Writter: Hopu, c. 1792 - 1818
Date: 1816-1819
Type: Manuscript
Medium: Handwritten on paper
Credit Line: Digitalized by Mo’olelo Kū’i’o, Peabody Essex Museum
Restrictions & Rights: N/A
Object number: Memoir of Thomas Hopoo, 1822, II., Box: 2, Folder: 19. Andover Newton Theological School Collection of Linguistic and Missionary Material, 1751, 1805-1958, MSS 690. Phillips Library.
Exhibition Label: Thomas Hopu, the lifelong best friend of Henry Opūkaha’ia, along with William Kanui and John Honoli’i accomplished “Obookiah’s” goal of taking the message of Christ to his and their own people. Without the contributions of these Christian Hawaiian pioneer missionaries, the mission itself would have failed.
For a long time the tale of Thomas Hopu was but a footnote in the life of Opūkaha’ia, and like so many other Hawaiian stories, seemed to be lost in the shadow of the American missionary narratives.