disregard what had been taught him during his childhood; denounce the pantheon of akuas instilled into him during his training at the heiau. It required a revelation, but once released, he reformed in both mind and spirit. “In my secret prayer and in serious conversation with others…I thought now with myself that I have met with a change of heart.”35
While at Bradford, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia learned that another Hawaiian lived in the vicinity of Andover. Seeking out his fellow Kanaka Maoli, Henry stayed a full day and evening in his company. Neither of the boys slept that night. Instead they lay awake, talking in their Native language until dawn. When asked later what he had learned from his companion concerning news from Hawai‘i, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia replied, “I did not think of Hawaii. I had so much to say about Jesus Christ.”36 He had truly been reborn, converting to the “one true God” and setting seeds for his actions and words as a future missionary.
In the spring of 1812, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) appointed Rev. Samuel Mills, Jr., to travel through the Mississippi Valley, surveying those areas for future missionary efforts among reservation Indians and plantations of African captives.37 Soon after Mills’ departure, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia would spend time in Hollis, New Hampshire, where his newly-won belief would provide its first test of faith through an ordeal of sickness.
The fever appeared to come on suddenly, leaving ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia frail and bedridden for five weeks. In Hollis he would live within a number of households including that of the Deacon Ephraim Burge where the sickness overcame him. Dr. Benoni Cutter presided over his young patient, praying with him many times. All in Hollis feared that the “Obookiah” they cherished in their thoughts of his complete devotion to God would be taken from them before his salvation could be secured. Mrs. Burge inquired of his willingness to die and leave a world of sin, “Do you remember the goodness and the kindness of God towards you?” ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia answered in the positive, “Yes, for I have neither a father nor a mother, nor a brother nor a sister in this strange country but He. But O! am (sic) I fit to call him my Father?”38 Often ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia felt alone and meaningless, affected by his survivor’s guilt. “Many times I meet with the dark hour.”39
He was able to fight off the fever and despair, regain his footing, and find a loving and forgiving “Father,” one who truly cared about this “Henry Obookiah” and represented the head of his spiritual and earthly family. Within the short time he was in Hollis, he would go through the conversion for which New England had prayed. It was here that “Henry’s heart was renewed by the Holy Spirit.”40 With his physical and spiritual state bettered, Henry would leave Hollis, return to Andover, and eventually go “home” to Torringford,41 where he would take one further giant step in his transformation to realize the meaning of his journey.
When Samuel Mills, Jr., returned home from his two-year missionary tour in the early summer of 1814,42 he inquired about the state of young ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia’s Christian learning. He was gratified to hear that Henry was giving his life to the Lord and continuing his spiritual and academic training with friends and tutors in Litchfield, but what he found just as gratifying was the acknowledge that Henry was translating Hebrew chapters of the Bible phonetically into the Hawaiian language. In doing so, he compiled a dictionary and a grammar book, and by 1815 maintained a diary of his personal development. Henry wrote and memorized the Bible similar to his kahuna training, so that when Mills arrived home, he found ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia in the midst of an immense emission of creative intellectual energy.
With his continuing education, Henry’s confidence developed. He began to speak in public, took on the learning of Latin, Hebrew, geometry, and geography while continuing to work on his English. He started to write an increasing number of letters, even beginning a personal memoir telling of his youth in Hawaii and his journey to New England. Now in his twenties, Henry’s heartfelt enthusiasm for all things scriptural provided a personal joy and triumph for the Mills family.
Henry was also physically maturing into a formable young man. Edwin Dwight describes him as being above the ordinary size of young New England men, standing just less than six feet in height with limbs and body well proportioned and large. At sixteen, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia had been regarded as “awkward and unshapen” (sic.), but now he appeared “erect, graceful and dignified.”43 His skin was described as olive in coloration, a mixture of dark African and “red” Native American complexions. His black hair was cut short and his clothing westernized. His nose was prominent and his chin projected.44 There was no questioning his “otherness” when he mingled in the company of British Americans.
If Henry stood out physically, his personality and character also separated him. “In his disposition, he was amiable and affectionate. His temper was mild. Passion was not easily excited, nor long retained. Revenge or resentment, it is presumed, was never known to be cherished in his heart.”45 ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia was considered a good and reliable friend, always grateful for favors bestowed upon him and, most tellingly, he felt an ardent affiliation toward the various Christian families with whom he resided.
Through Henry’s conversion, intellect, and personality, Samuel Mills, Jr. could now envision the formulation of “The Brethren” plan. ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia would be the bridge to the Hawaiian missions—a bridge that would span the oceans; a bridge over which Mills and other missionaries would walk across to bring salvation to the “pagans” of the Pacific Islands. With Henry’s noticeable development, Mills and Adoniram Judson took the opportunity to present a formal letter at a meeting of Congregational Church leaders seeking permission to organize a missionary effort consisting of both New England men and women accompanied by Native youths returning to their homelands in the spirit of Christ. The church leaders deliberated. The fulfillment of the “Second Great Awakening” beckoned; the timing was ripe. Support was given to The Brethren plan and the Foreign Mission School was born. A powerful vision was formulated: Henry “Obookiah” would complete his journey home accompanied by Samuel Mills, Jr., and together they would replace the kapu system with the Gospel of a loving God.
Frontispiece Portrait of Obookiah, engraver unknown, 1818, from Memoirs of Henry Obookiah, A Native of Owyhee and A Member of the Foreign Mission School (New Haven: Office of the Religious Intelligencer.) National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
‘Ōpūkaha‘ia, heartened by his new confidence in the Holy Spirit, found the courage to petition the North Consociation of Litchfield County to take him under their care and provide counsel and direction into his life.46 The Consociation voted overwhelmingly in his favor and appointed a three-person board to supervise his education. Now focused, dedicated, and resourceful, Henry was being prepared for meaningful accomplishments and, with discussions of developing foreign missions, a possible reunion in Hawai‘i as a budding Christian kahuna.
Though the thought of a Hawaiian homecoming had never been far from his consciousness, he had seen no earlier purpose to it, not when the meaning of his journey had no full perception. Yet returning as a Christian missionary to spread the Word of his newfound “Father” and paving a path to salvation for his brethren would be the fulfillment for which he was striving, the reason to go home. He had a message to share, a message that demanded to be heard—a message that would save Hawaiians from the pangs of hell and fold them into the arms of their benevolent protector, their Father who would love and care for them. Henry had searched for and found a family to replace the one he had violently lost. “I have neither a father nor a mother… but He.”47 Invoking his Native beliefs in the comingling of the supernatural and natural worlds, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia viewed Jesus as a biological Father, as real as Keau. For years he had probed his mind for the reason why he was the lone survivor of all the ferocity forced
