George Prince Tamoree:
Heir Apparent of Kauai and Niihau

Anne Harding Spoehr
One positive statement can be made of George Prince Tamoree: No one
knows much detail of his strange life. Factual material is scarce andfragmentary, although he caused a flurry in New England in the earlyyears of the 19th Century. He was the pride of his father, the concernof his peers, and in many respects, the hope of the missionaries. In theend, he failed them all.
He was a prince, a pauper, and a casualty of cultural change. For the
first six years of his life he was treated as the prince of Kauai. During
the following sixteen years, unable to forget the status of his boyhood,he attempted to adjust, often in penurious circumstances, to a foreign
world. In his final six years in Hawaii he became a victim of the culturalchanges that had occurred in Hawaii during his absence.1
In research on this young man there is one solid starting point. It isa pamphlet printed in New York in 1816: A Narrative of Five Youthfrom the Sandwich Islands, viz. Obookiah, Hopoo, Tennooe, Honooree, andPrince Tamoree, Now Receiving an Education in This Country.2 The twolongest accounts in this pamphlet are those of Obookiah and Prince
Tamoree—Obookiah because he was well known in New England, hadbeen provided with the best education of the five, and had recently been
baptized and received into the Congregational Church at Torringford,
Connecticut; and Tamoree because he perhaps had the most varied
history and because he was a prince.
This small leaflet was published by order of the Agents appointed toestablish a school for heathen youth by the American Board of ComAnne Harding Spoehr, retired museum exhibit designer in anthropology and history, hasbeen working since the ig6os on the subject of Hawaiians in New England during the early
19th Century.

31

missioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). The seven Agents for the
proposed school were appointed at the 7th Annual Meeting of the
ABCFM at Hartford, Connecticut in late September 1816. They weremen of some note: Honorable John Treadwell, governor of Connecticut;
Reverend Timothy Dwight, president of Yale College; James Morris,
Esq.; Reverend Dr. D. Chapin; and the Reverend Messrs. Lyman
Beecher, Charles Prentice, and Joseph Harvey, all of Connecticut. These
Agents lost no time in getting to work and had their first meeting at thehome of President Timothy Dwight in New Haven on October 29, 1816.
Here the constitution of a school to be named the Foreign Mission
School was adopted.3
Future student Prince Tamoree was born on Kauai about 1798. For
the first six years of his life he was known as Humehume. He was theson of Kaumualii, King of Kauai and Niihau, and an unknown mother.
At the time of Prince Tamoree's birth his father, the young king, isbelieved to have been about eighteen years of age. During his short life,
this son of King Kaumualii was known by at least five names: Humehume, Kumoree, George Prince, George Prince Tamoree, and George
Prince Kaumualii. In this paper he will be called simply George forconvenience sake.
George was about six years old when an American ship, the Hazard?
under the command of Captain James Rowan, anchored at Waimea,
Kauai. King Kaumualii had early in his reign established friendly
relationships with British and American sea captains. He was a genialand helpful ruler when ships called at Kauai for supplies. Kaumualii
knew Captain Rowan from previous port calls and entrusted George to
Rowan's care for the long voyage to America via the Orient. The Hazard
sailed from Kauai in January 1804. The purpose of sending George to
America was either to enable George to receive a formal education, or as
some believe, to avoid tensions on Kauai concerning succession to thekingship. King Kaumualii provided Captain Rowan with several thousand dollars, an amount the king felt sufficient to cover the cost of his
son's passage and the expenses of his education. Later, the mate of thevessel reported the amount to be seven or eight thousand dollars.5
On the voyage George must have made a major personal adjustment.
He left behind his boyhood experience of island life, its customs, food,religion, and sunshine. He survived the emotional departure from hisfather and his native home, as well as the rigors of a long voyage withunknown sailor companions and their customs.
The Hazard sailed into Providence, Rhode Island on June 30, 1805
after a year and a half at sea. George was now about eight years old and32

FIG. I. George Prince Tamoree. Egg tempera painting by Helene Spoehr, 1980.
After Samuel F. B. Morse's portrait engraved by N. and S. S. Joceyln,
New Haven, Connecticut, 1822.

went with Captain Rowan to Boston and then to Worcester, Massachusetts. After about four years, Rowan was unable to care for George any
longer and turned him over to Captain Samuel Cotting, a school keeperin Worcester. Cotting was George's preceptor for the next four years.
When Cotting moved from Worcester to neighboring Fitchburg, hetook George with him. Here Cotting worked as a joiner, or carpenter,and he employed George at this trade. In the spring of 1813, becoming discontented, George left Cotting to work on farms in the area,
and then made his way to Boston with the desire to obtain passage
home.
Instead of returning to Hawaii, George enlisted in the U.S. Navy andas "George Prince" boarded the ship Enterprise on June 21, 1815, sailingfrom Boston on July 3rd. George was discharged from the Enterpriseand transferred to the Guerriere at New York on December 12, 1815.
In less than three months, on February 24, 1816, he was discharged
from the Guerriere at the Boston Navy Yard, located in Charlestown,
Massachusetts. On the same day he appeared on the muster table of the
Boston Navy Yard and answered the weekly muster roll until he wasdischarged on March 25, 1816.6
George was now about 18 years old. By this time there were several
Hawaiian youths in New England who had arrived out of curiosity ora thirst for adventure and knowledge. They were all a few years older
than George and had fared better in terms of care and education.
Obookiah was the spritual leader of this Hawaiian group. He knew ofGeorge and had been attempting to locate him without success. In thespring of 1816, Obookiah, who was then with Reverend Charles Prenticein Canaan, Connecticut, received a letter from a fellow Hawaiian,
Benjamin Carhooa. Benjamin was living in Boston, where he was amember of a Baptist church composed of "people of color." He wrote
Obookiah that he thought he had found the young prince, living as aservant of Mr. Lewis Deblois, purser of the Boston Navy Yard.7
Benjamin's letter to Obookiah confirmed that George was considereda prince by his countrymen. George's use of "Prince"a s a surname in
the Navy indicated his knowledge of his inherited status. So George
was found. His life since arriving in Providence eleven years previous
was constant only in its many changes. He had proved himself asurvivor.
Before the autumn of 1816, George found himself in the good hands
and excellent home of the Reverend Jedidiah Morse, minister of theCongregational Church in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Morse was not
only a pastor, a graduate of Yale, and a former teacher of young girls in
33

New Haven, but author of America's first geography textbook. George
spent a short time in the home of the Reverend and Mrs. Morse, whoprovided love and intelligent care and who were to prove his life-longfriends.
In early September George was on his way to New Haven with
Reverend Morse to be in the home of President Timothy Dwight during
the 1816 Yale commencement exercises. Dwight was then 64 years old
and had been Yale's president since 1795. Morse wrote his wife twoletters from New Haven during their week's visit:
The young Owhyean Prince and I (a great part of the way alone in the stage) had avery pleasant ride, without accident, to N.H. [New Haven] where we arrived at 3 oc.
of yesterday—found Dr. D. [Dwight] better than I expected, & able to go through theexercises of this day in his best manner. . . . I never attended a commencement when
I was more gratified . . . & am much refreshed already. I have not experienced theslightest inconvenience from riding all night. . . . Upwards of 60 took their degrees.
It is thought that more than that no. will enter. I shall have much to say, good things,
when I return. . . .8
•
•
# # •
. . . George, (the Owhyean Prince who came with me) is much noticed here—is put
into good clothing & looks like a new man—his countenance is brightened—& his
dejection gone. He will go back with me to Hartford where the 4 other Owhyean
youths are to meet him, we think it is important to see them all together. Mrs. Dwighthas been very kind in clothing him, & giving him his food. . . .9

The four Hawaiians that Morse expected George to meet in Hartford
were undoubtedly Henry Obookiah, Thomas Hopoo, William Tennooe,
and John Honooree, all living at this time in Connecticut—Obookiah
and Hopoo in Canaan, Tennooe and Honooree in North Guilford.
Whether thesefiveactually met at Hartford can not as yet be documented,
but the ABCFM resolved to take George under their patronage and in
the following words, " . . . to give him such an education as shall qualify
him for usefulness when we send him home to his father in Hawaii."10
The matter settled, George joined Tennooe and Honooree in North
Guilford to begin his education.
The three young Hawaiians lived in the home of the Reverend
William F. Vaill, pastor of the North Guilford Congregational Church.
Vaill and his family resided in the parsonage adjacent to the church.
Although additions have been made to both the church and the parsonage since 1816, they still stand today and serve the scattered residentsof North Guilford. There is no town center and no evidence of one in
1816. The handsome church dominates the area from the top of a highridge, some twelve miles east of New Haven. The ridge commands amagnificent panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. To arrive34

in the season of autumn coloring, in its full New England glory, musthave added to George's pleasure.
Here George wrote his first letter on October i, 1816 to a lady in New
Haven, thanking her for her kindness to him. One can only assume thatthe recipient was Mrs. Timothy Dwight. George also wrote a letter tohis father on Kauai, telling him of his adventures during the twelve years
since they had seen each other. As George was writing these first letters,
Reverend Vaill penned the following to the Religious Intelligencer,
enclosing a copy of George's letter of October 1st to show the progressof his student:
Astonished myself at the production of young Kummooree, I thought it proper to give
you a testimonial of its genuiness. I have corrected nothing except the spelling. I need
not remark to you the ingenuity of his pen, it is self-apparent. In mildness of temper,and of manners, he comes not behind his brethren. Should his life be spared, andshould he become pious, he will be a bright acquisition to the school, and the proposed
mission to his countrymen at home. My two heathen scholars [William Tennooe andJohn Honooree] are devoted to their studies, and I see nothing in the way of their
becoming at a future time instruments of usefulness."

It appears that George had all the attributes his religious friends werelooking for. Gentle and tractable in temper, he could read and write well,
had a good mind, and was fond of study. He appeared inclined to listen
to religious instruction, and at times to have an anxiety concerning his
future welfare. With engaging features, of middling stature, lightcomplexion, and brown hair, he was an interesting and active youth.
In late November 1816, George and his companions moved from
North Guilford to South Farms, now named Morris, in western Connecticut. Here they joined Obookiah, who previously had spent the winterof 1813-1814 at South Farms with the family of James Morris, Esq.
Obookiah was well acquainted with the Litchfield area, and came from
Goshen with Thomas Hopoo to meet their three countrymen arrivingfrom North Guilford. At the close of the year, Obookiah then went toAmherst, Massachusetts to aid Reverend Nathan Perkins in soliciting
funds for the Foreign Mission School.12 This small nucleus of Hawaiian
youths was to form the initial core of the school.
The year 1816 witnessed a volcanic-like eruption of religious spirit in
New England. The flow of feeling to advance missionary causes spreadout in every direction from its point of origin at Williams College. Hereduring a summer storm in 1806, ten years previous, a group of fivecollege students sheltered under a haystack "dedicated their lives to theservice of the Church around the globe."13 By 1816 this deeply-felt
support of the missionary cause had become established at Yale, and the35enthusiasm for the salvation of the five youths from Hawaii had germinated the seed for the founding of the Foreign Mission School.
The seed itself was planted at the Haystack Meeting at Williams. The
leader of the Haystack group was Samuel Mills, Jr., an undergraduate.
Later, in 1809, he visited Yale to ascertain the temperature of missionary
thought there. At Yale, Mills found an understanding companion in a
resident student, Edwin Welles Dwight (no close relation to President
Dwight), with whom he roomed for a short time. Dwight had found andbefriended Hopoo and Obookiah after their arrival in New Haven from
Hawaii earlier that year. At the time of Mills's visit to New Haven, only
Obookiah remained as a student with Dwight.
Young Dwight spared no effort in the instruction of his foreign pupil
and Mills became deeply interested in Obookiah at their first meeting.
Mills conceived a plan for educating Obookiah as a missionary to his
native islands. Obookiah was then living with President and Mrs.
Timothy Dwight while under the tutelage of Edwin Dwight. With theconsent of President Dwight, Mills took Obookiah to live with hisfather, Reverend Samuel J. Mills of Torringford, Connecticut. The
senior Mills was pastor of the Torringford Congregational Church andimbued with the missionary spirit.
Obookiah remained with the Mills family through the winter, only toleave when young Samuel Mills took him to Andover, Massachusetts,
where Samuel was attending the Theological Seminary. At the seminary,Samuel Mills's interest was not only in domestic but in foreign missions;
he was later to become known in the United States as the "father offoreign missions." It was young Mills's commitment at the HaystackMeeting and his stewardship of Obookiah that in due course inspired
the first ABCFM mission to Hawaii.
Let us return to the Hawaiian youths gathered at South Farms. Herethey were put into the care of Reverend Amos Pettingill. They lived
with the Pettingill family and were taught by Pettingill. They were also
closely allied to the Morris Academy, whose founder, James Morris,assisted in their instruction. Morris, who had established his academy
in 1803, was a prominent citizen and one of the Agents of the Foreign
Mission School.14
Pettingill and Morris were hard-pressed to carry out a program of
instruction for the Hawaiians and still fulfill their other obligations.
Pettingill was often called away on pastoral duties, while Morris had the
responsibility for the correspondence and records of the Agents. Fortunately they were joined, although on a temporary basis, by Reverend
Elias Cornelius, who had been traveling about New England raising36

funds for the ABCFM. He brought with him a boy from Maui, William
Edes Kummoo-olah. Cornelius decided to remain at South Farms, for
the Hawaiians, lacking a regular instructional schedule, had begun to act
and live as they wished and their daily affairs were confused. In a week'stime Cornelius instituted rules of conduct for the scholars, establishingsix hours of study a day, as well as giving them useful jobs to do. On
his arrival the students had no desks, so with the help of Mr. Morris,
Cornelius had five good desks made at a cost of two dollars each. At thistime Cornelius wrote:
Wm Edes Kum, mo, oo, 6, lah is a fine boy, as good natured as you can imagine anddoes well. He learns very well, is jabbering English very often & to some effect. He
talks with great ease and fluency with his countrymen and appears very happy andcontent. . . . The boys talk with him often on religious subjects, but he is not usuallyserious. Neither is George, though he had about 10 days ago quite a severe convulsion
fit. He is well now, has received Doct. Morse's letter, which I think has done him
good. . . . One thing more. I am certain it is very important to the Foreign M. School
to have Obookiah return soon. All here have but one opinion about it.15

Obookiah returned briefly to South Farms from his rounds of soliciting contributions for the ABCFM and the Foreign Mission School with
Reverend Perkins. Obookiah's talks to local groups met with astonishingsuccess and opened the hearts and hands of all who heard him speak.
It was at South Farms that George attracted the attention of his former
preceptors, the Navy, and the United States government. Apparently hehad not been properly discharged from the Navy when he was foundliving with purser Deblois at Charlestown. Deblois wanted to be reimbursed by the United States government for the cost of his care ofGeorge. Because of George's incomplete or improper discharge from theNavy, the government in turn proposed that George be sent to West
Point and communicated this course of action to both the Prudential
Committee of the ABCFM and to the Agents of the Foreign Mission
School. According to Morris, George felt it his duty to put himself inthe hands of the government, feeling a responsibility to the government
in these circumstances. The Agents wrote the Honorable Timothy
Pitkin in Congress accepting the government's proposal in their name.16
However, the answer of the Prudential Committee was negative, leaving
the Prudential Committee and the Agents at odds. The Agents felt that
the Prudential Committee had over-ruled them without their knowledge
and that their own authority and responsibility had been questioned.
The Agents felt that the acceptence of the government's offer to send
George to West Point would enhance the attitude of the government
toward the school and would excite the country-wide attention of the37

public, whom the Agents and the ABCFM could not otherwise reach.
The Agents stated:
It is probable that our Government may wish to make an establishment on some of
the Islands of the Pacific Ocean for commercial purposes and if we do not go forward
according to their views, they will go without us, and in that case, the circumstancesof our Mission to these Islands may be peculiarly unfavourable.17

George did not go to West Point. He remained at South Farms, andMorris noted that George, with his sudden transition from a state ofservitude and hardship to one of public attention, became important in
his own view.
A short time previous to this event, Captain Samuel Cotting emerged
from George's past. As early as the winter of 1811, Cotting had petitioned
the Massachusetts legislature to be refunded for his expenses in the careof George when George had been handed over to him by Captain Rowan.
In December 1816, after George's letter to his father, written from
North Guilford, appeared in New England papers, Cotting wrote to theeditor of the Massachusetts Spy, declaring that his petition had been
permitted to lie under the table. He expounded on the good care given
George by Captain Rowan and himself, and stated that George's
letter to his father was a falsehood. Cotting's letter was publishedin the Massachusetts Spy and thereafter probably in other New England
papers.18 The letter caught George's eye and he was furious andunrestrained. He wrote a blistering letter to Cotting:A few days since, I have heard that you have made a report that I was treated with themost tenderest and affectionate care. It is conterary to any of what you have reported.
Sir, I am now going to give you a piece of my mind. . . . I have always said . . . that
if you ever came in my reach I would level you to the face of the earth. . . . The last
winter I lived with you, you treated me most shamefully. . . . You are a base, dirty,
mean, low . . . avaricious Rascal. You not only abused me but . . . even your dear
beloved mother. . . . You tried to enlist me in the Army, that was a mean dirty trick.
. . . You did not let me attend the schools as I ought. . . . You use me like a dog morethan a human being. . . . You audacious villian for trying to run down my carrecter.
If I am worthy of the title of a Prince I am not agoing to be trodden under foot by sucha dirty scoundrel as you are. . . . I may yet have the opportunity of letting you have a
few solid dry knocks before I leave this part of the world. . . .
I your enemy[signed with a flourish]19

During his five months at South Farms, George began to show themercurial character which he carried with him through life. His selfesteem bloomed with the attention he received in religious publications,the offer of the government to send him to West Point, the demands of
Cotting and Deblois, and the interest in his welfare by religious leaders.
38

His status as an Hawaiian prince seemed established. When he left
South Farms to enter the Foreign Mission School on May i, 1817, heconsidered the other Hawaiian students to be under his authority.
Cornwall, Connecticut was the site for the permanent location of theschool. It was the choice of the Agents, in which the ABCFM concurred.
Cornwall was chosen because of its healthy climate and mountainscenery; the excellent character of the townspeople and their donations;the town's remoteness from city allurements; and the persuasion of its
pastor, Reverend Timothy Stone, who considered Cornwall the Switzerland of America.
The ABCFM gave $3,300 toward the founding of the school. The
people of Cornwall contributed $1,400 in work, land, and money. They
provided an old public school building that had been moved to the town
green, an adjacent boarding house known as the "Commons," and 14
acres of land sorrounding this center, as well as about 86 acres on a
nearby mountainside.20
Reverend Edwin Welles Dwight, Yale student teacher of Obookiah,
was the school's principal for its first year. The school brought Cornwall
prominently before the public. It was stated at the time that there were
three institutions in Connecticut worth visiting by the tourist: Yale
College in New Haven, the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in Hartford,
and the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall.
When the school opened in May 1817, nine male students wereenrolled: the five Hawaiians from South Farms; two Hawaiians who
were yet to come—Obookiah, again soliciting funds, and George
Sandwich, a native of the island of Hawaii who had not arrived from
Boston —and two Indian students, one from Bengal and the other from
Calcutta. By the summer of 1817 there were twelve students: the originalnine, plus one American Indian and two natives of Connecticut, SamuelRuggles of Brookfield and James Ely of Lyme, who came to be educatedas foreign mission teachers.
The subjects of study at the school included English grammar,
geography, and arithmetic, as well as reading, writing, and spelling.
Most of the students found spelling the most difficult. Study hours werefrom 9 a.m. to noon, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., and from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. in theevening. Rules were also established. The students should not go to any
house or visit any family in town, nor go to a store, unless they were
given the liberty. Visitors and friends should not call at study time. No
student should enter another student's room until study hours were over.
Every student should take part in laboring two and one-half days aweek.2139

George's record under this strict routine varied from performing wellto complete non-compliance. At one time he was brought before thevisiting committee to the school, as they considered dismissing him. Yet
not long after, in September 1817 after the school's first public examinations, he was awarded first prize for his behavior and deportment(Obookiah was not eligible, as he was not present on the school's openingday). In their report on the examination, the ABCFM Managers of theForeign Mission, who were present, noted: "Tamoree . . . has been
obedient and respectful, and has nearly effaced the impression made by
his conduct last winter. He has uncommon talents. . . ."22
The Foreign Mission School suffered its greatest loss with the tragic
death of Obookiah on February 17, 1818. He died after a short illness,possibly typhus fever,23 in the home of the Reverend and Mrs Timothy
Stone. Dr. Calhoun was the attending physician and the funeral sermon
was given by Reverend Lyman Beecher of Litchfield. Obookiah wasplaced in an above-ground stone grave in the Cornwall cemetery. During
his illness, Thomas Hopoo was his most frequent visitor.
In spite of the loss of Obookiah, the school continued to operate
normally. In May 1818 Reverend Herman Daggett took over as principalfrom Edwin Dwight. Daggett remained as head of the school for the next
six years, giving the school continuity and growth. Dwight had performed
nobly in seeing the school through its first difficult year. He retained his
interest and prepared the Memoirs of Henry Obookiah, which arousedmuch attention when published in 1819.
As for George, he now added three more subjects to his curriculum:
natural philosophy, navigation, and astronomy. In the latter two heexcelled. His free time was devoted to writing a memoir of his life.
During the summer of 1818, George learned of a plan to send a
mission to the Sandwich Islands in the fall. He was greatly excited andbelieved he would be returning home. This made him very restless.
Principal Daggett had to prepare George for disappointment, for the
ABCFM had decided to delay the mission, thinking it premature.
Distressed, George wrote his father that he would be returning in"about 20 moons." He sent his father a Bible and in his letter said,"I have nothing to support me but the kindness of the good Christianpeople, who are instructing me at their own expense, and preparing me,
as fast as they can, to return home and make you happy."24
In November 1818, Daggett wrote to the ABCFM, 'Tamoree has had
his expectations much raised, & we were fearing that he would be almost
ready to break away if he was not sent this fall."25 By December 1818,
Daggett became deeply concerned and wrote the Board again:40

. . . Tamoree appears to have lost his seriousness, & to have found associates to his
mind. His behavior has of late been quite exceptionable. . . .
When heathen youths are cast upon our shores, & are taken up to be instructed, we
may hope for a blessing upon our labors. . . . But perhaps we are not really warranted
to select or receive youths who are not pious, or even serious, from places where theycan enjoy the privilege of a common education, & of religious instruction, & place themin a mission school in the hope that they may be converted. . . . Tamoree is now
calculating the Eclipses for the ensuing year, etc. He is capable of making a usefulcharacter, but his habits are such as to give little promise. The other five from the
Sandwich Islands give us great satisfaction. . . ,26

The following month, in January 1819, Daggett wrote Jedidiah Morse:. . . the conduct of Tamoree has been much less satisfactory of late, so that I almost
despair of his ever being a blessing to his countrymen. . . . He has been much worse
since the arrival of the last scholars, finding in some of them congenial minds. . . ,27

One of these students was dismissed by the Agents. A set of Jedidiah
Morse's geographies disappeared with him. George claimed the otherset at the school as his, which led to his writing the following letterto Morse:
I avail myself of the opportunity of addressing a few lines respecting those books you
sent me. I thot you sent them to me but—I find you did not—I feel quite sorry because
I wished to have them to carry to my own country—They have taken them from me &I have none—I wish therefore you would either let me have them or some other ones—I
need them very much especially when I return to my native land—As you have given
so many of your abridgements I thought you could let me have those to myself.—Thereis a great assortment of Geo. belonging to the school—I mean to carry as many books
home as I can—I have a great many given me by my friends—But I prize yours themost—I consider them the best I have ever seen on the subject—I hope, dear Sir, youwill use such measures as you think proper, but I hope you will not deny me thesebooks. I have not anything to pay for the postage of letters. I shall have to go & laborto get me some money. I have written to my Father for some money, but it will besome time before it may arrive.28

Four days later, George wrote Morse again, his thoughts constantly
dwelling on his return to his homeland:. . . I think it is very necessary that I should go. . . . I feel . . . I should have a companion. . . . He is a person which I love & which I have been acquainted with for sometime. . . . This most excellent man is M r Ruggles Gold who graduated from Yale
12 years ago 29 . . . . Mr. Stone is writing on the same subject. . . . I wish to get theconsent of the Board. . . . Let him [Gold] now enter the School. . . . I will either workor pay his passage. T h e Captain will carry me, and wait till I arrive there for his pay. 30

Reverend Stone did write Morse on George's behalf and advised that
Ruggles Gold enter the school and learn the Hawaiian language. In
writing to Morse, Stone transcribed a letter written to him by Gold,who stated:

. . . Finally, after much excitement on the question by day and by night, I will submit
this proposal that if the Agents think it advisable . . . I may be admitted into the School
on probation to await the determination of the Board as to the final result. 31

Stone concluded his letter to Morse with the following:
Now sir, is it not expedient that this young gentleman be encouraged to prepare toattend Tamoree. . . . I believe that Tamoree will be influenced more by this amiable
man than by any other person. . . . P. S. George is greatly agitated on the proposed
subject of his return and his anxiety respecting Mr. Gold seems now to disqualify him
wholly from any study. . . .32

Despite the support of Reverend Stone and the desire of Ruggles
Gold, the proposal was rejected by the Agents and the ABCFM.
Principal Daggett was not happy. He predicted that George would avail
himself of the first opportunity to return home. He felt that without asuitable missionary companion and the patronage of the ABCFM, thelabor and expense of George's education would be wholly lost.
In 1819 the school enrollment grew to 33 students. Of these, 11 werestarred as "professors of religion"—that is, those who had professed
their belief in the form of Christianity which the school espoused. Of
the 11, four were Hawaiians—Thomas Hopoo, John Honooree, George
Sandwich, and William Tenooee.33 The list did not include George
Prince Tamoree. He did not entirely neglect religious participation,
receiving recognition for taking part in a service entitled "Great effects
from little causes" during the annual spring examination. Also, during
the examination, attended by the Agents, George presented his projection of a lunar eclipse which should be visible on Kauai in September
1820. Astronomy seems to have been much more compatible with
George's interests than theology.
Plans for the Sandwich Island mission were now crystallizing. This
led Principal Daggett to write to Samuel Worcester, secretary of the
ABCFM, in May 1819:. . . As you will probably make arrangements for a mission establishment at Atooi[Kauai] as well as Owhyee, I think it might have a happy effect on Tamoree, for you,
Sir, to write to him, giving him such assurances as you think proper respecting what
you intend doing for him and his Island, & such advice as would be likely to attach him
to the Missionary Cause, to keep him quiet, and to prevent him from going home with
ambitious views & projects which may be productive of mischief to himself & the
Cause. . . ,34

There is no record of a reply from Worcester to this letter. Daggett's
concern was well founded, for George was now immersed in his own
personal arrangements. In September 1819, less than a month before
42George was to sail out of Boston harbor on the Thaddeus, Daggett wrote
again to Worcester:. . . Mr. Tisdell of Hartford is . . . preparing to strike a likeness of Tamoree, &Tamoree has been very much engaged to have his Memoir to sell to Mr. Tisdell topublish with the plate. He supposes Mr. T. will give him a large sum for it. I have told
him that the Memoir is not in a state to publish, & that with the other memoirs, it is
the property of the Institution. . . . I think if the features of Thomas [Hopoo] &Tamoree could be delineated at Boston before their departure, the Memoirs might
hereafter be published with the plates, and bring a handsome sum to the Board. I haveprocured a copy of Tamoree's Memoir. The original he is to take with him. I told him
I would leave it with you: & I think it would be well for you not to deliver it to him
till he comes to Boston lest he should make improper use of it. . . .35

Just before George was to leave Cornwall for Boston, he was sent by
the school to New York to fetch two Hawaiian lads who had beenbrought to the United States by Captain Ebbets. The three arrived at
the school on October 5, 1819. George was elated by the experience,Principal Daggett was not. He wrote to the Board two days after thethree had arrived:. . . No one who has not been much with him [George] can form an estimate of his
character. . . . He appears very irritable, & self important, & can brook no opposition
or restraint. On his arrival at Mr. Stone's, he called for spirits & was supplied. The nextmorning he fell into a rage with Tennooe . . . and when expostulated with by Mr.
Stone, he said that Tennooe was a subject of his father, & ought to comply with his
wishes. . . . Tennooe conducted towards him in a very mild & Christian manner: &finally went into another room with [George] Sandwich & wept bitterly. After thisTamoree sent to the store & purchased a pint of brandy, on which he drank throughout
the day.
Capt. Ebbets presented him with a brace of pistols. For these he was yesterday
casting balls, & said that he was doing it to shoot his mother when he got home. Could
you, Sir, prevail on him to exchange these arms for other property, before he embarks.
. . . I am in fearful expectation of his doing some fatal mischief, or coming to a dradfulend.
Before he went to New York, he talked very improperly at times, & said that no
missionaries should come to Atooi, since he was not gratified in his choice. At othertimes he talked differently. . . . I write to you . . . that you may communicate . . . tothe principal missionaries, who are now to take charge of the youth . . . there is hopeconcerning Tamoree; in any other view, the prospect is gloomy indeed. P. S. Capt. E.
I understand gave him some information to the disadvantage of his mother.36

It was during these last few days of preparing for the voyage to Hawaii
that the son of Jedidiah Morse, Samuel Finley Breese Morse,37 sketched
the departing missionaries and the four Hawaiian youths, their painted
portraits to be executed after their departure.
The Thaddeus, Captain Blanchard commanding, sailed out of Boston
harbor on October 23, 1819 carrying the Pioneer Company of missionaries. On board were seven missionaries and their wives, five children,43three Hawaiian missionary assistants, and one lone, independent passenger, not a member of the missionary company—George Prince Tamoree.
After the Thaddeus had been two weeks at sea, Principal Daggett was
still coping with problems George had left behind. Ruggles Gold hadgone to Boston to bid George farewell, and after he returned to Cornwall,
Daggett wrote the Board:
Tamoree carried away with him $15 belonging to the Owhyean boys whom he broughtfrom New York. He acknowledged to me that this sum was due to them, after deducting
their expenses, but said that he must have the money to carry him to Boston, as he had
no other; & promised that he would send it back to them by Mr. Gold. But I fear hehas been generous at the expense of justice. He purchased a watch in Boston, and sent
it as a present to a younger brother of Mr. Gold; but we have heard nothing of theboys' money.38

The voyage of the Thaddeus is well documented in the journals of themissionaries and their wives. In these journals, George is seldom referred
to, except that it is noted that he accompanied religious singing on board
with his bass viol. In what circumstances he acquired this large instrument and learned to play it is not documented. As the voyage was nearing
its end, Lucy Thurston did make the following entry concerning George:
The circumstances which appeared so auspicious of the king's returning . . . now
appears in the following light; that George Kaumualii is the illegitimate son of a chief.
One reason why he sent him abroad, was to save him from falling victim to the maliceand jealousy of his wife. On his return, he [George] has serious apprehensions that hislife will be sought.39

When the Thaddeus reached Hawaii at Kailua, Kona, Daniel Chamberlain's journal contains an entry that on April 6, 1820 Captain
Blanchard obtained permission of the king (Liholiho) to send a landing
party to the mountains to kill some cattle, in company with five of the
king's men. The party included Samuel Whitney, Daniel Chamberlain,
and George Tamoree. Possibly it was at this time that George learned
that his father, Kaumualii, ruled Kauai only as a tributary chief. Yet
according to Catherine Stauder, his sunken spirits did not hinder his
romantic talents. After the Thaddeus departed, George remained in
Kailua, Kona and took Betty Davis, the half-Hawaiian daughter of Isaac
Davis, as his wife, or his "rib" as he described her. In a short time theyrejoined the missionary party in Honolulu, having obtained passage on
the ship Neo.i0
George, his "rib," and his bass viol then embarked on the Thaddeus
for Kauai. Samuel Ruggles and Samuel Whitney escorted him home tohis father. The Thaddeus anchored at Waimea, Kauai, opposite the fort44

on May 3, 1820. George kept himself concealed in the cabin until he wassure of his welcome. The affecting, tender reunion with his father has
been amply recorded. Kaumualii rewarded the missionaries and Captain
Blanchard well. He supplied the Thaddeus with 50 large hogs andgenerous amounts of yams, coconuts, sugar cane, and other items. To
the mission in Honolulu he sent mats, oranges, pineapples, and one pig
to Bingham and one to Chamberlain. For George's passage, he gave
Captain Blanchard sandalwood to the value of $1,000.41 In late July,
Ruggles and Whitney with their wives and young Nathan Chamberlain
returned to Kauai to establish the mission.
July 1820 was an auspicious time for letter-writing, as the ship Ann,
Captain Hale commanding, was sailing for New England. The missionaries wrote a joint letter from Honolulu to the ABCFM, recommendingthat the Board immediately station on Kauai "an able preacher of theGospel, a skillful & devoted physician, an industrious farmer & an accomplished Lancasterian schoolmaster.'>42 Kaumualii wrote the ABCFM:
I w i s h . . . t o t h a n k y o u for t h e g o o d B o o k y o u w a s so k i n d as t o s e n d b y m y S o n . . . I
believe t h a t m y I d o l s are g o o d for n o t h i n g . . . m y g o d s I h a v e h o v e away. . . . I t h a n k
y o u for giving m y s o n l e a r n i n g . . . t h e m a n h e go w i t h b a d m a n h e fool m e h e tell m e
h e take g o o d care of m y S o n h e s p e a k lie. . . . I t h i n k m y S o n d e a d s o m e m a n tell m e
n o d e a d I tell h i m h e lie I s u p p o s e h e d e a d . . . . I t h a n k all A m e r i c a n p e o p l e . . . . I h o p ey o u t a k e g o o d care of m y p e o p l e i n y o u r C o u n t r y . . . , 4 3

George also wrote the ABCFM :. . . My reward for your kindness can only be expressed by protecting these servantsof yours now in our Kingdom. . . . I feel very happy myself to have their society,I feel almost in America. . . . My Father is much pleased of their being here. . . . I am
requested by my Father to send to you for a minister and several Mecanack's house &ship carpenters, cabinet makers, brick makers . . . and a farmer, and a good Saw
Mill. . . . The expenses I expect to pay myself and support those you send. I hope you
will permit me to choose some particular friends; for the minister I choose Mr. Stone.
The cabinet maker, Mr. Birdsey, [the] Farmer Col. Gold, all of Cornwall. . . , 44

To his friend, Principal Herman Daggett, George wrote:
I cannot help writing to one whom I esteem, and to inform him of my happy situation
and reception. . . . I shall not write many particulars, as I shall send you my Journal.
. . . I often take great pleasure in meditating on what you have taught me. . . . I thankyou for what you have done for me, in cultivating my mind. I think of the one that
instructed me often. . . . P. S. I send, with this letter, a particular family idol of myfather. 45

George also wrote to another dear friend in Cornwall, Colonel Benjamin
Gold:
45

. . . I have often thought of those hours I spent in your dwelling, those spent in yoursociety; Yes dear Sir could you experience my thoughts you would know that the ties
of affection were still fast, and not easily cast loose, and while the Sun, Moon, & Starsrool in their orbits let love, peace, harmony & friendship ever remain so. . . . I havemuch to do in fitting out several Vessels with Cargos of Sandalwood. Please give mylove to all your family, to Ruggles in particular, and to all enquiring friends.46

Finally, on August 2nd George hastily dispatched a brief note, hoping
it would catch the Ann, to Samuel Worcester, secretary of the ABCFM:
After I had closed my letter to you, Father sent word to me to request you to send him
a man that could make powder, if you will be so kind as to take notice of it, he will bemuch obliged to you. . . .47

George's last years are outlined in Stauder's article, from which a few
points are extracted. Within a short time it became evident that George
was not the son for whom Kaumualii longed. Erratic in his behavior, thetrappings of "heir apparent" vanished, and George retired with his wife
to Wahiawa on Kauai, living in seclusion. The death of Kaumualii in1824 may have been an incentive for George to dream once more of
ruling. He joined a group of Kauai chiefs in an unsuccessful rebellion.
The insurrection began at Fort Elizabeth and ended about ten days laterin Wahiawa. George fled to the mountains and in two months wascaptured. According to Samuel Whitney:
Some days before my arrival Karaimoku left Waimea to go in search of G. P. Tamoree
who was wandering about in the mountains on the Eastern part of the Island. On themorning of the 16th (September) he was found in the most wretched situation. In a
dreary wilderness, alone, destitute of food, without the least vestige of clothing, half
intoxicated and his only weapon a joint of bamboo filled with rum.48

It seems probable that George expected death at capture.
The closing year and a half of George's life were spent in Honolulu
under the custody of Kalanimoku, prime minster of the kingdom. A
victim of influenza, George died on May 3, 1826, six years to the dayof his return to Waimea, Kauai, His final resting place is not known.
Although I have not gone into the events George experienced after
returning home, it is probable that George's princely dreams of filling
the role of a high ali'i did not match with the many changes which took
place in Hawaii during his absence. When he finally returned to Kauai,
he found his father had ceded his two islands to the Kamehameha reign.
George found the old religion and tabus had been challenged and broken.
He no longer was a person possessing the royal power he considered his
right. In this sense, George was a casualty of cultural change. He was
stubbornly independent, imaginative, and erratic. In writing about46

George, Samuel Whitney said, " . . . we cannot but weep over thefolly of one, whose rank and talents might have secured to him thestation to which he aspired. . . ," 49 In the words of the ABCFM reporton his first public examination at Cornwall, George was "a man of
uncommon talents."

NOTES
1

The Hawaiian Historical Society has published three articles directly related toGeorge Prince Tamoree: John M. Lydgate, "Kaumualii, the Last King of Kauai,"
HHS, Twenty-Fourth Annual Report (1915) pp. 21-43; Ethel M. Damon, ed.,"George Prince Kaumualii," HHS, Fifty-Fifth Annual Report (1946) pp. 7-12;
Catherine Stauder, "George, Prince of Hawaii," HJH, 6 (1972) pp. 28-44. The
present article is centered on George Prince Tamoree's New England experience
between 1816 and 1819 and deals in particular with his relations to those individuals
responsible for the founding of the Foreign Mission School and to others who weredeeply concerned with its success. This phase of his life has not previously been
accorded attention. This article is a revision of a paper presented at the annual
meeting of the HHS, April 24, 1980.
2
Narrative . . . (New York: J. Seymour, 1816).
3
Ibid, pp. 39-42.
4"Captain James Rowan (the Hazard) for the Years 1802, 1803, and 1804," Ships
and Captains File, Bishop Museum Library.
5
Religious Intelligencer, 1 (1816), 446-447.
6Muster Roll of the U. S. Brig Enterprise, Lawrence Kearney, Esq., Commander,
p. 136; Muster Book of the U. S. Frigate Guerriere, Commodore John Rodgers,
Commander, p. 37; Muster Table, Boston, Charlestown Station, p. 92, Naval
Records, National Archives, Washington, D. C. There are a few discrepancies
between the dates given in this paper and those given by Stauder in her article.
The three muster records above list George Prince's station as "Landsman." On themuster table of Charlestown Station, George Prince reappears on May 14, 1816 as
No. 449, with his station recorded as "Boy" (p. 94). At this point, he answers theweekly roll call from May 19 through June 16. There is no notation of his being
discharged on June 16. One week later, again No. 449, George Prince, is entered into
the muster table as a "Landsman" (p. 98). He is discharged on September 27, 1816,
But this must be a different man, for George Prince Tamoree was already in Connecticut. According to Professor Gregory Dening of the University of Melbourne, anauthority on naval records, it was not unusual in the U. S. Navy for a newly enlisted
man to assume the name of one who had been previously discharged or separated
from the service.
7
Narrative, pp. 32-33, 38.
8Letter, Morse to wife, 11 September 1816. Sterling Library, Yale University(hereafter SLY).
9
Letter, Morse to wife, 14 September 1816. SLY.
10
Religious Intelligencer, 1 (1816), 446.
11
Ibid, p. 365.
12
Letter, Perkins to Worcester, 21 January 1817, American Board of Commissioners 1,
vol. 1, Agencies, no. 87, Houghton Library, Harvard University (hereafter HLH).

47

13

Plaque at Haystack Monument, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.

14James Morris was born on January 19, 1752 and graduated from Yale College in
1775. He founded his own school for boys and girls at South Farms, Connecticut
in 1790. This school became the Morris Academy with a permanent building in 1803.
Morris died in Goshen, Connecticut on April 20, 1820 while returning home fromthe Foreign Mission School spring examinations.

15

Letter, Cornelius to Evarts, 17 March 1817, ABC 12.1, vol. 1, Agencies, no. 14, HLH.

16

Letter, Morris to Worcester, 27 February 1817, ABC, Ms. no. 43, HLH.
17
Ibid.
18
Stauder, "George," pp. 36-38.
19

Letter, Tamoree to Cotting, 2 January 1817, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, Agencies, sec. 2,
FMS, HLH.
20
Edward C. Starr, A History of Cornwall, Connecticut: A Typical New England Town
(New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor, 1926) p p . 139-140.
21
Letter, Obookiah to Samuel Wells, Jr., 16 June 1817, Sattig Collection, SLY.
22
Letter, Morse to Elizabeth A. Morse, 19 September 1817, SLY.
23
Whether Obookiah died of typhus, typhoid, or some other fever is uncertain.
24
Panoplist (December 1818), p p . 291-292.
25
Letter, Daggett to Worcester, 14 November 1818, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, Agencies, sec. 2,
no. 100, H L H .
26
Letter, Daggett to Worcester, 18 December 1818, A B C F M , no. 101, H L H .
27
Letter, Daggett to Morse, 6 January 1819, SLY.
28
Letter, Tamoree to Morse, 17 January 1819, SLY.
29
Thomas Ruggles Gold, son of Benjamin Gold, was born in Cornwall on March 25,
1789 and graduated from Yale College in 1806. He died in Washington, D . C. on
December 30, 1829.
30
Letter, Tamoree to Morse, 21 January 1819, SLY.
31
Letter, Stone to Morse, 22 January 1819, SLY.
32
Ibid.
33
" M e m b e r s of t h e Foreign Mission School," handwritten m s . by L e o n a r d Hicks(a Cherokee student at the school), Connecticut Historical Society Library, Hartford,
Connecticut.
34

Letter, Daggett t o Worcester, 7 M a y 1819, A B C 1, vol. 1, Agencies, n o . 104, H L H .
Letter, Daggett to Worcester, 27 September 1819, A B C F M , n o . 108, H L H .
36
Letter, Daggett to Worcester, 7 October 1819, ABCFM, no. m , HLH.
37
Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872), eldest son of the three surviving childrenof Jedidiah Morse and Elizabeth Ann Breese Morse. Portrait painter, better known
for his invention of the telegraph and the Morse Code.
38
Letter, Daggett to Worcester, 6 November 1819, ABCFM, no. 113, HLH.
39
Lucy G. Thurston, Life and Times of Lucy G. Thurston (Ann Arbor: S. C. Andrews,
1882) p. 23.
40
Stauder, "George," p. 40.
41
Lydgate, "Kaumualii," p. 37.
42
Letter, Bingham, Chamberlain, Whitney, Ruggles, and Loomis to Worcester, 23 July
1820, ABC 19.1, vol. 1, no. 112, HLH.
43
Letter, King Tamoree to Worcester, 28 July 1820, ABC 19.1, vol. 1, no. 282, HLH.
44
Letter, Tamoree to Worcester, 27 July 1820, ABC 19.1, vol. 1, no. 280, HLH.
35

45

Letter, Tamoree to Daggett, 28 July 1820, ABC 12.1, vol. 2, Agencies, sec. 2, FMS,
no. 125, HLH.
46
Letter, Tamoree to Gold, 29 July 1820, Torrington Historical Society Library,
Torrington, Connecticut.
47
Letter Tamoree to Worcester, 2 August 1820, ABC 19.1, vol. 1, no. 283, HLH.
48
Letter, Whitney to Evarts, 30 September 1824, ABC 19.1, vol. 2, no. 31, HLH.
49
Letter, Whitney to Evarts, 14 September 1824, ABC 19.1, vol. 2, no. 30, HLH.

49