Charles McEwen Hyde (June 8, 1832 – October 13, 1899) was a Congregationalist missionary who arrived in Hawaii in 1877. He was instrumental in establishing and supporting schools to educate and train the Hawaiian population of the time. Hyde mentored native Hawaiians who wanted to enter the Christian ministry, and he helped provide smallpox vaccinations for the population. He was a descendant of Scottish

Covenanter Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from ''Covenan ...

s, and one of the original five trustees of

Kamehameha Schools Kamehameha Schools, formerly called Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate (KSBE), is a private school system in Hawaii established by the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate, under the terms of the will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, who was a formal membe ...

. Private correspondence about

Father Damien Father Damien or Saint Damien of Molokai, SS.CC. or Saint Damien De Veuster ( nl, Pater Damiaan or '; 3 January 1840 – 15 April 1889), born Jozef De Veuster, was a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacr ...

, penned by Hyde and published without his permission, sparked a heated public rebuke from

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

who expressed his belief that sainthood lay ahead for Damien.

Background

Hyde was born June 8, 1832 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to attorney Joseph Hyde and Catherine McEwen Hyde. His paternal grandfather Alvan Hyde had been a Christian minister in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, and his paternal great-grandfather Joseph Hyde was a

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

farmer. Hyde's maternal grandfather Charles McEwen was a New York judge who was active in the Bible Society, and a descendant of the original

s in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He spoke both

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and was enrolled in

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

at age 16. Hyde was

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

of his graduating class. His classmates remembered him as a likeable and respectful, well-mannered, person who was a natty dresser. Upon graduation, he earned money as a private tutor, and in 1853 enrolled at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Prior to his later enrolling at

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of ...

, he gained career experience teaching at a college. Hyde was ordained as a

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

minister on August 19, 1862, and received his calling to his first church at

Brimfield, Massachusetts Brimfield is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,694 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Brimfield was first settled in 1706 and was offi ...

. In 1872, he received his

D.D. A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ra ...

degree.

Hawaii

On March 21, 1877, the

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...

sent Rev. and Mrs. Hyde and a small group of clergy to their Hawaii mission field. The group arrived in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

in June. Upon arrival, the Hydes took up temporary residence in the home of

Samuel Northrup Castle Samuel Northrup Castle (August 12, 1808 –July 14, 1894) was a businessman and politician in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Early life Samuel Northrup Castle was born August 12, 1808 in Cazenovia, New York. His middle name is sometimes spelled "Northro ...

, who shortly thereafter built a home for the Hydes. Hyde immediately organized the North Pacific Missionary Institute. He quickly picked up the

Hawaiian language Hawaiian (', ) is a Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language o ...

in order to converse with the indigenous population, and began delivering his sermons in Hawaiian. Hyde and his wife tried to instill work ethics into the Hawaiian males, and teach housekeeping skills to the women. They also opened their home to the local population and often provided monetary assistance to those in need. He helped provide

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

vaccinations for the local population. For the Hawaiian men who wanted to serve as Christian ministers, Hyde became a mentor. He later became president of the Board of Trustees of the Kawaiahaʻo Female Seminary, which helped train women who were interested in becoming wives of Christian ministers. He was also president of

Punahou School Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through twelfth grade, 12th grade. Protestant missionar ...

. When

Bernice Pauahi Bishop Bernice Pauahi Bishop KGCOK RoK (December 19, 1831 – October 16, 1884), born Bernice Pauahi Pākī, was an '' alii'' (noble) of the Royal Family of the Kingdom of Hawaii and a well known philanthropist. At her death, her estate was the la ...

wrote her will on October 31, 1883, she named Hyde as one of the original five trustees of her estate.

Father Damien and Robert Louis Stevenson

On August 2, 1889, Hyde wrote a private letter to a Reverend H.B. Gage, regarding

Molokai Molokai , or Molokai (), is the fifth most populated of the eight major islands that make up the Hawaiian Islands, Hawaiian Islands archipelago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is 38 by 10 miles (61 by 16 km) at its greatest length an ...

. Hyde intimated that Damien's death from

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...

was the result of what Hyde believed to be the priest's lack of hygiene, and was seemingly dismissive of Damien as a person. Without Hyde's permission, the correspondence was published in a

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

newspaper, and angered many of Damien's supporters. Author

took umbrage in the 1890 published pamphlet ''Open Letter to Reverend Doctor Hyde of Honolulu from Robert Louis Stevenson''. Stevenson accurately saw sainthood for Father Damien, who became Hawaii's first official saint on November 10, 2009.

Final years and death

He became interested in the Christian ministry in Europe and Asia. In 1893, Rev. and Mrs. Hyde toured Europe, and in 1897 they toured

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Hyde died October 13, 1899. His funeral was held at the Central Union Church in Honolulu.

Notes

References