Sheldon Dibble

Sheldon Dibble (January 26, 1809 – January 22, 1845) was a missionary to Hawaii who organized one of the first books on Hawaiian history, and inspired students to write more.

Early life

Dibble was born in Skaneateles, New York on January 26, 1809. He graduated from Hamilton College in 1827, and the Auburn Theological Seminary in October 1830, where he married Maria M. Tomlinson (1808–1837).

They arrived in the fourth company from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1831 on the ship New England from New Bedford.

He was one of the youngest missionaries, only 22 years old when he arrived.

They had a son who died at the young age of 8 and a daughter Mary, who died at 18 months in 1831, and is buried in Lahainaluna alongside her parents.

After the death of his first wife, he married a cousin of his first wife, Antoinette Tomlinson (1809–1897), in 1839. They had a son Seymour and a daughter Clara. Antoinette and the children moved back to the United States in 1848.

Work

He was first stationed at the Hilo mission, but transferred to Maui island in 1836. He became a teacher at Lahainaluna School, the mission seminary founded by Lorrin Andrews at the time. He thought it strange that students were learning the history of other nations but had no books describing their own history. Starting in 1836 he organized a group of students collecting notes from the chiefs and elders of the community, guided by a questionnaire. One of the older students, David Malo, had served as court genealogist during the time of Kamehameha I so took the lead.