennial reign, Hawaiians were destined for
an exalted station. |
G. Q. Cannon, June 22, 1851; April 17, 1853; J. Keeler, August 17, 1851; F. Hammond, February 26, March 24, 1854. | ||
| Mormon appeal | To those Hawaiians who felt severed
from their ancestors by traditional Christianity, these were powerful doctrines.
And, in contrast to the Protestant clergy, Cannon and his companions, at
least initially, did not ask for a regular donation or tax, nor for a house
or salary—only for a meal, a night's lodging, or the use of a horse
for a day or two. |
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| In addition, while Protestants imposed
a probationary period of five or six months, Mormons usually baptized applicants
on request. Unlike the Protestants, who rarely ordained native ministers,
the Mormons commonly ordained men to the priesthood within a matter of weeks—first
to the office of "teacher," then, after a few months, to the office
of "priest." Priests could baptize, preside over branches of the
church, administer the sacrament—and, with an elder, lay on hands with
an elder to bless the sick. |
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| June 1851 Cannon baptizing daily | By June 1851 Cannon, assisted by
Napela, Kaleohano, and Uaua, was baptizing almost daily in Kula; and in
August, up to forty at a time on east Maui. Natives were coming before he
was up in the morning, requesting baptism. |
Cannon to Farrer and Bigler, June 23, 1851, Letters 1851-1860; Hammond to Pratt Jr., August 28, 1851, Parley P. Pratt Collection, | ||
| Kauwahi on Oahu | Meanwhile,
William Farrer and Henry Bigler had gone to Oahu, where J. W. H. Kauwahi
became the island's first native convert. Kauwahi was another English-speaking
graduate of Lahainaluna and a lawyer, a konohiki at Hauula, member of the
legislature, and owner of a store in Honolulu. After studying Mormonism
with Farrer for three months, Kauwahi was baptized on August 17, 1851, and
instantly became the most effective Mormon preacher on Oahu. With his assistance,
in two months Farrer and Bigler baptized sixty-six in Koolau. |
konohiki:
chief Honolulu: W. Farrer, May 10; November 14; December 10-12, 1851; J. Keeler, May 27, 1853; T Karren, May 29, 1853. Oahu: W. Farrer, May 10 and August, 17, 1851. Koolau: Ibid, October 4, 1852. |
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| Clergy opposition on Oahu | Angered by
the Mormon sheep-stealing, Protestants declared they would tear down the
lanai erected for Mormon meetings, and one konohiki threatened to evict
the tenant who allowed the meetings. Then in November, Punaluu residents
threatened to have the converts imprisoned. A chief directed his konohiki
to evict all Mormons, but retracted the directive when Farrer and Kauwahi
visited him in Honolulu to assert their rights. |
Ibid,
October 29; November 7, 12, 18, 1851. rights: See note. |
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| New converts leaving | Nevertheless, the Mormons had difficulty
retaining their converts. In January 1852, William Farrer lamented, "The
brethren & sisters here mostly begin to waver & many have already
left the church and gone to the calvanistic church. …They appear to
be leaving about as fast as they came in." |
W. Farrer, January 17, 1852. | ||
| More missionaries arrive | But in February
reinforcements arrived—four elders from Utah and their wives. A tinsmith,
Lewis set up shop in Honolulu to funds for the mission and attend to administrative
chores. The Woodburys went to open up the work on Molokai, the Perkins to
join Hawkins on the big island, the Hammonds to Lahaina. |
wives: See note. | ||
| Mormon healings | Soon thereafter Maui natives began
seeking out the elders as healers. "Thare has been several men and
woman healed by laying on of hands," Hammond wrote in May. "Some
had been crippled for years, and had to creep on their hands and knees.
Some had the dropsey very bad, had been given up to die but now are well
and rejoiceing in the truth, & the Devil is rageing with great force,
but the saints are strong in the faith and increasing in knowledge and power." |
F. Hammond, May 4,1852. | ||
| Kitty's seizure ceases | Napela's wife, Kitty, suffered from
seizures. During one particularly severe attack, Cannon and Napela laid
their hands on her, blessed her, and the attack immediately ended. |
Cannon recorded the incident several months after the fact. "Her eyes were rigid and appeared to be set she not having use of them. …We laid hands on her and rebuked the sickness in the name of the Lord and commanded it to depart, and she experienced relief immediately and fell asleep." G. Q. Cannon, January 1, 1853. | ||
| Blind man sees | In early February 1853, Cannon was asked to administer to an elderly man, recently baptized, who had been blind for years. Cannon laid his hands on the man and blessed him. In the morning, the man reported he could see. | Hammond to Pratt, June 11, 1853, F. A. Hammond Collection; G. Q. Cannon, February 5, 1853; R. N. Allred, March 31, 1853. | ||
| Uaua raises dead wife | About the same time, Uaua returned
home one day to find the body of his apparently lifeless wife surrounded
by weeping relatives. They told him she had been dead for three hours. He
anointed her with consecrated oil, laid hands on her and prayed. She was
"immediately restored & arose as he said amen." |
G. Q. Cannon, February 8, 1853; R. N. Allred, March 30, 1853. | ||
| More missionaries arrive 1853 | The eight elders, spread over four
islands, were hard pressed to keep up with the demands for their services.
They were elated when nine more arrived on February 17, 1853. |
nine more: Reddin A. and Reddick N. Allred, Ephraim Green, Benjamin F. Johnson, Thomas Karren, James Lawson, William McBride, Egerton Snider, and Nathan Tanner. | ||
| Honolulu conference | Lewis sent word for the other missionaries
to come to Honolulu for a conference at which they would all receive new
assignments. In the meantime, he with a Mr. Booth to use the merchant's
exchange on the 27th. The elders took out an ad in the Argus and
posted handbills throughout the city. |
R. N. Allred, February 27, 1853. | ||
| Opposition | A good crowd of foreigners was
on hand that Sunday, and paid good attn. Another service was announced for
the following week. Mr. Booth, however, withdrew his offer and the owner
of the Liberty Hall explained "it would be against his interest"
to grant the Mormons the use of his hall. "We were informed that the
Rev. Gentlemen were telling natives that we had come to take the kingdom
& for them to meet in the churches without delay & pray that all
doors might be closed against us, so that we could not get a place to preach
in," Reddick Allred wrote. |
R.
N. Allred,
March 3,1853. A few days later, Nathan Tanner wrote, "I have used every exertion to procure a house to preach in to the whites in this plase. Every thing seames very forbiding. The preasts are combined to cheek up their salery & the preasts controll the coart house & all the Churches & the tavern cheepers cant git their lisance or controle their coustom onley threw the Preasts." N. Tanner, 74. |
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| They were turned down at the Exchange
Hotel and the seaman's chapel, but succeeded in renting Mr. Burgess's carpenter
shop. Placards were posted all over town, and in the morning and afternoon
of Sunday, March 6, William Farrer preached the first Mormon sermons to
native residents of Honolulu. Three came forward to be baptized. |
R. N. Allred, March 2, 3, 6, 1853; N. Tanner, 57. | |||
| 1200 baptized | The three-day elders conference commenced
on the 9th. Nearly a thousand natives had been baptized on Maui and approximately
two hundred on the other islands. Five of the new missionaries were assigned
to Maui to learn the language, three to Oahu, and one to Molokai. |
R. N. Allred, March 10, 1853. | ||
| Language barrier | Following the conference, George
Q. Cannon preached to natives, and six were baptized the next day. But when
he and the others departed for their fields of labor, none were left in
the city who could speak Hawaiian. Though he had been on the islands eighteen
months, Lewis could read, but not speak the language. Farrer, who was proficient
in Hawaiian, returned to Koolau, as did Bigler, who after more than three
years had difficulty understanding the members of his own branches. They
relied heavily not Kauwahi. |
language: R.
N. Allred, March 7, 1853. |
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| Honolulu missionaries despair | The food, heat, and absence of Hawaiian-speaking
mentors discouraged the new missionaries in Honolulu. B. F. Johnson and
Nathan Tanner became sick. By early April, Johnson was "sad & dishartend,"
and Thomas Karren was "nearly in dispair." |
N. Tanner, April 8, 1853. | ||