A Kamaaina Company Contributing to the Planned Growth of Hawaii
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In December 1854, while en route to a mission post in Micronesia, Jane Shipman
gave birth to a son in Lahaina, Maui. For the sake of his wife's health,
the Reverend William Cornelius Shipman decided to forgo the trip to Micronesia
and took his family instead to the island of Hawai'i, to a lonely mission
station in Ka'u. Several generations later, the Shipmans were among the island's
best-known families, recognized to this day not only for their contributions
to East Hawaiii's civic life, but to a variety of charities and other worthwhile
causes.
After poring over hundreds of missionary documents and family papers, Emmett
Cahill has pieced together the history of a proud Island family that bears
witness to the many personal and public achievements of its members while
providing readers with an entertaining record of life in Hawai'i in days past.
We read of the struggles of Reverend Shipman and his family in remote Ka'u;
of young William's rise to prominence as a major land owner and of his marriage
to Mary Kahiwaaialii Johnson, a formidable woman who was destined to become
a Shipman matriarch; of Herbert Shipman's efforts to save the nene, the state
bird of Hawai'i, from extinction and of his role in bringing the orchid industry
to Hawai'i. The Shipmans of East Hawai'i will be of great interest to those
concerned with the missionary era and the development of agriculture in Hawai'i
and the history of East Hawai'i in general.
Published by University of Hawai'i Press
1996
ISBN 0-8248-1680-3
© 2000 W. H. Shipman, Limited. All rights reserved.