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.

Starting in 1836 he organized a group of students collecting notes from the chiefs and elders of the community, guided by a questionnaire.

[4] One of the older students, David Malo, had served as court genealogist during the time of Kamehameha I so took the lead.

In the winter of 1838–1839 he toured the southern United States and gave lectures on Hawaiian history, publishing a 250-page volume of notes.

[4] He helped establish a Royal Historical Society with Malo and Samuel Kamakau and others, and acted as the first secretary.