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The Protestant Mission Grows (1854-70)
The Protestant missionaries were aided considerably by the young and ambitious
Nahnken of
Kitti, who seemed to have more influence than the paramount chief of the same
district during those times. Yet, the dramatic
conversions the missionaries hoped for were slow in
coming. In 1854, a new mission was founded in Madolenihmw
by Luther Gulick. The following year a new missionary, Edward
Doane, arrived with his wife and a Hawaiian
assistant named Kamahahiki.
Doane made attempts in Sokehs, but left Pohnpei a year later
to help in the Marshall Islands. Very little headway was ever
made in the north. The
Gulicks followed the Doanes to the Marshall Islands that same
year. Only the Sturges remained behind to carry on the work
on the mission. The Nahnken of Kitti was eventually converted a year before his death
in 1864, a turning point for the mission. His inclusion in the church brought about widespread
acceptance of the new religion by the Kitti people. By
the 1870s the mission was firmly entrenched and quite successful, especially in
Kitti, Madolenihmw, and U.
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