Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 1997 The Geography of Polynesians in Utah Adam M. Frazier Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Mormon Studies Commons, and the Polynesian Studies Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Frazier, Adam M., "The Geography of Polynesians in Utah" (1997). Theses and Dissertations. 4695. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4695 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. C THE GEOGRAPHY OF polynesians IN UTAH A thesis presented to the department of geography brigham young university in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree master of science by adam M frazier april 1997 this thesis by adam M frazier is accepted in its present form by the department of geography of brigham young university as satisfying the thesis requirement for the degree of master of science M r richard H jackson committee chair alan H grey committee memberber 7 77 1 am date JTnttheatthenattheww shumway comlruneeco e member 11 acknowledgments I1 am truly grateful to all those who have helped improve this thesis I1 especially wish to thank my wife vikki for her endless love support and patience without her constant encouragement I1 never could have written this thesis I1 also wish to thank dr richard H jackson for proposing this topic and dr alan H grey and dr J matthew shumwayShurnway for their insightful suggestions and editorial assistance iniii TABLE OF CONTENTS page page 1 acceptance I ii acknowledgments iii list of figures v chapter 1 introduction I11 chapter 2 the history of polynesians in utah 9 chapter 3 polynesians in the united states 1 16 chapter 4 polynesians in utah 0 o 27 chapter 5 polynesians in salt lake city 0 0 0 41 chapter 6 polynesian migration to utah 0 0 52 chapter 7 conclusions 0 o 61 references 0 o 0 0 0 0 64 ivIV LIST OF FIGURES page figure 11iili1.11 1 migration factors 4 21 1 figure 2122.1 JonjonatanaJonatjonatanahatanaanaHH napela loio 10.10 22 .12 figure 222.2 exodus to losepajosepa 1889 12 12 figure 232.3 original settlers of losepaiosepaiokepa 13 31 1 figure 3313.1 polynesians in the united states 1980 17 17.17 32 .18 figure 323.2 polynesians in the united states 1990 18 18 figure 333.3 polynesians by selected states 1980 and 1990 19 34 figure 343.4 number of polynesians by state 20 20.20 35 .21 figure 353.5 polynesian density by state 1980 21 21 figure 363.6 polynesian density by state 1990 2222.22 37 figure 373.7 population change in the united states and utah 1980 to 1990 23 23.23 38 figure 383.8 population change by state 1980 to 1990 25 25.25 figure 393.9 ethnicity of polynesians by selected states 1990 2626.26 41 1 figure 4414.1 polynesians in utah 1860 to 1990 28 28.28 42 figure 424.2 polynesians in utah 1980 30 30.30 figure 434.3 polynesians in utah 1990 3131.31 44 figure 444.4 polynesians in utah by county 32 32.32 figure 454.5 polynesian density in utah 1980 3434.34 46 .35 figure 464.6 polynesian density in utah 1990 35 35 47 .37 figure 474.7 population change in utah by county 1980 to 1990 37 37 48 .39 figure 484.8 ethnicity of polynesians in utah by county 1990 39 39 51 1 figure 515.15 polynesians in salt lake city 1980 42 42.42 52 figure 525.2 polynesians in salt lake city 1990 43 43.43 53 figure 535.3 polynesians in salt lake city by census tract 44 44.44 v figure 545.454polynesianpolynesian density in salt lake city 1980 46 figure 555.555polynesianpolynesian density in salt lake city 1990 47 figure 5656population5.6 population change in salt lake city by census tracts 1980 to 1990 49 figure 57ethnicity575.7 ethnicity of polynesians in salt lake city by 1990 census tracts 50 figure 61migration616 1 migration causes and components 53 figure 62factors626.2 factors and obstacles in polynesian migration to utah 54 figure 636.363populationpopulation of tonga 1945 to 1995 57 viVI CHAPTER 1 introduction utah has long been known as an enclave of peculiar people originally inhabited by utes Gogoshutesshutes Paipaiutesutes and cavajosnavajosNavajos utah was colonized in 1847 by mormon pioneers of primarily european ancestry seeking religious freedom although still predominantly mormon and caucasian other religions and ethnic groups have contributed to utahs uniqueness yet few have ever been studied of utahs rarely studied minorities polynesians have a unique history and geography this lack of research is surprising according to the 1990 census of population and housing utah has the third largest number of polynesians in the continental united states 71871811 moreover utah has the greatest concentration of polynesians per capita of any state about I11 per 250 excluding hawaii thus their particular history and geography need to be better understood objective this thesis will explore the history and geography of polynesians in utah specifically this thesis will examine and analyze the historic and current migrations of hawaiiansHawaiians Sasamoanssammansmoans and tongans to utah to illustrate recent trends this thesis will map the 1980 and 1990 distributions of polynesians at three scales in the united states by state in utah by county and in salt lake city by census tract finally this thesis will explain why polynesians migrate to utah and why utah has a relatively high concentration of polynesians compared to other states literature review very little has ever been written on the migration of polynesians to the united states indeed their recent migration to utah has never been studied moreover their I1 current distribution within utah has also never been studied at any scale significantly only one comprehensive book has ever been written on the various peoples of utah papanikolas 1976 and it omits polynesiansPolynesians As opposed to the lack of information on current polynesian migration to or distribution within utah the early history of polynesians to utah in the late 1800s is fairly well understood dr R lanier britsch 1986 in his comprehensive work unto the island of the sea chronicles the history of latterlatterdayday saints in the pacific and dr S george ellsworth 1994 in seasons of faith and courage meticulously records the history of the church in french polynesia more specifically the saga of early polynesian pioneers in utah is documented by dennis atkin 1958 in A history of losepajosepa the utah polynesian colony and tracey panek 1992 in life at losepajosepa utahs polynesian colony these works are of particular interest to this study and are discussed in detail in chapter 2 although the history of polynesians in utah is known neither their geography nor their demography is currently known nevertheless at least for 1980 the polynesian population of the united states has been generally described herbert barringer et al 1993 as part of the comprehensive study asian and pacific islanders in the united states based on 1980 census statistics analyzed the demography of polynesians in the united states in general although polynesians only constitute a minority in this study it is the only demographic study of the entire united states in which polynesians have been included since this study is somewhat applicable to utah polynesiansPolynesians it will be discussed in chapter 6 aside from a brief mention in barringer et al 1993 polynesian migration to utah has never been specifically described however migration has been modeled in general indeed over the years many researchers have attempted to model migration and codify the causes and although notable most of these studies assume a rational decision making process a condition that does not always exist nevertheless these factors still 2 influence most migrations and will be incorporated into this studys conceptual framework the original model of migration as conceptualized by EG ravenstein 1885 and 1889 in his seminal work the laws of migration included seven simple laws of migration distance steps current and countercurrent urbanruralurban rural differences gender selectivity economic dominance and technology indeed since then most researchers have only expanded upon this model significantly everett lee 1966 in his well known work A theory of migration added four more important concepts of migration behavior to ravensteinsRavensteins model positive attractiveness negative attractiveness neutral attractiveness and intervening obstacles and recently using various asian and pacific islander immigration statistics elliot barkan 1992 in asian and pacific islander migration to the united states conceptualizedreconceptualizedre these laws of migration to better fit the global nature of contemporary migration and formulated 27 migrationmigrationinfluencinginfluencing factors the migration of other minorities to particular areas of the united states has been studied although many diverse works could be cited one recent work is of particular interest to this study richard jones 1995 in immigration reform and migrant flows compositional and spatial changes in mexican migration after the immigration reform act of 1986 assesses the changes in mexican migration to south texas between the census years of 1980 and 1990 in addition by extending research done by lee 1966 and other more recent researchers jones 1995 proposes a new typology of migration based on causes and components figure