Mike Foley | University Advancement | 17 March 2007
Several BYU-Hawaii professors and others helped the Mormon Pacific Historical Society (MPHS) delve into the past of key Church leaders in Hawaii and the dynamics of Tongan wards outside of Tonga, among other topics discussed at the organization's annual conference on March 17 in the Little Theater.
For those not familiar with it, MPHS is an organization loosely affiliated with BYU-Hawaii that started on campus 27 years ago and studies the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Pacific. In addition to an annual conference — the proceedings of which can be found online — MPHS sponsors occasional study tours. For example, the group has met at historical sites on Oahu, gone to the neighbor islands and traveled twice to New Zealand. MPHS, which includes community members, holds about half of its conferences off-campus.
In the latest gathering, new BYU-Hawaii history professor Isaiah Walker presented a fascinating glimpse into the life of his ancestor, Abraham Fernandez (1857-1915), a descendant of Hawaiian ali'i or royalty. He joined the Church in 1895 after a missionary blessed and miraculously healed his daughter. Fernandez went on to serve in many Church leadership positions in Hawaii as well as hosting missionaries and visiting authories at his home in Kalihi. He is also known for baptizing Queen Lili'uokalani in 1906.
Fernandez's wife, Minerva Davis Fernandez, also the descendant of ali'i, became a charter member of the Kapi'olani Birthing Center, and their son, E.K. Fernandez — who later in life became closely associated with the entertainment industry in Hawaii — was the first Hawaiian to attend BYU in Provo.
Walker explained that Fernandez's conversion happened in the historical context of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893, and that "many Hawaiian families were strong believers in the Church and fought to maintain the monarchy." Fernandez had served on Queen Lili'uokalani's Privy Council.
"The LDS Church was a healthy alternative to Calvinist Christianity," which was associated with those who overthrew the monarchy, Walker added.
Minerva Fernandez was one of the few people allowed to visit the queen while she was imprisoned in 'Iolani Palace during the revolution (1893-98); and the queen became interested in the Relief Society book Minerva was studying while deciding to join the Church.
"The Fernandez family occasionally brought Lili'uokalani out to Laie, where she was very warmly received. She also made at least two trips to Salt Lake City...and was always accompanied by the Fernandez family," Walker said. "She went and visited Iosepa, the Hawaiian colony there. Another thing they did was drop off E.K. Fernandez at Provo."
"The Fernandez family found in the LDS Church a vehicle or way in which to address the needs of the Hawaiian people," he continued, noting that after Fernandez died, his wife became a prominent Relief Society leader and also helped many Church members through her work with the hospital, which still exists.
BYU-Hawaii anthropology professor Tevita Ka'ili shared some of his research into käingalotu or Tongan wards in the diaspora. "The term käingalotu is actually made up of two important terms…käinga which means kin or land…people who are related to each other, and also share communal land [and] lotu basically means worship, or people who worship together. We put these together, and we get people who worship together are kin. When you worship together, you are family. Diaspora refers to a dispersal of people from their ancestral homeland, and also...the different places they live in the world."
Ka'ili explained that based on 2000 stats, "the number of Tongans that live outside of Tonga are about equal to the number who live in Tonga," with most of them concentrated in California, Utah and Hawaii — "where you find most of the Tongan wards, or uooti Tonga" — and also in Nevada, Arizona, Texas, American Samoa, New Zealand and Australia.
"There are 52 Tongan-speaking wards in the United States," he said, estimating the number of members in the diaspora could be as high as 50,000 — almost as many as the 52,000 members of the Church in 160 wards in Tonga.
"The Tongan wards [abroad] are not just about language.... There are also cultural reasons why the Tongan wards are thriving," Ka'ili continued, explaining that the concepts of symmetrical and harmonious relationships, mutual support and reciprocity are very important in Tongan culture.
"Once you're living outside of Tonga, your new kin are those you go to Church with. What I've found in my research is this new kind of kin is even stronger than blood," Ka'ili said. He also pointed out cultural considerations in a Tongan ward mean the bishop would call the ward together for a funeral, for example — something the family would normally do in Tonga, and his clerk might be responsible for collecting money for the family, while the Relief Society gathers the koloa or traditional mats and goods. The Relief Society might also organize homemaking meetings to "make sure they have enough tapa for the next funeral."
"In a käingalotu you also have an orator who speaks on behalf of the ward, and it's not always the bishop; it's a matäpule [traditional leader].... They will also have failotu or praying together and eating together."
This year's MPHS conference also included presentations on Edward LaVaun Clissold (by Brian O'Brien), a prominent Church leader in Hawaii for 50 years (1920s-70s); several missionaries who served in Hawaii in the early 1900s (Melanie Harris' great-grandfather, Elder Isaac Fox; and Elder Ford Clark by Dean Ellis and Win Rosa); intercultural marriage at CCH/BYU-Hawaii (by P. Alf Pratte); and the "'awa rebellion" in Laie and Kahana (by BYUH history professor Dr. Cynthia Compton). BYU-Hawai student Haitelenisia Uhila, an education and TESOL major from Tonga, also presented her paper on "Early LDS Education in Tonga"; and BYU-Hawaii Archivist Matt Kester reviewed some of the new technology and collections now available in the Library. For example, two new online sources are are being continually updated:
Current MPHS president and BYU-Hawaii TESOL professor Dr. Mark James, said the organization plans to go to Kalaupapa in April (that tour is fully subscribed) and is "looking for any other targets of opportunity that come our way."