The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1910-12-13
CELEBRATES ITS
Anniversary
Mormon Church introduced Into
Hawaii Sixty Years Ago
Yesterday.
tTrom Monday . Ad1ertiser.l

AGANm ahNhuNy ANNeNtlholsI
Broad tables loaded with all the
finest dishes Of the well.beloved luau,
royal Hawaiian music from the Royal
Hawaiian Band, extra services in the
church and good cheer all around yes.
terday marked the sixtieth anniversary
of the Mormon Church in Hawaii. Full.
ly eight or nine hundred people par.
took of the feast that was spread under
the green seallops Of Punehbowl and
drank unspoken toasts 20 the memory
of the little band of Mormon leaders
who landed on Hawaii nei in the after
noon of December IL, 1850
At the morning services of the
church w. j. Cole and Il. l.. Miner
gave historical sketches of the fond.
ing and progress of the Church of Lat
ter Day Saints in Hawaii. The former,
overseer and assistant manager of the
Laie, plantation, spoke of the life and
antecedents of George Q. Cannon whose
work resulted in yesterdays celebra-
ton after thirty thousand persons had
accepted the Book of Mormon through
his patient endeavor in the Sandwich
Islands
! Brother Miner spoke on the progress
of the church after the Book had been
translated into the Hawaiian tongue by
Cannon and the seeds of the faith
which has attracted the religious atten-
ton of the world and the political at
tention in the country where it orig
mated, had been planted.
| Brother Cole spoke of the little Can
non family which dwet on the Isle of
Mann, where the Book of Mormon was
first read by George Cannon, the father,
who after perusing it, exclaimed:
can evil-minded man could not have
written such book and an honest man
would not. >"
Sometimes afterwards, when John
Taylor carried the church into Eng
land, the Cannon family were living
in Liverpool and they there embraced
the Mormon religion. Two years after
they had become members of the rapid
ly growing church they immigrated to
Nauvco, Illinois, and on October 8,
1s47, they arrived in Salt Lake, a few
months after the pioneers. In 1S49
George Q. Cannon, then a young man,
and others moved forward to Califor-
mia and Joined the ranks of the 49ers,
still active in the propagation of the
faith
Cannon had not been in California
long before he received orders to pro-
coed to the Sandwich Islands on mis-
siorary work. They expected to spread
their faith among the whites but found
so few that it was decided to introduce
it to the Hawaiians. With the excep-
tion of three, all finally returned to the
mainland, Cannon was the youngest of
those who remained and he spent his
time in learning the language, eventual
ly transating the Book of Mormon
into that tongue.
Brother Miner took up the subject
where the previous speaker had left it
and carried the Mormon Church through
the sixty years of its existence in Ha-
wall. When Cannon left the Hawaiian
Islands he had made 1000 converts to
his religion and since that time thirty
thousand have acknowledged the faith.
At the present time S2l5 persons in all
constitute the Mormon Church in Ha-
wall.
While Brother Coles address had
been made in Hawaiian, Brother Miner
continued it in English. There are now
seventy-six branches of the church in
Hawaii, he said with seventy-two sun
day schools, thirty-eight Young Folks
women relief societies and seventeen
Improvement Associations, forty.fve
primaries.
The membership of the Hawaiian
branches Of the church is divided as
follows: Lay members, 54s7; children
under eight years of age, 1862; elders
and those holding priesthood, 1898;
priests, 112; teachers, 151; deacons, 175.
i There are missionaries of the church
in nearly every town and settlement in
the Hawaiian Islands and between Jan
nary first and September there were
1872 public meetings held at the vari.
Gus churches. Besides these there were
! 1877 cottage" meetings and 294 mis-.
| cellaneous meetings.
There is still large sale for the four
/ standard books of the church and dur.
5 ing the year 13l have been sold. OF
Q miscellaneous books relating to the
{ church, 647 volumes have been sold
l OF miscellaneous books relating to the
' church, 647 volumes have been sold.
= These and other figures relating to the
/, church were all contained in Brother
l Miners address
r The congregation had made its own
arrangements and preparations for the
q luau. Committees were appointed two
i weeks ago and the expense was borne
by members Of the church. In the
evening there was a regular meeting of
the mItual improvement association,
rounding out the days festivities