OBOOKIAH, HENRY
(1792? Hawaii-I7 February 1818, Cornwall, CT). Education: Educated by Congregational friends in Connecticut and Massachusetts, c. 1809-17. Career: Farmhand, c. 1809-18; fund-raiser for mission school in Cornwall, CT, 1817-18.
The presence of Henry Obookiah in New England helped assure that the Congregationalists would become interested in foreign missions, especially to Hawaii. Obookiah was a Hawaiian youth, born about 1792, whose parents were killed in a tribal war. During the battle, Obookiah grabbed his baby brother and fled into the woods, but the child was killed by a spear during the flight. Obookiah was raised by .an uncle, who planned to make him a priest, but in his teens he was more interested in going to sea, and he signed on as a servant on a Yankee merchant ship. They sailed to Alaska, China, and finally to New England.
Obookiah found himself in New Haven in 1809. There Timothy Dwight*, president of Yale, befriended him.
Obookiah learned to read and write, and with the encouragement of Samuel J. Mills*, he next moved to Andover, where a new theological seminary had been - established. At Andover some of the students took him in hand and continued his education. As he grew in piety and knowledge, his example helped create support for the fledgling missionary movement. Reportedly in his first public prayer, he said, "Great and eternal God-make heaven-make earth-make every thing-have mercy on me-make me understand the Bible-make me good make some good folks go with me to Hawaii, tell folks in Hawaii about heaven-about hell-God make all people good everywhere."
With the help of friends Obookiah followed the classic Puritan road to salvation, experiencing intermittently a sense of sin and of God's grace. Finally he came to feel closer to Christ, a condition that he described in simple words that echo the conversion narratives of John Winthrop* and Jonathan Edwards*: "When I at home-Torringford-out in the field, I can't help think about heaven. I go in a meadow-work at the hay-my hands-but my thought-no there. In heaven-all the time-then I very happy."
Obookiah was admitted as a full member of the Congregational church in Torringford, Connecticut, after being examined on his religious experience. He urged friends to go to Hawaii and preach, reminding them that the Bible encouraged them to be willing to lay down their lives for Christ. Obookiah assisted future missionaries by writing a Hawaiian dictionary and grammar and translating Genesis into Hawaiian. In 1818 a school for missionaries was established in Cornwall, Connecticut, to educate native students for work in Hawaii, India, and the American West. Obookiah helped raise money for the project.
Then he contracted typhoid fever. As he lay dying he was attended by ministers, young ministerial candidates, and Hawaiian friends. The scene recorded in his Memoirs made a strong impression on readers. Asked if he was ready to die, he said, "I have no desire to live, if I can enjoy the presence of God, and go where Christ is." But then another classic Puritan thought came to mind, and he reflected mournfully, "I've lost my time-I've lost my time." Near the end he told his supporters "Alloah o e.-My love be with you." He then seemed better, however, and most of those attending him withdrew to warm themselves by the fire. Suddenly one of the Hawaiians at his bedside called out, "Obookiah's gone." "All sprang to the bed," the narrator recalled, "The spirit had departed-but a smile, such as none present had ever beheld-an expression of the final triumph of his soul, remained upon his countenance." This was a compelling image-the sort of impression that energized ministers, mission boards, and philanthropists to "make some good folks go to Hawaii." In the years that followed, many young Congregational ministers would try to bring Christianity to Obookiah's countrymen.
Bibliography
A: Memoirs (New York. 1818); Memoirs of Henry Obookiah and Supplement, 2nd ed. (Los Angeles, 1959).
The presence of Henry Obookiah in New England helped assure that the Congregationalists would become interested in foreign missions, especially to Hawaii. Obookiah was a Hawaiian youth, born about 1792, whose parents were killed in a tribal war. During the battle, Obookiah grabbed his baby brother and fled into the woods, but the child was killed by a spear during the flight. Obookiah was raised by .an uncle, who planned to make him a priest, but in his teens he was more interested in going to sea, and he signed on as a servant on a Yankee merchant ship. They sailed to Alaska, China, and finally to New England.
Obookiah found himself in New Haven in 1809. There Timothy Dwight*, president of Yale, befriended him.
Obookiah learned to read and write, and with the encouragement of Samuel J. Mills*, he next moved to Andover, where a new theological seminary had been - established. At Andover some of the students took him in hand and continued his education. As he grew in piety and knowledge, his example helped create support for the fledgling missionary movement. Reportedly in his first public prayer, he said, "Great and eternal God-make heaven-make earth-make every thing-have mercy on me-make me understand the Bible-make me good make some good folks go with me to Hawaii, tell folks in Hawaii about heaven-about hell-God make all people good everywhere."
With the help of friends Obookiah followed the classic Puritan road to salvation, experiencing intermittently a sense of sin and of God's grace. Finally he came to feel closer to Christ, a condition that he described in simple words that echo the conversion narratives of John Winthrop* and Jonathan Edwards*: "When I at home-Torringford-out in the field, I can't help think about heaven. I go in a meadow-work at the hay-my hands-but my thought-no there. In heaven-all the time-then I very happy."
Obookiah was admitted as a full member of the Congregational church in Torringford, Connecticut, after being examined on his religious experience. He urged friends to go to Hawaii and preach, reminding them that the Bible encouraged them to be willing to lay down their lives for Christ. Obookiah assisted future missionaries by writing a Hawaiian dictionary and grammar and translating Genesis into Hawaiian. In 1818 a school for missionaries was established in Cornwall, Connecticut, to educate native students for work in Hawaii, India, and the American West. Obookiah helped raise money for the project.
Then he contracted typhoid fever. As he lay dying he was attended by ministers, young ministerial candidates, and Hawaiian friends. The scene recorded in his Memoirs made a strong impression on readers. Asked if he was ready to die, he said, "I have no desire to live, if I can enjoy the presence of God, and go where Christ is." But then another classic Puritan thought came to mind, and he reflected mournfully, "I've lost my time-I've lost my time." Near the end he told his supporters "Alloah o e.-My love be with you." He then seemed better, however, and most of those attending him withdrew to warm themselves by the fire. Suddenly one of the Hawaiians at his bedside called out, "Obookiah's gone." "All sprang to the bed," the narrator recalled, "The spirit had departed-but a smile, such as none present had ever beheld-an expression of the final triumph of his soul, remained upon his countenance." This was a compelling image-the sort of impression that energized ministers, mission boards, and philanthropists to "make some good folks go to Hawaii." In the years that followed, many young Congregational ministers would try to bring Christianity to Obookiah's countrymen.
Bibliography
A: Memoirs (New York. 1818); Memoirs of Henry Obookiah and Supplement, 2nd ed. (Los Angeles, 1959).