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 1841 - 1926 (84 years) Submit Photo / Document
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| Name |
William Tufts Brigham |
| Born |
24 May 1841 |
Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Biographical Information |
1887 |
| In 1883 William joined a group that had bought and operated a plantation in Guatemala. When the business failed and went into bankruptcy. A shortage of $17,000 was discovered in his legal trust account. He was arrested in February 1887 for allegedly embezzling the money. The charges were never proven however, he was forced to liquidate all his remaining assets. His family and friends shunned him. Broke and having little chance of finding employment in his home town, Boston, Massachusetts, he fled to Hawaii, where his old friend Charles Reed Bishop hired him as the first curator of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum. |
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William T Brigham Arrested.
The Worthington (Minnesota) Advance, Thursday, February 24, 1887 page 3. |
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Trust Funds Missing. William T. Brigham Arrested For The Alleged Embezzlement of $17,000
Evening Bulletin, Honolulu, Hawaii, Thursday, March 17, 1887 page 2. |
| Occupation |
1898 |
| William was hired as the first curator of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. He held this position until he retired in 1918. |
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Bishop Museum.
Bishop Hall as it appears today. Built by Charles Reed Bishop to honor his wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. |
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Ward's Whale.
The Museum has been proclaimed the Museum of Natural and Cultural History of Hawaii and is on the National Register of Historic Places. On of the museum's most iconic sights was obtained under Brigham in 1901. Ward's whale is a Sperm Whale skeleton that is visible from one side and covered with a paper mache "skin" on the other side. |
| Biographical Information |
1903 |
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William T Brigham Censured.
The Hawaiian Star, Tuesday, September 22, 1903 page 4. |
| Biographical Information |
1905 |
| Honorary Degree. |
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How Columbia Made Brigham A Doctor.
The Daily Pacific Commercial Advertiser, Honolulu, Hawaii, Thursday, November 9, 1905 page 3. |
| Died |
30 Jan 1926 |
Honolulu, Honolulu, Hawaii |
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Dr Brigham Ill.
The Albuquerque Journal, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Tuesday, January, 12, 1926, page 3. |
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Noted Scientist Dies In Honolulu.
Santa Ana (California) Register, Monday, February 1, 1926 page one. |
| Buried |
Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States |
 Siblings |
4 siblings |
| 1. Charles Brooks Brigham, b. 17 Jan 1845, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts , d. 24 Aug 1903, San Francisco, San Francisco, California |
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| Headstones |
 Submit Headstone Photo |
| Person ID |
I1200 |
Nagel |
| Last Modified |
13 Nov 2017 |
| Father |
William Brigham, b. 26 Sep 1806, Grafton, Worcester, Massachusetts , d. 9 Jul 1869 (Age 62 years) |
| Relationship |
Birth |
| Mother |
Margaret Austin Brooks, b. 6 Jul 1817, Charlestown, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts , d. 1 Feb 1886, Brookline, Norfolk, Massachusetts (Age 68 years) |
| Relationship |
Birth |
| Married |
11 Jun 1840 |
Hillsboro, Montgomery, Illinois |
| Family ID |
F936 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Event Map |
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 | Born - 24 May 1841 - Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts |
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 | Died - 30 Jan 1926 - Honolulu, Honolulu, Hawaii |
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 | Buried - - Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States |
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| Pin Legend |
 : Address
 : Location
 : City/Town
 : County/Shire
 : State/Province
 : Country
 : Not Set |
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| Photos |
 | William Tufts Brigham
William Tufts Brigham |
 | Firewalker
In the episode “Firewalker” Mulder and Scully investigate strange occurrences at a volcano where at least one scientist has died. In the real world Naturalist William Tufts Brigham combined a volcano and fierwalking and seemingly encountered a supernatural mystery. In 1936 Max Freedom Long wrote the book “Recovering the Ancient Magic". In this book he recounted Brigham's words:
The kahunas took off their sandals and tied ti leaves around their feet, about three leaves to the foot. I sat down and began tying my ti leaves on outside my big hob-nailed boots. I wasn't taking any chances. But that wouldn't do at all—I must take off my boots and my two pairs of socks. The goddess Pele hadn’t agreed to keep boots from burning and it might be an insult to her if I wore them.
I argued hotly—and I say ‘hotly’ because we were all but roasted. I knew that Pele wasn't the one who made fire-magic possible, and I did my best to find out what or who was. As usual they grinned and said that of course the ‘white’ kahuna knew the trick of getting mana (power of some kind known to kahunas) out of air and water to use in kahuna work, and that we were wasting time talking about the thing no kahuna ever put into words—the secret handed down only from father to son.
The upshot of the matter was that I sat tight and refused to take off my boots. In the back of my mind I figured that if the Hawaiians could walk over hot lava with bare callused feet, I could do it with my heavy leather soles to protect me. Remember that this happened at a time when I still had an idea that there was some physical explanation for the thing.
The kahunas got to considering my boots a great joke. If I wanted to offer them as a sacrifice to the gods, it might be a good idea. They grinned at each other and left me to tie on my leaves while they began their chants.
“The chants were in an archaic Hawaiian which I could not follow. It was the usual ‘god-talk’ handed down word for word for countless generations. All I could make of it was that it consisted of simple little mentions of legendary history and was peppered with praise of some god or gods.
I almost roasted alive before the kahunas had finished their chanting, although it could not have taken more than a few minutes. Suddenly the time was at hand. One of the kahunas beat at the shimmering surface of the lava with a bunch of ti leaves and then offered me the honor of crossing first. Instantly I remembered my manners; I was all for age before beauty.
The matter was settled at once by deciding that the oldest kahuna should go first, I second and the others side by side. Without a moment of hesitation the oldest man trotted out on that terrifically hot surface. I was watching him with my mouth open and he was nearly across—a distance of about a hundred and fifty feet—when someone gave me a shove that resulted in my having my choice of falling on my face on the lava or catching a running stride.
I still do not know what madness seized me, but I ran. The heat was unbelievable. I held my breath and my mind seemed to stop functioning. I was young then and could do my hundred-yard dash with the best. Did I run! I flew! I would have broken all records, but with my first few steps the soles of my boots began to burn. They curled and shrank, clamping down on my feet like a vice. The seams gave way and I found myself with one sole gone and the other flapping behind me from the leather strap at the heel.
That flapping sole was almost the death of me. It tripped me repeatedly and slowed me down. Finally, after what seemed minutes, but could not have been more than a few seconds, I leaped off to safety.
I looked down at my feet and found my socks burning at the edges of the curled leather uppers of my boots. I beat out the smoldering fire in the cotton fabric and looked up to find my three kahunas rocking with laughter as they pointed to the heel and sole of my left boot which lay smoking and burned to a crisp on the lava.
I laughed too. I was never so relieved in my life as I was to find that I was safe and that there was not a blister on my feet—not even where I had beaten out the fire in the socks.
“There is little more that I can tell of this experience. I had a sensation of intense heat on my face and body, but almost no sensation in my feet. When I touched them with my hands they were hot on the bottoms, but they did not feel so except to my hands. None of the kahunas had a blister, although the ti leaves had burned off their soles.
Of course another reoccurring X Files theme was the perpetration of fraud in an ongoing attempt to discredit agent Mulder. Agent Scully was there to keep him grounded and to apply critical thinking. In this case she found that Long was a charlatan that took Hawaiian traditions and mixed them with new age, wicca, Freudian psychology, or anything else that would sell a book.
Presently it cannot be independently verified that Long ever met Brigham as he claimed. In his unpublished manuscript “The Ancient Worship of the Hawaiian Islanders, With References to That of Other Polynesians” Brigham wrote of an attempt to walk on lava that was “recently cooled crust although the edges were still incandescent”. Not only were there no ti leaves there were no natives casting magic spells. In fact he chose a moment to do this when no one was there to tell him that it was a dumb idea! While he describes ruining his shoes they didn't fall apart or burn through as in long's version.
Mulder countered with the fact that Brigham was a man of science and therefore he couldn't do anything to associate himself with magic.
Scully had the answer there as well. While he was known as Doctor Brigham it was a honorary degree. In 1887 he was arrested for embezzlement. While he was never convicted it left him broke and the shadow of the problem left little opportunity. He moved to Hawaii where a friend made him the first curator of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum.
Mulder again countered; The Hawaiian lobelioid genus Brighamia was named in his honor. |
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| Notes |
- Prepared for college at the Boston Latin School. Graduated with a Master of Arts Degree from Harvard 1n 1862. In 1864/5 he made a scientific exploration of the Hawaiian islands with Horace Mann. They discovered many new species of plants. He was a professor of natural sciences at Oahu collage, resigning in Oct 1865 to explore China and India. September 1867 he was admitted to the bar. In 1868/9 he was an instructor of botany at Harvard University. He served six years on the Boston School Board, where he introduced systematic instruction in drawing, and was the first chairman of the drawing committee. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He practiced law in Boston.
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