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{{Short description|Prime Minister of Hawaii in 1886}}

{{Use American English|date = September 2019}}
{{Use American English|date = September 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = September 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = September 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| honorific-prefix = [[His Excellency]]
| name = Walter M. Gibson
| name = Walter M. Gibson
| honorific-suffix =
| honorific-suffix =
| image = WalterMurrayGibson2.jpg
| image = Walter Murray Gibson, about 1883.jpg
| imagesize =
| imagesize =
| smallimage = <!--If this is specified, "image" should not be.-->
| smallimage = <!--If this is specified, "image" should not be.-->
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| office = [[Kuhina Nui|Prime Minister of Hawaii]]
| office = [[Kuhina Nui|Prime Minister of Hawaii]]
| monarch = [[Kalākaua]]
| monarch = [[Kalākaua]]
| term_start = June 30, 1886
| term_start = May 20, 1882
| term_end = October 13, 1886
| term_end = June 30, 1887
| predecessor = [[Celso Caesar Moreno]]
| predecessor = [[William Lowthian Green]]
| successor = [[William C. Wilder]]
| successor = Position Vacant
| monarch2 = [[Kalākaua]]
| monarch2 = [[Kalākaua]]
| order2 =
| order2 =
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| term_end2 = June 30, 1886
| term_end2 = June 30, 1886
| predecessor2 = [[William Lowthian Green|William L. Green]]
| predecessor2 = [[William Lowthian Green|William L. Green]]
| successor2 = [[Robert J. Creighton]]
| successor2 = Robert J. Creighton
| monarch5 = [[Kalākaua]]
| monarch5 = [[Kalākaua]]
| order5 =
| order5 =
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| term_start6 = October 13, 1886
| term_start6 = October 13, 1886
| term_end6 = July 1, 1887
| term_end6 = July 1, 1887
| predecessor6 = [[Robert J. Creighton]]
| predecessor6 = Robert J. Creighton
| successor6 = [[Godfrey Brown (Hawaii)|Godfrey Brown]]
| successor6 = [[Godfrey Brown (Hawaii)|Godfrey Brown]]
| birth_date = March 6, 1822
| birth_date = January 16, 1822
| birth_place = [[Southern United States]] or [[England]]
| birth_place = At sea, [[Atlantic Ocean]]
| death_date = January 21, 1888
| death_date = January 21, 1888
| death_place = [[San Francisco]], [[California]]
| death_place = [[San Francisco]], [[California]]
| restingplace = [[Hawaii]]
| restingplace = [[Hawaii]]
| restingplacecoordinates =
| restingplacecoordinates =
| birthname =
| birthname = Walter Murray Gibson
| nationality = [[Kingdom of Hawaii]], American
| nationality = [[Kingdom of Hawaii]], American
| party = [[Hawaiian National Party|National]]
| party = [[Hawaiian National Party|National]]
| otherparty = <!--For additional political affiliations-->
| otherparty = <!--For additional political affiliations-->
| spouse = Rachel Lewis Gibson
| spouse = Rachel Lewis Gibson (m. 1838)
| partner = <!--For those with a domestic partner and not married-->
| partner = <!--For those with a domestic partner and not married-->
| relations =
| relations =
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| committees =
| committees =
| portfolio =
| portfolio =
⚫
| religion = [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]
| signature = Walter M Gibson 1886 signature.svg
| signature = Walter M Gibson 1886 signature.svg
| signature_alt =
| signature_alt =
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| footnotes =
| footnotes =
}}
}}
'''Walter Murray Gibson''' (March 6, 1822 – January 21, 1888) was an American [[adventurer]] and a government minister in the [[Kingdom of Hawaii]] prior to the kingdom's [[1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii|1887 constitution]].
'''Walter Murray Gibson''' (January 16, 1822 – January 21, 1888) was an American [[adventurer]] and a government minister in the [[Kingdom of Hawaii]] prior to the kingdom's [[1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii|1887 constitution]].


==Early life==
==Early life==
Gibson was born January 16, 1822, at sea between Gibraltar and England.<ref>{{cite book
⚫
Gibson was generally thought to be born March 6, 1822, in the southern [[United States]],<ref name = HA/> though he sometimes claimed to have been born in [[England]].<ref>{{cite news |hdl= 10524/56 |title= The Filibuster of Walter Murray Gibson |work= Annual report of the Hawaiian Historical Society |publisher=Hawaii Historical Society |author= James Warren Gould |year= 1960 |pages= 7–32 }}</ref>
|last=Jenson
⚫
He spent his young adulthood in [[Anderson County, South Carolina|Anderson District]], [[South Carolina]].<ref name=NYT>{{cite news |title= The Case of Captain Gibson |work=New York Times |date=May 31, 1854}}</ref>
|first=Andrew
|author-link=
|date=1936
|title=Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia
|url=
|location=Salt Lake City
|publisher=Andrew Jenson Memorial Association
|page= 339
|isbn=
|volume=4
⚫
}}</ref> He was christened on March 6 in England in [[Stamfordham, Northumberland]],<ref>England, Northumberland, Parish Registers, 1538-1950", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:CS74-KLPZ : 5 November 2020), Walter Murray Gibson, 1822.</ref> though he sometimes claimed to have been born in [[England]].<ref>{{cite news |hdl= 10524/56 |title= The Filibuster of Walter Murray Gibson |work= Annual report of the Hawaiian Historical Society |publisher=Hawaii Historical Society |author= James Warren Gould |year= 1960 |pages= 7–32 }}</ref>
⚫
As a young man, he taught a school in [[Elbert County, Georgia]], though the land later became a part of [[Hart County, Georgia]]. He spent his young adulthood in [[Anderson County, South Carolina|Anderson District]], [[South Carolina]].<ref name=NYT>{{cite news |title= The Case of Captain Gibson |work=New York Times |date=May 31, 1854}}</ref>
He was the captain of a ship and became involved in [[gunrunning]] in the [[Caribbean]].<ref name = HA>Will Hoover, [http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/150/sesq1gibson "Walter Murray Gibson"], ''[[Honolulu Advertiser]]'', 2006-07-02</ref> Later, he was jailed in the [[East Indies]] by the [[Dutch Empire|Dutch]] on charges of fomenting rebellion, was sentenced to death,<ref name=NYT/> but managed to escape from [[Weltevreden (Batavia)|Weltevreden]] Prison<ref name=NYT/> in [[Java (island)|Java]].
He was the captain of a ship and became involved in [[gunrunning]] in the [[Caribbean]].<ref name = HA>Will Hoover, [http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/150/sesq1gibson "Walter Murray Gibson"], ''[[Honolulu Advertiser]]'', 2006-07-02</ref> Later, he was jailed in the [[East Indies]] by the [[Dutch Empire|Dutch]] on charges of fomenting rebellion, was sentenced to death,<ref name=NYT/> but managed to escape from [[Weltevreden (Batavia)|Weltevreden]] Prison<ref name=NYT/> in [[Java (island)|Java]].
He claimed receiving a vision while in prison to "build up a kingdom in these isles, whose lines of power shall run around the earth."<ref name="McBride" /><ref name="Brigham">{{cite letter
He claimed receiving a vision while in prison to "build up a kingdom in these isles, whose lines of power shall run around the earth."<ref name="McBride" /><ref name="Brigham">{{cite letter |title= Walter Murray GIBSON letter 1861 to Brigham YOUNG from San Bernardino, California Call Number CR 1234 1 |work= Church Historians Office
| first = Gibson
| first = Gibson
| last = Walter M.
| last = Walter M.
| recipient = Brigham Young
| recipient = Brigham Young
| date = May 30, 1859
| date = Feb 24, 1861
| publisher = Gibson Name File, Church Historians Office
| publisher = Gibson Name File
| location=Salt Lake City
| location=Salt Lake City
}}</ref>
}}</ref>
In 1859, he went to [[Utah Territory]] and joined [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church), persuading [[President of the Church (LDS Church)|church president]] [[Brigham Young]] to allow him to establish a [[Mormon]] colony in the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]].{{sfn|Andrade|1996|page=11}}
In 1859, he went to [[Utah Territory]] and joined [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church), persuading [[President of the Church (LDS Church)|church president]] [[Brigham Young]] to allow him to establish a [[Mormon]] colony in the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]].{{sfn|Andrade|1996|page=11}}


==LDS Church colony==
==LDS Church colony==
Line 85: Line 98:


==Political career==
==Political career==
[[File:Hawaiian-Samoan meeting aboard Kaimiloa 1887.jpg|thumb|left|Hawaiian envoys and Samoan authorities on board of the Kaimiloa in 1887.]]
[[File:Hawaiian-Samoan meeting aboard Kaimiloa 1887.jpg|thumb|left|Hawaiian envoys and Samoan authorities on board the Kaimiloa in 1887.]]
In 1873, Gibson started his own newspaper to extol his virtues in English and Hawaiian called the ''Nuhou''. He successfully ran for the [[legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom|House of Representatives]] in 1878<ref name="office">{{cite web |title=Gibson, Walter Murray office record |url= http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/collect/governme/index/assoc/HASHd2ed/67ed982e.dir/Gibson,%20Walter%20Murray.jpg|work=state archives digital collections |publisher=state of Hawaii|access-date=2010-03-20}}</ref>
In 1873, Gibson started his own newspaper to extol his virtues in English and Hawaiian called the ''Nuhou''. He successfully ran for the [[legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom|House of Representatives]] in 1878<ref name="office">{{cite web |title=Gibson, Walter Murray office record |url= http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/collect/governme/index/assoc/HASHd2ed/67ed982e.dir/Gibson,%20Walter%20Murray.jpg|work=state archives digital collections |publisher=state of Hawaii|access-date=2010-03-20}}</ref>
as a candidate of the [[King's Party (Kalakaua)|King's Party]], allying himself with [[Kalākaua|King Kalakaua]] and portraying himself as the "voice of Hawaiians". In 1880 he bought the ''Pacific Commercial Advertiser'' (now the ''[[Honolulu Advertiser]]'').<ref>{{cite web |author=Bob Krauss |date=2004-08-22 |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/commemorative/history |title=Advertiser boasts a storied history |work=[[Honolulu Advertiser]]}}</ref>
as a candidate of the [[King's Party (Kalakaua)|King's Party]], allying himself with [[Kalākaua|King Kalakaua]] and portraying himself as the "voice of Hawaiians". In 1880 he bought the ''Pacific Commercial Advertiser'' (forerunner to the ''[[Honolulu Advertiser]]'').<ref>{{cite web |author=Bob Krauss |date=2004-08-22 |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/commemorative/history |title=Advertiser boasts a storied history |work=[[Honolulu Advertiser]]}}</ref>


In 1882, he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, and then on June 30, 1886, [[Prime Minister]] of the [[Kingdom of Hawaii]] by King Kalākaua. He also served on various boards, as Attorney General, Minister of the Interior, and Secretary of War.<ref name="office"/> He often held several cabinet positions simultaneously, and at one point, the cabinet consisted of only him and Minister of Finance [[John Mākini Kapena]], resulting in newspapers labeling him the "Minister of Everything".{{sfn|Hamilton|2017|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_CIxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT85 141]}}{{sfn|Adler|Kamins|2019}}
In 1882, he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, and then in May of 1882, [[Prime Minister]] of the [[Kingdom of Hawaii]] by King Kalākaua. He also served on various boards, as Attorney General, Minister of the Interior, and Secretary of War.<ref name="office"/> He often held several cabinet positions simultaneously, and at one point, the cabinet consisted of only him and Minister of Finance [[John Mākini Kapena]], resulting in newspapers labeling him the "Minister of Everything".{{sfn|Hamilton|2017|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_CIxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT85 141]}}{{sfn|Adler|Kamins|2019}}


Gibson was widely credited with encouraging Kalākaua to make rash political moves, which eventually led to the imposition of the [[1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii]]. One of his bolder plans included an attempt to build a Pacific empire, which drew the ire of both the international and local Hawaiian communities.<ref name = HA/>
Gibson was widely credited with encouraging Kalākaua to make rash political moves, which eventually led to the imposition of the [[1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii]]. One of his bolder plans included an attempt to build a Pacific empire, which drew the ire of both the international and local Hawaiian communities.<ref name = HA/>
Line 95: Line 108:


==Personal life==
==Personal life==
On July 10, 1838, the sixteen-year old Gibson married the twenty-year old Rachel Margaret Lewis (1818–1844), daughter of Jesse and Hannah Lewis. Prior to their marriage, Gibson had been a boarder with the Lewis's in their home in [[Sandy Springs, South Carolina|Sandy Springs]], outside of [[Pendleton, South Carolina]]. They had three children: John Lewis (1838–1877), Henry (died 1893) and Tallulah (later changed to the Hawaiianized Talula, 1843–1903), who married Sheriff of Maui [[Frederick H. Hayselden]]. Rachel died in 1844, possibly from the cold conditions of the family's cabin floors or complications from her last pregnancy.{{sfn|Adler|Kamins|2019|pages=7–11, 218}}{{sfn|Kuykendall|1967|page=363}}
On July 10, 1838, the sixteen-year old Gibson married the twenty-year old Rachel Margaret Lewis (1818–1844), daughter of Jesse and Hannah Lewis. Prior to their marriage, Gibson had been a boarder with the Lewises in their home in [[Sandy Springs, South Carolina|Sandy Springs]], outside of [[Pendleton, South Carolina]]. They had three children: John Lewis (1838–1877), Henry (died 1893) and Tallulah (later changed to the Hawaiianized Talula, 1843–1903), who married the Sheriff of Maui, Frederick H. Hayselden and became [[Talula Hayselden]]. Rachel died in 1844, possibly from the cold conditions of the family's cabin floors or complications from her last pregnancy.{{sfn|Adler|Kamins|2019|pages=7–11, 218}}{{sfn|Kuykendall|1967|page=363}}


==Death==
==Death==
Though the 1887 [[Bayonet Constitution]] dislodged Gibson from all cabinet positions undying loyalty to Hawaiian sovereignty kept him in the crosshairs of pro-annexationists, a majority of which were either American or New England missionary descendants. Animosity peaked and Gibson was abducted to a Honolulu wharf where he escaped lynching by conceding to forced exile and promptly retreated to [[San Francisco]] in July 1887.{{sfn|Adler|Kamins|2019|p={{pn|date=May 2024}}}} Convalescing there between the [[Occidental Hotel]] and [[St. Mary's Medical Center (San Francisco)|St. Mary's Hospital]] the penultimate Prime Minister of the [[Hawaiian Kingdom]] succumbed to pneumonia and a private battle with tuberculosis January 21, 1888.
Gibson's fortunes fell dramatically after being removed from power in 1887. He fled the islands for fear of his life and died penniless in [[San Francisco]] on January 21, 1888. His body was returned to Hawaii for a funeral and burial.<ref name = HA/>

His body was returned to Hawaii for a funeral and burial.<ref name="HA" />

Gibson's modest estate, including the ranch on [[Lanai|Lana'i]] and a noble residence across from [[ʻIolani Palace|'Iolani Palace]], was bestowed to his daughter Talula and (her husband) Fred Hayselden. Probate failed to uncover evidence of any public or private financial misdealing and the man's respectable cash reserve adequately satisfied outstanding debts.

==Legacy==
Gibson’s most prominent contribution to the world, ‘Iolani Palace in Honolulu, remains revered by native Hawaiian and visited by millions of guests annually. Adjacent to it stands the iconic Kamehameha statue, another vestige of the Gibson administration. Past and current critics insist both are symbols of reckless and irresponsible government yet their enduring cultural value is indisputable.

Had Queen Lili’uokalani successfully promulgated her 1893 constitution history would likely recall Walter Murray Gibson much as she did;

“Whatever the faults of Mr. Gibson, so long Prime Minister of Kalakaua, he was an able man, and his only public crime was his loyalty to his king. And it was for this reason that he (was) seized by a mob composed of the ‘Missionary Party’ armed with rifles and marched down the public streets to the wharves; not an atom of respect being shown to the gray hairs of the old man who had occupied for years the highest position in the King's cabinet…against whom no charge, political or criminal, was ever made.”

Strategically aided by American diplomatic and military interplay, annexationists ruled the day, however, and semblance of Gibson throughout Hawai’i, as well as the kingdom he so loved itself, suffered a meticulously planned and well executed demise by adversaries.

Still a pariah in most Latter-Day Saint circles opinions typically reflect those expressed by Mormon historian [[Samuel W. Taylor]], who refers to Gibson as an imposter and manipulator of the church and Brigham Young.

Speaking less sternly before a congregation in the tabernacle at Salt Lake City, Utah, the Mormon prophet, himself, clarified;

“The charge against Walter M. Gibson was not for owning property or for claiming it, for no one cared how much he had, if he only used it for the benefit of the poor who had given it, but the charge was his persistent refusal to be dictated by the Priesthood."

Saved from execution by a British diplomat.<ref>Taylor, 1964.</ref>


==In film==
==In film==
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==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|last1=Adler|first1=Jacob|last2=Kamins|first2=Robert M.|title=The Fantastic Life of Walter Murray Gibson: Hawaii's Minister of Everything|date=2019|orig-year=1986|publisher=University of Hawaii Press |location=Honolulu |isbn=978-0-8248-8366-9 |oclc=1126516674 |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/63552/9780824883669_alttext.pdf}}
*{{cite book|last1=Adler|first1=Jacob|last2=Kamins|first2=Robert M.|title=The Fantastic Life of Walter Murray Gibson: Hawaii's Minister of Everything|date=2019|orig-year=1986|publisher=University of Hawaii Press |location=Honolulu |isbn=978-0-8248-8366-9 |oclc=1126516674 |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/items/6d9d3899-e32a-43e8-a734-3101771a8a8d}}
*{{cite book|last=Andrade|first=Ernest|title=Unconquerable Rebel: Robert W. Wilcox and Hawaiian Politics, 1880–1903|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cTl1AAAAMAAJ|year=1996|publisher=University Press of Colorado|location=Niwot, CO|isbn=978-0-87081-417-4|oclc=247224388}}
*{{cite book|last=Andrade|first=Ernest|title=Unconquerable Rebel: Robert W. Wilcox and Hawaiian Politics, 1880–1903|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cTl1AAAAMAAJ|year=1996|publisher=University Press of Colorado|location=Niwot, CO|isbn=978-0-87081-417-4|oclc=247224388}}
*{{cite book|last=Kuykendall|first=Ralph Simpson|author-link=Ralph Simpson Kuykendall|title=The Hawaiian Kingdom 1874–1893, The Kalakaua Dynasty|url=http://www.ulukau.org/elib/cgi-bin/library?c=kingdom3&l=en |volume=3|year=1967 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-0-87022-433-1 |oclc=500374815}}
*{{cite book|last=Kuykendall|first=Ralph Simpson|author-link=Ralph Simpson Kuykendall|title=The Hawaiian Kingdom 1874–1893, The Kalakaua Dynasty|url=http://www.ulukau.org/elib/cgi-bin/library?c=kingdom3&l=en |volume=3|year=1967 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-0-87022-433-1 |oclc=500374815}}
* {{cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Richard F. |date=July 5, 2017 |title=America's New Empire: The 1890s and Beyond |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781351532174 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_CIxDwAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Richard F. |date=July 5, 2017 |title=America's New Empire: The 1890s and Beyond |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781351532174 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_CIxDwAAQBAJ}}
* Taylor, Samuel W. "Walter Murray Gibson: Great Mormon Rascal" ''American West'' (00031534). (1964) 1#2 pp 18–28.


==Further reading==
==Further reading==
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==External links==
==External links==
{{Wikipedia books
|1=List of denominations in the Latter Day Saint movement
}}
*{{commons category-inline}}
*{{commons category-inline}}
*{{cite book |title=All about Hawaii. The recognized book of authentic information on Hawaii, combined with Thrum's Hawaiian annual and standard guide |date=1891 |publisher=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |pages=92–97 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000598560 |format=(original from University of Michigan)|via=[[HathiTrust]]}}
*{{cite book |title=All about Hawaii. The recognized book of authentic information on Hawaii, combined with Thrum's Hawaiian annual and standard guide |date=1891 |publisher=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |pages=92–97 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000598560 |format=(original from University of Michigan)|via=[[HathiTrust]]}}
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[[Category:1822 births]]
[[Category:1822 births]]
[[Category:1888 deaths]]
[[Category:1888 deaths]]
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[[Category:19th-century American politicians]]
[[Category:19th-century Mormon missionaries]]
[[Category:19th-century Mormon missionaries]]
[[Category:American Latter Day Saint leaders]]
[[Category:American Latter Day Saint leaders]]
⚫
[[Category:American Latter Day Saints]]
[[Category:American Mormon missionaries]]
[[Category:American Mormon missionaries]]
[[Category:British Latter Day Saints]]
[[Category:Editors of Hawaii newspapers]]
[[Category:Editors of Hawaii newspapers]]
[[Category:Exiles from Hawaii]]
[[Category:Exiles from Hawaii]]
[[Category:Hawaiian Kingdom Attorneys General]]
[[Category:Founders of new religious movements]]
[[Category:Hawaiian Kingdom Foreign Ministers]]
[[Category:Hawaiian Kingdom attorneys general]]
[[Category:Foreign ministers of the Hawaiian Kingdom]]
[[Category:Hawaiian Kingdom Interior Ministers]]
[[Category:Hawaiian Kingdom Interior Ministers]]
[[Category:Hawaiian Kingdom Latter Day Saints]]
[[Category:Hawaiian Kingdom politicians]]
[[Category:Hawaiian Kingdom politicians]]
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[[Category:National Party (Hawaii) politicians]]
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[[Category:Hawaiian Kingdom Latter Day Saints]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saint leaders]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saint leaders]]
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[[Category:Members of the Hawaii Board of Health]]
[[Category:Members of the Hawaiian Kingdom House of Nobles]]
[[Category:Members of the Hawaiian Kingdom House of Nobles]]
[[Category:Members of the Hawaiian Kingdom House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Members of the Hawaiian Kingdom House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Members of the Hawaiian Kingdom Privy Council]]
[[Category:Members of the Hawaiian Kingdom Privy Council]]
[[Category:Founders of new religious movements]]
[[Category:Mormon missionaries in Hawaii]]
[[Category:Mormon missionaries in Hawaii]]
[[Category:People excommunicated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]
⚫
[[Category:19th-century American politicians]]
⚫
[[Category:Members of the Hawaii Board of Health]]
[[Category:Mormonism and Pacific Islanders]]
[[Category:Mormonism and Pacific Islanders]]
⚫
[[Category:National Party (Hawaii) politicians]]
⚫
[[Category:People excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]

Latest revision as of 07:00, 24 October 2024

His Excellency
Walter M. Gibson
Photo of Walter M. Gibson
Prime Minister of Hawaii
In office
May 20, 1882 – June 30, 1887
MonarchKalākaua
Preceded byWilliam Lowthian Green
Succeeded byPosition Vacant
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
May 20, 1882 – June 30, 1886
MonarchKalākaua
Preceded byWilliam L. Green
Succeeded byRobert J. Creighton
Minister of the Interior
In office
June 30, 1886 – October 13, 1886
MonarchKalākaua
Preceded byCharles T. Gulick
Succeeded byLuther Aholo
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
October 13, 1886 – July 1, 1887
MonarchKalākaua
Preceded byRobert J. Creighton
Succeeded byGodfrey Brown
Personal details
Born
Walter Murray Gibson

January 16, 1822
At sea, Atlantic Ocean
DiedJanuary 21, 1888
San Francisco, California
Resting placeHawaii
NationalityKingdom of Hawaii, American
Political partyNational
SpouseRachel Lewis Gibson (m. 1838)
Children3
Signature

Walter Murray Gibson (January 16, 1822 – January 21, 1888) was an American adventurer and a government minister in the Kingdom of Hawaii prior to the kingdom's 1887 constitution.

Early life

[edit]

Gibson was born January 16, 1822, at sea between Gibraltar and England.[1] He was christened on March 6 in England in Stamfordham, Northumberland,[2] though he sometimes claimed to have been born in England.[3] As a young man, he taught a school in Elbert County, Georgia, though the land later became a part of Hart County, Georgia. He spent his young adulthood in Anderson District, South Carolina.[4] He was the captain of a ship and became involved in gunrunning in the Caribbean.[5] Later, he was jailed in the East Indies by the Dutch on charges of fomenting rebellion, was sentenced to death,[4] but managed to escape from Weltevreden Prison[4] in Java. He claimed receiving a vision while in prison to "build up a kingdom in these isles, whose lines of power shall run around the earth."[6][7] In 1859, he went to Utah Territory and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), persuading church president Brigham Young to allow him to establish a Mormon colony in the Pacific.[8]

LDS Church colony

[edit]

Gibson arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1861, and founded a colony among members of the LDS Church who were already in the islands. He purchased land on the island of Lanai with funds from the colony in his own name, but was excommunicated after an investigation by the church regarding accusations of preaching false doctrine, maladministration of the colony,[9] and embezzlement of church funds.[5] The proceedings leading to his excommunication were initiated by letters from Jonathan Napela and other Native Hawaiian church leaders to church headquarters in Salt Lake City. Upon excommunication, he expelled those who did not support him from his colony and church[10] and began angling for secular political office and power.[citation needed]

Political career

[edit]
Hawaiian envoys and Samoan authorities on board the Kaimiloa in 1887.

In 1873, Gibson started his own newspaper to extol his virtues in English and Hawaiian called the Nuhou. He successfully ran for the House of Representatives in 1878[11] as a candidate of the King's Party, allying himself with King Kalakaua and portraying himself as the "voice of Hawaiians". In 1880 he bought the Pacific Commercial Advertiser (forerunner to the Honolulu Advertiser).[12]

In 1882, he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, and then in May of 1882, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hawaii by King Kalākaua. He also served on various boards, as Attorney General, Minister of the Interior, and Secretary of War.[11] He often held several cabinet positions simultaneously, and at one point, the cabinet consisted of only him and Minister of Finance John Mākini Kapena, resulting in newspapers labeling him the "Minister of Everything".[13][14]

Gibson was widely credited with encouraging Kalākaua to make rash political moves, which eventually led to the imposition of the 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii. One of his bolder plans included an attempt to build a Pacific empire, which drew the ire of both the international and local Hawaiian communities.[5] Sending the "homemade battleship" Kaimiloa to Samoa in 1887 resulted in suspicions from the German Navy and embarrassment for the conduct of the crew.[6]

Personal life

[edit]

On July 10, 1838, the sixteen-year old Gibson married the twenty-year old Rachel Margaret Lewis (1818–1844), daughter of Jesse and Hannah Lewis. Prior to their marriage, Gibson had been a boarder with the Lewises in their home in Sandy Springs, outside of Pendleton, South Carolina. They had three children: John Lewis (1838–1877), Henry (died 1893) and Tallulah (later changed to the Hawaiianized Talula, 1843–1903), who married the Sheriff of Maui, Frederick H. Hayselden and became Talula Hayselden. Rachel died in 1844, possibly from the cold conditions of the family's cabin floors or complications from her last pregnancy.[15][16]

Death

[edit]

Though the 1887 Bayonet Constitution dislodged Gibson from all cabinet positions undying loyalty to Hawaiian sovereignty kept him in the crosshairs of pro-annexationists, a majority of which were either American or New England missionary descendants. Animosity peaked and Gibson was abducted to a Honolulu wharf where he escaped lynching by conceding to forced exile and promptly retreated to San Francisco in July 1887.[17] Convalescing there between the Occidental Hotel and St. Mary's Hospital the penultimate Prime Minister of the Hawaiian Kingdom succumbed to pneumonia and a private battle with tuberculosis January 21, 1888.

His body was returned to Hawaii for a funeral and burial.[5]

Gibson's modest estate, including the ranch on Lana'i and a noble residence across from 'Iolani Palace, was bestowed to his daughter Talula and (her husband) Fred Hayselden. Probate failed to uncover evidence of any public or private financial misdealing and the man's respectable cash reserve adequately satisfied outstanding debts.

Legacy

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Gibson’s most prominent contribution to the world, ‘Iolani Palace in Honolulu, remains revered by native Hawaiian and visited by millions of guests annually. Adjacent to it stands the iconic Kamehameha statue, another vestige of the Gibson administration. Past and current critics insist both are symbols of reckless and irresponsible government yet their enduring cultural value is indisputable.

Had Queen Lili’uokalani successfully promulgated her 1893 constitution history would likely recall Walter Murray Gibson much as she did;

“Whatever the faults of Mr. Gibson, so long Prime Minister of Kalakaua, he was an able man, and his only public crime was his loyalty to his king. And it was for this reason that he (was) seized by a mob composed of the ‘Missionary Party’ armed with rifles and marched down the public streets to the wharves; not an atom of respect being shown to the gray hairs of the old man who had occupied for years the highest position in the King's cabinet…against whom no charge, political or criminal, was ever made.”

Strategically aided by American diplomatic and military interplay, annexationists ruled the day, however, and semblance of Gibson throughout Hawai’i, as well as the kingdom he so loved itself, suffered a meticulously planned and well executed demise by adversaries.

Still a pariah in most Latter-Day Saint circles opinions typically reflect those expressed by Mormon historian Samuel W. Taylor, who refers to Gibson as an imposter and manipulator of the church and Brigham Young.

Speaking less sternly before a congregation in the tabernacle at Salt Lake City, Utah, the Mormon prophet, himself, clarified;

“The charge against Walter M. Gibson was not for owning property or for claiming it, for no one cared how much he had, if he only used it for the benefit of the poor who had given it, but the charge was his persistent refusal to be dictated by the Priesthood."

Saved from execution by a British diplomat.[18]

In film

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Sam Neill played Gibson in the 1999 film Molokai: The Story of Father Damien.

References

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  1. ^ Jenson, Andrew (1936). Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson Memorial Association. p. 339.
  2. ^ England, Northumberland, Parish Registers, 1538-1950", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:CS74-KLPZ : 5 November 2020), Walter Murray Gibson, 1822.
  3. ^ James Warren Gould (1960). "The Filibuster of Walter Murray Gibson". Annual report of the Hawaiian Historical Society. Hawaii Historical Society. pp. 7–32. hdl:10524/56.
  4. ^ a b c "The Case of Captain Gibson". New York Times. May 31, 1854.
  5. ^ a b c d Will Hoover, "Walter Murray Gibson", Honolulu Advertiser, 2006-07-02
  6. ^ a b McBride, Spencer. "Mormon Beginnings in Samoa: Kimo Belio, Samuela Manoa and Walter Murray Gibson". Brigham Young University. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  7. ^ Walter M., Gibson (February 24, 1861). "Walter Murray GIBSON letter 1861 to Brigham YOUNG from San Bernardino, California Call Number CR 1234 1". Church Historians Office. Letter to Brigham Young. Salt Lake City: Gibson Name File.
  8. ^ Andrade 1996, p. 11.
  9. ^ Gibson was reportedly selling leadership positions in the church to native Hawaiians.
  10. ^ Sometimes referred to as the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Gibsonite)" or the "Gibsonite Mormons".
  11. ^ a b "Gibson, Walter Murray office record". state archives digital collections. state of Hawaii. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
  12. ^ Bob Krauss (August 22, 2004). "Advertiser boasts a storied history". Honolulu Advertiser.
  13. ^ Hamilton 2017, p. 141.
  14. ^ Adler & Kamins 2019.
  15. ^ Adler & Kamins 2019, pp. 7–11, 218.
  16. ^ Kuykendall 1967, p. 363.
  17. ^ Adler & Kamins 2019, p. [page needed].
  18. ^ Taylor, 1964.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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[edit]
"A List of All the Cabinet Ministers Who Have Held Office in the Hawaiian Kingdom"
Includes a list of Attorneys General for the Kingdom of Hawaii, their salaries and budgets
Government offices
Preceded by Kingdom of Hawaii Minister of Foreign Affairs
May 1882 – June 1886 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Acting Kingdom of Hawaii Attorney General
May 1883 – December 1883 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Acting Kingdom of Hawaii Minister of the Interior
July 1883 – August 1883 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Kingdom of Hawaii Minister of the Interior
June 1886 – October 1886 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Kingdom of Hawaii Minister of Foreign Affairs
October 1886 – July 1887 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Walter_M._Gibson&oldid=1253075309"