Hawaii: Today in History 1/3
1-03-1852 1st Chinese arrive in Hawaii
Tin-Yuke and Wai Jane Char
There has been conflicting information as to which part of South China the
first Chinese contract laborers came from. On January 3, 1852, 195 Chinese
arrived on the Thetis under Captain John Cass. The place of origin of the
immigrants was an important factor in Hawaii Chinese history because of
dialectal and regional differences in China.
The error causing confusion occurred in the 1886 report of the Hawaiian
Bureau of Immigration, which listed “Hong Kong” as the port of departure.
Date Name of vessel From Men Nationalities
Jan. 3, 1852 Thetis Hong Kong 195 Chinese
Aug. 2, 1852 Thetis Hong Kong 98 Chinese
The correct entry for both January 3 and for August 2 should have been
“Amoy, Fukien.”
Another paper in this Journal by Professor Clarence E. Glick, who has
previously written much about the Chinese in Hawaii, fully substantiates
Amoy as the port of origin of these first contract laborers who came to
Hawaii.1
Besides the error in the immigration report, other conditions among the
Hawaii Chinese lent credence to the wrong assumption. The provincial and
regional customs and dialects of the Hong Kong, Macao, and Canton areas
surrounding the Pearl River estuary were prevalent here among the early
Hawaii Chinese. There are now no remnants of Fukienese organized social
groups nor traces of clubhouses and regional temples, except for one cemetery.
The southern Fukien (Hokkien) dialect has not been in common use among
the Hawaii Chinese. In general, Chinese from the Pearl River delta were
those who emigrated to Hawaii, the South Pacific, South and North America
during the nineteenth century’s world-wide recruitment of Chinese labor.
1-03-1840 Father Joseph Damien de Veuster, Belgian helped lepers in Hawaii
Father Damien or Saint Damien of Molokai, SS.CC. or Saint Damien De Veuster. 3 January 1840 – 15 April 1889),[2] born Jozef De Veuster, was a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,[3] a missionary religious institute. He won recognition for his ministry from 1873 to 1889 in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi to people with leprosy (also known as Hansen’s disease), who were required to live under a government-sanctioned medical quarantine on the island of Molokaʻi on the Kalaupapa Peninsula.[4]
During this time, he taught the Catholic faith to the people of Hawaii. Father Damien also cared for the patients himself and established leadership within the community to build houses, schools, roads, hospitals, and churches. He dressed residents’ ulcers, built a reservoir, made coffins, dug graves, shared pipes, and ate poi from his hands with them, providing both medical and emotional support.
After eleven years caring for the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of those in the leper colony, Father Damien realized he had also contracted leprosy when he was scalded by hot water and felt no pain. He continued with his work despite the infection but finally succumbed to the disease on 15 April 1889. 
1-03-1971 Ku’ualoha Taylor, Hawaii, Miss USA (Hawaii-Miss Congeniality-1996)
