OCTOBER:  

October 1:

  On October 1, 1877, French Marist Bishop Louis Elloy, Vicar Apostolic of Central Oceania and of the Navigators, "had to go to Rome to defend himself against accusations brought by the Superior General of the NDM [Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions]. The result was that by the end of that year, there were no Sisters of the NDM left, as the remaining six nuns in Samoa had put on the habit of Notre Dame d' Océanie, NDO [Our Lady of Oceania]." (Heslin 1995: 93)

On October 1, 1895, Frederic ("Feleti") DuClos Barstow, benefactor of Samoan education, was born in Brooklyn, New York. (Theroux 1985)

On October 1, 1900, the first post office was opened at the U.S. Naval Station Tutuila. The first postmaster was Mrs. Hudson, whose husband Henry was the Naval Station's (and USS Abarenda's) Chief Boatswain. (Bryan 1927: 48)

On October 1, 1901, William Blacklock closed the Oceanic Hotel, which was unable to show a profit after its bar was closed. (Gray 1960: 137)

On October 1, 1915, James Wightman Davidson was born in New Zealand. After earning his Ph.D. at Cambridge University in 1942, Dr. Davidson edited the British Admiralty's four-volume The Pacific Islands geographical handbook, which was widely used by the Allied forces in World War II. In 1947, he was seconded to the Government of Western Samoa as a constitutional adviser, and in 1953 he founded the Department of Pacific History at the Australian National University in Canberra. "Pacific History," in Davidson's view, meant that the history of the Pacific Islands should be written from the viewpoint of the indigenous peoples, as well as the European colonizers. His best-known work is Samoa mo Samoa: The Emergence of the Independent State of Western Samoa, 1900-1962, which was published by Oxford University Press in 1967. (Warburton 1996: 21; Davidson 1967: passim)

On October 1, 1927, Governor Henry F. Bryan's American Samoa: A General Report by the Governor listed the Territory's population as of September 30, 1926 as follows: Eastern District of Tutuila: 4,221; Western District, Tutuila: 2,395; Manu'a District: 2,060 and Swains Island: 87, for a total of 8,763. 2,260 people were listed as taxpayers, who were defined as male Samoans who had "reached the height of 5 feet and 1 inch." (This practice was instituted "due to the lack of early birth records.") (Bryan 1927: 9)

On October 1, 1927, Governor Henry F. Bryan reported American Samoa's automobile population "at the end of August, 1926," as follows: "18 passenger cars and 7 trucks privately owned; 2 passenger cars, 3 trucks and 1 ambulance, owned by the Navy; and 5 trucks and 4 busses owned by the island government; a total of 41 automobiles." (Bryan 1927: 79)

On October 1, 1942, the Commandant of the U.S. Naval Station Tutuila, Captain John Gould Moyer, together with his staff, finished "Operational Plan No. 1-42: TO DEFEND TUTUILA." (Burke 1945b: 55-70)

On October 1, 1942, the two squadrons of Marine Air Group 13 (MAG-13), with 41 aircraft, were formed into four squadrons. (Denfeld 1989a: 33)

On October 1, 1942, 45 additional quonset huts at the U.S. Navy's Mobile Hospital No. 3 ("MOB 3") were completed by 130 Seabees from Naval Construction Battalion 111 (NCB 111), who had worked ten hours a day, seven days a week, beginning August 31, 1942. MOB 3 now had a ward-bed capacity of 300. Heavy casualties from the Guadalcanal campaign kept the beds occupied. (Parsons 1945: 132)

On October 1, 1943, units of the First Samoan Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve "were dispersed from [Cape] Matatula on the eastern end of Tutuila to Amanave on the western end. Company A had 2 officers, 4 American Marines, 1 Navy enlisted, and 67 Samoan Marines at Alega; 2 American Marines and 30 Samoan Marines at Auto; 1 American Marine and 19 Samoan Marines at Amouli; and 1 American Marine and 29 Samoan Marines at Matatula. Company B had 1 officer, 3 American Marines, and 57 Samoan Marines at Aua; 1 officer, 2 American Marines, and 46 Samoan Marines at Afono Bay; and 1 officer, 3 American Marines, 5 Navy enlisted (boat crewmen), and 46 Samoan Marines at Fagasa Bay. Twenty of the Fagasa Samoan Marines were attached to Battery C (5-inch), Harbor Defense Group, Fleet Marine Force. Company C had 1 officer, 3 American Marines, 99 Samoan Marines and 2 Navy enlisted at Pavaiai; and 1 officer, 2 American Marines, and 50 Samoan Marines at Amanave." (Anonymous 1945: 11)

On October 1, 1953, Richard B. Lowe began his term as American Samoa's fifth appointed civil governor (until October 15, 1956). (ASG: Governors' List)

On October 1, 1959, the Samoa Amendment Act of 1959 became law in Western Samoa. (Davidson 1967: 364)

On October 1, 1976, Frank Barnett took office as American Samoa's twelfth appointed civil governor (until May 27, 1977). (ASG: Governors' List)

On October 1, 1995, Sinagogo Hope Nelson (later Annandale), the fourth daughter of Olaf Frederick and Rosabel Moors Nelson, passed away in Western Samoa. Mrs. Annandale had a distinguished career in agricultural experimentation (cocoa, bananas, pineapple, peanuts and passionfruit), as an advocate of women's rights, and as a Member of Parliament from 1979 to 1982. (Warburton 1996: 9)

October 2:

On October 2, 1882, Father Julian Vidal conducted funeral services over the newly-discovered graves of La Pérouse's sailors at Massacre Bay, A'asu, Tutuila, where they were murdered on December 11, 1787. (Theroux 1985)

On October 2, 1901, Dr. Edward M. Blackwell, former Chief Medical Officer of the U.S. Naval Station Tutuila, was ordered to report to  Assistant Secretary of the Navy Frank Hackett, who informed him that former Naval Station Commandant Benjamin Franklin Tilley was to be court-martialled for "drunkenness and immorality." (Gray 1960: 137)

On October 2, 1914, Lieutenant Nathan Woodworth Post relieved Commander Clark Daniel Stearns and became American Samoa's eighth naval governor (acting: for the second time; until December 6, 1914). Lieutenant Post served two non-consecutive terms (March 14-July 14, 1913 and October 2-December 6, 1914. He and Captain Gatewood Sanders Lincoln (August 2, 1929-March 24, 1931 and July 17, 1931-May 12, 1932) were the only naval governors to do so. (USNHC: Post RO)

On October 2, 1930, the American Samoan Commission traveled to Ta'u aboard USS Omaha. "Members of the Commission and their party were landed in two whaleboats and a Samoan long boat, rowed by sturdy natives through the surf via a channel which had been blasted in the reef." (Moore and Farrington 1931: 42)

On October 2, 1962, Brigadier General Henry L. Larsen, USMC, former Military Governor of American Samoa and Commanding General of the Samoan Defense Group in World War II, died in Denver, Colorado and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. (Denfeld 1989a: 22)

October 3:

On October 3, 1890, King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway appointed Swedish Judge Otto Conrad Waldemar Cedercrantz, "a Swedish subject and associate justice of the Swedish Court of Appeals," to be Chief Justice of Samoa. (Bryan 1927: 34)

On October 3, 1906, "Assistant Astronomer Benjamin Boss relieved Assistant Astronomer C.W. Frederick" at the U.S. Naval Station Tutuila. (Bryan 1927: 114)

On October 3, 1944, Lieutenant Richard J. Ludwig, USNR, relieved Captain B.J. Andruska, USMC, as island commander of 'Upolu. (Burke 1945c: 89)

On October 3, 1955, the MV Joyita left Apia at 0500, with 25 people aboard, "laden with sugar, flour, rice, trade goods, fuel oil and lumber," en route to Tokelau. She was next sighted on November 10, 1955, ninety miles north of Fiji. All who were aboard, and most of her cargo, had vanished; one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Pacific. (Day 1969 [1986]: 202)

October 4:

On October 4, 1930, the American Samoan Commission returned to the Poyer School in Anua to complete its hearings. (Moore and Farrington 1930: 45)

On October 4, 1945, in an interview with the Samoan Defense Group's Staff Historian, Lieutenant (Junior Grade) H.J. Cary, USNR, Dr. P.J. Monaghan, Chief Medical Officer of the Government of Western Samoa, said that the high incidence of filariasis among American military personnel in Western Samoa "was probably caused by inadequate housing and lack of proper mosquito control due to the rush in the installation of defenses. Exposure to the filarial mosquito was greatly cut down after the American forces had been on the islands for several months. However, personnel who were placed on sentry duty in the wooded and more isolated sections were still being constantly exposed to the disease. On Upolu, filariasis was found to be most dominant on the south side of the island. On the island of Savai'i, the disease is widespread on the entire island. Dr. Monaghan felt that the continual occurrence of filariasis was caused by the tendency of the personnel to fraternize with the Samoans in the villages. While they were away from the camp area, they were constantly exposed to the disease. In the camps there was very little danger of being exposed, due to extensive mosquito control which had been established after the bases had been completed." Burke 1945c: 99-100)

On October 4, 1964, educational television was introduced in American Samoa. By the early 1970s, it had become the largest educational TV system in the world. (Schramm and Betham 1981: passim)

On October 4, 1968, Lawrence McCully Judd, American Samoa's fourth appointed civil governor (March 4-August 5, 1953), passed away in his 81st year in Honolulu, Hawaii, and was buried in the Nu'uanu Cemetery. (Anonymous n.d.: 115)

October 5:

On October 5, 1859, William Churchill, future United States Consul in Apia and noted Polynesian scholar, was born in Brooklyn, New York, "a descendant of a dozen Mayflower passengers and four Revolutionary fighters. His parents were William Churchill II (1825-1873) of Boston, an importer of porcelains, and his second wife, Sarah Jane Starkweather (1835-1915) from Rhode Island." (Theroux 1995: 99-100)

On October 5, 1862, Wilhelm Heinrich Solf, future Imperial Governor of German Samoa, was born in Schoenburg, Berlin. (Theroux 1983b: 52)

On October 5, 1899, on Tutuila, the U.S. Government purchased "Parcel No. 7: Lotomua," totalling 0.08 acres from "Fanini and Lilo" for $250.00. (Anonymous 1960: 3)

On October 5, 1953, Tuala Tulo, Mau leader, member of the Legislative Council and associate judge, "with an impressive and scholarly knowledge of custom and a career of public service going back to the early years of the Mau," passed away in Western Samoa. (Davidson 1967: 265; 317n.)

October 6:

On October 6, 1873, in Apia, the "Fono of 1873" approved its first constitution, based on the laws of Tahiti, Huahine and Tonga, and submitted it to Colonel Albert Barnes Steinberger for approval. (Morrell 1960: 215)

On October 6, 1942, Colonel Pierson Conradt relieved Colonel Thomas J. Walker, Jr., as commanding officer of Marine Air Group 13 (MAG-13) at the Tafuna Air Base, Tutuila, American Samoa. (Denfeld 1989a: 33)

October 7:

On October 7, 1839, the United States Exploring Expedition, commanded by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, sighted Rose Atoll and spent the next 34 days studying the Samoan Islands. (Wilkes II, 1845 [1970]: 65)

On October 7, 1890, American historian and man of letters Henry Brooks Adams (great grandson of President John Adams, grandson of President John Quincy Adams and son of Charles Francis Adams, who was the Union's Ambassador to England during the American Civil War) and artist John LaFarge arrived in Apia, and visited Robert Louis Stevenson at Vailima. The patrician Adams described the tubercular Stevenson as "a bundle of sticks in a bag" and was appalled that a person of his stature engaged in manual labor, working on his plantation with a bush knife. (In fact, he needed the exercise to keep the ravages of tuberculosis at bay). (Daws 1980: 175-178; Furnas 1951: 369-371; Theroux 1985)

On October 7, 1901, at the U.S. Naval Station Tutuila "E.J. Dorn, Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy, Commanding," (Dorn was Commander Benjamin Tilley's Executive Officer) issued his "Regulation No. 7-1901: Pulenu'u's Monthly Reports." (Noble 1931: 71-72)

On October 7, 1901, Captain Uriel Sebree relieved Commander Benjamin Franklin Tilley as Commandant of the U.S. Naval Station Tutuila, and held that office until December 16, 1902. (USNHC: Sebree RO)

On October 7, 1930, over 300 people, "mostly matais and higher chiefs," gathered at the Poyer School in Atu'u to hear the announcement of the American Samoan Commission's decisions. The Governor, Captain Gatewood Sanders Lincoln and his staff were present by special invitation. The Commission's Chairman, Senator Hiram Bingham (Republican of Connecticut), read aloud from a list of the Commission's recommendations, which included the rights of American citizenship, a bill of rights, a representative government, the right of appeal to U.S. courts, and no differentiation between part- and full-blooded Samoans for purposes of citizenship. (Moore and Farrington 1931: 61-62)

On October 7, 1930, USS Omaha, with the American Samoan Commission members aboard, got under way from Pago Pago Harbor on her return voyage to Honolulu. (Moore and Farrington 1931: 62)

On October 7, 1944, the U.S. Navy completed its island salvage program on 'Upolu. (Burke 1945c: 92)

On October 7, 1949, the tanker USS Chehalis (AOG-48) burned, capsized and sank at the oil dock in Pago Pago Harbor. (Anonymous 1949: passim)

October 8:

On October 8, 1839, members of the U.S. Exploring Expedition landed on Ta'u. (Wilkes 1845 [1970], II: 65-70)

On October 8, 1901, Captain Jack Voss and Norman Luxton departed Apia during their circumnavigation of the globe, aboard the Tilikum ( a Native American word for "friend"). (Theroux 1985)

On October 8, 1907, the operating room in American Samoa's hospital was completed. (Letter, Parker-Newberry: 07/28/1908)

On October 8, 1943, Major General Charles D. Barrett, age 58, former commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade in Samoa, was accidentally injured and died. He was Commanding General, First Marine Amphibious Corps, Nouméa, New Caledonia, and was to have commanded the landings at Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, which occurred on November 1, 1943. (Denfeld 1989a: 27)

October 9:

On October 9, 1942, the United States military population of the Samoan Defense Group was as follows: Tutuila: 9,320; 'Upolu: 5,051; Wallis: 3,191, and Funafuti: 1,195. (Burke 1945c: 75)

October 10:

On October 10, 1839, Lieutenant Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, aboard his flagship USS Vincennes, approached Tutuila and wrote that "About eight miles to the windward of the harbour of Pago-Pago, we were boarded by several canoes, in which were some natives, with a white man, by name William Gray, whom I retained as our interpreter during our stay here, and found of much use." (Wilkes II, 1845 [1970]: 70)

On October 10, 1888, Latter Day Saints missionaries William O. and Louisa Calder Lee, Edward J. Wood and Adelbert Beasley arrived on Tutuila, and were taken to Aunu'u by boat to join the LDS mission there. (Anonymous 1997a: 2)

On October 10, 1897, Agnes Genevieve "Aggie" Swann (later Grey) was born in Toamua, 'Upolu, the second daughter of William J. Swann of Staffordshire, England, and Pele Maiava Swann of Toamua. (Ala'ilima 1988: 55)

October 11:

On October 11, 1949, a Court of Inquiry was "Convened at the U.S. Naval Station Tutuila, American Samoa, by Order of Commander, Service Force, United States Pacific Fleet, to inquire into all the circumstances connected with the explosion of gasoline in USS Chehalis AOG-48, the burning of USS Chehalis AOG-48, and the capsizing of USS Chehalis AOG-48, on October 7, 1949, at Tutuila, American Samoa." (Anonymous 1949: 1)

October 12:

On October 12, 1922, the German silver coins which were found behind the former DHPG building in American Samoa on April 10, 1919 (q.v.), and which were shipped to the U.S. Navy's Alien Property Custodian on October 3, 1922, were received by the Custodian in Washington, D.C. The money was contained in "one sealed box containing 1,074 two-mark and 356 one-mark German silver coins, for a total of 2,504 marks; 2,506 marks were found April 10, 1919; 2,504 marks were shipped October 3, 1922." (Perhaps a souvenir hunter kept the missing two marks---another unsolved mystery). (Bryan 1927: 53)

October 13:

On October 13, 1856, Eli Hutchinson Jennings---adventurer, shipbuilder, planter and founder of the Jennings clan---landed with his wife Mere (also known as "Maria" and "Malie") on Swains Island and raised the U.S. flag. (Gray 1960: 213)

On October 13, 1915, Tupua Tamasese Lealofi I died and was buried at Mulinu'u. (Davidson 1967: 110n.; Theroux 1985)

On October 13, 1954, solo sailor William Willis, aboard his raft The Seven Little Sisters, sighted Tutuila 20 miles SSW of his position. He decided to attempt a landing in "British [i.e., Western] Samoa," which had 200 miles of coastline, and thus afforded a larger target. (Willis 1955: 227-233)

October 14:

On October 14, 1954, the American Samoa Government's vessel Manu'atele sighted William Willis's raft The Seven Little Sisters, and towed it into Pago Pago Harbor. (Willis 1955: 234-235)

On October 14, 1974, John Morse Haydon completed his term as American Samoa's ninth appointed civil governor. (ASG: Governors' List)

October 15:

On October 15, 1904, the U.S. Government purchased a parcel of land at Blunts Point for the construction of an observatory. (Bryan 1927: 114)

On October 15, 1921, American Samoa's Governor, Captain Waldo Evans, issued his "Regulation No. 4: A REGULATION Prohibiting the delivery of undried, unripe, overripe, decayed or unclean copra; prohibiting the delivery of any other product, material or substance, in part or in whole, with intent to obtain copra receipts therefor, and providing penalties for violations thereof." (Noble 1931: 96-97)

On October 15, 1954, William Willis entered Pago Pago Harbor at 0100, having completed a 6700-mile solo journey from Callao, Peru at age 61 on his raft The Seven Little Sisters, which was towed into the harbor by the MV Manu'atele. (Willis 1955: 235)

On October 15, 1956, Richard B. Lowe ended his term as American Samoa's fifth appointed civil governor (since October 1, 1953), and was succeeded by Peter Tali Coleman, who was American Samoa's only appointed Samoan governor, and the longest-serving governor in the Territory's history. (ASG: Governors' List)

On October 15, 1974, Frank C. Mockler began his term as American Samoa's tenth appointed civil governor (acting: until February 6, 1975). (ASG: Governors' List)

October 16:

On October 16, 1877, Samoa's first mail service was inaugurated, as advertised in the "Samoa Times: Navigator's Islands." The notice read: "Mail Notice. A mail will be made up at this office to go by the schooner 'Energy' on Wednesday the 16th inst. for New Zealand, the Australian colonies, Europe and America. Mail will close at 6 a.m. W.E. Agar, Manager." The "Samoa Express" issued stamps in denominations of 1, 3 and 6 pence. (WSFDC: 10/16/1997)

On October 16, 1897, Mauga Manuma, co-signer of the first American-Samoan treaty with Commander Richard Meade of USS Narragansett on March 2, 1872, died in Pago Pago. (Theroux 1985)

On October 16, 1941, the Navy's six-inch guns at Breakers Point, Tutuila fired 20 rounds at a stationary raft in Pago Pago Harbor. (Denfeld 1989a: 20)

On October 16, 1942, "The steamship Alcoa Pennant sailed from Nouméa, New Caledonia for Pago Pago. Aboard was a detachment from the 1st and 2nd [Marine] Raider Battalions scheduled for transfer to the 3rd Raiders. The vessel docked in American Samoa on the 24th." (Bearss 1978-1981: 4)

On October 16, 1956, Peter Tali Coleman began his term as American Samoa's sixth appointed civil governor, and first Samoan governor (until May 24, 1961). (ASG: Governors' List)

October 17:

On October 17, 1832, Reverend John Williams and his London Missionary Society colleagues, returning to Samoa from the Cook Islands, sighted Ta'u at daylight. (Moyle 1984: 99)

On October 17, 1839, Lieutenant Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Exploring Expedition and members of the USS Vincennes' crew visited "Chief Toa" in the village of "Fungasar" [Fagasa, Tutuila]. Wilkes reported that "I was much struck here with the manliness of the natives, and with their frank, open expression of countenance." (Wilkes 1845 [1970], II: 75)

On October 17, 1911, Commander William Michael Crose, Governor of American Samoa, issued his "Regulation No. 6-1911: Construction and Maintenance of Roads." (Noble 1931: 73-74)

On October 17, 1926, the keel of USS Tutuila (the first U.S. Navy ship to bear that name; hull number PG-44, later renumbered PR-4) was laid by the Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works at Shanghai, China. Mooney VII, 1981: 366)

On October 17, 1954, the honorary title "Tautai 'o le Vasa Laolao" ("Captain of the High Seas") was bestowed upon William Willis in American Samoa. He donated his raft The Seven Little Sisters to the Museum of American Samoa, which did not yet exist. The logs, neglected,  subsequently deteriorated on the beach at Fagatogo. (Willis 1955: 235; Sunia 1998c)

October 18:

On October 18, 1832, English missionary John Williams sighted "Tutuila, a fine large island about 40 or 50 Miles West of Orosegna [Olosega]......We again ran gently down the coast until we came to a Bay called Leone which was the residence of the young man we brought from Manua." (Moyle 1984: 104-106)

On October 18, 1932, Western Samoa's Administrator, Brigadier General Herbert Ernest Hart, wrote to Prime Minister George Forbes of New Zealand, saying that there would never be peace in Samoa as long as Olaf Frederick Nelson was there. He began plotting to get Nelson convicted of sedition, and deported again. (Field 1984: 208)

On October 18, 1943, "the last Samoan Marine was enlisted in the First Samoan Battalion [U.S. Marine Corps Reserve]. He was private Fa'afua NAPOLEON, age 17." (Anonymous 1945: 17)

On October 18, 1966, President Lyndon Baines Johnson and First Lady Claudia Alta Taylor ("Lady Bird") Johnson visited American Samoa. Mrs. Johnson dedicated the "Manulele Tausala" ("Lady Bird") Elementary School in Nu'uuli, which was named after her. (Lyndon Johnson was the only U.S. President to visit American Samoa. Mrs. Johnson was the second First Lady to visit the Territory. The first was (Anna) Eleanor Roosevelt, on August 23, 1943). (Theroux 1985)

October 19:

On October 19, 1932, Australia's Pacific Islands Monthly magazine, previously critical of the Mau, published an article stating that the intransigence and racism of Western Samoa's New Zealand Administration were sustaining the Mau. The article said that "Important powers were placed in the hands of men who might have successfully governed African niggers, but who had absolutely no knowledge or understanding of the high Polynesian natives." (Field 1984: 206n.)

On October 19, 1965, 16-year-old Robin Lee Graham, with two cats aboard, arrived in Apia Harbor on his small sailboat Dove, during his solo circumnavigation of the globe. (Graham 1972: 35)

October 20:

On October 20, 1905, the first American Samoan Fono (legislature) was elected. (Theroux 1985)

On October 20, 1933, the Mau's Special Committee met at Olaf Frederick Nelson's home in Tua'efu, Western Samoa. Minutes were taken and were carefully filed. Later, they were seized by the police, and were used as evidence against Nelson. (Field 1984: 208)

October 21:

On October 21, 1819, French navigator Louis de Freycinet sighted Rose Atoll, and, unaware that Jacob Roggeveen had discovered it on June 13, 1722 and had named it Vuyle Eylandt ("Bird Island") named it after his wife Rose Marie, who was an illegal passenger on his ship Uranie. (Dunmore 1991: 109-110; Theroux 1985)

On October 21, 1907, Commander Charles Brainard Taylor Moore, Governor of American Samoa, enacted his "Regulation No. 9-1907: Dealings Between Samoans and Non-Samoans," which dealt mainly with contracts and lending money, and repealed Commandant Benjamin Tilley's Regulation No. 3-1901, dated March 27, 1901, of the same title. This regulation was subsequently amended by Governor Waldo Evans on May 10, 1921, and by Governor Henry F. Bryan on November 19, 1926. (Noble 1931: 78-79)

October 22:

On October 22, 1913, Acting Chief Nurse Mary H. Humphreys and Nurse Corinne Anderson of the U.S. Navy's Nurse Corps arrived for duty at the Samoan Hospital in American Samoa. (Bryan 1927: 75)

October 23:

On October 23, 1839, the U.S. Exploring Expedition completed its surveys of Tutuila, and prepared to depart for 'Upolu. (Wilkes 1845 [1970], II: 87)

On October 23, 1941, the Office of Naval Operations notified the U.S. Naval station Tutuila that four complete sono-radio buoys were to be installed at the entrance to Pago Pago Harbor. (Burke 1945b: 141)

October 24:

On October 24, 1912, President William Howard Taft commissioned Commander William Michael Crose as "Governor of American Samoa." Prior to this, American Samoa's governors had been commissioned as "Governor of Tutuila," which, Crose felt, was a slight to the Manu'ans. (Bryan 1927: 54-55)

On October 24, 1920, Eli Hutchinson Jennings, Jr. died and was buried on Swains Island. (Theroux 1985)

October 25:

On October 25, 1839, the "U.S. Ex. Ex.'s" flagship USS Vincennes weighed anchor in Pago Pago Harbor, and set a course for 'Upolu. (Wilkes 1845 [1970], II: 87)

On October 25, 1870, Edwin Taylor Pollock, 14th naval governor of American Samoa (March 1, 1922-September 4, 1923), was born in Mount Gilead, Ohio. (USNHC: Pollock RO)

On October 25, 1891, Malia Jennings, wife of Eli Hutchinson Jennings, Sr., died and was buried on Swains Island. (Theroux 1985)

On October 25, 1945, a census revealed that "approximately 1600" Western Samoan children had American military fathers. (Burke 1945c: 123)

October 26:

On October 26, 1839, U.S. Exploring Expedition Commander Lieutenant Charles Wilkes arrived in Apia Harbor, aboard USS Vincennes. (Wilkes 1845 [1970], II: 88-89)

October 27:

On October 27, 1939, Albert Wendt, novelist, poet, educator and currently Professor of Literature at the University of Auckland, was born in Western Samoa. (Warburton 1996: 100)

On October 27, 1944, 'Upolu's token Marine garrison was reduced to one officer and twelve enlisted men. (Denfeld 1989a: 42)

October 28:

On October 28, 1888, the first conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was held on Aunu'u. At this conference, the Church's first meeting house, which measured 18 by 36 feet, was dedicated. Elder William O. Lee was sustained as the Superintendent of the Sabbath School, with Manoa and Adelbert Beasley as his first and second counselors. (Anonymous 1997b: 2)

On October 28, 1943, Lieutenant Commander C.T. Gilliam, USN, completed his Facilities Survey Report for the U.S. Naval Station Tutuila. He recommended that Tutuila be used for these purposes in the future war effort: (1) As a central headquarters for the Samoan Defense Group; (2) As a rear logistic supply depot; (3) As a supporting defense link in the frontal ring of island bases; (4) As a fueling depot; (5) As an anchorage, watering station and repair station; (6) As a search and weather station for observation planes; (7) As a hunter-killer station for antisubmarine warfare, and (8) As a jungle training area. (In fact, USNS Tutuila eventually performed all eight of these functions). (Burke 1945b: 72-73)

On October 28, 1960, Western Samoa's Constitutional Convention completed its work. (Davidson 1967: 400-401)

On October 28, 1977, Western Samoa got its first dial telephone system. (WSFDC: 10/28/1977)

October 29:

On October 29, 1895, Makelita Young, the only female ruler of Manu'a, died in a fire at age 23. (Theroux 1985)