Bartimea Puaaiki, watercolor depiction by C

Clarissa Chapman Armstrong (May 15, 1805 – July 20, 1891) was an American missionary in the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost ...

and

Marquesas Islands The Marquesas Islands (; french: Îles Marquises or ' or '; Marquesan: ' (North Marquesan) and ' (South Marquesan Marquesan is a collection of East-Central Polynesian dialects, of the Marquesic group, spoken in the Marquesas Islands of ...

, from 1832 until 1847. She was part of the Fifth Company of missionaries sent to Hawaii by the

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...

(ABCFM).

Early life

Clarissa Chapman was born and raised on a farm in

Russell, Massachusetts Russell is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,643 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Russell is in western Hampden County, bordered ...

. Her father was "crippled by

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including ar ...

" and she remembered assisting him in farm work.Helen W. Ludlow
"Clarissa Chapman Armstrong"
in Hiram Collins Haydn, ed., ''American Heroes on Mission Fields: Brief Missionary Biographies'' (American Tract Society 1894): 255-298. She trained as a teacher. Her brother was

Reuben Atwater Chapman Reuben Atwater Chapman (Sept. 20, 1801 Russell, Massachusetts – June 28, 1873 Flüelen, Switzerland) was an American attorney who served as chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court from 1868 until his death in 1873. As a youth he was ...

, a judge in Massachusetts.Robert Francis Engs
''Educating the Disfranchised and Disinherited: Samuel Chapman Armstrong and Hampton Institute, 1839–1893''
(University of Tennessee Press 1999).

Mission work

Clarissa Chapman Armstrong sailed for Hawaii on a whaling ship in 1831, with her new husband, a Presbyterian minister. They were part of the Fifth Company of missionaries sent to Hawaii by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). She was pregnant for the entire six-month journey. Her first child, Caroline, was born two months after the couple arrived, in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the islan ...

. The couple with Benjamin and

Mary Barker Parker Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

were assigned as missionaries to

Nuku Hiva Nuku Hiva (sometimes spelled Nukahiva or Nukuhiva) is the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas country of France in the Pacific Ocean. It was formerly also known as ''Île Marchand'' and ''Madison Island''. Herma ...

in the Marquesas Islands from 1833 to 1834. Their first son was born there.Gary Y. Okihiro
''Island World: A History of Hawai’i and the United States''
(University of California Press 2009): 98-104. The failure of the Marquesan mission prompted them to return to Hawaii. They lived at Wailuku on Maui from 1835 to 1840, and then moved to Honolulu. Clarissa Chapman Armstrong taught literacy and Bible study classes for women. She did not always enjoy living among the native residents of Hawaii, writing that "Week after week passes and we see nothing but naked, filthy, wicked heathen with souls as dark as the tabernacles which they inhabit." Armstrong also made watercolor sketches of native Marquesan and Hawaiian people and places. Eric Kjellgren and Carol S. Ivory states: "During her time in the Marquesas, Clarissa Armstrong painted four small watercolor portraits. They show details of tattoo and personal adornment, and though somewhat naive in their rendering of the human body nevertheless capture the dignity, humanity, and individuality of their subjects." Subjects of her watercolor made in Hawaii included blind preacher Bartimea Puaʻaiki, Governor

Hoapili Ulumāheihei Hoapili (c. 1775 – January 3, 1840) was a member of the nobility during the formation of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He was a trusted military and political advisor to King Kamehameha I, known as "Kamehameha the Great". Although trusted ...

of Maui and Queen

Kalākua Kaheiheimālie Kalākua Kaheiheimālie, later known as Hoapili Wahine (–1842) was a member of Hawaiian royalty who was one of the Queen consorts at the founding of the Kingdom of Hawaii. She was mother of another Queen consort, and grandmother of two future k ...

. Richard Armstrong left mission work in 1847 to take secular employment as the Minister of Public Instruction under King Kamehameha III. Clarissa Armstrong no longer taught classes, but continued to hold Bible study meetings, now with other wives of Hawaiian chiefs and government officials, including Queen

Kalama Kalama Hakaleleponi Kapakuhaili (1817 – September 20, 1870) was a Queen consort of the Kingdom of Hawaii alongside her husband, Kauikeaouli, who reigned as King Kamehameha III. Her second name Hakaleleponi is Hazzelelponi in Hawaiian. E ...

. The Armstrongs lived in "the Stone House", a property of the Kingdom of Hawaii, which Clarissa kept as her residence after Richard's death in 1860. She sold the Honolulu house in 1881, and moved to

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for "Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, to join her daughter's work at a Christian mission in that city's Chinatown.

Personal life

Clarissa Chapman married Richard Armstrong on September 5, 1831, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They had ten children. Their oldest son,

William Nevins Armstrong William Nevins Armstrong (March 10, 1835 – October 16, 1905), aka Nevins Armstrong and aka W. N. Armstrong, was the Attorney General of Hawaii during the reign of King David Kalākaua. He is most widely known outside of Hawaii for the book ''A ...

(1835–1905) was Attorney General of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1880 to 1882. Their youngest son,

Samuel Chapman Armstrong Samuel Chapman Armstrong (January 30, 1839 – May 11, 1893) was an American soldier and general during the American Civil War who later became an educator, particularly of non-whites. The son of missionaries in Hawaii, he rose through the Union A ...

(1839–1893) was a Union Army general during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

and afterwards the founder of the Hampton Institute. She became a widow when Richard died in a riding accident in 1860. She died on July 20, 1891, aged 86 years, from injuries sustained in a fall, in San Francisco. Her gravesite is in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. Her papers are archived with Samuel Chapman Armstrong's at

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kille ...

.Richard and Clarissa Chapman Armstrong, 1826–1890
in the Samuel Chapman Armstrong Papers, Williams College.

References

External links

* * Michael Colbruno

''Lives of the Dead: Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland '' (July 6, 2012). {{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Clarissa Chapman 1805 births 1891 deaths People from Hampden County, Massachusetts People from Bridgeport, Connecticut American emigrants to the Hawaiian Kingdom American Presbyterian missionaries Female Christian missionaries Presbyterian missionaries in Hawaii 19th-century American educators Educators from Hawaii 19th-century American women educators People from Wailuku, Hawaii Protestant missionaries in French Polynesia Artists from Hawaii People from San Francisco Accidental deaths in California Accidental deaths from falls