by John Demos
20. “Report of the Visiting Committee of the American Board…,” The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 2 (1817–18), 525. See also Jedediah Morse to Susannah Morse, September 19, 1817, in Morse Family Papers, Division of Manuscripts and Archives, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
21. “Report of the Visiting Committee of the American Board…,” The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 2 (1817–18), 525.
22. See “Extract from Report of ABCFM,” reverse of ms. letter from Rev. Jedediah Morse to Elizabeth Morse, September 19, 1817, Morse Family Papers, Division of Manuscripts and Archives, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
23. Ibid.
24. James Morris to Samuel Worcester, January 25, 1817, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 42.
25. E. W. Dwight, Memoirs of Henry Obookiah, a Native of the Sandwich Isles, Who Died at Cornwall, Connecticut, February 17, 1818, Aged 26 (New Haven, CT, 1818), 101.
26. Herman Daggett to Henry Obookiah, January 12, 1818 (photocopy), FMS Archive, folder 36.
27. The most detailed account of Obookiah’s illness and death is in Dwight, Memoirs of Henry Obookiah, 100–109. Numerous, slightly different versions appeared in the missionary press. See also the manuscript letter by an unidentified female eyewitness to Obookiah’s funeral, n.d. (photocopy), FMS archive, folder 34. The costs of Obookiah’s treatment and funeral were substantial. Rev. Stone sent a bill “for nursing, house room, fuel, candles, & c. & c. and funeral expenses” totaling $51.67. The bill from “Dr. Calhoun” added another $36.84. See James Harvey to American Board, December 28, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 18.
28. Within less than a week of Obookiah’s death, James Morris wrote to the headquarters of the American Board that “some memoirs of his life & death will shortly be given to the public”; see James Morris to Jeremiah Evarts, February 28, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 46. See also note 29.
29. According to one eyewitness, the mourners made “a numerous congregation of people from Cornwall and the surrounding towns”; see James Morris to Jeremiah Evarts, February 23, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 46. On Lyman Beecher and the “new divinity,” see Kling, A Field of Divine Wonders.
30. Lyman Beecher, A Sermon Delivered at the Funeral of Henry Obookiah (New Haven, CT, 1818), reprinted in Dwight, Memoirs of Henry Obookiah, 1–34 (at back of volume).
31. These details are reported in a ms. letter by an unidentified woman who was present at the funeral; see FMS Archive, folder 34.
32. On the matter of expense, see James Harvey to American Board, December 28, 1818, ABC, 12.1, vol. 2, no. 18. The grave-marker inscription can be viewed in the town cemetery, Cornwall, CT. The pattern of pilgrimage, begun in the immediate aftermath of Obookiah’s death, has continued to the present day. For one randomly chosen and relatively recent example, see “Pilgrimage to Wintry Cornwall,” in The Friend (a publication of the Hawaii Conference of the United Church of Christ), vol. 19, no. 2, 1ff. For a full treatment of these matters, see the epilogue on this page.
33. See, for example, the obituary notices in The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 2 (1817–18), 640; The Boston Recorder, March 10, 1818. The poem referenced here was by John Catlin, a student in Cornwall some years later on. Entitled “Thoughts at the Grave of Henry Obookiah,” it was published in The Religious Intelligencer in 1835; a copy is included in FMS Archive, folder 46. For another such poem, see “Obookiah’s Grave,” reprinted from The Connecticut Mirror, in The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 2 (1817–18), 640. On the rapid development of plans to publish a memoir, see James Morris to Jeremiah Evarts, February 23, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 46. On the wax figure exhibition, see Connecticut Herald (New Haven), May 4, 1824.
34. See Albertine Loomis, Grapes of Canaan (Hawaii, 1820), 120. On expectations that sales of the Memoirs would “relieve the treasury of the Mission School,” see James Harvey to Jeremiah Evarts, October 23, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 16. When, in January 1820, a new edition of the book appeared, it was frankly stated that “the profits of this work are to aid the funds of the Foreign Mission School.” Moreover, the same report noted the example of a “legacy” of $500 from a certain “Col. Williams of Greenwich, Mass…[who] a few days before he made his will had been reading the Life of Obookiah … it is in consequence of the interest excited by that little book that the legacy was inserted in his will”; see The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 6 (1821–22), 708–9. The gift from the Baron de Campagne (Switzerland) stated: “I have been sensibly affected [by]…intelligence of the death of young Obookiah”; see The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 6 (1821–22), 790. Additional references to the effect of the Memoirs on readers can be found in the Morse Family Papers, Division of Manuscripts and Archives, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT. For a recent appraisal of the impact of the Memoirs, see Jeffrey K. Lyons, “Memoirs of Henry Obookiah: A Rhetorical History,” Hawaiian Journal of History 38 (2004): 35–57.
35. James Morris to Samuel Worcester, March 16, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 47; J. L. Hale to James Robbins, January 28, 1819, Beebe Collection, Litchfield Historical Society, Litchfield, CT; James Harvey, The Banner of Christ Set Up (New Haven, CT, 1818), reprinted in Dwight, Memoirs of Henry Obookiah, 14 (at back of volume).
36. Quoted in Oscar P. Bollmann, “The Foreign Mission School of Cornwall, Connecticut,” M.A. thesis, Divinity School of Yale University, 46. Original source not given.
37. “Extract of a Letter from Rev. Chauncy Lee…,” May 12, 1818, reprinted in Connecticut Courant, June 30, 1818; The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 2 (1817–18), 827; The Missionary Herald, vol. 14 (1818), 264–65, quoted in E. C. Starr, “Outlines of the Story of the Pupils of the Foreign Mission School, at Cornwall, Collected and Presented to the Cornwall Library Association, by E. C. Starr (1895),” 205, Cornwall Historical Society, Cornwall, CT.
38. Harvey, The Banner of Christ Set Up, reprinted in Dwight, Memoirs of Henry Obookiah, 3, 4, 8, 29 (at back of volume).
39. Herman Daggett, An Inauguration Address Delivered at the Opening of the Foreign Mission School, May 6, 1818 (New Haven, CT, 1818), reprinted in Dwight, Memoirs of Henry Obookiah, 1–10 (at back of volume).
40. “Extract of a Letter from Rev. Chauncy Lee …” (May 12, 1818); see note 37 for reprint information.
41. For an example of the recruitment network in full operation, see the case of Aaron Johnson, a Tuscarora youth “who came very highly recommended by the Rev. M. Crane, by the chief Sacharissa, and by the male members of the church among the Tuscarora Indians”; see Herman Daggett to Samuel Worcester, February 6, 1820, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 114. Another example, from the following year, was described as follows: “Four youths from the Sandwich Islands have lately been offered for admission to the Foreign Mission School, one by Mr. Phelps of Brookfield, two by Capt. Brintnall, recently arrived, and [the last] from Albany, recently arrived. They will probably be admitted as they are all spoken of as promising”; see Joseph Harvey to Jeremiah Evarts, July 11, 1821, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 30. The same network could assist students leaving the school. Thus when Arnold Krygsman (originally from Malaya) was expelled for stabbing another student, he was “taken up by Mr. Fenn, a young clergyman from Ohio … who has placed him with an uncle of his in Milford, a farmer and excellent Christian man”; see Herman Daggett to Samuel Worcester, August 5, 1820, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 116. On the troubled post–Mission School life of John Johnson, see James Morris to Samuel Worcester, March 16, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 47; Samuel B. Ingersoll to Samuel Worcester, December 4, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 176.
42. James Morris to Samuel Worcester, March 16, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 47; James Morris to Jeremiah Evarts, November 11, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 55; Herman Daggett to American Board, September 1, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, nos. 96–97.
43. On the arrival of the southeastern Indians at the school, see Herman Daggett to American Board, September 1, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, nos. 96–97. On the founding of the Moravian school at Spring Plac
e, see Thurman Wilkins, Cherokee Tragedy: The Ridge Family and the Decimation of a People, 2d ed. (Norman, OK, 1986), 100–101 passim. See also Edmund Schwartze, History of the Moravian Missions Among the Southern Indian Tribes of the United States (Bethlehem, PA, 1923). On the life and career of David Brainerd, see Philip E. Howard, Jr., ed., The Life and Diary of David Brainerd (Chicago, 1949).
44. On the recruitment and subsequent experience of Cherokee students, see Jeremiah Evarts to Rev. Ard Hoyt, September 26, 1818, ABC 1.01, vol. 2, nos. 170–71; Jeremiah Evarts to Messrs. Dodge and Sayre, October 29, 1819, ABC 1.01, vol. 2, no. 194; Jeremiah Evarts to Herman Daggett, November 19, 1818, ABC 1.01, vol. 2, nos. 209–10. On Cherokee discussions about the wisdom of sending students to the Mission School, see “Journal of the Mission to the Cherokees,” ABC 18.3.1, vol. 2, no. 84; see also ABC 18.3.1, vol. 2, no. 116. On the plan for a layered system of missionary-sponsored education, see Jeremiah Evarts to General Calvin Jones, January 8, 1819, ABC 1.01, vol. 2, nos. 248–50.
45. Herman Daggett to the American Board, September 1, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, nos. 96–97; James Morris to Jeremiah Evarts, November 11, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 55; The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 2 (1817–18), 252. See also Herman Daggett to Samuel Worcester, December 18, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 101.
46. Samuel Worcester to Rev. Ard Hoyt, November 11, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, nos. 99–100.
47. On preparations for the Sandwich Islands mission, see, for example, Herman Daggett to Samuel Worcester, September 1 and 27, 1819, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, nos. 107–8. On fears of Tamoree absconding, see Herman Daggett to Samuel Worcester, February 6, 1819, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 102.
48. The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 3 (1818–19), 240–41; Herman Daggett to Samuel Worcester, November 14, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 100.
49. Jeremiah Evarts to Levi Hoyt, Esq., August 21, 1818, ABC 1.01, vol. 2, nos. 166–67; Jeremiah Evarts to Herman Daggett, August 21, 1818, ABC 1.01, vol. 2, nos. 167–68.
50. Jeremiah Evarts to Herman Daggett, August 21, 1818, ABC 1.01, vol. 2, nos. 167–68; James Morris to Jeremiah Evarts, September 7, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 52.
51. Herman Daggett to Samuel Worcester, December 18, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 101; Herman Daggett to Rev. Jedediah Morse, January 6, 1819, in Morse Family Papers, Division of Manuscripts and Archives, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
52. Herman Daggett to Samuel Worcester, September 1, 1819, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 107.
53. Herman Daggett to Samuel Worcester, November 14, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 100. On this “danger,” see also Herman Daggett to Jeremiah Evarts, August 6, 1821, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 129; Herman Daggett to Jeremiah Evarts, August 14, 1822, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 138; Herman Daggett to Jeremiah Evarts, November 11, 1822, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 142.
54. Herman Daggett to Samuel Worcester, September 1, 1819, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 107; Herman Daggett to Samuel Worcester, February 6, 1819, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 102; Rev. James Harvey to Jeremiah Evarts, October 5, 1819, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 25.
55. Rev. James Harvey to Jeremiah Evarts, October 5, 1819, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 25; Herman Daggett to Samuel Worcester, September 27, 1819, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 108; Herman Daggett to Samuel Worcester, September 1, 1819, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 107.
56. Hiram Bingham to Samuel Worcester, July 18, 1819, Bingham Family Papers, Division of Manuscripts and Archives, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT. For more discussion of the “Anglo-Americans” chosen for the Sandwich Islands mission, see John Prentice to Samuel Worcester, June 7, 1819, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 58.
57. James Morris to Rev. James Harvey, September 10, 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 53; Herman Daggett to Jeremiah Evarts, October 7, 1819, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 111.
58. Evidently, the Morse painting has not survived. On the use of prints made from it, see The Missionary Herald, vol. 18 (1822), 399. From time to time, gifts would reach the school from “the avails of the sale of prints of the Owhyhean youth”; see The Missionary Herald, vol. 21 (1825), 230.
59. The Missionary Herald, vol. 15 (1819), 262.
60. Ibid.
61. The event is fully described in The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 4 (1819–20), 74–75. The sermon was subsequently published; see David Perry, The Spiritual Temple: A Sermon Delivered at the Annual Examination of the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall May 17, 1820 (Hartford, CT, 1820).
62. Ibid.
63. The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 4 (1819–20), 74–75.
64. The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 3 (1818–19), 120–22.
65. David Brown to Catharine Brown, January 25, 1821, FMS Archive, folder 16; Herman Daggett to Jeremiah Evarts, September 8, 1823, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 71.
66. David Brown to Rev. William Chamberlain, July 24, 1820, and David Brown to Catharine Brown, January 25, 1821 (ms. copies of the originals made by Herman Daggett), FMS Archive, folder 16; David Brown to Jeremiah Evarts, March 5, 1822, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 133.
67. The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 7 (1822–23), 688. On the negotiations around the renaming of John Irepoah, see extract of a letter from Rev. Walter Harris to Herman Daggett, November 23, 1820, and Herman Daggett to Rev. Walter Harris, January 19, 1821 (ms. copies of the originals made by Daggett), FMS Archive, folder 16. The practice of renaming converts (or would-be converts) was widely adopted by missionaries at work inside “heathen nations.” For a general discussion of this matter, see The Missionary Herald, vol. 19 (1823), 64. For specific examples at the Choctaw mission in Alabama, see The Missionary Herald, vol. 18 (1822), 180–81. For examples in Hawaii, see The Missionary Herald, vol. 18 (1822), 182. In one rather special case, an unidentified New England woman donated money to a mission in Ceylon “toward the support of two heathen children … to be named for my two eldest children.” This, she hoped, would benefit both pairs—her own children, in particular, by “exciting in their tender breasts compassion for the heathen.” See The Missionary Herald, vol. 18 (1822), 232.
68. The specific comments included in this description of life at the Mission School are found in letters from David Brown to his sister Catharine (July 22, 1820, and January 25, 1821) and to Rev. William Chamberlain (July 24, 1820), ms. copies of the originals made by Herman Daggett, FMS Archive, folder 16.
69. John Prentice to Jeremiah Evarts, July 29, 1822, ABC 12.1, v. 2, no. 68; Herman Daggett to Jeremiah Evarts, August 6, 1823, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 148; David Brown to Catharine Brown, July 22, 1820 (ms. copy of the original made by Daggett), FMS Archive, folder 16.
70. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, “The Language of Signs Auxiliary to the Christian Missionary,” The Christian Observer, vol. 26 (1826), 593; Hiram Bingham to Samuel Worcester, May 11, 1819, Bingham Family Papers, Division of Manuscripts and Archives, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT. See also The New Hampshire Repository (Concord), April 7, 1823.
71. Adam Hodgson, Letters from North America…, 2 vols. (London, 1824), vol. 2, 295–97.
72. James Harvey to Jeremiah Evarts, January 20, 1821, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 28. For particular examples of letters written by scholars, see The Missionary Herald, vol. 17 (1821), 256–59.
73. The quotations in this and the preceding paragraphs are from the American Eagle (Litchfield, CT), April 24 and 26, 1824, October 4 and 17, 1824, and November 22, 1824, as well as The Pilot (New Haven, CT), June 22, 1824, and The New Hampshire Observer, February 14, 1825. Other issues of the American Eagle also contain pertinent information. Additional newspapers expressing anti-mission attitudes include Plain Truth (Rochester, NY, 1828–29), Priestcraft Exposed and Primitive Christianity Defended (Lockport, NY, 1828–30), and The Telescope (New York, NY, 1825–30).
74. Rev. T. Blumhardt to Jeremiah Evarts, July 16, 1820, in The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 6 (1821–22), 603–4; Herman Daggett to Jeremiah Evarts, February 3, 1823, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 143. (The books mentioned in this letter would become the foundation of what the school�
�s leadership called “the Campagnean Library”; see The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 7 [1822–23], 90.) James Harvey to Jeremiah Evarts, January 20, 1821, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 28; The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 6 (1821–22), 605; Herman Daggett to Jeremiah Evarts, April 6, 1821, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 123. Gifts to the school by supporters are frequently noted in The Religious Intelligencer and The Missionary Herald.
75. James Harvey to Jeremiah Evarts, November 14, 1821, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 32; see also James Harvey to Jeremiah Evarts, October 22, 1821, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, no. 33. A collection box, in original condition and carrying the inscription “For the Mission School Cornwall” is among the holdings of the Litchfield Historical Society, Litchfield, CT. For an example of a “concert of prayer,” see The Missionary Herald, vol. 20 (1824), 21.
76. The Religious Intelligencer, vol. 5 (1820–21), 722; The Missionary Herald, vol. 17 (1821), 122, 114.
77. See, for example, The Missionary Herald, vol. 16 (1820), 168, and vol. 17 (1821), 114; see also vol. 21 (1825), 140. In the case of the scholar who destroyed a group of “stone gods,” see The Missionary Herald, vol. 20 (1824), 282. In the case of the scholar who approached several “huge stones,” see The Missionary Herald, vol. 21 (1845), 140.
78. The Missionary Herald, vol. 17 (1821), 124, 217; George Prince Tamoree to Herman Daggett, July 25, 1820, with addendum by Herman Daggett, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, 125.
