Maria Louisa Walsworth

Maria Kinney Pitman in 1857

Maria Louisa Walsworth (May 22, 1822 – March 6, 1859) was an American missionary from the United States.^[1] She was a teacher at Punahou School. She was part of the original twelve companies of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to Hawaii between 1820 and 1848.

Life[]

She married Rev. Henry Kinney. Together they were sent to the Sandwich Islands as a member of the original twelve companies of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions missionaries sent to Hawaii between 1820 and 1848.^[2] They had three children together while living in Hilo, Louisa, Henry and Harriet. The family was heartbroken when the youngest, Harriet died 6 months after she was born. With the permission of the A. B. C. F. M., Mr. and Mrs. Kinney decided to take a break from their duties as missionaries. On July 13, 1854, aboard the schooner “The Restless”, the family departed the islands and sailed to Sonora, CA. to stay with the family of her sister Francis, whom also married an Rev. Silas Sykes Harmon. Only 2 months after their arrival, now her husband, Rev. Henry Kinney dies. The saddened Maria and her 2 children sailed back to Hilo, Hawaii where she met and married Benjamin Pitman.^[3], and they had one daughter together, Maria Kinoole Pitman. Just weeks after giving birth, Mrs. Benjamin F. Pitman died on March 6, 1859, in Hilo, Hawaii, at the age of 36. She was buried at the family plot of her Uncle Rev. Silas Clark Brown,^[4] at West Bloomfield, New York.^[5]

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