Introduction

Biography

Lorenzo was the son of Jerre Ly­ons and Ma­ry Ri­chards. He marr­ied twice, to Lu­cia Smith and Bet­sey Cur­tis.

He was or­dained a Con­gre­ga­tion­al min­is­ter at Au­burn Se­mi­na­ry in 1831. Sail­ing from New Bed­ford, Mas­sa­chu­setts, in No­vem­ber 1831, he ar­rived in the South Ko­ha­la dis­trict of the is­land of Ha­wa­ii in 1832.

He spent the rest of his life de­di­cat­ed to na­tive Ha­wa­iians. Flu­ent in the Ha­wa­iian lang­uage, he com­posed ma­ny po­ems and hymns. His Wai­mea par­ish ev­en­tu­al­ly in­clud­ed the dis­tricts of Ko­ha­la and Ha­ma­kua, mak­ing it the larg­est mis­sion sta­tion in Ha­wa­ii.

During his ten­ure, he was re­spon­si­ble for erect­ing 14 church­es. He al­so served as dis­trict post­mas­ter from 1858 un­til his death.