The Caroline lands ABCFM missionaries, starting Pohnpei’s first Protestant mission.

What happened

The schooner Caroline from Honolulu brought the American Board (ABCFM) missionaries who began Pohnpei’s first Protestant mission. The pioneers of the Micronesia mission were three American couples, the Gulicks, the Sturgeses and the Snows, with two Hawaiian families; the Snows went to Kosrae, and by 1854 Albert Sturges was working in Kitti.

Why it matters

By the time Spain arrived in 1887, half of Pohnpei’s people were Protestant church members, and the mission later sent Pohnpeian teachers to carry Christianity to the Mortlocks and Chuuk.