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Thomas Hopu
Portrait by Samuel Morse, 1816
Bornc. 1795
Kohala, Hawaii island
Diedc. 1858
Hawaii?
Burial placeKahale Family Graveyard, Wailuku, Maui [1]
Occupation(s)Sailor, Privateer, Missionary, and Translator
SpouseDelia Hopu

Thomas Hopu (c. 1795–c. 1858) was one of the first native Hawaiians to become a Christian, assisting American Protestant missionaries who came to the islands during the 19th century. His name was frequently spelled Hoopoo or Hopoo during his lifetime. He was the companion and friend of the more renknown Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia who never made it back to Hawaii. He was called the faithful Hopu by the missionaries for his devotion to his new faith. His birth name was Nauhopoouah Hopoo.

Editing

Early Life

Hopu was born in Kohala district, on the Big Island of Hawaii, around 1795 or 1793.[2] His name translated as catch in the Hawaiian language[3], and as with many Hawaiian names. According to Hopu himself, he was named Nauhopoouah Hopoo, but the exact spelling and meaning of his first name has been losted since the names and locations listed in his personal memoir were spelled phonetically and predated the invention of the Hawaiian written language. Similarily ambiguous is the exact location of his birth. Most writers and historians agree Hopu was born in the district of Kohala, but he personally stated he was born in a place called Okahennah with no indication as to which district or even island it is located.

While Hopu was growing up, the warrior king Kamehameha I was forming the Kingdom of Hawaii by defeating other local rulers with the help of Western-style military weapons. Kohala and Kona districts was the nucleus and power base in the early years of his campaigns; the former being the king's birthplace. By the time of Hopu's birth, Kamehameha had consolidated all the islands east of Oahu under his rule. No details are known about his early life, except a few personal recollections in his memoir.

Around 1807, looking for a life of adventures, he hopped on the American merchant ship Triumph under Captain Caleb Brintnall (1774–1850), also spelled Britnall. He served as a cabin boy and a shipmate on the vessel. It was not too uncommon during this period for American and European ships to enlist Hawaiians who were known for their prowess in swimming, canoeing and other aquatic works.[4]

He was said to be fourteen[3] or twelve years old at the time.[5] According to Chester Lyman, who met Hopu in 1846 in his travels to Hawaii, Hopu believed himself to be 56 years old while Lyman himself wrote that he was a man of fifty, who had gone to the United States at the age of twelve.[6] Of course this interview would contradicts Hopu's own memoir, in which he stated 1795 as his birth year.[7]

Another Hawaiian youth by the name of ʻŌpūkahaʻia swam from the shore to the Triumph when it stopped at Kealakekua Bay, probably days from Kohala. Unlkie Hopu, his encounter with Captain Brintnall was better documented. Through interpreters, the lad told the captain that he wished to leave Hawaii on his ship. Like Hopu he wished to seek out a better life outside of Hawaii.[8] Hopu befriend him and they became fast friends. The fifteen year old ʻŌpūkahaʻia, the nephew of a kahuna, was a bit older and came from a higher class than Hopu, although ʻŌpūkahaʻia had lost both his parents' due to the constant war on the island. The two became each other companions on the voyage, being the only Hawaiians on board. Both served as cabin boys and shipmates. During the long voyage, Russell Hubbard, a Yale student who was on the trip for his health, taught the two English.[9][10]

The ship first sailed to the Pacific Northwest during the summer, and back to Hawaii for the winter. From there, they sailed to Macao, a major trading port in China held by the Portuguese. From there they sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and across the Atlantic Ocean to New York.[4]

In the city the two Hawaiian attended the theather with their captain and were surprised to find men and women eating together in restaurants, a kapu or forbidden conduct in Hawaii.[4]

After leaving in New York. Captain Britnall taking a special interested in the two Hawaiian lads, took the two boys to his home in New Haven, Connecticut in the fall of 1809. He left the boys with in the homes of local families where they served as farmhands and workers.[4] In New Haven, he lived with Dr. Hotchkiss near the Bank.[6]

Hopu was considered the more charming of the two and attracted the attention of other students. Henry weeping maybe because of....Hopu??? They tutored him in their dorm room.[10]

He had heard about Yale, but was frustrated when he was refused entrance. The story is often told of a group of students finding him weeping on the steps. One was Edwin Welles Dwight (1789–1841) who offered to help teach him to read and write. E. W. Dwight was brother of politician Henry Williams Dwight (1788–1845); their father was also named Henry Williams

"THOMAS HOPU, or Hoopoo: Although he began his education before Obookiah had thought of doing so although invited by Obookiah to go with him to Andover to continue his studies, he refused to do so"[11]


For a time, he lived in Whitestown, New York with Gideon Granger, and according to his own account, met General Jackson who he took with him to New Orleans.[6]

Hopu fought during the War of 1812]; he and Humehume, Robert Young, William Kanui, and Kanui's brother were perhaps the first Hawaiians to serve in the armed forces of the United States.[2] He served on an American privateer ship. He was considered an excellent swimmer, a skill prized in his day when few sailors knew how to swim. Although he once fell overboard and almost drowned due to fatigues cause by the days labor.[4] He was shipwrecked and by his swimming he saved several men.[12] He was five times taken prisoner by the British during the entire war.[6] Twice in the West Indies.[4] Left starving as a prisoner, he was only able to survive because African slaves gave him the meager food and water they had. This one act of kindness made him detested the enslavement and horrible treatment of the Africans by the white sugar planters.[13]


Then he was a coachman; next join Obookiah at Goshen; was at South Canaan with Mr. Prentice; school 1817-1819; First Church 1817; walked sixty miles to talk with Honoree; [12]



"Hopu had left the islands on the same ship that took Henry Opukahaia. Hopu shipped on several privateering expeditions in the War of 1812, was shipwrecked in the West Indies, and became a prisoner of the British. He returned to New Haven destitute, and there found his island friend Opukahaia. Converted to Christianity, Hopu walked sixty miles to find another Hawai'ian, Honolii, in order to convert him. Other Hawai'ians were sought to attend the school, among them William Kanui, who had reached Boston with his brother around 1809. They had both served on privateers but when the brother died, William went to New Haven to become a barber. Discovered by Yale College students, he also went to Cornwall. [14]


Aboard ship and later in the Islands, the three Hawai'ians gave invaluable aid as teachers of the language and translaters, and smoothed the way for the peaceful reception of the American mission during the first weeks. Hopu later was assistant to Rev. Asa Thurston at Kailua, Hawai'i, along with John Honolii, who died in 1838. Honolii served as a guide to David Douglas during an ascent of Mauna Kea in 1834. Hopu left to join the California gold rush with William Kanui; the Rev. S.C. Damon encountered both of them at Sacramento. Kanui, who had served in the United States Navy and seen action against the Tripoli pirates in the Mediterranean, lst hs gains fom the gold fields in a bank failure and drifted about California, teaching the bible and attending church. He lived for a while at Indian Creek, a colony of devout Hawai'ian gold seekers, before returning to Honolulu to teach school. He died in 1864." (Reword)[14]

Missonary

Kailua from the sea, 1836.
The ruins of the home of the Thurston family at Kailua, only the stone portions remain.

Death of H and back to Hawaii

"Elisha and Hopu walked through the Cornwall cemetery, where Obookiah lay buried close beside the road. Hopu spoke much of his one-time friend — of how keen and quick to learn this boy had been; how good and humble and pious, but merry" [3]


As fate would have it at the age of 26 in Cornwall Connecticut, Henry would succumb to the typhus fever on February 17th, 1818. Henry's Christian testimony was published and became a best seller. The profits of the book "Memoirs of Henry Obookiah" were used to finance the missionary journeys to Hawaii and other lands.[8]

An engraving of all four of them, taken from portraits painted by Professor Samuel Morse and was sold for the benefit of the upcoming Hawaiian mission.[14]

Hopu accompanied the first company of American Christian missionaries to Hawaii. He was to serve as translator and assisted in converting the Hawaiians. They set sail on October 23, 1819 from Boston for a five month voyage on the small merchant ship Thaddeus, under Captain Blanchard. On board were Rev. Hiram Bingham I and Rev. Asa Thurston, Hopu's three other Hawaiian classmates: John Honolii, William Kanui, and George P. Kaumualii, were also listed as passengers on the vessel.[8] They were listed on the manifest as intrepreters.[15] On the trip, they taught the missionaries how to speak Hawaiian in order to spread the word of God to the natives in their own tongue.[16]

Hopu was the first catch site of the snowy peak of Mauna Kea, the tallest mountain on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.[17]

He was shipwrecked and by his swimming he saved several men.[12]

Yet, they knew all to well that they needed the approval of King Kamehameha and that the Kapu Priests would not welcome their presence. On the morning of March 30th, 1820 the missionaries saw Hawaii for the first time. The Thaddeus cruised along the Kohala coast on a southwest course nearing Kawaihae. The wind and water became calm so Captain Blanchard sent a small rowboat with James Hunnewell a ships officer, Thomas Hopu and John Honolii two of the Hawaiian Missionaries ashore. Their task was to find out the whereabouts of King Kamehameha and the state of his Kingdom. One disapproving word from the King and the mission would be over before it had begun. Minutes passed like hours as they watched for the boats return. Finally after three hours, an eternity, the boat returned. Thomas and John were so excited they could only speak in Hawaiian. '[8]


Hopu's creditable performance in theology was particulary noted by Bingham.[3]

Service in Hawaii

He had to balance his loyalty to his new religion and his allegiance to his country and the king. In one errand remembered by Mrs. Bingham, Hopu was sent from Kailua-Kona to Honolulu, where the Bingham were stationed, to ask her to "make for his Hawaiian majesty five ruffled shirts with plaited bosoms to be sent back to him at Kailua by the vessel returning in a few days.[18]

returned to Hawaii where he taught and interpret for fifteen years till 1839 and was called "the faithful Hopu." He walked across Hawaii across Hawaii to carry supplies to Ruggles when he was in want. And he carried items to barter for food from King Kamehameha.[12]

Stationed in Kailua-Kona, Hopu became Rev. Thurston's lay missionary, assisting with ministering, kept the the ministry alive in Thurston's absense. In 1825, Mokuaikaua Church was built and became the first Christian church in the Hawaiian islands. The two were also asked to assist with the research in language translations and publication of the Bible.[19]


His was the first Christian marriage in the islands to Henrieta Halekii. The King gave him house and land to have him near. He and Honoree were the only trusted interpreters, [12] Sometimes called Delia.

August 11, 1822

Not allowed to preach, joined Kamehameham III's troupe, went to find gold in California, wrote a memoir.

In his later years, he became a one of the deacons in the Mokuaikaua Church.[6]


Committed adultery in 1829. [1]

Death

Little is written about his final years and death.[20] Samuel C. Damon, the only source to place an approximate year, noted that Hopu died in California around 1858, predeceasing his comrade William Kanui, who was the last of the Cornwall scholars.[21] Kanui died on January 14, 1864.[22] Writing in 1865, Rufus Anderson wrote, "Thomas Hopu is understood to have maintained his Christian course to the end of life."[23]

Sources to Look

Hit the Jackpot

[24]


He was alive in 1843 during Henry Theodore Cheever's visit.

  • Cheever, Henry Theodore (1851). "Sketches of Thomas Hopu". Life in the Sandwich Islands: Or, The Heart Of The Pacific, As It Was And Is. New York: A. S. Barnes & Co. pp. 55–58.

Sources to look into


Reference

  1. ^ http://www.myhawaiiscapes.com/keyword/thomas%20hopu#852310844_NiZvX
  2. ^ a b Mulholland 1970, p. 46, 50.
  3. ^ a b c d Albertine Loomis (1951). Grapes of Canaan: Hawaii 1820. Hawaiian Mission Children's Society. pp. 11, 12, 15, 25, 325.
  4. ^ a b c d e f David A. Chappell (1998). Double Ghosts: Oceanian Voyagers on Euroamerican Ships. M. E. Sharpe. pp. 65, 152, 52, 135, 121, 37, 134, 102, 106, 109. ISBN 1563249995.
  5. ^ Bell, 1976 & 25–32???.
  6. ^ a b c d e Chester Lyman (2006). Frederick J. Teggart (ed.). Around the Horn to the Sandwich Islands and California, 1845-1850: Being a Personal Record Kept by Chester S. Lyman. Publisher Kessinger Publishing. pp. 123, 133, 134. ISBN 1428655026.
  7. ^ Hopoo & Harvey 1968, p. 42.
  8. ^ a b c d http://www.hawaii-inns.com/history/index.htm
  9. ^ Emily Carrie Hawley (1922). The introduction of Christianity into the Hawaiian Islands. Press of E.L. Hildreth. pp. 123, 133, 134.
  10. ^ a b http://www.obookiah.com/Obookiah.com/life.html
  11. ^ Thomas French (1961). The Missionary Whaleship. Vantage Press. pp. 20, 49.
  12. ^ a b c d e Edward Comfort Starr (1926). A history of Cornwall, Connecticut, a typical New England town. Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor. pp. 146, 357.
  13. ^ David A. Chappell (1991). Beyond the beach: periplean frontiers of Pacific Islanders aboard Euroamerican ships, 1768-1887. p. 337.
  14. ^ a b c Darlene E. Kelley (2008-08-07). "Important People - Part 16". Keepers of the Culture: A study in time of the Hawaiian Islands As told by the ancients. Retrieved 2011-07-11.
  15. ^ Stormy Cozad (2008). Kauai. Arcadia Publishing. p. 30. ISBN 978-0738556444.
  16. ^ Betty Fullard-Leo. "Lucy Thurston Missionary Wife". Retrieved 2011-07-11.
  17. ^ Sarah Vowell (2011). Unfamiliar Fishes. Penguin. ISBN 978-1594487873.
  18. ^ Bingham 1855, p. 109.
  19. ^ Mary Fallon. "The First Christian Church in Hawai'i - Mokuaikaua". Retrieved 2011-07-11.
  20. ^ Forbes, Kam & Woods 2018, pp. 326–333.
  21. ^ Damon 1863, pp. 107–108.
  22. ^ Forbes, Kam & Woods 2018, pp. 384–389.
  23. ^ Anderson 1865, pp. 47–49.
  24. ^ Darlene E. Kelley (2006-11-20). "Influence of Foreigners on the Ancients - Part 12". Keepers of the Culture: A study in time of the Hawaiian Islands As told by the ancients. Retrieved 2011-07-11.

Bibliography


Further reading

  • Michael Alan Park (2004). "The Homegoing". Biological Anthropology: an Introductory Reader. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0072868890.
  • "The Life, Death, Archaeological Exhumation and Re-interment of Opukaha'ia (Henry Obookiah)". Connecticut History. 46 (2). The Association for the Study of Connecticut History. Fall 2007. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  • One hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the death of Henry Opukahaia (Obookiah). First Church of Christ (Cornwall, Connecticut) and Kawaiahao Church (Honolulu, Hawaii). February 18, 1968.
  • Wesley David Hervey (1968). A history of the adaptations of an orthography for the Hawaiian language. University of Oregon.
  • Otto G. Reuman (1968). The Influence of One Man—Henry Obookiah. Cornwall, Connecticut: First Church of Christ.


Category:Converts to Christianity Category:Native Hawaiian people Category:1790s births Category:Year of death missing Category:American military personnel of the War of 1812 Category:American military personnel of Native Hawaiian descent


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