1819 Memoirs of Henry Obookiah, A Native of Owhyhee

Description: Memoirs of Henry Obookiah, A Native of Owhyhee, and a Member of the Foreign Mission School; Who Died at Cornwall, Conn. Feb. 17th, 1818, Aged 26 Years, Published by Edson Hart, Elizabethtown, N.J., 1819, 104 pp. A Sermon Delivered at the Funeral of Henry Obookiah, A Native of Owhyhee, and a Member of the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut, February 18, 1818, by Lyman Beecher, Edson Hart, 1819, 32pp. The Banner of Christ Set Up a Sermon Delivered at the Inauguration of the Rev. Hermon Daggett, As Principal of the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut, May 6, 1818, by Jospeh Harvey, 1819, 33 pp. An Inauguration Address, Delivered at the Opening of the Foreign Mission School. May 6, 1818, by Hermann Daggett, 1819, 10 pp.The Inaugural Address by the Hon. John Treadwell, Esq. 10pp. Full original leather, 6 x 3.75”, 18mo. In good condition. Binding dried at edges with scuffed and desiccated spine. Front board is worn with cracking at joint. Joint tender. Corners rubbed, slightly rounded. J. Dart Jr. bookplate on front pastedown. All edges yellow. Textblock lightly toned with scattered foxing. A few instances of age-stain. Free of known markings. Binding intact. A sound copy with minor aesthetic issues. Please see photos. “Invaluable early biography about Henry 'Opukaha'ia (c. 1792-1818) with some of his own personal writings and recollections printed therein. His first name is sometimes written in Hawai'ian as Heneri and he was known as Henry Obookiah throughout his lifetime. Henry 'Opukaha'ia was one of the first Hawai'ians to become a Christian and is credited with inspiring American Protestant missionaries to come to the Hawai'ian islands for mission work. 'Opukaha'ia had a tragic childhood. According to the book's documentation, 'Opukaha'ia was only ten or twelve years old when his parents and baby brother no more than two to three months old (his entire family) were brutally murdered by Hawai'ian warriors. 'Opukaha'ia relays subsequent events in which he is first taken in to live with one of his family's murderers but then finds refuge when he is united with one of his uncles. In 1807, 'Opukaha'ia decides to travel and is taken on board a ship, the Triumph, by Captain Caleb Britnall. On the ship's journey to New Haven, Connecticut, he and a Hawai'ian cabin boy, Thomas Hopu, learn English and become friends. They land in New Haven in 1809, and 'Opukaha'ia is looked after by local residents and works summer jobs. That same year, he crosses paths with Edwin W. Dwight, one of the authors and an acquaintance of Hopu. Dwight was a Yale College senior student at the time and would eventually become a reverend. 'Opukaha'ia refers to how Dwight, or "Mr. D.," helps him read, write, and speak English more fluently. One of Dwight's relatives, Timothy Dwight IV, founder of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), also furthers 'Opukaha'ia's studies in core curricula as well as Christian theology. 'Opukaha'ia converted to Christianity in 1815. By that time, he had years of academic experience having studied a variety of subjects as a student. 'Opukaha'ia was part of a movement of Polynesian and Indigenous (Native American) Christians who wanted to learn evangelism and become missionaries. Their interest led to the founding of the Foreign Mission School in 1816 in Cornwall, Connecticut. The school was open for ten years and admitted students from different ethnic backgrounds. 'Opukaha'ia had wanted to return to Hawai'i as a missionary and nearly finished a Hawai'ian dictionary and grammar and spelling book for his mission. Sadly, 'Opukaha'ia's life was cut short when he came down with typhus fever. He passed away in Cornwall at the age of twenty-six.” RAREA1819DOQR

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Location: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

End Time: 2024-11-17T15:29:16.000Z

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