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1. PETER GULICK, FANNY THOMAS, AND THE PARTHIAN
- University of Massachusetts Press
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12 PETER GULICK, FANNY THOMAS, AND THE PARTHIAN I am persuaded God leaves his children on earth for the sole purpose of glorifying Him & the Great Question with every one should be by what use of my time & talents can I most effectively promote this object? Peter Gulick, 1840 For most of their history, the native inhabitants of Hawai‘i lived in a relatively isolated state, but this began to change when the English explorer Captain James Cook “discovered” the Sandwich Islands, as he called them, in 1778. Other Westerners soon made their way to the islands, and they brought guns, some of which ended up in the hands of a powerful Hawaiian chief, the future King Kamehameha I. The first absolute ruler of Hawai‘i, the king used guns to unite most of the islands in 1795, and for the next two decades he helped to transform Hawai‘i into an important stopping point for Western sailors. Many of them were engaged in the China trade, and while en route to the East they provisioned their ships in Hawai‘i, where the presence of love-starved sailors led to the creation of an extensive sex trade. American religious groups became concerned about the sex trade on the islands, and none was more concerned than the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). Headquartered in Boston, the ABCFM was a strong proponent of overseas evangelism, and it was so distressed by conditions in Hawai‘i that it sent a shipment of reform-minded missionaries to the islands on the brig Thaddeus in October 1819. Six months later, the Thaddeus reached Hawai‘i, where its passengers, the islands’ first missionaries, received permission to stay from Queen Ka-‘ahu-manu. A formidable woman who basically ruled Hawai‘i in the name of her foster sons, the kings Kamehameha II and Kamehameha III, Queen Ka-‘ahumanu was very receptive to social reform; as we will see, she engineered the abolition of Hawai‘i’s ancient system of kapus (taboos) in 1819. Four years later, the queen welcomed a second shipment of ABCFM missionaries, and in 1825 she converted to Christianity. The queen then helped to spread her new religion throughout Hawai‘i, and in 1828 she rejoiced when a third shipment of ABCFM missionaries came to her islands on the brig Parthian, whose passengers included Peter and Fanny Gulick. Although they never became as prominent as some other early missionaries in Hawai‘i, Peter and Fanny Gulick were nonetheless important catalysts for change on the islands, where they lived for forty-six years. During that time, they spread Christianity, interacted with Hawaiian royalty, acquainted commoners with various practical skills, and raised eight children. One of them, Thomas, later recalled the remarkable courage that was exhibited on the islands by pioneer missionaries such as his parents. “They left the highest liberty and attractive homes,” he wrote, “to go on a six months journey to the other side of the world to plunge into heathenism and savagery solely to give blessings to aliens and to follow and obey their Master.” Peter and Fanny’s trek to Hawai‘i was certainly valorous, but many readers will object to their son’s contention that the islands were full of “heathenism and savagery.” This contention is widely viewed as intolerant today, but in the nineteenth century few Americans spoke out in favor of Hawaiian culture. Fewer still thought of it as preferable to Christianity, which Peter considered to be the world’s only true religion. For that reason, he thought that all non-Christian people should be christianized, and he felt compelled to work toward this end. “It is a rule with me,” he explained, “to attempt whatever appears to be my duty; however inadequate I may prove in the performance.” Peter Johnson Gulick The name Gulick comes from a town, Julich, that was named after Julius Caesar. The town is in Germany, but it borders on the Netherlands, which was the home of Peter’s ancestor Hendrick Van Gulick (1625?–1653). The first Gulick paterfamilias to emigrate to America, Hendrick sailed with his family to the New Netherlands, which he reached in 1653. Eleven years later, the New Netherlands were conquered by the English, who transformed the land into the colonies of New York and New Jersey. In both of these places Hendrick ’s descendents took up farming, and they gained a reputation as good, strong farmers. “Most of the members of the Gulick family,” a...