Lucy Thurston (1795–1876) was one of the first American missionaries to Hawaii. Her autobiography, “Life and Times of Mrs. Lucy G. Thurston,” is a vivid account of missionary life in the 1800s.
This year is the 225th anniversary of her birth.
She was born on Oct. 29, 1795, in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Her father was Abner Goodale. Her mother was probably Mary Howe, but little is known about her.
Thurston graduated from Bradford Academy and became a schoolteacher.
In 1819, she read a newspaper advertisement about Hawaiian King Kamehameha inviting missionaries to Hawaii. To be accepted, missionaries had to be married.
On Oct. 12, 1819, she married Asa Thurston, a congregational minister who held a theology degree from Yale University.
Before their wedding, they were strangers. Several days after their marriage, they sailed with other missionaries on a 5-month voyage aboard the ship Thaddeus. They reached Kawaihae on the island of Hawaii on March 30, 1820.
The king asked them to stay on the island to establish a missionary station at his residence. Seven months later they moved to Honolulu, where the first two of their six children were born.
They gained a thorough knowledge of the native language, translating many parts of the Old and New Testaments. While living on various islands, male and female missionaries transcribed books, established a printing press and built churches and houses. The women also cared for their families and the sick, planted gardens and held sewing circles.
Amid all the successes, they also encountered trials. In the 1830s, someone burned their church. The natives mourned profusely before helping to build a stone church.
Health issues
Lucy was temporarily paralyzed while having her fifth child, Thomas. During an illness, she took strychnine instead of quinine, which almost caused her death. She traveled to the U.S. for treatment and returned to Hawaii in 1851.
The next year, a doctor diagnosed her with breast cancer. Because of her earlier paralysis, her doctor decided not to use chloroform.
During a 1 1/2-hour surgery, the doctor removed the entire left breast and the glands beneath the arms.
Lucy was awake through it all. She sat in a chair with her daughter, Persis, behind her, washing her temples. Her son, Asa, held her down.
The operation was successful, and she lived another 24 years.
After 40 years as a missionary, Asa retired. The couple lived with daughter Mary in Honolulu. Asa died in 1868. Lucy died of a heart problem in 1876.
Author James Michener fictionalized Asa and Lucy’s life in his novel “Hawaii.”
Share with others: