The Rev. D. Puhi Has Passed Away
("Ua Hala o Rev. D. Puhi", Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, May 11, 1895)
At about 7 on May 8, the Rev. D. Puhi, a longtime pastor of these islands, passed away. His hometown was Haneoo in Hana.
On being ordained as a minister, he returned to Kaupo and lived with the writer. I was 10 years old at the time and he was 30. Thus, he lived in excess of 80 years. He has been released from his labors as a minister.
He spent a long time at the church in Kipahulu. When he became frail, he left for Pauoa to live with his children and grandchildren until he passed away.
His child’s spouse, a youngster in the Royal Hawaiian Band, made preparations for the deceased’s body and then set sail for the Golden Gate to support his family.1
Though the days are many, they are filled with troubles. Blessed is the one who dies in the Lord.2
J. P. IWA,
His adopted child.
Auwaiolimu, May 9, 1895.
A Father of Righteousness Has Passed
("Hala ia Makua o ka Pono", Ka Makaainana, May 13, 1895)
On Tuesday night at about 11 here in Pauoa, the Rev. D. Puhi departed this life and set out on the eternal road of all beings.3 The cause of his death was a heart attack. He was previously an elder in service of the church of Hana. Because of his failing health, he left this work and came here to Honolulu to seek treatment. He was 87 years old.4 He leaves behind children, numerous grandchildren and many family members mourning his passing. On Wednesday afternoon,5 his remains were interred at Pauoa cemetery in the presence of family, friends, acquaintance and members of Ka Puali o ke Aloha. Aloha to this venerable leader for righteousness.6
Pauoa cemetery.
Rev. Daniel Puhi
A long life of very bright and faithful witnessing for the Lord Jesus closed its earthly portion in the decease of this aged saint on the 8th of May. My acquaintance with Puhi began at Hana, Maui, in 1861. In that missionary pastorate of four years, he was my most reliable church elder, always faithful to duty, of sound judgment, deeply devout, and of most consecrated spirit. Although he had enjoyed only common school instruction, he was a master of Scripture knowledge. About the year 1865, it was thought wise to appoint him the pastor of the church at Kipahulu, and he was ordained to that work, in which he served for over twenty years, until age and infirmity removed him. He proved a judicious and efficient pastor.
Puhi was a well grown boy when the first missionaries arrived in 1870. His father was the priest of the famous old heiau of Mookini near the point of Kohala, and instructed his son in the arts of the kahuna and of idolatry. He may well have espied the Thaddeus7 when she passed Kohala, March 31, 1820. He learned to abhor the old superstitions with the deepest loathing. I well remember the detestation he expressed when on voyaging to Honolulu in 1865, he found on the schooner a noted fisherman’s god, with its kahuna brought from Hana by order of Kamehameha V and set up at Kakaako for the benefit of the king’s fishery.
Mr. Puhi had been feeble for more than a year before his death, which took place on the Pauoa road in this city. Thus has passed away from us one of the most true and saintly of the old style of Hawaiian Christians who loved the Gospel light the more intensely because of the ancient darkness whose miseries they had experienced.
S. E. B.8
Below is the first obituary in the original Hawaiian:
Ua Hala o Rev. D. Puhi
Ma ka hora 7 paha o ka la 8 o Mei, ua hala o Rev. D. Puhi, kekahi kahunapule kahiko o keia Paeaina. O Haneoo i Hana kona wahi noho.
No ke koho ia ana i haiolelo, ua hoi mai oia i Kaupo a noho pu me ka mea kakau, he 10 ko’u mau makahiki ia manawa a he 30 kona, nolaila, ua piha he 80 o kona mau makahiki. He oihana kahunapule kana oihana a kuu aku la ka luhi.
Ua noho loihi oia i ka Ekalesia o Kipahulu, a no ka nawaliwali, ua waiho aku oia a ua hoi mai i Pauoa ae nei e noho pu ai me na keiki a me na moopuna a hala wale aku la.
Na kana hunona i hoomakaukau i na mea e pono ai kona kino lepo, a haalele iho, au aku keia no ka Ipuka Gula no ka imi ana i ke ola no ka ohana, oia kekahi o na keiki Puhiohe Lahui.
Ua loihi na la, ua piha nae me na popilikia. Pomaikai ka mea make iloko o ka Haku.
J. P. IWA,
Kana Keiki-hanai.
Auwaiolimu, Mei 9, 1895.
Footnotes
- James Poohina, the husband of Puhi’s daughter Deborah, participated in a mainland tour of the Royal Hawaiian Band that began in San Francisco on May 17, 1895.
- Revelation 14:13.
- Tuesday would have been May 7, a discrepancy from the article above, which lists May 8 as the date of death.
- According to the Thirty-Second Annual Report of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association (June 1895), Puhi’s age at death was 84.
- i.e., May 8.
- Note: Russell Kallstrom provided translation and research assistance for the above obituaries.
- The ship that brought the first missionaries to Hawaii.
- Sereno Edwards Bishop.