Samuel P. Aheong (Siu Pheoung, S. P. Ahiona) (1835–1871) missionary

Samuel P. Aheong became one of the most influential Christian missionaries in Hawaii, encouraging the local Christian community to embrace newly arriving Chinese immigrants.
Aheong was born in Kwangtung (Guandong) Province, China, the son of a school superintendent. Separated from his family during the Taiping Rebellion, in 1854 he joined a work crew headed for the sugar plantations of Hawaii. During his five years of contracted service, he learned English and converted to Christianity. Already a master of a dozen Chinese dialects, he soon became conversant in English, Hawaiian, and Japanese, and became a successful merchant in Lahaina. Aheong’s zeal for sharing the Christian gospel with his fellow countrymen led to his commissioning as an evangelist by the Hawaiian Evangelical Association in 1868 and the integration of many Christian churches throughout the Hawaiian Islands. In 1870, he returned to China to evangelize his native land and died there the following year.