Dr. James William Smith, Stamford Missionary to Hawaii (1995)

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead

Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut USA

July 23, 1995, Page B3

James William Smith, a young doctor from Stamford, heard a story in church in the late 1830s that changed his life forever. Henry Obookiah (Opukahaia) of Hawaii, who had been converted to Christianity, made a plea to New Englanders for assistance for his homeland in the Pacific. 

At age 32, Dr. Smith found his bride, Melicent, daughter of Jared and Mary Knapp of Round Hill, and they were married in the North Greenwich Congregational Church by the Rev. Wilcox on April 18, 1842. Within three weeks there were both on the brig Sarah Abigail out of Boston for a 143-day journey as missionaries with you more American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to Hawaii.

The Smiths arrived in Honolulu on September 21, 1842. By November, they were stationed at Koloa on the island of Kauai, most famous today as Hawaii's Garden Isle, where Hurricane Iniki wrecked havoc several years ago, and where the movie Jurassic Park was filmed. 

From 1842 to 1882, Smith was the only physician on Kauai. As doctors today can attest, he was prone to hasty and regular calls and horseback and on foot. His most famous ride is well known among his descendants in Hawaii. 

It was in February, 1866 when Smith made a 40-mile ride to attend to a young boy at the Princeville Plantation. Smith, who was 56 at the time, made the ride in 4 1/2 hours.

In a letter dated October 20, 1843, that Smith penned to Obadiah Mead of North Greenwich, he wrote, “…we find our field of labor in many respects very pleasant. I might speak of the mild and affectionate disposition of the natives and the readiness to receive instruction -traits which soon endear them to the heart of the missionary.”

From 1854 to 1869, Smith served as the first ordained minister on Kauai and pastor of the Koloa Mission (Hawaiian Church of Koloa). Support by his Hawaiian parishioners, church members and Smith worked together growing sugar cane to support the church.

In 1862, the Smiths established the Koloa Boarding School for Girls, where Melicent was superintendent and a teacher for 10 years. Her sister, Deborah, who came from North Greenwich, served as her assistant teacher.

The Smiths had nine children, seven surviving until adulthood. All spoke Hawaiian fluently. Most famous was William O. Smith, an attorney who is one of the key organizers of deposing of Queen Liliuokalani in 1894. After years of schism between the two, Liliuokalani forgave William and ask him to draft her will.

James William Smith died in 1887. Millicent, 75, died in 1891. Both are buried in the Smith Waterhouse Cemetery in Koloa. They leave behind a memorable legacy of service and dedication in a paradise more than 5000 miles from their ancestral home in New England.

*Also, see this link.