The Rev. Mr. George Brayton Whipple:
1st Rector of Good Shepherd Church 1867-1874
- born in 1830
- "He had become very wild and careless while in college and for some years
gave me (his brother, Bp. Henry Whipple of Faribault, Minnesota) the deepest solicitude.""At my suggestion he went to sea on a whaler, and as I believe being truly
converted lived on the cruise a consistent Christian life. Such was the
testimony of the Capt Nickerson of Ship Phoenix. .."
- a linguist
"He understands the native tongue thoroughly, speaks and writes it fluently
and while there, it became like his mother tongue so that he often
thought in it."
- a "Low Churchman"
" No clergyman nearer than Lahaina, twenty five miles distant,
and the one there is too much wedded to chasubles, candles, ecclesiastical colors
etc etc etc, to have much sympathy with one who wears mourning (his own
expression for surplice and black stole) in the chancel.."
- embarassed by his bishop
"The Bishop visited us about five weeks ago and expressed himself
exceedingly gratified with all the work here...
He did not bring his regalia, nor did he, as I could have wished,
bring what I suppose Archdeacon would have called his mourning robes.
He officiated in a linen chasuble (a short white circular cloak) and a narrow gilt stole,
and being a small man with very small legs, in gaiters,
his appearance was rather grotesque than dignified,
and failed to make such an impression on my congregation as I would have desired.
Even the scarlet Cambridge hood with which he sometimes varied the programme
was a disfigurement rather than otherwise,
to a dress already sufficiently ungraceful. I was glad that at the
Confirmation he wore a surplice rather than the other array."
- in need of money
"living is very expensive here
& I need hardly tell you that moving and settling are no less so.
Besides, building, though it has been undertaken by the Mission
which has paid of course the nominal cost, according to the estimate,
has entailed upon me an incredible outting in the way of little odds and ends
which it was absolutely necessary to have done and for which
I had neither authority nor encouragement to call upon the Mission.
I teach five hours a day five days in the week but my school money,
and plenty more, has been absorbed in this Mission property.
But I am through building now and hope after a time to turn around with less embarrassment.
I have sent to Dr Breck a letter telling of my work.
Please ask him to let you see it, and if you have any Sunday School offerings to dispose of
I can find plenty of use for them here."
- insisted on liturgical freedom from his (high-church) bishop
"I received a telegram from Bp. Staley requesting me to [go] back to the Sandwich Islands
and open a station at Waimea with church altar services and every thing as I like...
I would much prefer to stay here (in Petaluma, California)
but once the Bishop has been so willing to make concessions on the way of services
or rather to allow me liberty with regard to them I cannot well refuse to return."
- struggled with "the Lay Pope", Capt. Makee of Ulupalakua
"Capt M. has very kindly arranged matters, and as he has asked me to stay
another year or until next spring, I cannot well refuse.
Yet I cannot make up my mind to place myself longer under a lay pope,
as he shows no symptoms of concession with regard to the English Mission."
- 33rd degree Mason; he was chaplain at Masonic funeral for King Kamehameha IV
- beloved;
"The funeral (in 1888) was the largest ever held in Faribault..
Nearly all the business houses of the city were closed..""Brave in the discharge of every manly duty;
gentle as a loving woman in his administrations to the sick;
generous to the last cent in providing for the needy;
patient in teaching the way to immortal life;
ready in his response to the call of distress..."WHO WAS HIS WIFE?
- eager to come
- a talented teacher
"His intended is a young lady of high character, thoroughly educated --
can teach French -- and one of the most apt teachers I ever knew."
- eager to share the best of her heritage:
"when the trimming was all finished
and the [chapel] lighted brilliantly for Christmas Eve service,
the children and the grown people too,
who had been working all day to make these Christmas decorations,
were well pleased with the result of their labors...
The happy time of giving and receiving the fruit of the wonderful Tree was at length over,
and after a 'Farewell to thee, O Christmas Tree', a Collect and the Blessing,
the children.. went home, happy with their (gifts)
and I hope, to be happy many times in the recollection of this first Christmas Tree in Wailuku."
- " They had no children; while in Hawaii they adopted two girls, Emma and Eva Havens.
The father of these children was an Englishman and the mother a native (Hawaiian).
They were both talented young women. They both died in early womanhood."
- WHO WAS THE Ojibway GIRL WHO CAME WITH THEM?
"When the Rev. & Mrs. George Whipple came to Maui,
they brought a 12-yr-old part-Indian (her father was French) girl from Minnesota.
This girl, Clara Rohrer Mocomonic, served as organist. She later married William F. Mossman.
Their many descendants are prominent in Hawaii." Mulholland, Hawaii's Religions, p. 148
- a letter from Mrs. Whipple reports:
"Ours is a day school. Mr. W. has between 30 and 40 natives and half-caste boys.
Clara has over 20 children, mostly girls -- there are four small boys --
and I have 12 children... All are taught in English.
The schools all meet together for prayers in the morning,
but are separate for the rest of the day.
We teach from 9a.m. until 2 p.m..."
Mrs. Whipple's brother-in-law, the Rev. Lloyd Breck,
was a founder of St. Columba's Mission for the Chippewa in Minnesota,
which was associated with the cathedral in Faribault where George Whipple's brother Henry was bishop.
Rev. Breck, "Apostle of the Wilderness", is remembered in the church's calendar on April 2nd.
He was a founder of Nashotah House and Seabury Divinity School (now Seabury-Western).