Nine men and three women – arrived at the Kalaupapa peninsula because of government policies regarding leprosy. They were the first of an estimated 8,000 people who were taken from their families and forcibly isolated at Kalaupapa, most of them never seeing their loved ones again. There was a child with those first 12 people as well as some family members, showing how kokua were important to Kalaupapa from the very beginning.

Jozef De Veuster was born in Tremelo, Belgium. He later became a priest known as Father Damien who arrived at Kalaupapa in 1873. He spent the next 16 years of his life as a religious leader, human rights advocate and friend, working with the people of Kalaupapa to make life better for everyone. He was canonized as Saint Damien in 2009. 

January 23, 1838 – Barbara Koob was born in Germany and soon immigrated to America with her family. She joined the Sisters of St. Francis and became a respected health administrator in New York who became Mother Marianne Cope. In 1883, she answered the call initiated by King Kalakaua and Queen Kapiolani through the Catholic Church to help people affected by leprosy in Hawai`i. She spent 30 years at Kalaupapa, supervising The Bishop Home for Single Women and Girls and serving as a leader for the community. She was canonized as Saint Marianne in 2012.

Ambrose Hutchison arrived at Kalaupapa, sent there because he had been diagnosed with leprosy. He lived at Kalaupapa for the next 53 years and served as Resident Superintendent for a total of 10 years, longer than any other person who was also facing the challenges of leprosy. He worked alongside Father Damien and Mother Marianne and helped with visits of the ali`I to Kalaupapa. Ambrose left his unpublished memoirs which are now the focus of a soon-to-be-published book by Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa.

January, 1895: The final kama‘aina (original residents of Kalaupapa) were forced to leave the peninsula during this month. The kama‘aina played a key role in helping the early residents of Kalaupapa who were provided with very little support or supplies by the government when they arrived on the first ships in 1866. If not for the kindness and compassion of the kama‘aina, life would have been even worse for those early residents. When the settlement became overcrowded, the government told the kama‘aina they would have to leave the land where they had lived for generations. The last of the kama‘aina were evicted in January of 1895, a year after the Republic of Hawai‘i was established.

The wedding of Jack and Mary Sing, two important and much-loved leaders of the Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Kalaupapa and respected leaders of the community. The Sings went on to celebrate their 50th anniversary in 1981—they were one of just three couples in the history of Kalaupapa to observe their Golden Anniversaries along with the first such couple, David and Annie Kupele and, the most recent, Paul and Winnie Harada.

January 26, 1978: Eight residents of Hale Mohalu in Pearl City—an alternative to Kalaupapa established in 1949—were relocated to Leahi Hospital against their wishes. Twelve others refused to leave and remained behind, including Bernard Punikai‘a, Clarence Naia, and Frank and Mary Duarte. It was the beginning of more than five years of Kalaupapa residents occupying Hale Mohalu and, together with their many supporters, protesting government-imposed policies opposed by the people. The Hale Mohalu ‘Ohana held weekly rallies in front of the State Capitol. Punikai‘a, Naia and several of their supporters were arrested on September 21, 1983, when the buildings of Hale Mohalu were razed.

Kalaupapa Sunday—Fourth Sunday of January: Beginning in 2014, the Hawai`i  Conference for the United Church of Christ began observing Kalaupapa Sunday where the HUCC churches across  Hawai‘i would remember  the  people of Kalaupapa— particularly the 35 men and women who founded Siloama Church less than six months after the first people had been sent to Kalaupapa in 1866.