Hiram Bingham, I

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Bingham_I

Hiram Bingham, formally Hiram Bingham I (October 30, 1789 – November 11, 1869), was leader of the first group of American Protestant missionaries to introduce Christianity to the Hawaiian islands. Like most of the missionaries, he was from New England.

Hiram Bingham Sr., was leader of the first group of Protestant missionaries to introduce Christianity to the Hawaiian islands.

Bingham was descended from Deacon Thomas Bingham who had come to the American colonies in 1650 and settled in Connecticut. He was born October 30, 1789 in Bennington, Vermont. He was one of thirteen children of his father Calvin Bingham and mother Lydia. He attended Middlebury College and the Andover Theological Seminary. He broke off an engagement and found a new bride, Sybil Mosley, in order to become a missionary. On October 23, 1819 he was sent from Boston aboard the brig Thaddeus along with Asa and Lucy Goodale Thurston to lead a mission by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

Hawaii

Bingham and his wife arrived first on the Island of Hawaii in 1820, and then sailed on to Honolulu April 19. In 1823, Queen Kaʻahumanu and six high chiefs requested baptism. Soon after, the government banned prostitution and drunkenness, which resulted in the shipping industry and the foreign community resenting Bingham's impact. Bingham was involved in the creation of the spelling system for the Hawaiian Language and also translated some books of the Bible into Hawaiian.

Bingham designed the Kawaiahaʻo Church in Honolulu on the Hawaiian Island of Oʻahu. The church was constructed between 1836 and 1842 in the New England style of the Hawaiian missionaries and is one of the oldest standing Christian places of worship in Hawaiʻi.

Return

The board grew concerned that he was interfering too often in Hawaiian politics. The Binghams left August 3, 1840 and returned to New England February 4, 1841. for what was intended to be a sabbatical due to Sybil's poor health, but the board refused to reappoint him as a missionary even after Sybil's death on February 27, 1848. He published a memoir, A Residence of Twenty-One Years in the Sandwich Islands in 1847.

He remained in New England as the pastor of an African American church. He remarried to Naomi Morse in 1852, who ran a girl's school. He died November 11, 1869 and was buried at Grove Street Cemetery, in New Haven, Connecticut. Leonard Bacon gave the address at his funeral.[1]

Legacy

Bingham's son, Hiram Bingham II, was also a missionary to the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. His daughter Lydia married the later Hawaiian missionary Titus Coan. His grandson Hiram Bingham III was an explorer who claimed to have discovered Machu Picchu and became a US Senator and Governor of Connecticut. His great-grandson Hiram Bingham IV was the US Vice Consul in Marseille, France during World War II who rescued Jews from the Holocaust.

In World War II the United States liberty ship SS Hiram Bingham was named in his honor. It was hull number 1726. Bingham was caricatured as the character Reverend Abner Hale in James Michener's novel Hawaii.

Hiram Bingham, missionary 1789-1869, American Congregationalist missionary; b. Bennington, Vt. In 1819 he founded the first Protestant mission in the Hawaiian Islands. He adapted the Hawaiian language to writing and translated the Bible into Hawaiian. His son Hiram Bingham, 1831-1908, b. Honolulu, was also a missionary. In 1857 he founded a mission in the Gilbert Islands and later adapted the island language to writing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Bingham_I

Hiram Bingham (1789 - 1869), born in Bennington, Vermont, was in the first group of Protestant missionaries to introduce Christianity to the Hawaiian islands. Bingham is descended from Deacon Thomas Bingham who had come to the American colonies in 1650 and settled in Connecticut. He attended Middlebury College and the Andover Theological Seminary. [1] He broke off an engagement and found a new bride, Sybil Mosley, in order to become a missionary. He was sent as a missionary by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

Bingham and his wife arrived in Honolulu in 1820 aboard the brig Thaddeus. In 1823, King Ka'ahumanu and six high chiefs requested baptism. Soon after, the king banned prostitution and drunkenness, which resulted in the shipping industry and the foreign community resenting Bingham's spiritual impact (Fortune 2000:188). Bingham was involved in the creation of the spelling system for Hawai'an and also translated some books of the Bible into the language (Stowe 1998).

The board grew concerned that he was interfering too often in Hawaiian politics. The Binghams returned to New England in the 1840s for what was intended to be a sabbatical due to Sybil's poor health, but the board refused to reappoint him as a missionary even after Sybil's death in 1848. He published a memoir, A Residence of Twenty-One Years in the Sandwich Islands in 1847. He remained in New England as the pastor of an African American church. He remarried in 1851, running a seminary. He is buried at Grove Street Cemetery, in New Haven, Connecticut.

Bingham designed the Kawaiahaʻo Church, on the Hawaiian Island of Oʻahu. The church which was constructed between 1836 and 1842, was in the New England style of the Hawaiian missionaries and is one of the oldest standing Christian places of worship in Hawaiʻi.

Bingham's son, Hiram Bingham II, was also a missionary to the Kingdom of Hawai'i; his grandson Hiram Bingham III was an explorer who discovered Machu Picchu and became a US Senator and Governor of Connecticut, and his great-grandson Hiram Bingham IV was the US Vice Consul in Marseille, France during World War II who rescued Jews from the Holocaust.

In World War II the United States liberty ship SS Hiram Bingham was named in his honor., hull no. 1726.

Pioneer Hawaiian Missionary. He was Protestant Clergyman and leader of the first group of American Missionaries to introduce Christianity in the Hawaiian Islands. In 1820, he arrived on the island of Oahu. Around 1836, Bingham constructed the Kawaiaha'o Church in Honolulu which is now one of the oldest standing Christian places of worship in Hawaii. Bingham used his influence with Queen Kaʻahumanu to instigate a strongly anti-Catholic policy in Hawaii, considerably impeding the work of the French Catholic missionaries. The results of this lead to the spread of religious Protestant-Catholic rivalry and enmity in the Hawaiian Islands. Because of the growing concern of religion interfering too often in Hawaiian politics, Bingham returned to America in 1841. He served as the pastor of an African-American Church in New England, until his death at age 80.* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Feb 14 2024, 2:00:10 UTC