Nathaniel Bright Emerson (July 1, 1839 Waialua,

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

– July 16, 1915, at sea) was a medical physician and author of

Hawaiian mythology Hawaiian religion refers to the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of native Hawaiians, also known as the kapu system. Hawaiian religion is based largely on the tapu religion common in Polynesia and likely originated among the Tahitian ...

. He was the son of Protestant missionaries John S. Emerson and

Ursula Newell Emerson Ursula Sophia Newell Emerson (September 27, 1806 – November 24, 1888) was an American missionary in the Hawaiian Islands who co-founded the Waialua Protestant Church, later renamed the Liliʻuokalani Protestant Church, with her husband John S ...

, and father of artist

Arthur Webster Emerson Arthur Webster Emerson (December 5, 1885 – July 18, 1968) was a painter who was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu, Kingdom of Hawai'i. He was the son of Nathaniel Bright Emerson, and grandson of missionaries John S. Emerson and Ursula Newell E ...

. He attended

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 ...

Williamstown, Massachusetts Williamstown is a town in the northern part of Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts, United States. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolit ...

. He joined the 1st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry of the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

as a private on September 22, 1862 in Boston during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. He was wounded three times. After graduating from Williams in 1865, he studied at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and the

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) is the graduate medical school of Columbia University, located at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Founded i ...

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 ...

, from which he graduated in 1869. This was followed by work at

Bellevue Hospital Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States b ...

in New York City. In New York, Emerson was associated with

Willard Parker Willard Parker (born Worster Van Eps; February 5, 1912 – December 4, 1996) was an American film and television actor. He was a leading man under contract to Columbia Pictures in the 1940s and starred in the TV series '' Tales of the Texas Ran ...

, a surgeon, as student and assistant. For several years he was also clinical assistant to Dr. Seguin, professor of nervous diseases at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He served as a doctor in New York until 1878, after which he relocated to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. Emerson was an historian and writer of Hawaiian mythology. One of his efforts was the translation into English of

David Malo David Malo or Davida Malo (1795–1853) was a chiefly counselor, a Hawaiian intellectual, educator, politician and minister. He is remembered by subsequent generations of Hawaiian people and scholars primarily as a Native Hawaiian historian of the ...

's work on Hawaiian lore and customs. In 1909, the

Bureau of American Ethnology The Bureau of American Ethnology (or BAE, originally, Bureau of Ethnology) was established in 1879 by an act of Congress for the purpose of transferring archives, records and materials relating to the Indians of North America from the Interior D ...

published his book, ''Unwritten Literature of Hawaii'', and his last work, '' Pele and Hiiaka'', was published in 1915. Emerson has been criticized by Hawaiian royalists and historians for being a founding member of the

Hawaiian League The Committee of Safety, formally the Citizen's Committee of Public Safety, was a 13-member group of the Annexation Club. The group was composed of mostly Hawaiian subjects of American descent and American citizens who were members of the '' Mi ...

of 1887, which authored the

Bayonet Constitution The 1887 Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom was a legal document prepared by anti-monarchists to strip the Hawaiian monarchy of much of its authority, initiating a transfer of power to American, European and native Hawaiian elites. It became k ...

forced on King

Kalākaua Kalākaua (David Laʻamea Kamananakapu Mahinulani Naloiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua; November 16, 1836 – January 20, 1891), sometimes called The Merrie Monarch, was the last king and penultimate monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Kin ...

, under threat of death. An original copy of the 1887 constitution in the Hawaii State Archives, once owned by

William Owen Smith William Owen Smith (August 4, 1848 – April 13, 1929) was a lawyer from a family of American missionaries who participated in the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He was attorney general for the entire duration of the Provisional Governmen ...

, contains a side note written by Smith listing Emerson as one of the main contributors to the constitution alongside Smith,

Sanford B. Dole Sanford Ballard Dole (April 23, 1844 – June 9, 1926) was a lawyer and jurist from the Hawaiian Islands. He lived through the periods when Hawaii was a kingdom, protectorate, republic, and territory. A descendant of the American missionary ...

and

Lorrin A. Thurston Lorrin Andrews Thurston (July 31, 1858 – May 11, 1931) was an American lawyer, politician, and businessman born and raised in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Thurston played a prominent role in the Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom that replaced Q ...

. He was also criticized for testifying in Washington, D.C. in support of the annexation of Hawaii.

References

Mamiya Heratige Medical Center website
*Emerson, Nathaniel Bright
''Unwritten Literature of Hawaii: the Sacred Songs of the Hula''

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, Bureau of American Ethnology, 1909. *''Hawaiian Antiquities (Moolelo Hawaii)'', as translated by Emerson, 1987 edition,

Bishop Museum Press The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1889, it is the lar ...

, *''Pele and Hiiaka: A Myth from Hawaii'', by Nathaniel B. Emerson, A.M., M.D., paperback revised edition, Edith Kanaka'ole Foundation, 2005,

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Emerson, Nathaniel 1839 births 1915 deaths Punahou School alumni Williams College alumni Harvard University alumni Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni Writers from Hawaii People of Massachusetts in the American Civil War People of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the American Civil War Burials at Oahu Cemetery Members of the Hawaii Board of Health Union Army soldiers

See also

References

External links