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

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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

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Hawaiian Breadfruit, oil on canvas painting c. 1890

References

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  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. S. C. Andrews.
  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.
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