MMHC Home Hours About Us Contact Us Collections Exhibits Search HML Home

LUTHER HALSEY GULICK


Luther Halsey & Louisa Gulick
Luther Halsey Gulick was born in Honolulu June 10, 1828, the son of the Rev. Peter Johnson and Fanny Hinckley (Thomas) Gulick. His parents arrived in Hawaii on March 30, 1828, with the Third Missionary Company.

He was educated at Auburn Academy, New York, then attended New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1847, and received his M.D. from New York University on March 9, 1850. He also attended lectures at Union Theological Seminary, New York City, and was ordained there on October 5, 1851.

Dr. Gulick married Louisa Mitchell Lewis on October 29, 1851, at New York City. They had seven children: Sarah Frances (Mrs. Frank F. Jewett), Harriet Mitchell (Mrs. Cyrus A. Clark), Sidney Lewis, Edward Leeds, Luther Halsey, Jr., Orramel Hinckley II, and Pierre Johnson. On November 18, 1851, along with other missionaries, Dr. and Mrs. Gulick sailed on the ship "Esther May" bound for Micronesia.

Arriving in Honolulu March 28, 1852, the Gulicks stopped over for some four and a half months. It was during this visit in Honolulu that Dr. Gulick became the chief organizer of the Hawaiian Mission Children's Society, whose members were children of missionaries who pledged themselves to help in Christianizing the islands to the south and to support the work of Dr. and Mrs. Gulick. The Gulicks left for Ponape in the Caroline Islands on July 15, 1852, and arrived there on September 11. On Ponape Dr. Gulick reduced the language to writing and prepared school books, hymn books, and translations from the Scriptures. They moved to Ebon in the Marshall Islands in December, 1859, but the doctor's failing health brought them back to Hawaii in 1860.

From Hawaii he journeyed to the Marquesas as a delegate from the Hawaiian churches to their mission there. From the Marquesas he went to California where he proved to be such a dynamic speaker that his appeals for funds for missionary work in Micronesia were most successful. In September, 1862, he went to New York and continued to speak in behalf of missions until August, 1863. Returning to Honolulu, Dr. Gulick became Secretary of the recently reorganized board of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association and was instrumental in reorganizing the churches after the withdrawal of the American Board of Foreign Missions.

In 1870 Dr. Gulick returned to the United States and served as one of the district secretaries of the American Board. From 1871 to 1874 Dr. and Mrs. Gulick were sent to Spain and Italy to inaugurate the work of the American Board among Roman Catholic populations. Back in the United States Dr. Gulick entered the service of the American Bible Society. In 1876 he was sent by the Society to Japan, and, after completing the translation of the Bible into Japanese, he went to China. In China he not only printed and distributed Scriptures but also edited the "Chinese Recorder" and conducted services for the foreign residents in Shanghai.

In 1890 Dr. Gulick's health failed and he returned to the United States where he made his home with one of his sons. He died April 8, 1891, at Springfield, Massachusetts, shortly before his 63rd. birthday.

In Memoriam Index


MMHC Home Hours About Us Contact Us Collections Exhibits Search HML Home
Copyright © 1996-2003 Hawaii Medical Library. All rights reserved.