BINGHAM, HIRAM
(30 October 1789, Bennington, VT-11 November 1869, New Haven, CT). Education: B.A., Middlebury College, 1816; B.D., Andover Seminary, 1819. Career: Missionary, Hawaiian Islands, 1819-40; minister, New Haven, CT, intermittently, 1840-63.
Foremost of the early Congregational missionaries in Hawaii, Hiram-Bingham developed an interest in missions in 1809, when a Hawaiian native, Obookiah* (or Opukahaia), made a celebrated tour of New England. Bingham was ordained for missionary work in 1819 under the supervision of the American Board of Boston. In those days a wife was considered an essential feature of the minister's-and particularly the missionary's-life. In a gesture that must have nicely combined romance and practicality, Bingham married Sybil Mosely, whom he had met at his ordination twelve days before. Less than two weeks after that he and another minister, two school masters, a physician, a printer, and a farmer embarked with their wives for Hawaii.
The Binghams began life in Hawaii living in a simple native hut and conducting worship under the trees. But with the support of native leaders, whom they cultivated, their influence grew. In 1826 Bingham was able to make a preaching tour of the island of Hawaii in company with Kaahumanu, queen of Hawaii. She had become a Christian the year before and urged the natives to adopt the new religion. With such encouragement Bingham was able to build churches, conduct classes, create a Hawaiian alphabet, and begin translating the Bible into Hawaiian. With the help of others, the complete Bible had been translated and published by 1839.
His wife's poor health required Bingham to return to the United States in 1840. But his continuing interest in missions was reflected in his choosing to serve a black church in New Haven for the remainder of his ministry.
Bibliography
A: He ninauhoike no ka mooolelo 0 ka palapala hemolele [Bible history] (Oahu, 1830); He palapala mua na na kamalii [child's reader] (Oahu, 1835); A Residence of Twenty-One Years in the Sandwich Islands (Hartford, CT, 1847).
B: DAB 2, 276; DARB, 48-49; O. H. Gulick, Pilgrims of Hawaii (New York, 1918), 25-26, 341, passim; Char Miller, "The Making of a Missionary: Hiram Bingham's Odyssey," Hawaiian Journal of History, 13 (1979), 36-45.
Foremost of the early Congregational missionaries in Hawaii, Hiram-Bingham developed an interest in missions in 1809, when a Hawaiian native, Obookiah* (or Opukahaia), made a celebrated tour of New England. Bingham was ordained for missionary work in 1819 under the supervision of the American Board of Boston. In those days a wife was considered an essential feature of the minister's-and particularly the missionary's-life. In a gesture that must have nicely combined romance and practicality, Bingham married Sybil Mosely, whom he had met at his ordination twelve days before. Less than two weeks after that he and another minister, two school masters, a physician, a printer, and a farmer embarked with their wives for Hawaii.
The Binghams began life in Hawaii living in a simple native hut and conducting worship under the trees. But with the support of native leaders, whom they cultivated, their influence grew. In 1826 Bingham was able to make a preaching tour of the island of Hawaii in company with Kaahumanu, queen of Hawaii. She had become a Christian the year before and urged the natives to adopt the new religion. With such encouragement Bingham was able to build churches, conduct classes, create a Hawaiian alphabet, and begin translating the Bible into Hawaiian. With the help of others, the complete Bible had been translated and published by 1839.
His wife's poor health required Bingham to return to the United States in 1840. But his continuing interest in missions was reflected in his choosing to serve a black church in New Haven for the remainder of his ministry.
Bibliography
A: He ninauhoike no ka mooolelo 0 ka palapala hemolele [Bible history] (Oahu, 1830); He palapala mua na na kamalii [child's reader] (Oahu, 1835); A Residence of Twenty-One Years in the Sandwich Islands (Hartford, CT, 1847).
B: DAB 2, 276; DARB, 48-49; O. H. Gulick, Pilgrims of Hawaii (New York, 1918), 25-26, 341, passim; Char Miller, "The Making of a Missionary: Hiram Bingham's Odyssey," Hawaiian Journal of History, 13 (1979), 36-45.