He advocated for a mission to bring the gospel to his people in Hawaii. In preparation for that, he developed the first written version of the Hawaiian language, completing a dictionary, grammar, and spelling book, and translated the Book of Genesis into Hawaiian.
Henry ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia lived only 26 years and is seldom known outside of the Hawaii. And yet, many believe that his love for the gospel changed the course of his islands forever.
A Troubled Childhood
Born in Ka`ū, Hawaii, around 1792, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia became orphan at age 10, when his parents were murdered during the war between Chief Nāmakehā and Kamehameha. ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia tried to save his only brother, who was still an infant, by carrying him on his back, but the enemies threw a spear that killed the young child. ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia was taken into the home of the man who was responsible for the killing.
‘Ōpūkaha‘ia found one of his uncles, Pahua, who was a kahuna pule (praying priest of the island’s traditional religion), and told him what happened to his family. Visibly moved, the uncle took the boy to his home in Kealakekua Bay. When the other man came to take ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia back, Pahua prevailed, partially because, as a kahuna, he had some authority over the locals.
Pahua hoped to raise ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia to take his place as kahuna, and taught him long prayers to recite before an idol. But Henry kept dreaming of leaving the Islands. “I began to think about leaving that country, to go to some other part of the globe,” he wrote later. “I did not care where I shall go to. I thought to myself that if I should get away, and go to some other country, probably I may find some comfort, more than to live there, without father and mother.”[1]
Six years later, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia saw a trading ship from New Haven, Connecticut, anchored in Kealakekua Bay, and swam to it. On board, he met Captain Caleb Brintall, who treated him kindly, and another Hawaiian, 12-year old Hopu. After offering ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia dinner, the captain asked him if he wanted to go to America by working as a sailor on his ship.
It was not the first time that Brintall had taken Hawaiian boys on board. On a couple of occasions, some Hawaiian fathers had asked him to take their sons to New Haven to pursue an education.
Excited by the opportunity, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia went to tell his uncle. At first, Pahua refused to let him go and locked him in a room. When ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia escaped, Pahua followed him to the ship and asked the captain to send the boy back. Eventually, Pahua agreed to let ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia go, but demanded a payment to reimburse him for the time he had invested in training his nephew to become a kahuna.
“I took my leave of them and bid them farewell,” ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia said. “My parting with them was disagreeable to them and to me, but I was willing to leave all my relations, friends and acquaintance: expected to see them no more in this world.”[2]
Hungry for Knowledge
Aboard the ship, appropriately named Triumph, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia and Hopu met Russell Hubbard, a member of Yale College, who taught them the English alphabet. By the time they arrived in New England, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia was using the English name Henry, and Hopu the name Thomas.
In New Haven, Brintall arranged housing for the boys, and encouraged them with the prospective of getting an education. But to ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia, learning seemed like an impossible dream. His visit to Yale only increased this feeling, so much that he sat on some steps and cried. His tears attracted the attention of a student, Edwin Welles Dwight, who took him upon himself to teach him to read and write, and made arrangements for him to live with Timothy Dwight IV, President of Yale, who was one of Edwin’s relatives. There, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia made his first encounter with daily devotions and prayers.
