HOLMAN, Thomas, Dr. [1793-1826] -- American physician and missionary

Dr. Holman was educated at Cherry Valley Medical School, New York, and prepared for his missionary work at the Cornwall Foreign Mission School in the summer before his departure for the Sandwich Islands [Hawaii].

Dr. and ¤Mrs. Holman, members of the Pioneer Company, sailed from Boston, October 23, 1819, brig Thaddeus, Captain Blanchard; anchored at Kailua, Hawaii, April 4, 1820, a voyage of 164 days.

They were left at Kailua to establish a missionary station at the residence of the king, Kamehameha II. Later they moved to Lahaina and on to Honolulu before spending eight months on the Island of Kauai.

Dr. Holman, as the mission's first physician, delivered many of their first children to the young missionary couples. However, he and his wife did not adjust in spirit to their fellow workers and there was a mutual decision that they depart the mission. They did so July 30, 1820, returning to the United States with their one child, Lucia Kamamalu, in the whaleship Mentor, via Canton and the Cape of Good Hope, 1821, arriving at Boston, May 15, 1822. They had received their dismissal from the ABCFM. May 12, 1822. [Missionary Album Portraits and Biographical Sketches of the American Protestant Missionaries of the Hawaiian Islands, Sesquicentennial Edition, (Hawaiian Mission Children's Society, Honolulu, HI), 1969, pp. 168-169]

I'm sure that there must be a very interesting story lurking behind that last paragraph! They stayed only 3 months! -R.  
 

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