OBOOKIAH, HENRY.
A few years ago I copied from a marble slab, imbedded in the earth upon
a grave in a quiet country cemetery at Cornwall, Ct., the following
inscription:
Henry Obookiah of Owhyee,
Died February 17, 1818, aged 26.
His arrival in this country gave rise to the Foreign Mission School of
which he was a worthy member. He was once an idolator and designed for a
Pagan priest; but by the grace of God, and by the prayers and
instructions of pious friends, he became a Christian. He was eminent for
piety and missionary zeal; was almost prepared to return to his native
island to preach the Gospel when God called him. In his last moments he
wept and prayed for his "Ow-hy-hee," but was submissive to the will of
God and died without fear, with a heavenly smile on his face and glory
in his soul.
This remarkable young man was early made an orphan by the cruel massacre
of both father and mother during a fearful struggle of two parties for
the control of his native island, Hawaii. His younger brother was also
slain while the boy of our sketch was endeavoring to save him by
carrying him upon his back in his flight. Obookiah was taken prisoner
and made a member of the family of the man who had murdered his parents.
After a year or two he was discovered by an uncle, and his release from
the hands of his enemy secured. His uncle was a priest and he entered
upon the work of preparing his young nephew for the same service. This
preparation was very different from the preparation of young men in
Christian lands for the work of the Gospel ministry. One part of his
duty was to learn and to repeat long prayers; sometimes he was forced to
spend the greater part of the night in repeating these prayers in the
temple before the idols. But Henry was not happy; he had seen his
parents and little brother cruelly murdered, and thoughts of the
terrible scene and of his own lonely and orphaned condition preyed upon
his mind continually. But he had passed through still another sad
experience. Before peace was restored in the island he was again taken
prisoner together with his father's sister. He succeeded in making his
escape the very day which had been appointed for his death. His aunt was
killed by the enemy, and this made him feel more sad and lonely than
before, and he resolved to leave the island, hoping that if he should
succeed in getting away from the place where everything reminded him of
his loss he might find peace if not happiness; and this is how he was to
be brought under Christian influences in Christian America. He sailed
with Captain Britnall and landed in New York in the year 1809. He
remained for some time in the family of his friend the captain, at New
Haven. Here he became acquainted with several of the students in Yale
College, who were at once interested in this young foreigner. From one
of these friends he learned to read and write.
His appearance was not prepossessing or promising. His clothes were
those of a rough sailor and his countenance dull and expressionless. But
he soon showed that he was neither dull nor lacking in mental power.
For some time, while Obookiah improved in the knowledge of English,
making good progress in his studies, he was unwilling to hear any talk
about the true God. He was amiable and quite willing to be taught, and
drank in eagerly the instruction given on other subjects, but after some
months he began to pray to the true God. He had a friend, also a
Hawaiian and his first prayer in the presence of another was made in
company with his friend. A copy of this prayer has been preserved and I
copy it for you to show how even in the beginning of his own interest in
Gospel truth, his thoughts turned towards his native country.
"Great and eternal God--make heaven--make earth--make everything--have
mercy on me--make me understand the Bible--make me good--great God, have
mercy on Thomas--make him good--make Thomas and me go back to
Hawaii--tell folks in Hawaii no more pray to stone god--make some good
man go with me to Hawaii, tell folks in Hawaii about heaven"--
From this time until he died his one longing was to go back to his early
home and tell the people about God. He used to talk with his friend
Thomas about it and plan the work. In his diary he wrote at one time:
"We conversed about what we would do first at our return, how we should
begin to teach our poor brethren about the religion of Jesus Christ. We
thought we must first go to the king or else we must keep a school and
educate the children and get them to have some knowledge of the
Scriptures and give them some idea of God. The most thought that come
into my mind was to leave all in the hand of Almighty God; as he seeth
fit. The means may be easily done by us, but to make others believe, no
one could do it but God only."
In April, 1817, a Foreign Mission School was opened at Cornwall. And
Obookiah became a pupil in this school, intending to finish his
preparation for work among his own people as soon as practicable. A
description of this Sandwich Islander as given of him at that time may
be of interest: "He was a little less than six feet in height,
well-proportioned, erect, graceful and dignified. His countenance had
lost every trace of dullness, and was in an unusual degree sprightly and
intelligent. His features were strongly marked, expressive of a sound
and penetrating mind; he had a piercing eye, a prominent Roman nose,
and a chin considerably projected. His complexion was olive, differing
equally from the blackness of the African and the redness of the Indian.
His black hair was dressed after the manner of Americans."
As a scholar he was persevering and thorough. After he had gained some
knowledge of English, he conceived the idea of reducing his native
language to writing. As it was merely a spoken language, everything was
to be done. He had succeeded in translating the Book of Genesis and made
some progress in the work of making a grammar and dictionary. But the
work he had planned was not to be finished by his own hand. Within a
year from the time he entered the school at Cornwall he was called home.
As recorded upon the marble slab, his last thoughts were for his native
island; his last earthly longing was, that the Gospel might be preached
to his own countrymen. One of our popular cyclopaedias gives a brief
mention of this remarkable young man and makes this statement: "He was
the cause of the establishment of American Missions in the Sandwich
Islands."
To have so lived, and by his earnestness and zeal so inspired others
that upon his death they were ready to take up and carry forward the
work he had planned, was to have accomplished even more than he could
had he been permitted to enter upon the work for which he was
preparing.