Harvey Rexford Hitchcock (March 13, 1800 – August 25, 1855) was an early Protestant missionary to the Kingdom of Hawaii from the United States. With his three sons, he and his wife started a family that would influence Hawaii's history. He had at least three namesakes in the subsequent generations.
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Life
Harvey Rexford Hitchcock was born March 13, 1800, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. His father was David Hitchcock and mother was Sarah Swan. He was the oldest son of 11 children. He graduated from Williams College in 1828, and Auburn Theological Seminary in 1831.
His younger brother George B. Hitchcock (1812–1872) also became a minister, and was active in the American abolitionism movement known as the Underground Railroad.
He married Rebecca Howard (1808–1890) on August 26, 1831, in Auburn, New York, and sailed on November 26 to the Hawaiian Islands, as part of the fifth company from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. They arrived in Honolulu May 17, 1832. Also on this voyage were missionaries William P. Alexander, David Belden Lyman, and Lorenzo Lyons. His sister Elizabeth Hitchcock (1802–1857) arrived 3 years later and in 1836 married missionary printer Edmond Horton Rogers (1806–1853).
They were assigned to start the first mission on the island of Molokaʻi. He took a short scouting mission around the island in the summer of 1832, and in September held the first Christian service in the open air. By June 19, 1833, with the assistance of Lowell Smith (1802–189), a thatched hut was chartered as the first church in an area called Kaluaʻaha. Ka lua ʻaha means "the gathering pit" in the Hawaiian language, the name of the ahupuaʻa (ancient Hawaiian land division) there.