Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Obookiah, Henry

OBOOKIAH, Henry, missionary, b. on the island of Hawaii about 1792; d. in Cornwall, Conn., 17 Feb., 1818. He was brought to New Haven, Conn., in a merchant vessel in 1809. After he had obtained an excellent English education in the families of friends in Andover, Mass., and Goshen and Canaan, Conn., the ministers of Litchfield county, Conn., formed the plan of a special school to prepare natives of heathen countries for missionary service. He was active in soliciting money for the proposed mission-school, which was established at Cornwall, Conn., in 1817. There were brought into it other Kanakas besides Obookiah, as well as pupils from Hindustan and some North American Indians. While there he was seized with a fatal fever, after nearly completing a Hawaiian dictionary, grammar, and spelling-book, besides translating the book of Genesis into his native language. His “Memoirs” were published (New York, 1818).