Talk:Mary Sophia Hyde Rice

Last surviving member of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions

I think she was the last surviving member of the 12 companies sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. I wonder if there are sources directly ststing this?KAVEBEAR (talk) 16:03, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

Yes. The obituary here says "she was the last survivor of the original missionaries who came to Hawaii between 1820 and 1848, the twelve companies."Penny Richards (talk) 23:22, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

Thanks. I was actually thinking of Mary Elizabeth Parker or Mother Parker who actually died before Rice. Just added it. KAVEBEAR (talk) 23:36, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

The article is looking great! You've expanded it very nicely, lots of good details with references; so thank you. Penny Richards (talk) 23:38, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

No problem. I actually put very little effort in this one compared to my other works. Most it was copied from her husband’s article with some additional reading into the sources you used. I wouldn’t have edited it had you not started on this article. The wives of the missionaries were as important as their partners but often receive less historical coverage because of their gender. KAVEBEAR (talk) 23:41, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

Liliuokalani

According Helena G. Allen [1], the queen did not attend Oahu College until she was a married women when she was under the instruction of Susan Mills. I’m questioning the accuracy of the obituary on Rice on this part and removing the mention of the queen for the time being. KAVEBEAR (talk) 22:33, 4 September 2018 (UTC)

Unfortunately, these years are more scantily documented than any other period of her life. We can catch only brief, but revealing, glimpses of her in the letters and papers of Susan Tolman Mills and Abraham Fornander to support Lydia Aholo's later account and to place her in the milieu of her times. Even in her old age, Liliuokalani found it a painful period to remember. The continued pressure from John regarding her inadequacies in education brought about her contact with Susan Mills. Perhaps a meeting of two such women of like interests is not coincidental. Susan Mills and her husband, Cyrus, had been missionaries in Ceylon; they were now teachers in Oahu College, formerly Punahou School.1 They would later found Mills College in Oakland, California. On a late February day in 1865, Liliu appeared at the door of Oahu College, correctly dressed as a Victorian matron, and requested admittance as a student. She proved to be something of a surprise, then and later, to Mrs. Mills, as she wrote that ". . . she had the marvelous bearing of a high chiefess, but she far surpassed her race in intelligence."2 Mrs. Mills' concepts of equal education for Caucasian women, instilled by her own remarkable teacher, Mary Lyons of Mount Holyoke College, had not yet extended to equal rights for women of all races. When Liliu made her prim request to be a student, Mrs. Mills felt it was unseemly, for Oahu College had been established for young haole men, primarily of missionary descent. While no official record can be found of Lydia Dominis as enrolled in Oahu College, Susan Mills noted in her journal that "she became one of our pupils. We were impressed by her musical talent." Later years show that although Liliu continued her study of music, she became a student of much more. She caught the fire of a true educator and was to follow in the tradition of Mary Lyons and Susan Mills in ideals and purposes although never allowed to carry them out as she wished despite her many attempts. Liliu's latent spark of intellect...

— Allen 1982, pp. 109–110