Source of “Life of the Land” Expression

edwindwight Christian History of Hawai‘i, Kawaiaha‘o Church Leave a comment

A number of claims have been made for the source of the Hawai‘i State Motto expression “Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono” / “The Life of the Land is perpetuated in righteousness.”

A source for the expression closely tied in time to Kamehameha III declaring the words which became the state motto appears in a four-page “EXTRA” issue of The Friend, of Temperance and Seamen. This montly newsprint publication, a monthly Christian newspaper, was edited and published by the Rev. Samuel Damon, chaplain of the Seaman’s Bethel Chapel in Honolulu.

The EXTRA edition, one outside the montly run, was distributed on July 31, 1843, the day the rule of Hawai‘i was returned to the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi by the British Admiral Thomas.

Rev. Damon, who was there at the scene of what has become known as Restoration Day, in his EXTRA edition published a press release distributed by Dr. Gerrit Judd, the chief aide to Kamehameha III. This press release twice features the expression “life of the land” and is dated Feb. 25, 1843. On this date Kamehameha III suffered having his Kingdom taken over by British naval officer Paulet, with the Hawaiian flag being lowered and the British raised. These reports are primary sources. 

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Nupepa – Кamehameha III, Kekauluahi press release

Friend July 31, 1843 Life of LandDownload

The Kamehameha III February 25th “life of the land” press release appears on page 4 of the above digital issue of The Friend.

Concert of Prayer network Changed Hawaiʻi and the World for Christ

edwindwight 200th anniversary of Sandwich Islands Mission, Christian History of Hawai‘i, Hawaiʻi Island

Download a Free 32-page Copy of The Concert of Prayer

The missions-focused Concert of Prayer served as the prayer covering for the evangelical mission begun in Hawaii in 1820, as well as for the evangelical foreign missions sent from America and Great Britain that spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the globe to unreached nations in the nineteenth-century. The Concert of Prayer service was simple, yet proved to be world-changing. Its two-part goal was to synchronize consistent prayer for the conversion of the world through reviving the Christian church, and through that revival to effectively and consistently advance the Kingdom of Christ throughout the world.

Usually held on the first Monday evening of the month the Concert of Prayer meeting brought missions to the forefront in local churches throughout the young United States and across Great Britain. The Concert of Prayer lay behind the 1806 American foreign missions-seeding Haystack Prayer Meeting at Williams College in Massachusetts. In 1809 Haystack Prayer leader Samuel J. Mills Jr. met ‘Opükaha’ia-Henry Obookiah in a dorm room at Yale College. Mills instantly envisioned an American mission to Hawaii to reach the Hawaiian people.

In October 1819 the pioneer mission to Hawaiinamed the Sandwich Islands Mission – departed from Boston Harbor. The mission company held a monthly Concert of Pray aboard the brig Thaddeus. Three native Hawaiian students from the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut joined them and were full members of their missionary church.

Hawaiʻi Island – Four Corners Friends, Writing, Speaking Engagements

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In early January I traveled to Hawaiʻi Island for a month of writing, revisiting old friends, speaking and research. By early February I had visited Kailua-Kona, Kaʻū, Miloliʻi, Pahala, Hilo, and North Kohala. Mahalo to Rosemary Miller, Susan Caddell, David “Tiki” McLauren, Ed and Sharon Bernard, Herb Alverez Jeff Rogers, Kahu David de Carvalho, Yolanda Olson, Julia Neal, David Ross, Charles ”Mahina” Kaupiko, Mark and Dayna Blair, Deborah Lee, Kapali Lyon, and other friends for making this trip possible.

Kahu Charles and Mama Kahu Melveen Kaupiko royally hosted me at the Hauʻoli Kamanaʻo Church at Miloliʻi on the South Kona coast. I spoke at the Sunday morning service with a focus on the history of the church illustrated with Hawaiian language letters and vintage congregation photos.
Jeff Rogers producer and filmmaker of the Hawaiʻi Legacy Series of Christian History of Hawaiʻi documentary films and his crew set their cameras on the lawn of the Kahikolu Church parsonage along Kealakekua Bay. Jeff filmed me providing information about the life and times of Thomas Hopu, the close friend of Henry ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia. Hopu lived and served in the mid-1820s as a native minister at Kaʻawaloa sub-mission station directly across the bay from the parsonage.
Herb Alverez pressure washes the grave of renowned Hawaiʻi Great Awakening evangelist Titus Coan in preparation for the upcoming mid-May bicentennial celebration of Haili Church in Hilo, Coan’s home church. The Coan grave is located at the Homelani-Kulamano Cemetery mauka of Haili Church.
Deborah Lee and I reminiscented about her blessed effort in returning to Hawaiʻi the remains of Henry ‘Ōpūkahaʻia from Cornwall, Connecticut in 1993. I am with Debbie at her family home near Hilo.
Pastor Mark and Dayna Blair hosted me at the Kalāhikiola Congregational Church parsonage in North Kohala. I have previously spent time with the Blairs in Kauaʻi and Honolulu so it was fun to visit them at their home too.
The Kalāhikiola Congregational Church lit by a full moon. Pastor Mark Blair invited me to speak about the life of Henry ‘Ōpūkahaʻia during the church’s mid-week Bible study. I gained an understanding of the ministry of American missionary Father Bond in North Kohala through church members and a visit to the historic church grounds. I hope to return to learn more.
Surfer buddy David “Tiki” McLauren catches the sunset at the Old Airport Beach in Kailua-Kona during a YWAM-Ships pot luck birthday party. Tiki, now a Big Island resident, who grew up in Oceanside, California, and I were neighbors in Haleʻiwa Oʻahu in the winter surf session of 1970-71. Mahalo Tiki for loan of a car during my visit – made the visit possible!
Edward and Sharon Bernard from Los Angeles invited me to enjoy a three-night stay in Waikoloa. We caught a majestic sunset each night and I was able to find some significant writing time in the comfort of a well-appointed condo. The well-traveled Bernards did me a big favor when they did pioneer research for me in England, in London and in Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, investigating the life of the Rev. William Ellis, the knowledgable London Missionary Society missionary who wrote a journal of his 1823 mission station surveying circuit of Hawaiʻi Island.

Kauaʻi A History – My new book from Mutual Publishing

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Kauaʻi A History from Mutual Publishing is becoming a popular book here in Kauaʻi. Over December I signed copies at Talk Story Bookstore in Hanapepe and interacted with visitors from across the mainland fielding questions about Kauaʻiʻs colorful past. About fifty images of Kauaʻiʻs history appear in the book, which I selected to both be new to kamaʻaina readers and informative to malihini readers are included, many in full color. The cover features an image new to me of Waimea folks sitting on a rock wall in front of either a thatched western style store or home alongside a traditional style thatched hale. Featured in the book are overviews of Kauaʻiʻs sugar plantations, town histories, and a look at WWII on the island.

Here’s the back cover blurb for the book:

Kaua’i A History paints a portrait of Old Kaua‘i in words and images, bringing back to life the rich heritage and independence of an island portrayed as the Separate Kingdom by historian Edward Joesting.
The narrative and images concisely offer informed accounts of Kaua‘i’s history, both island-wide and individual towns.

This image of a Boston engravers impression of missionary adventurer Hiram Binghamʻs drawing of his campsite at Nuʻalolo Kai along the Nā Pali Coast of Kauaʻi. This image is published in Kauaʻi A History for the first time since serving as a frontispiece to a rhetorical Sunday school book titled Conversations on the Sandwich Island Mission, First Edition 1829.

The Bingham engraving of Nuʻalolo camping appeared as a frontispiece to the first edition of Conversations on the Sandwich Island Mission…By A Lady, published in Boston in 1829 for the Massachusetts Sabbath Schools. Only a handful of the first edition of this book are known to exist. Unfortunately this copy of Conversations on the Sandwich Islands lacked its cover and frontispiece. I was able to copy the drawing from another copy. Surprisingly, this question and answer children’s book has a good description of surfing in the Hawaiian Islands taken from the journals of American missionaries to Hawaiʻi.

Here’s a description of surfing from Conversations on the Sandwich Island. The author – Sarah Tuttle – rewrote Hiram Binghamʻs description of surfing at Waimea, Kauaʻi in the company of Kaumualiʻi, the last independant Native Hawaiian ruler of Kauaʻi, excerpted from the journal of the missionaryʻs 1821 tour around the island.