Elizabeth Edwards Bishop
Title
Elizabeth Edwards Bishop
Subject
Elizabeth Edwards Bishop (June 2, 1798 - February 21, 1828)
Elizabeth Edwards Bishop’s death is well documented. We stand here at her headstone, a memorial that will forever name her as “The First Of The Missionary Band To Enter Into Rest.” She was the first adult death in the mission. In life, Mrs. Bishop was a vibrant woman. Those who knew her described her as intelligent, hardworking, and a pleasure to know.
Elizabeth Edward’s mother and father both died when she was young, and Elizabeth became self dependent at an early age. She excelled in her schooling at Bradford, a co-educational institution in North-Eastern Massachusetts, and grew into a “cheerful,” “hopefully pious” young lady. There, she became close friends with a young Lucy Thurston, another future member of the missionary band.
After some time as an educator, Elizabeth Edwards was introduced to Artemas Bishop. Both had applied for the Sandwich Islands Mission, him as a missionary and her as a missionary assistant. Both were accepted, and they were married less than two weeks before the ship set sail to Hawaiʻi in 1822.
In a twist of fate, Elizabeth’s childhood friend, Lucy Thurston, was accepted as well, and they were reunited when the Bishops were stationed in Kailua-Kona in 1824. The pair were fast friends. According to Mrs. Thurston, Mr. Bishop said that the two of them were “so alike in their ideas and plans he thought we were born under the same planet.”
For the next few years, Elizabeth was a hardworking missionary assistant in a state of good health. She “exerted herself” thoroughly in educational affairs, such as the day school and Sunday school, and regularly attended the Friday meeting for women. She and Artemas had two children, but the good times were not to last.
After the birth of Sereno, her second child and only son, Elizabeth’s health began to decline. A doctor in Honolulu said that her illness was dyspepsia, a stomach ailment. A later exhumation showed that her lower spine was contorted into a prominent curve, one that must have caused her great suffering. Whatever the cause, the local doctor was not able to aid in her suffering. As Lucy told it, Elizabeth died peacefully. Near midnight on her last day, there was a lull in her pain. “‘Let me depart in peace’, she said calmly, and fell to sleep as peacefully as the infant in its mother’s arms.” She was 31 years old, and her son had just turned one.
Sometime later, a letter was found tucked away in a secret drawer of Elizabeth’s writing desk. Dated October 10, 1816, the note was written by a Nanny Batchelder from Bradford Academy, six years before she would leave for Hawai’i and eleven before her death and presumably kept with her all that time. The note read:
Miss Elizabeth Edwards.
May guardian angels all your steps attend,
And every blessing crown my dearest Friend,
In every state may you most happy be
And when far distant, sometimes think of me
Elizabeth Edwards Bishop
Born June 2, 1798, Marlborough, Massachusetts
Died February 21, 1828, Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi
“Bishop, Artemas - Missionary Letters - 1822 - Bishop, Elizabeth Edwards papers,” Hawaiian Mission Houses Digital Archive, accessed May 19, 2022, https://hmha.missionhouses.org/items/show/270.
Forbes, D. W., Kam, R. T., & Woods, T. A. (2018). Elizabeth (Edwards) Bishop. In Partners in change: A biographical encyclopedia of American Protestant missionaries in hawai'i and their Hawaiian and Tahitian colleagues, 1820-1900. essay, Hawaiian Mission Children's Society.
Massachusetts. Board of Education. (1837). Bradford Academy, Bradford: Arranged from items furnished by Miss Annie E. Johnson, Principal. In Annual report of the Board of Education (Vol. 1875-76, pp. 262–264). essay, Boston, The Board. https://archive.org/details/annualreportofbo7576mass/page/n1/mode/2up
Elizabeth Edwards Bishop’s death is well documented. We stand here at her headstone, a memorial that will forever name her as “The First Of The Missionary Band To Enter Into Rest.” She was the first adult death in the mission. In life, Mrs. Bishop was a vibrant woman. Those who knew her described her as intelligent, hardworking, and a pleasure to know.
Elizabeth Edward’s mother and father both died when she was young, and Elizabeth became self dependent at an early age. She excelled in her schooling at Bradford, a co-educational institution in North-Eastern Massachusetts, and grew into a “cheerful,” “hopefully pious” young lady. There, she became close friends with a young Lucy Thurston, another future member of the missionary band.
After some time as an educator, Elizabeth Edwards was introduced to Artemas Bishop. Both had applied for the Sandwich Islands Mission, him as a missionary and her as a missionary assistant. Both were accepted, and they were married less than two weeks before the ship set sail to Hawaiʻi in 1822.
In a twist of fate, Elizabeth’s childhood friend, Lucy Thurston, was accepted as well, and they were reunited when the Bishops were stationed in Kailua-Kona in 1824. The pair were fast friends. According to Mrs. Thurston, Mr. Bishop said that the two of them were “so alike in their ideas and plans he thought we were born under the same planet.”
For the next few years, Elizabeth was a hardworking missionary assistant in a state of good health. She “exerted herself” thoroughly in educational affairs, such as the day school and Sunday school, and regularly attended the Friday meeting for women. She and Artemas had two children, but the good times were not to last.
After the birth of Sereno, her second child and only son, Elizabeth’s health began to decline. A doctor in Honolulu said that her illness was dyspepsia, a stomach ailment. A later exhumation showed that her lower spine was contorted into a prominent curve, one that must have caused her great suffering. Whatever the cause, the local doctor was not able to aid in her suffering. As Lucy told it, Elizabeth died peacefully. Near midnight on her last day, there was a lull in her pain. “‘Let me depart in peace’, she said calmly, and fell to sleep as peacefully as the infant in its mother’s arms.” She was 31 years old, and her son had just turned one.
Sometime later, a letter was found tucked away in a secret drawer of Elizabeth’s writing desk. Dated October 10, 1816, the note was written by a Nanny Batchelder from Bradford Academy, six years before she would leave for Hawai’i and eleven before her death and presumably kept with her all that time. The note read:
Miss Elizabeth Edwards.
May guardian angels all your steps attend,
And every blessing crown my dearest Friend,
In every state may you most happy be
And when far distant, sometimes think of me
Elizabeth Edwards Bishop
Born June 2, 1798, Marlborough, Massachusetts
Died February 21, 1828, Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi
“Bishop, Artemas - Missionary Letters - 1822 - Bishop, Elizabeth Edwards papers,” Hawaiian Mission Houses Digital Archive, accessed May 19, 2022, https://hmha.missionhouses.org/items/show/270.
Forbes, D. W., Kam, R. T., & Woods, T. A. (2018). Elizabeth (Edwards) Bishop. In Partners in change: A biographical encyclopedia of American Protestant missionaries in hawai'i and their Hawaiian and Tahitian colleagues, 1820-1900. essay, Hawaiian Mission Children's Society.
Massachusetts. Board of Education. (1837). Bradford Academy, Bradford: Arranged from items furnished by Miss Annie E. Johnson, Principal. In Annual report of the Board of Education (Vol. 1875-76, pp. 262–264). essay, Boston, The Board. https://archive.org/details/annualreportofbo7576mass/page/n1/mode/2up
Collection
Citation
“Elizabeth Edwards Bishop,” Hawaiian Mission Houses Digital Archive, accessed November 21, 2024, https://hmha.missionhouses.org/items/show/14113.