Ursula Sophia Emerson ( Newell; September 27, 1806 – November 24, 1888) was an American missionary in the Hawaiian Islands who co-founded the Waialua Protestant Church, later renamed the Liliʻuokalani Protestant Church, with her husband John Smith Emerson.
Early life Ursula Sophia Newell was born in Nelson, New Hampshire, the daughter of Gad Newell, a pastor, and Sophia Clapp Newell.George L. Cady, "Granite Hills and Great Hearts" The Friend (January 1921): pp. 9–10.
Mission work
Ursula Newell married John Smith Emerson on October 25, 1831. She and her new husband sailed to Hawaii in 1832, part of the fifth company of missionaries sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM).James L. Haley, Captive Paradise: A History of Hawaii (MacMillan 2014); Most of their work was located on the north shore of Oahu, at Waialua, where they were supported by High Chief Gideon Peleʻioholani Laʻanui. They founded the Liliʻuokalani Protestant Church, on lands donated by Laʻanui,"Liliuokalani Church marks its 175th year" Honolulu Star Bulletin (July 28, 2007). where she led the singing "with energy and precision",Clifford Putney, Missionaries in Hawai'i: The Lives of Peter and Fanny Gulick, 1797–1883 (University of Massachusetts Press 2010): p. 89. and a school for teachers, where she taught."The Emersons", Liliuokalani Protestant Church website.
Ursula Newell Emerson drew some of the earliest surviving manuscript maps of Hawaiʻi, in 1833, for teaching use; they are now in the collection of the Hawaiian Historical Society."5 Missionaries and Maps" from Gary L. Fitzpatrick, The Early Mapping of Hawai'i: Palapala'aina (Editions Limited 1994). Her journals and letters detailing her life on Oahu remain a useful source for historians of the islands.Seth Archer, Sharks upon the Land: Colonialism, Indigenous Health, and Culture in Hawai'i, 1778–1855 (Cambridge University Press 2018): p. 195; .l
Writing about her duties as a missionary, she noted:
Personal life
Ursula Newell and John Emerson raised seven sons and a daughter, all born in Hawaii: Samuel Newell (1832–1910), William Schauffler (1834–1852) John Lowell (1837–1849), Nathaniel Bright (1839–1915), a Harvard-trained physician and writer, Justin Edwards (1841–1923), Joseph Swift (1843–1930), Oliver Pomeroy (1845–1938), and Sophia Elizabeth (1849–1883). One of her grandsons was artist Arthur Webster Emerson.Nathaniel Bright Emerson Papers, finding aid, Huntington Library, San Marino CA.
She was widowed in 1867. She died on November 24, 1888, aged 82 years. Her gravesite is in the Liliʻuokalani Church Cemetery.Edna R. Reese, "Early Wailua History Recalled in Historic Church Graveyard" Honolulu Star-Bulletin (May 29, 1958): p. 12. via Newspapers.com
In the 1920s, stamps that Ursula Newell Emerson may have sent to a childhood friend in New England became the subject of controversy and lawsuits, as uncancelled missionary postage from Hawaii was a rare find for collectors.Paul K. McCutcheon and Herbert A. Trenchard, "Grinnell Hawaiian Missionary Stamps", Smithsonian Institution Libraries.
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