Matthew Hunkin
Matthew 'Mataiō' Hunkin (22 September 1815 – 15 April 1888) was an English sailor, trader, missionary, and member of the London Missionary Society (LMS). He was one of the first Europeans to settle in the Samoan Islands. In his later years, he became a United States consular agent on the island of Tutuila and a notable landowner in Leone. He is the founder of what may be the oldest lineage of mixed European and Samoan origin. He also established one of the first shops on Tutuila Island.[1]
Early life
[edit]Hunkin was born in Mevagissey, Cornwall, England. In February 1838, he married a Samoan woman of high rank, Fatumalala Fai’ivae Aumavae Ilaoa Hunkin, in Leone. They were the parents of 4 sons and 3 daughters. He is the founder of what may be the oldest lineage of mixed European and Samoan origin.[2]
He died on 15 April 1888, in Leone.
Life in Sāmoa
[edit]Matthew Hunkin arrived in Pago Pago in 1834 and joined Archibald Murray under the patronage of High Chief Mauga. The two toured villages on Tutuila’s eastern coast, then moved to Leone, where Murray started planning the Mission Institute for Pacific Islanders at Fagatele on the village’s outskirts.[3]
In 1836, Matthew Hunkin wed Fatumalala Faiivae - the daughter of Leone’s High Chief Faiivae - becoming one of the first Europeans to settle in Sāmoa. After building a boat for King Tui Manu'a in the Manuʻa Islands, he resided in Leone. Recognized by the London Missionary Society (LMS) as an assistant missionary, Hunkin later attempted to evangelize Niue. He left the church in 1849, opened one of Tutuila’s earliest shops in Leone, and donated land there for mission houses.[4]
Hunkin’s effort to open Niue to the London Missionary Society fell short, after which he managed the LMS station in the Manuʻa Islands. He left the mission in 1849 and reinvented himself as a trader, U.S. consular agent for Tutuila, and landholder in his wife’s village of Leone - establishing one of the earliest European-Samoan family lines. The U.S. consul in Apia also hired him as tender, but in 1888 U.S. Consul Harold M. Sewall advised closing the Tutuila agency, suggesting the U.S. Navy employ Hunkin directly to oversee the coal depot in Pago Pago. He died a few months before any decision was finalized.[5][6]
References
[edit]- ^ Sunia, Fofō Iosefa Fiti (2001). Puputoa: Host of Heroes - A record of the history makers in the First Century of American Samoa, 1900-2000. Suva, Fiji: Oceania Printers. Pages 53-54. ISBN 982-9036-02-2
- ^ Gilson, Richard Phillip (1970). Samoa 1830 to 1900: The Politics of a Multi-cultural Community. Oxford University Press. Page 143. ISBN 978-0-19-550301-2
- ^ Neems, Hugh (2016). A Vision Shared. George Lambert. Page 45. ISBN 978-0-9557282-3-5
- ^ Sunia, Fofō Iosefa Fiti (2001). Puputoa: Host of Heroes - A record of the history makers in the First Century of American Samoa, 1900-2000. Suva, Fiji: Oceania Printers. Pages 53-54. ISBN 982-9036-02-2
- ^ Gray, John Alexander Clinton (1960). Amerika Samoa: A History of American Samoa and its United States Naval Administration. United States Naval Institute. Page 105. ISBN 978-0-87021-074-7
- ^ Gilson, Richard Phillip (1970). Samoa 1830 to 1900: The Politics of a Multi-cultural Community. Oxford University Press. Page 143. ISBN 978-0-19-550301-2