HAWAII, 1851, 5c Blue (2). Type I--the lefthand position in the setting of two--bright color and very fresh, ample to very large margins, free of any repairs, two small tears at sides, cancelled by red crayon “X”, used in combination with a horizontal pair of United States 1851 3c Dull Red (11A), Positions 73-74L3, cancelled by pen on buff cover addressed to “Mrs. Maria W. Pogue, Lahainaluna, Sandwich Islands”, with sender’s route directive “Via San Francisco”, manuscript postmark “Auburn Mass. Dec. 21” (year not indicated), the Missionary stamp was originally applied upside down and tied, it has been lifted and reaffixed in upright position, the cover has been refolded along edges and the interior is expertly silked, most of top backflap missing, small mended hole in cover below Missionary stamp

ONE OF TWO FULL COVERS AND ONE PIECE ADDRESSED TO THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS WITH MISSIONARY STAMPS PAYING POSTAGE ON INBOUND MAIL. ALL THREE ARE ADDRESSED IN THE SAME HAND TO MARIA WHITNEY POGUE, THE SISTER OF POSTMASTER HENRY M. WHITNEY. THE OTHER COVER HAS DEFECTIVE STAMPS, LEAVING THIS AS THE FINEST INBOUND HAWAIIAN MISSIONARY COVER.

Maria Kapule Whitney Pogue was born at Waimea, Kauai, on October 19, 1820, the first daughter born to missionaries on the islands. Her parents were the Reverend Samuel and Mercy Partridge Whitney, and her younger brother was Henry M. Whitney, Hawaii’s first postmaster. Maria was educated in the U.S. and returned to Hawaii in 1843 to serve as an educator. In 1848 she married the Reverend John Fawcett Pogue, and the couple had four children. In 1851 they moved from Kauai to Maui, where Reverend Pogue served as principal of the Lahainaluna seminary. He died in 1877, and in 1882 Maria and her family relocated to California. She died in Santa Clara on April 20, 1900, and this cover was first photographed by Henry J. Crocker in 1901.

Efforts to locate information identifying the sender’s identity have been unsuccessful, but the distinctive writing creates the potential to find a match. The other full cover to Maria Pogue (2-IICOV- 75, illustrated in Meyer-Harris book, p. 56) has a “New-York [month] 5” circular datestamp, but the month cannot be read. It was at one time part of the Atherton collection in the Honolulu Academy of the Arts. The 5c Missionary and 3c 1851 stamps on the ex-Atherton cover are partly peeled off. The piece (2-I-PCE-65) has a 5c Missionary with red crayon “X” cancel and pen-cancelled 3c 1851 pair. On each Pogue cover or piece the 3c stamps pay the U.S. postage. The 5c Missionary stamps might have been affixed by Postmaster Whitney in Honolulu to indicate to the Lahaina postmaster that no Hawaiian postage was due, as a courtesy to his sister. An alternative theory is that the sender in the U.S. affixed the Missionary stamps, which is supported by the stamps’ relative positions, with the U.S. stamps aligned along the right edge of the envelope.

The Pogue covers do not have letter enclosures or markings to help determine the year of mailing, so we must use other evidence to reach a reasonable conclusion. The Auburn, Massachusetts, postmark has the date “Dec. 21,” but not the year. The earliest recorded date for the 3c 1851 from Plate 3 is January 15, 1852, and this pair shows plate wear, which indicates a later use. New York mail to Hawaii dated in late December and the first week of January travelled via Panama and San Francisco, and usually reached Honolulu in mid to late February. This December 21 cover followed the same timetable. Assuming it was sent from Massachusetts in December 1852, it was carried on the USMSC Georgia, which departed New York on January 5, 1853, and arrived in Aspinwall on January 14. After crossing the isthmus, it was carried on the PMSC Oregon, which departed Panama on January 20 and arrived in San Francisco on February 5. The American bark Pathfinder departed San Francisco on February 12 and arrived in Honolulu on February 27 with the New York mail of January 5. The only Hawaiian stamps available in February 1853 were the Missionaries.

Illustrated and discussed in Gregory Hawaii Foreign Mails to 1870 (Figure 15-74). Ex Henry J. Crocker, Alfred H. Caspary, David Golden and Guido Craveri/Tito Giamporcaro.

Siegel Census No. 2-I-COV-67. Gregory Census No. 5c-4. With 1994 Philatelic Foundation certificate.

For an introduction to the Hawaiian Missionaries: http://siegelauctions.com/2013/1045/Missionaries.pdf

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