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Abraham Fornander
Abraham Fornander (November 4, 1812 – November 1, 1887) was a Swedish-born emigrant who became an important journalist, judge, and ethnologist in Hawaii.
Fornander was born in Öland, Sweden on November 4, 1812, to Anders (1778–1828) and Karin Fornander (1788–1872). His education was under his father, a local clergyman, except for the years 1822–1823 when he studied Latin, Greek, and Hebrew at gymnasium in Kalmar. His mother's surname was spelled Foenander, so his surname is sometimes spelled that way.
In 1828, he began studying theology at the University of Uppsala, transferring in 1830 to the University of Lund. In 1831, he left university to attend to his family, which had fallen under hard times.[citation needed][clarification needed] While providing for his family,[clarification needed] he fell in love with his mother's youngest sister, who was four years his senior. After a short affair, Fornander left Öland, traveling to Malmö and then Copenhagen, from where he traveled to America.
The next years are poorly documented, but Fornander wrote that circumstances in America forced him to go to sea and become a whaler.[citation needed] After first arriving at the Hawaiian islands in 1838, he joined a whaling cruise which returned in 1842. Following his stint at sea, English physician Thomas Charles Byde Rooke hired Fornander as a coffee planter in Nuʻuanu Pali, Oahu. In 1847, Rooke hired Fornander as his land surveyor.
On January 19, 1847, Fornander became a citizen of the Kingdom of Hawaii after taking an oath of allegiance to Kamehameha III.[citation needed] In the same year, he married Pinao Alanakapu, a Hawaiian chiefess of Molokai, in Honolulu. Per his obituary, the couple had three daughters and one son, of whom only Mrs. J. H. Brown (Catherine) survived to adulthood (b. 1849, d. 1905).[citation needed] His wife died on 20 January 1857 of puerperal fever, four days after giving birth to their son Charles.
Beginning in 1849, as Hawaii began to consider further constitutional change, Fornander began writing for an upstart paper, the Argus, which he eventually took over. He used his paper to advocate responsible government, improvements to public education, and reform. When the paper failed in 1855, Fornander began a new venture called the Sandwich Islands Monthly, which was to cover both items of local interest and discussion of the great scientific, literary, and theological questions of the day. Although the magazine survived less than a year, a recurring theme in Fornander's writing was a concern for the status and condition of native Hawaiians. Fornander then went to work for The Polynesian, a rival publication that he now edited until its demise in 1864.
In late 1863, the new Hawaiian king Kamehameha V recognized Fornander's talents and appointed him to the nation's privy council, which were thirty of the most distinguished men in the islands. In May 1864, the King made Fornander a judge, a position that he held for less than a year before he was made superintendent of the Honolulu school district, and then in March 1865, Inspector General of Schools for the entire kingdom.
Fornander had long been an advocate of public education, and his administration had three main goals: to put the system on a non-sectarian basis, improve opportunities for girls, and improve the teaching of English. The first of these goals won him the increasing animosity of American Protestant missionaries, who saw his attempt at even-handedness as disguised prejudice. By July 1870, their opposition had become great enough to replace Fornander as Inspector General.
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Abraham Fornander
Abraham Fornander (November 4, 1812 – November 1, 1887) was a Swedish-born emigrant who became an important journalist, judge, and ethnologist in Hawaii.
Fornander was born in Öland, Sweden on November 4, 1812, to Anders (1778–1828) and Karin Fornander (1788–1872). His education was under his father, a local clergyman, except for the years 1822–1823 when he studied Latin, Greek, and Hebrew at gymnasium in Kalmar. His mother's surname was spelled Foenander, so his surname is sometimes spelled that way.
In 1828, he began studying theology at the University of Uppsala, transferring in 1830 to the University of Lund. In 1831, he left university to attend to his family, which had fallen under hard times.[citation needed][clarification needed] While providing for his family,[clarification needed] he fell in love with his mother's youngest sister, who was four years his senior. After a short affair, Fornander left Öland, traveling to Malmö and then Copenhagen, from where he traveled to America.
The next years are poorly documented, but Fornander wrote that circumstances in America forced him to go to sea and become a whaler.[citation needed] After first arriving at the Hawaiian islands in 1838, he joined a whaling cruise which returned in 1842. Following his stint at sea, English physician Thomas Charles Byde Rooke hired Fornander as a coffee planter in Nuʻuanu Pali, Oahu. In 1847, Rooke hired Fornander as his land surveyor.
On January 19, 1847, Fornander became a citizen of the Kingdom of Hawaii after taking an oath of allegiance to Kamehameha III.[citation needed] In the same year, he married Pinao Alanakapu, a Hawaiian chiefess of Molokai, in Honolulu. Per his obituary, the couple had three daughters and one son, of whom only Mrs. J. H. Brown (Catherine) survived to adulthood (b. 1849, d. 1905).[citation needed] His wife died on 20 January 1857 of puerperal fever, four days after giving birth to their son Charles.
Beginning in 1849, as Hawaii began to consider further constitutional change, Fornander began writing for an upstart paper, the Argus, which he eventually took over. He used his paper to advocate responsible government, improvements to public education, and reform. When the paper failed in 1855, Fornander began a new venture called the Sandwich Islands Monthly, which was to cover both items of local interest and discussion of the great scientific, literary, and theological questions of the day. Although the magazine survived less than a year, a recurring theme in Fornander's writing was a concern for the status and condition of native Hawaiians. Fornander then went to work for The Polynesian, a rival publication that he now edited until its demise in 1864.
In late 1863, the new Hawaiian king Kamehameha V recognized Fornander's talents and appointed him to the nation's privy council, which were thirty of the most distinguished men in the islands. In May 1864, the King made Fornander a judge, a position that he held for less than a year before he was made superintendent of the Honolulu school district, and then in March 1865, Inspector General of Schools for the entire kingdom.
Fornander had long been an advocate of public education, and his administration had three main goals: to put the system on a non-sectarian basis, improve opportunities for girls, and improve the teaching of English. The first of these goals won him the increasing animosity of American Protestant missionaries, who saw his attempt at even-handedness as disguised prejudice. By July 1870, their opposition had become great enough to replace Fornander as Inspector General.
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