User:Wildbill750/sandbox

Edwin Oscar Hall (1810–1883) was a missionary and member of the cabinet of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Life
Born at Walpole, New Hampshire, Edwin Hall was educated at Canandaigua Academy, New York, and trained for the printing trade at Detroit and New York City. He married Sarah Lyon Williams in 1834. They sailed on Hellespont and were part of the seventh comany of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. On arrival June 6,1835, the couple was stationed in Honolulu. They were to have four children. The first printing done in this section was at the missionary station of Lapwai, in what was then Oregon, and was afterward Washington, and finally Idaho. The printer was Edwin O. Hall of the Honolulu mission, subsequently editor of the Polynesian. Accompanied by his wife, he visited Lapwai in the spring of 1839, bringing with him a small press and material, to the value of $500, a present from the Honolulu converts. With this he instructed Smith and Rogers of Lapwai in the printing art, remaining until 1841, during which time translations of a part of the book of Matthew, some hymns, and school primers were printed in the Nez Percé language for Spalding's use in teaching. The historic press was placed among the public relics of Oregon.

On his return, Hall was appointed director of the official press of the Kingdom and editor of the Polynesian, a governmant newspaper. Hall was released from the Boston mission in 1850 to head he Department of Finance of the Kingdom in the absence of Dr. G. P. Judd in 1849 and 1850. Hall left the government service in 1855 to set up a mercantile business, the firm of E.O. Hall & Son, which operated until it was absorbed by Theo. H. Davies., Ltd., in 1873. In 1862, his daughter Cornelia Hall a local businessman and politician, Peter Cushman Jones. In that year Hall was appointed Minister of the Interior and president of the Board of Health. On the death of his first wife, he married Mary Lyon Dame in 1878 in Pennsylvania. Hall died in Falmouth, Maine but was buried in Honolulu.

In the following years, items produced at Hale Pa‘i included books, broadsides, hīmeni (hymns), newspapers, rules, primers, and the first translation of the Bible into the Hawaiian language. Prominent early missionary printers included Elisha Loomis, Stephen Shepard, Edmund Rogers, Lemuel Fuller, and Edwin Oscar Hall. Hale Pa‘i is considered the birthplace of the written Hawaiian language.

Business Life
The business of E. O. Hall & Son, Limited, was commenced in 1852, under the firm name of E. O. Hall, at the corner of Fort and King streets, Honolulu, the site still occupied by the firm. For over a year after starting, the business was under the personal charge of Mr. T. L. Leyman, a half-brother to E. O. Hall, who at that time was editing the Polonesian newspaper. In these early years most of the customers were natives, and besides hardware the stock consisted of dry goods of all kinds and quite an assortment of groceries. In 1859 William W. Hall entered the employ of the firm as clerk, and became partner with his father in 1865, when the name of the firm was changed to E. O. Hall & Son. The firm continued to deal in hardware, agricultural implements, dry goods, leather, paints and oils, silver-plated ware, wooden ware, tools of all kinds, kerosene oil, etc., until about the year 1878, when dry goods were dropped, except a few staple articles. In 1880 "Mr. E. Oscar White, a grandson of E. O. Hall, became an employe of the firm. In 1883 the business was incorporated, and during that same year Edwin O. Hall, the founder of, the business, died while on a visit to the United States.

About ten years ago the company put in stock a complete line of ship chandlery, and this has become one of the principal features of the business. This includes a large assortment of manila rope and iron and steel wire rope of all sizes up to four inches.

The capital stock of the corporation is $150,000. The following are the officers of the corporation, who also constitute the Board of Directors: William W. Hall, President and Manager; E. Oscar White, Secretary and Treasurer; William F. Allen, Auditor; T. May and T. W. Hobron, Directors.

Category:1822 births Category:1899 deaths Category:Hawaiian Kingdom politicians Category:Members of the Hawaiian Kingdom House of Representatives Category:Hawaiian Kingdom Interior Ministers Category:Members of the Hawaiian Kingdom Privy Council Category:Members of the Hawaiian Kingdom House of Nobles Category:Hawaiian Kingdom Finance Ministers Category:Hawaiian Kingdom Attorneys General Category:German businesspeople Category:People from Hanover