Alatau T. Atkinson

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix=

| name= Alatau T. Atkinson

| honorific-suffix=

| image = File:Alatau T. Atkinson2.jpg

| caption =

| office = Territory of Hawaii
Superintendent of Public Instruction

| term=

| term_start = September 6, 1900

| term_end =April 1905

| governor= Sanford B. Dole

| predecessor=

| successor =

| office1= Republic of Hawaii
House of Representatives

| term_start1 = February 16, 1898

| term_end1= July 7, 1898

| president1 = Sanford B. Dole

| predecessor1 =

| successor1 =

| office2= General Superintendent of the Census

| term_start2 = 1896

| term_end2= 1896

| office3= Inspector General of Schools

| term_start3 = 1893

| term_end3= 1898

| office4= Kingdom of Hawaii
Inspector General of Schools

| term_start4 = 1891

| term_end4= 1893

| monarch4 = Liliʻuokalani

| term_start5 = 1887

| term_end5= 1891

| monarch5 = Kalākaua

| birth_name = Alatau Tamchiboulac Atkinson

| birth_date = {{birth date|1848|11|16}}

| birth_place = Qapal, Russian Empire

| death_date = {{death date and age|1906|4|24|1848|11|16}}

| death_place = Honolulu

| restingplace= Oahu Cemetery, Hawaii.

| nationality = American

| alma_mater = Rugby School

| occupation = Educator

| mother=Lucy Atkinson

| father=Thomas Witlam Atkinson

| spouse= Annie Humble

| children = 7

}}

Alatau Tamchiboulac Atkinson (November 4, 1848–April 24, 1906) was a member of the House of Representatives for the Republic of Hawaii.{{cite web |last1=Atkinson |first1=Lucy |title=Recollections of Tartar steppes and their inhabitants |url=https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/atkinson/steppes/steppes.html#V |website=UPenn Digital Library |publisher=John Murray |access-date=March 3, 2025}} He served as Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Territory of Hawaii following annexation to the United States. Appointed Inspector General of Schools for the Kingdom of Hawaii, he served under the administrations of Kalākaua and Liliʻuokalani, and continued in the position under the Provisional Government of Hawaii and the Republic of Hawaii . A journalist and newspaper owner, he is believed to have been one of two authors of satirical works lampooning Walter Murray Gibson{{'s }} cabinet regime under Kalākaua. Atkinson Drive in the Ala Moana area of Honolulu, was named to honor him.

Background

He was born in the small town of Qapal in the Kazakh steppes of Central Asia, which was then part of the Russian Empire, to British explorers Lucy Atkinson and Thomas Witlam Atkinson, who named him after the famous Tamshybulak Spring in Qapal and the Alatau Mountains (Tien Shan), and spent the first ten years of his life in various areas of the Russian Empire, such as Siberia, Central Asia, and St Petersburg.

After his father's death in Kent, England, when Alatau was ten years old, a public fund-raising appeal by Sir Roderick Murchison, President of the Royal Geographical Society, helped finance Alatau's education at Rugby School. After a brief career in the Russian Empire as Secretary of the Turko-Russian boundary commission, he changed careers to become a writer for the British newspaper Newcastle Courant. He briefly held a teaching position in England at Durham School.{{cite news|last=Lockley|first=Fred |title=Romantic Story of Honolulan |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24826513/romantic_story_of_honolulan/ |work=The Honolulu Advertiser at Newspapers.com |date=May 11, 1930|access-date=October 30, 2018}}{{free access}}

Hawaii's school system

An 1854 treaty for Hawaii's annexation to the United States had been submitted to Kamehameha III, but he never signed it. During the 1863–1872 reign of Kamehameha V, the Hawaiian language was still the predominant communication in Hawaii's schools. Increasing exposure to the outside world was being brought by the sea trade, missionaries, and foreigners operating sugar plantations in the islands. In 1867, a proposed reciprocity treaty, tax relief for sugar planters, had gotten as far as the United States Congress, but was defeated in the Senate.{{sfn|Kuykendall|1953|pp=37, 209–224}}

Atkinson was offered a position by Bishop Thomas Nettleship Staley in 1868, to become instructor and principal at St. Alban's College in Pauoa, Hawaii. He left England together with his wife Annie (nee Humble) and his infant daughter Zoe in 1869 for the long sea journey to Hawaii. St. Alban's would later merge with ʻIolani School.{{cite web |title=History Timeline {{!}} 'Iolani School |url=http://www.iolani.org/about/history/timeline |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206104407/http://www.iolani.org/about/history/timeline |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 6, 2017 |access-date=October 30, 2018 |date=February 6, 2017}} One of his famous pupils was Sun Yat Sen who brought democracy to China. Atkinson would later also be given charge of the Fort Street School.{{cite news |last1=Warren |first1=Grace Tower |title=Kamaaina Kolumn by Grace Tower Warren - Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24826358/kamaaina_kolumn_by_grace_tower_warren/ |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin at Newspapers.com |date=September 21, 1957 |access-date=October 30, 2018}}{{free access}} He believed that fluency in a common language used by the outside world would be a vital necessity for the coming generations of Hawaiians. It became his life's career to convert Hawaii's schools into using English as the predominant language.{{cite news |title=A. T. Atkinson And His Life Work |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015415/1906-04-30/ed-1/seq-4/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=The Hawaiian Star |date=April 30, 1906 |page=4, col. 1}}; {{cite news |title=English Language in Hawaii |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24826214/english_language_in_hawaii/ |work=The Chester Advertiser at Newspapers.com |date=February 18, 1899|access-date=October 30, 2018}}{{free access}}

In 1887 he was appointed Inspector General of Schools for the Kingdom of Hawaii, serving under both Kalākaua and Liliʻuokalani. He remained in that position under Dole during the Republic of Hawaii. When Hawaii became a territory, Atkinson was appointed Superintendent of Public Instruction.{{cite news |title=Atkinson appointed Inspector General of Schools |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24906434/atkinson_appointed_inspector_general_of/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=The Hawaiian Gazette at Newspapers.com |date=August 2, 1887}}{{free access}}{{cite news |title=Alatau Atkinson Died Early Today |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24858604/alatau_atkinson_died_early_today/ |access-date=October 26, 2018 |work=The Evening Bulletin at Newspapers.com |date=April 24, 1906}}{{free access}}

Elected representative

Atkinson represented the Fourth District of Hawaii in the Legislature of the Republic of Hawaii for the February 16 – July 7, 1898, session.{{sfn|Lydecker|1918|p=247}} Hawaii was annexed by the United States on August 12, 1898.{{cite news |title=The Events In Order:Chronology of Annexation in 45 Paragraphs |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025121/1898-08-16/ed-1/seq-3/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=The Hawaiian Gazette |date=August 16, 1898 |page=3}}

Writing

He was editor of the Hawaiian Gazette, and was president of Hawaiian Star Newspaper Association.{{cite news |title=Hawaiian Gazette masthead |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24881197/hawaiian_gazette_masthead/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=Newspapers.com |date=September 7, 1886}}{{free access}} Atkinson and/or Vice Chamberlain Edward William Purvis are believed to have been the authors of The Grand Duke of Gynbergdrinkenstein, a three-act burlesque originally published in 1886 as a satirical jab at Kalākaua's cabinet under the helm of Walter M. Gibson.{{sfn|Atkinson|Purvis|1886}}{{sfn|Atkinson|Purvis|1887}} The character of Herr Von Boss was believed to have been wealthy sugar baron Claus Spreckels. A second version was published in 1887 as The Gynberg Ballads. British Commissioner James Hay Wodehouse believed the satire rang true to the king's cabinet under Gibson, and made sure numerous officials in London received copies.{{sfn|Kuykendall|1967|p=346}}

Government reports

{{cite web |last1=Atkinson |first1=Alatau T. (Alatau Tamchiboulac) |title=The Hawaiian Islands, their resources, agricultural, commercial and financial. Coffee, the coming staple product |url=https://archive.org/details/abj5119.0001.001.umich.edu |publisher=Honolulu, Hawaiian Gazette co |date=1896|via=Internet Archive}}
{{cite web |last1=Atkinson |first1=Alatau T. (Alatau Tamchiboulac) |title=The Hawaiian Islands, their resources, agricultural, commercial and financial |url=https://archive.org/details/afj6726.0001.001.umich.edu/page/n3 |publisher=Washington, D.C., Gibson Bros., printers |date=1897|via=Internet Archive}}
{{cite web |last1=Atkinson |first1=Alatau T. (Alatau Tamchiboulac) |title=Report of the general superintendent of the census, 1896 |url=https://archive.org/details/afp4242.0001.001.umich.edu |publisher=Honolulu, Hawaiian Star Press |date=1897|via=Internet Archive}}

Personal life

Atkinson married Annie Humble in England in January 1868. They sailed to Hawaii in 1869, by way of Panama and San Francisco.{{cite web |title=Kazakhstan Connection |url=http://imagesofoldhawaii.com/kazakhstan-connection/ |website=Images of Old Hawaiʻi |access-date=October 30, 2018 |date=December 16, 2017}} He died April 24, 1906, as a result of a series of strokes after a lengthy illness.{{cite news |title=The Sudden Death of Alatau T. Atkinson |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24857271/the_sudden_death_of_alatau_t_atkinson/ |access-date=October 30, 2018|date=April 25, 1906 |work=The Honolulu Advertiser at Newspapers.com |page=5}}{{free access}} Upon his death, all schools were closed in his honor. Atkinson Drive in the Ala Moana area of Honolulu is named for him.{{cite web |title=Ulukau: Place names of Hawaii: Atkinson. Drive, Ala Moana, Honolulu, named for A.T. Atkinson |url=http://ulukau.org/elib/cgi-bin/library?e=q-0pepn-000Sec--11en-50-20-frameset-search-atkinson-1-010escapewin&a=d&d=D0.3.4.10&toc=0 |website=ulukau.org|date=October 28, 2018}} Annie Atkinson died of pneumonia in 1911.{{cite news |title=Death Calls Mrs. Atkinson 1911 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24937884/death_calls_mrs_atkinson_1911/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=Evening Bulletin at Newspapers.com |date=May 1, 1911}}{{free access}}

The couple had four daughters and three sons:

1. Zoe Lucy Sherrard Alatau Atkinson (1868–1940) was their only child born in England; all her brothers and sisters were born in Hawaii. She became a teacher at the Royal School in Hawaii. Zoe married scientist Robert Cyril Layton Perkins in 1901, and the couple permanently moved to England after their wedding.{{cite news |title=Zoe Atkinson appointed teacher at the Royal School 1888 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24921047/zoe_atkinson_appointed_teacher_at_the/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=Evening Bulletin at Newspapers.com |date=September 11, 1888}}{{free access}}; {{cite news |title=A Wedding at Waialua, Zoe Atkinson and RCL Perkins |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24907628/a_wedding_at_waialua_zoe_atkinson_and/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=The Hawaiian Star at Newspapers.com |date=October 5, 1901}}{{free access}}

2. Alatau Leonard Charles (Jack) Atkinson (1871–1927) was appointed to the US presidential cabinet post of Secretary of Hawaii in 1903 by Theodore Roosevelt. During an extended absence of territorial governor George R. Carter, Jack Atkinson became Acting Governor of the Territory of Hawaii. As a youth, he enlisted in the Honolulu Rifles. A graduate of Yale Law School and the University of Michigan, he maintained a law practice in Honolulu, and was active in the Republican Party. He married Ina Marie Taft of Chicago in 1921.{{cite news |title=Atkinson named for Secretary of Hawaii 1903 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24915610/atkinson_named_for_secretary_of_hawaii/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=The Baltimore Sun at Newspapers.com |date=December 2, 1903}}{{free access}}; {{cite news |title=A. L. C. Atkinson Confirmed |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24934582/a_l_c_atkinson_confirmed/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=The Honolulu Advertiser at Newspapers.com |date=December 18, 1903}}{{free access}}; {{cite news |title=Atkinson Returning 1905 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24936904/atkinson_returning_1905/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=The Hawaiian Star at Newspapers.com |date=June 19, 1905}}{{free access}}

3. Edith Kapiolani (Lani) Atkinson (c. 1871– 1959) married British naval officer Captain Frederick Kenrick Colquhoun Gibbons in 1895 and permanently relocated to England.{{cite news |title=Capt. and Mrs. Gibbons Mark Golden Wedding 1945 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24922123/capt_and_mrs_gibbons_mark_golden/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin at Newspapers.com |date=October 13, 1945}}{{free access}}; {{cite news |title=Mrs. F. K. C. Gibbons Dies, 1959 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24908956/mrs_f_k_c_gibbons_dies_1959/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin at Newspapers.com |date=March 10, 1959}}{{free access}}

4. May (Maisie) Kathleen Atkinson (1874–1923) married Arthur M. Brown in 1897, future high sheriff of the Territory of Hawaii.{{cite news |title=Mrs. Arthur M. Brown Killed Self, Official Statement Shows |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24910065/mrs_arthur_m_brown_killed_self/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin at Newspapers.com |date=August 21, 1923}}{{free access}}; {{cite news |title=Mrs. Arthur M. Brown Dies Suddenly At Her Waikiki Beach Home, 1923 - Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24910134/mrs_arthur_m_brown_dies_suddenly_at/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=Honolulu Star Bulletin at Newspapers.com}}{{free access}}; {{cite news |title=Tied by Hymen's Fetters, marriage of May (Maisie) Atkinson and Arthur Brown 1897 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24920791/tied_by_hymens_fetters_marriage_of/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=The Hawaiian Star at Newspapers.com |date=August 17, 1897 }}{{free access}}

5. Molly (Ethel Mary) Alatau Atkinson (1875–1931) married Samuel Gardner Wilder Jr. in 1896.{{cite news |title=Swell Mid-Summer Wedding in Yellow |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/86528973/?terms=Molly%2BAtkinson |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=The Hawaiian Gazette at Newspapers.com |date=July 24, 1896 |page=4}}; {{cite news |title=Molly Wilder Will 1931 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24922906/molly_wilder_will_1931/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin at Newspapers.com |date=July 6, 1931}}{{free access}}; {{cite book |last1=Hawaiian Historical Society |title=Genealogical series. no. 1-3 ... |publisher=T.H. |page=8 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007922167}}

6. Robert Witlam Atkinson (1877–1939) was co-founder, along with Walter F. Dillingham, of Hawaiian Dredging. In 1907, he married Helen (Nellie) Kitchen and was widowed in 1917. Two years later, he married Helen's widowed sister Alice Mackee Kitchen Schultz. His wives were granddaughters of sugar planter James Makee.{{cite news |last1=Taylor |first1=Clarice B. |title=Little Tales All About Hawaii |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24935935/little_tales_all_about_hawaii_by/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=Newspapers.com |date=April 19, 1949}}{{free access}}; {{cite news |title=Robert Witlam Atkinson dies 1939 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24909794/robert_witham_atkinson_dies_1939/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=The Honolulu Advertiser at Newspapers.com |date=December 25, 1939}}{{free access}}

7. Kenneth Alatau Atkinson (1885–1953) relocated to New South Wales, Australia where he spent the rest of his life in a variety of occupations.{{cite news |title=Kenneth Atkinson Is In Timber Business in New South Wales, 1928 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24909152/kenneth_atkinson_is_in_timber_business/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin Newspapers.com |date=May 22, 1928}}{{free access}}; {{cite news |title=Kenneth A. Atkinson Dies in Australia 1953 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24921639/kenneth_a_atkinson_dies_in_australia/ |access-date=October 30, 2018 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin Newspapers.com |date=February 4, 1953}}{{free access}}

Aftermath

Fort Street School was renamed President William McKinley High School in 1907, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places listings on Oahu on August 11, 1980.{{cite web |title=McKinley High School |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/3162c724-5a0a-4740-af0d-14f570ecf0a2/ |website=National Register of Historic Places |publisher=US Dept. of the Interior |access-date=October 30, 2018}}

References

==Bibliography==

{{cite book|last1=Atkinson|first1=Alatau Tamchiboulac|last2=Purvis|first2=Edward William|author-link2=Edward William Purvis|title=The Grand Duke of Gynbergdrinkenstein|year=1886|location=Honolulu|oclc=16338005}}
{{cite book|last1=Atkinson|first1=Alatau Tamchiboulac|last2=Purvis|first2=Edward William|author-link2=Edward William Purvis|title=The Gynberg Ballads|year=1887|publisher=Schmidt Lithograph Co.|location=San Francisco|oclc=978697438|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001873431|via=HathiTrust}}
{{cite book|editor-last=Lydecker|editor-first=Robert Colfax|title=Roster Legislatures of Hawaii, 1841–1918|location=Honolulu|publisher=Hawaiian Gazette Company|year=1918|url=https://archive.org/details/rosterlegislatur00hawarich|oclc=60737418}}
{{cite book|last=Kuykendall|first=Ralph Simpson|author-link=Ralph Simpson Kuykendall|title=The Hawaiian Kingdom 1854–1874, Twenty Critical Years|url=http://www.ulukau.org/elib/cgi-bin/library?c=kingdom2&l=en|volume=2|year=1953|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-0-87022-432-4|oclc=47010821}}
{{cite book|last=Kuykendall|first=Ralph Simpson|author-link=Ralph Simpson Kuykendall|title=The Hawaiian Kingdom 1874–1893, The Kalakaua Dynasty|url=http://www.ulukau.org/elib/cgi-bin/library?c=kingdom3&l=en|volume=3|year=1967|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-0-87022-433-1|oclc=500374815}}

External links

{{google maps|title=Atkinson Drive, Honolulu |url=https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Atkinson+Dr+%26+Kapiolani+Blvd,+Honolulu,+HI+96814/Atkinson+Dr+%26+Ala+Moana+Blvd,+Honolulu,+HI+96814/@21.2898225,-157.8382176,558m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x7c006df243d90199:0x1d42de06358b0f63!2m2!1d-157.8372066!2d21.2907513!1m5!1m1!1s0x7c006df119bd5c85:0x91ecaf538da8b896!2m2!1d-157.8414494!2d21.2890752!3e1?hl=en|accessdate=October 30, 2018}}

{{Find a grave|id=108404880|name=Alatau Tamchiboulac Atkinson}}

Category:1848 births

Category:1906 deaths

Category:Expatriates in the Russian Empire

Category:British emigrants

Category:Educators from Hawaii

Category:Politicians from Honolulu

Category:People from Siberia

Category:Hawaiian Kingdom people

Category:People from the Republic of Hawaii

Category:People from the Territory of Hawaii