Persis Goodale Thurston Taylor

Persis Goodale Thurston Taylor (September 28, 1821 – April 20, 1906) was a painter and sketch artist.

Persis Goodale Thurston Taylor
Persis Goodale Thurston Taylor (c.1859)
Born
Persis Goodale Thurston

(1821-09-28)September 28, 1821
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Died(1906-04-20)April 20, 1906 (aged 84)
Honolulu, Hawaii
NationalityAmerican
Known forPainting
Spouse
Townsend Elijah Taylor
(m. 1847)

Biography edit

Her parents, Reverend Asa Thurston (1787–1868) and Lucy Goodale Thurston (1795–1876), were in the first company of American Christian missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands.[1] When she was four, she had been asked to be given in hānai to Princess Kapulikoliko, daughter of Kamehameha I. Her mother politely refused. The concept of giving a child to be raised by a relative or friend was common in Hawaii, but it horrified the missionaries who preached one doesn't give out their children like puppies.[2]: 88 

For three years, she lived in Lahaina, Maui, where she assisted in the work of the seminary press at Lahainaluna School.[3] In 1847, she married Rev. Townsend Elijah Taylor of LaGrange, New York, who was serving as the seaman's chaplain for the Port of Lahaina.[4]

Taylor is best known for her landscapes (two of which were made into engravings at the Lahinaluna seminary) and silhouettes of both missionaries and Hawaiian royalty.[3]

Family tree edit

 
Hawaiian Breadfruit, oil on canvas painting c. 1890

References edit

  1. ^ Thurston, Brown (1892). Thurston Genealogies. B. Thurston.
  2. ^ Lucy Goodale Thurston (1882). Life and Times of Mrs. Lucy G. Thurston, wife of Rev. Asa Thurston.
  3. ^ a b Severson, Don R. (2002). Finding paradise : island art in private collections, Honolulu Academy of Arts. Michael D. Horikawa, Jennifer Saville. Honolulu: Honolulu Academy of Arts, University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-2657-4. OCLC 49553660.
  4. ^ "Persis Goodale Thurston Taylor - Artist Facts". www.askart.com. Retrieved 2021-03-18.

External links edit