Lucy Goodale Thurston

Lucy Goodale was born to a prosperous family on October 29, 1795, on the Goodale Homestead in Marlborough, Massachusetts, in what would later become Hudson, Massachusetts. Her parents were Abner Goodale, a deacon and American Revolutionary War veteran, and Mary Howe. To be accepted, however, the applicants were required to be married beforehand. On October 12, 1819, she married Thurston, a scythe maker and minister from Fitchburg. He was one of the theological graduates from Yale University who posted the mission announcement. They reached Kawaihae, Hawaii, on March 30, 1820. The operation was successful and she lived for another twenty years. == Memoir ==

After her husband's death on March 11, 1868, Lucy started writing a memoir. She compiled her letters and other writings (completed by her daughter Persis Goodale Taylor and Walter Freer, and published under the title of Life and Times of Mrs. Lucy G. Thurston in Ann Arbor in 1876). It is one of the most vivid accounts of the early mission days. The autobiography was divided into several parts. The first was devoted to the mission's early work in Hawaii. Later parts covered her journey to New York, the death of her daughter Lucy in 1841, and her experience battling cancer. The book also included accounts concerning Hawaiian chiefs. == References ==