Asa Thurston (October 12, 1787 – March 11, 1868) was a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

missionary from the United States who was part of the first company of American

Christian missionaries A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such ...

to the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost ...

with his wife Lucy Goodale Thurston.

Asa Thurston

Born in

Fitchburg, Massachusetts Fitchburg is a city in northern Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The third-largest city in the county, its population was 41,946 at the 2020 census. Fitchburg is home to Fitchburg State University as well as 17 public and private e ...

, on October 12, 1787, Asa Thurston worked as a scythe maker until he was 22 years old. His parents were Lydia (Davis) and Thomas Thurston. He attended

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

College, where he was a member of the

Linonian Society Linonia is a literary and debating society founded in 1753 at Yale University. It is the university's second-oldest secret society. History Linonia was founded on September 12, 1753, as Yale College's second literary and debating society, af ...

and graduated in 1816, and completed

Andover Theological Seminary Andover Theological Seminary (1807–1965) was a Congregationalist seminary founded in 1807 and originally located in Andover, Massachusetts on the campus of Phillips Academy. From 1908 to 1931, it was located at Harvard University in Cambridge. ...

in 1819. He married Lucy Goodale, and together they went as missionaries by the

Congregationalist Church 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 it ...

to the Sandwich Islands in 1820. Thurston worked as a Protestant missionary in Hawaii for forty years, returning to New England only for the period 1840 to 1842. He also traveled to California in 1863. They saw religion and education as closely linked. In Hawaii Thurston built churches and schools, and had a following among the people. He was one of the first to translate the Bible into 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 ...

. Together with the English missionary William Ellis, he explored the islands and viewed the volcano Kilauea. After suffering a series of strokes, he began speaking in a mixture of English, Hawaiian, and Latin. He was moved to Honolulu, where he died on March 11, 1868.

Legacy and honors

*The Thurston

lava tube A lava tube, or pyroduct, is a natural conduit formed by flowing lava from a volcanic vent that moves beneath the hardened surface of a lava flow. If lava in the tube empties, it will leave a cave. Formation A lava tube is a type of lava ...

in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is named for his family. Mokuaikaua Church Kona

Work

A native Hawaiian named Opukahaia, orphaned by the islands' wars, traveled to New England in 1809 (there is a monument to him in Punaluu) and learned to speak English. In 1818 his stories (along with a few other companions) about the islands convinced 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 ...

to send a company to Hawaii. Thurston and

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 ...

, with whom he was ordained, were selected as leaders of the group which included a farmer, physician, three teachers, and a few native Hawaiian assistants. On October 12, 1819 he married Lucy Goodale, a cousin of a classmate. They set sail a few weeks later on October 23, 1819 from Boston for a five-month voyage on the small merchant ship ''Thaddeus''. After landing at Kawaihae harbor on March 30, 1820 the Thurstons went first to

Kailua-Kona Kailua-Kona is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. It is also known as Kailua (a name it shares with a community located on the windward side of Oahu), as Kona (a name it share ...

, arriving there on April 12, 1820. where they consulted with the British sailor

John Young John Young may refer to: Academics * John Young (professor of Greek) (died 1820), Scottish professor of Greek at the University of Glasgow * John C. Young (college president) (1803–1857), American educator, pastor, and president of Centre Coll ...

who was an advisor King

Kamehameha I Kamehameha I (; Kalani Paiea Wohi o Kaleikini Kealiikui Kamehameha o Iolani i Kaiwikapu kaui Ka Liholiho Kūnuiākea; – May 8 or 14, 1819), also known as Kamehameha the Great, was the conqueror and first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Th ...

. They found the

Hawaiian Religion 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 Tahitia ...

in turmoil, due to the death of Kamehameha I, and the ending of the ''Kapu'' system by Queen Kaahumanu and King

Kamehameha II Kamehameha II (November 1797 – July 14, 1824) was the second king of the Kingdom of Hawaii. His birth name was Liholiho and full name was Kalaninui kua Liholiho i ke kapu ʻIolani. It was lengthened to Kalani Kaleiʻaimoku o Kaiwikapu o Laʻa ...

. They then traveled to

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, whic ...

, then to

Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O ...

, and finally back to Kailua-Kona in 1823. With the blessing of Royal Governor John Adams Kuakini, he set up his congregation in a series of thatched huts. From about 1835 to 1837, he supervised the construction of the Congregationalist

Mokuaikaua Church Mokuaikaua Church, located on the "Big Island" of Hawaii, is the oldest Christian church in the Hawaiian Islands. The congregation dates to 1820 and the building was completed in 1837. History The congregation was first founded in 1820 by Asa a ...

, made from stone, which still stands today. The Thurstons with five children began a family prominent in the history of the islands up to the present: Persis Goodale born September 28, 1821, Lucy Goodale born April 25, 1823, Asa Goodale born August 1, 1827, Mary Howe born June 3, 1831, and Thomas Gairdner born May 9, 1836.

Hawaiian bible

Together with the group of the missionaries, that consisted of Hiram Bingham and others, Asa Thurston translated in 1832-1839 the Christian Bible into Hawaiian, ''Ka Baibala Hemolele''. His translation was 25 percent of the New and Old Testaments, which was the largest contribution among the group.No ka Baibala Hemolele: The Making of the Hawaiian Bible1 (Jeffrey Lyon, 2018), p. 124
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Family

Their first daughter Persis Goodale Thurston Taylor (1821–1906), born in Hawaii, became a painter and sketch artist and married Reverend Townsend Elijah Taylor. Their second daughter Lucy Goodale Thurston (1823–1841) came to New England to obtain a higher education but died from pneumonia soon after their arrival to New York. Their third child, Asa Goodale Tyerman Thurston (1827–1859) married Sarah Andrews. Their fourth child, Mary Howe Thurston (1831–1876), married Edwin A. Hayden and Marcus Benfield. Their fifth child, Thomas Gairdner Thurston graduated from Yale in 1862, studied theology, and returned to Hawaii, where he preached until the time of his death in 1884. Thomas Gairdner Thurston married Harriet Frances Richardson and Alice Gasking. Their son Asa Goodale Thurston married Sarah Andrews, daughter of the missionary Lorrin Andrews of

. One of their children was Lorrin A. Thurston (1857–1931), who was a leader of the 1893

overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was a ''coup d'état'' against Queen Liliʻuokalani, which took place on January 17, 1893, on the island of Oahu and led by the Committee of Safety, composed of seven foreign residents and six non-abori ...

. A great-great grandson is Thurston Twigg-Smith.

Asa Thurston

Legacy and honors

Work

Hawaiian bible

Family

See also

References

Further reading