Hyde mentored native Hawaiians who wanted to enter the Christian ministry, and he helped provide smallpox vaccinations for the population. He was a descendant of Scottish Covenanters, and one of the original five trustees of Kamehameha Schools. Private correspondence about Father Damien, penned by Hyde and published without his permission, sparked a heated public rebuke from Robert Louis Stevenson who expressed his belief that sainthood lay ahead for Damien.