Kaahumanu | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

February 5, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Before The Stone Church

By the time the first company of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) Protestant missionaries arrived in 1820, Kamehameha I had died and the centuries-old kapu system had been abolished.

Through the actions of King Kamehameha II (Liholiho,) with encouragement by former Queens Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani (Liholiho’s mother,) the Hawaiian people had already dismantled their heiau and had rejected their religious beliefs.

The missionaries first lived in the traditional Hawaiian house, the hale pili. These were constructed of native woods lashed together with cordage most often made from olonā. Pili grass was a preferred thatching that added a pleasant odor to a new hale. Lauhala (pandanus leaves) or ti leaf bundles called peʻa, were other covering materials used.

In addition to their homes, the missionaries had grass meeting places, and later, churches. One of the first was on the same site as the present Kawaiahaʻo Church.

On April 28, 1820, the Protestant missionaries held a church service for chiefs, the general population, ship’s officers and sailors in the larger room in Reverend Hiram Bingham’s house. This room was used as a school room during the weekdays and on Sunday the room was Honolulu’s first church auditorium. (Damon)

It was the fore-runner to what we know today as Kawaiahaʻo Church (and the first foreign church on Oʻahu.) There were several other earlier buildings that served as a Honolulu church/meeting house, until the present “Stone Church” (Kawaiahaʻo) was completed in 1842.

On December 31, 1820, Levi Sartwell Loomis, son of Elisha and Maria Loomis (the first white child born in the Sandwich Islands) and Sophia Moseley Bingham, daughter of Hiram and Sybil Bingham (the first white girl born on Oʻahu) were baptized.

In July, 1821, the missionaries had raised enough money and started to plan a church; the site was just makai of the existing Kawaiahaʻo Church. A month later, they began to build a 22 by 54 foot building, large enough to seat 300.

This first church building was built of thatch and lined with mats; however, it had glass windows, doors, a wooden pulpit and 2-rows of seats, separated by an aisle. In August of that year, Captain Templeton presented a bell from his ship to be used at the church.

Within a year, Hiram Bingham began to preach in the Hawaiian language. 4-services a week were conducted (3 in Hawaiian and 1 in English.) Congregations ranged from 100 – 400; by the end of the year, the church was expanded.

The church conducted its first funeral in January 1823 for Levi Parson Bingham, infant (16-days) son on Hiram and Sybil Bingham. Three days later, a Hawaiian chief requested similar services on the death of a royal child. (Damon)

On May 30, 1824, the church burned to the ground. “Sabbath evening, May 30, nine o’clock. About an hour since, we were alarmed by the ringing of the chapel bell, and, on reaching the door, discovered the south end of the building in one entire blaze. … In five minutes the whole was on fire.” (Stewart – Damon)

Within a couple of days after the fire, Kalanimōkū ordered a new church to be built at public expense. A new thatched building (25 by 70 feet) was placed a short distance from the old; it was dedicated July 18, 1824.

1825 saw another sad funeral when the bodies of Liholiho (King Kamehameha II) and his wife Queen Kamāmalu were brought home from England. The church was draped in black.

Interest in the mission’s message outgrew the church and services were held outside with 3,000 in attendance; efforts were underway to build a larger facility to accommodate 4,000.

Kalanimōkū marked out the ground for the new meeting house “on the North side of the road, directly opposite the present house, whither they have commenced bringing coral rock formed on the shore and cut up in pieces of convenient size.” (Chamberlain – Damon) Timber frame and thatching completed the building.

In December, 1825, the third Meeting House building was opened for worship; however, shortly afterward a violent rain storm collapsed the structure.

In 1827 (after Kalanimōkū’s death,) Kaʻahumanu stepped forward and “caused a temporary house to be erected which is 86 feet by 30, with 2 wings each 12 feet wide extending the whole length of the building. … It is not large enough to accommodate all who attend the service on Sabbath mornings, many are obliged to sit without.” (Mission Journal – Damon)

Since that building was considered temporary, the next year, on July 1, 1828, “the natives commenced the erection of the new meeting house which will soon be built.” They were called to bring stones to set around the posts.

The last of the thatched churches served for 12-years. It measured 63 by 196 feet (larger than the present Kawaiahaʻo Church) – 4,500 people could assemble within it.

Then, between 1836 and 1842, Kawaiahaʻo Church was constructed. Revered as the Protestant “mother church” and often called “the Westminster Abbey of Hawai‘i” this structure is an outgrowth of the original Mission Church founded in Boston and is the first foreign church on O‘ahu (1820.)

The “Stone Church,” as it came to be known, is in fact not built of stone, but of giant slabs of coral hewn from ocean reefs. These slabs had to be quarried from under water; each weighed more than 1,000 pounds. Natives dove 10 to 20 feet to hand-chisel these pieces from the reef, then raised them to the surface, loaded some 14,000 of the slabs into canoes and ferried them to shore.

Following five years of construction, The Stone Church was ready for dedication ceremonies on July 21, 1842. The grounds of Kawaiahaʻo overflowed with 4,000 to 5,000 faithful worshippers. King Kamehameha III, who contributed generously to the fund to build the church, attended the service.

Kawaiaha‘o Church was designed and founded by its first pastor, Hiram Bingham. Hiram left the islands on August 3, 1840 and never saw the completed church. Kawaiahaʻo Church is listed on the state and national registers of historic sites.

Kawaiaha‘o Church continues to serve as a center of worship for Hawai‘i’s people, with services conducted every Sunday in Hawaiian and English. Approximately 85% of the services are in English; at least one song and the Lord’s Prayer (as a congregation) are in Hawaiian.

Over the course of 44-years (1820-1863) (the “Missionary Period”,) about 200 men and women in twelve Companies, independent missionaries, Tahitians and Hawaiians served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the ABCFM the Hawaiian Islands. (Lots of info here from Damon.)

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First Kawaiahao Church Building-TheFriend-Oct 1925

Bingham’s_Thatched_Home-(Damon)-1820

Small-Large_Thatched_Houses-(NPS)

First_Christian_Church-Honolulu-(Damon)-1822

Native_Chapel-Cottage_of_Ellis_and_Palace_of_Kalanimoku-(Stewart)-1828

Mission_House and First_Christian_Church-Honolulu-1822

ourth_Kawaiahao_Church-1840

Fourth_Kawaiahao_Church-1832

Kawaiahao_Church-2007

Kawaiahao_Church-1900

January 29, 2020 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kuhina Nui

The Kuhina Nui was a unique position in the administration of Hawaiian government and had no equivalent in western governments of the day. It has been described in general terms as “Prime Minister,” “Premier” and “Regent.”

The Kuhina Nui held equal authority to the king in all matters of government, including the distribution of land, negotiating treaties and other agreements, and dispensing justice.

Kamehameha III established Hawai‘i’s first constitution, in 1840, where the office of Kuhina Nui was first codified.

The Kuhina Nui’s primary judicial responsibility over “life and death, condemnation and acquittal” became institutionalized in that constitution (1840.) The Kuhina Nui was also given the duty of presiding, with the King, over the Supreme Court.

Article 45 of the 1852 Constitution of Hawaiian Kingdom stated: “Art. 45. All important business of the kingdom which the King chooses to transact in person, he may do, but not without the approbation of the Kuhina Nui. The King and Kuhina Nui shall have a negative on each other’s public acts.”

The Constitution of 1852 further clarified some of the office’s responsibilities, including its authority in the event of the King’s death or minority of the heir to the throne. The office of Kuhina Nui functioned from 1819 to 1864, through the reigns of Kamehameha II, III, IV and V.

The following were Hawaiʻi’s Kuhina Nui.

Ka‘ahumanu (1819-1832)
Ka‘ahumanu, the favorite wife of Kamehameha I, created the office of Kuhina Nui. She ruled first with Kamehameha II until his departure for England in 1823 and then as regent for Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III).

Intelligent and shrewd, Ka‘ahumanu instigated the breaking of the ancient kapu system following Kamehameha I’s death in 1819. She converted to Christianity, supported the Protestant missionaries and proclaimed laws based on Christian principles.

Kaʻahumanu was such a powerful person and Kuhina Nui that subsequent female Kuhina Nui adopted her name, (Kaʻahumanu II, III & IV.)

Kīna‘u (Kaʻahumanu II) (1832-1839)
Kīna‘u became a Christian in 1830. She succeeded her aunt Ka‘ahumanu upon the latter’s death in 1832. She acted as the Regent for her brother Kauikeaouli when he became King Kamehameha III, from June 5, 1832 to March 15, 1833.

She would rule with him until her death. She was responsible for enforcing Hawaiʻi’s first penal code, proclaimed by the king in 1835.

Kekāuluohi (Kaʻahumanu III) (1839-1845)
Kekāuluohi succeeded her half-sister Kīna‘u as Kuhina Nui. Initially, she was considered something of a “place-holder” for Kīna‘u’s infant daughter Victoria Kamāmalu, who would later assume the office.

Kekāuluohi was a co-signer with Kamehameha III of Hawai‘i’s first Constitution in 1840, which provided for an elected representative body, a first step toward the common people gaining political power. The constitution also codified for the first time, the responsibilities and authority of the Kuhina Nui.

As the pressures of international diplomacy and economic development increased on the Hawaiian kingdom, it was necessary to structure the government for better administrative control. As her life came to a close, Kekāuluohi appointed Gerrit P. Judd as Minister of the Interior to administer on her behalf.

Keoni Ana (1845-1855)
Keoni Ana was appointed Kuhina Nui by Kamehameha III because Victoria Kamāmalu, the designated successor of her mother Kīna‘u, was still a minor.

Keoni Ana was a son of John Young, the English sailor who became a trusted adviser to Kamehameha I, and Young’s wife Ka‘ōanā‘eha. Keoni Ana held several government positions, including service in the House of Nobles and Privy Council, as a Supreme Court justice, and as chamberlain of Kamehameha III’s household.

Soon after Keoni Ana became Kuhina Nui in June 1845, the Legislative Assembly passed several acts that organized the executive ministries and departments of the government. This legislation provided that the Kuhina Nui serve dually as Minister of the Interior.

Victoria Kamāmalu (Kaʻahumanu IV) (1855-1863)
Only 17 years old, Victoria Kamāmalu was appointed Kuhina Nui by her brother Kamehameha IV soon after he ascended the throne in December 1854. As the daughter of Kīna‘u, the second Kuhina Nui, and as the highest ranking female chief of the day, it had long been her destiny to assume the responsibilities of the office.

As Kuhina Nui, Victoria Kamāmalu presided over the King’s Privy Council. Perhaps her most important contribution as Kuhina Nui was to proclaim her brother Lot Kamehameha V the rightful successor to Kamehameha IV when the latter died unexpectedly in 1863.

Mataio Kekūanāo‘a (1863-1864)
When Lot Kapuāiwa (Kamehameha V) succeeded his brother Kamehameha IV in 1863, he selected his father, Mataio Kekūanāo‘a to be the Kuhina Nui. Kekūanāo‘a had a long and active career in Hawaiian government affairs.

He accompanied Kamehameha II on his ill-fated journey to England in 1823, served in the House of Nobles and the Privy Council, was a governor of O‘ahu, the King’s chamberlain, and president of the Board of Public Instruction.

His marriage to Kīna‘u, a daughter of Kamehameha I, made him the father of two kings, Kamehameha IV and V. He was also the father of Princess Ruth Ke‘elikōlani, whose great land holdings would pass to Bernice Pauahi Bishop and become the Kamehameha Schools / Bishop Estate.

As the last Kuhina Nui, Kekūanāo‘a essentially presided over the demise of the office. Kamehameha V proclaimed a constitution on August 20, 1864 in which there was no provision for a Kuhina Nui. It was “an unnecessary check upon the Legislative in giving to this Office an absolute control over the acts of a body of which he himself is a member and in which he has a vote.”

The image shows the six Kuhina Nui who ruled in Hawaiʻi, Ka‘ahumanu (1819-1832), Kīna‘u (1832-1839), Kekāuluohi (1839-1845), Keoni Ana (1845-1855), Victoria Kamāmalu (1855-1863), Mataio Kekūanāo‘a (1863-1864).

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January 16, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Battle of Honolulu – 1826

The Hawaiian Islands in the early-1800s were in a state of social and political upheaval. With Kamehameha’s death in 1819, the subsequent breaking of the kapu by Liholiho and the acceptance of the missionaries and their beliefs meant significant changes were taking place.

The first visit to the Hawaiian Islands by the US Navy was in 1826 when the warship USS Dolphin came into port in Honolulu. Commanding the ship was Lieutenant John Percival (aka “Mad Jack” Percival.)

Percival had been sent to the Pacific to bring the mutineers of a whaling ship to justice and to enforce the settlement of debts owed by Hawaiʻi’s ruling chiefs to American sandalwood dealers.

As the ship sailed into Honolulu Bay, these objectives were not uppermost on the minds of the crew, however. The men of the Dolphin, like mariners then, had expectations of female companionship while in port.

They arrived on January 16, 1826, and were surprised to find the port unusually tranquil and utterly devoid of the welcoming maidens the crew had anticipated.

After making inquiries in the village they learned that, under the influence of the missionaries, the chiefs had not only forbidden the women to swim out to the ships, but had restricted the sale of alcohol. His men were outraged.

In a frenzy, Percival demanded to see the Queen in person, warning that if the leader of the missionaries (Hiram Bingham) interfered, he “will shoot him: that he was ready to fight, for though his vessel was small, she was just like fire.”

Percival attempted to persuade the Queen to release her women, reasoning that “It is not good to taboo the women. It is not so in America!”

The Queen replied, in a letter, that she had a “right to control her own subjects in this matter; that in enforcing the tabu she had not sought for money … she had done no injustice to other nations, or the foreigners who belonged to other nations; and that while seeking specially to save the nation from vice and ruin, they had been lenient to strangers … (and) that strangers, passing from one country to another, are bound, while they remain in a country, to conform to its laws.” (Bingham)

Percival said, “Why tabu the women? Take heed. My people will come: if the women are not forthcoming they will not obey my word. Take care of your men, and I will take care of mine. By and by they will come to get women, and if they do not obtain them, they will fight, and my vessel is just like fire.” (Bingham)

Kaʻahumanu replied, “Why make war upon us without a fault of ours as to restraining our women? We love the Word of God, and therefore hold back our women. Why then would you fight us without cause?” (Bingham)

Finally, able to hold his temper no longer, Percival clenched his fists with rage and shouted that the next day he would issue his men rum and turn them loose, where, if they were still denied, they would pull down the houses of the missionaries and take any women they pleased by force.

Kaʻahumanu replied, “Why are you angry with us for laying a tabu on the women of our own country? Had you brought American women with you, and we had tabued them, you might then justly be displeased with us.” (Bingham)

There were several other crews in port, of whom many sympathized with this commander and a large part of his crew. On a Sunday, the commander of the Dolphin allowed double the usual number of his men to spend the day on shore at Honolulu. The violent among them, and the violent of other crews, attempted to form a coalition to “knock off the tabu.”

First, they knocked out seventy of the windows at Kalanimōkū’s house (where church service was being held, with Kaʻahumanu, Kalanimōkū, Nāmāhana and Boki in attendance.) Then, the mob went on to the home of Hiram Bingham, the leader of the missionaries.

When the mob surged forward and one of the sailors struck Bingham, the riot ended as the Hawaiians responded by clubbing the ringleaders unconscious and overcame the remainder.

Shortly thereafter, the captain was back at the palace, admitting that his men may have overreacted, however, repeated their demands for prostitutes. He then told the Queen that the Dolphin would not leave port until his men were taken care of.

The Hawaiians by this time were very anxious to see the end of this and fearful of further violence, agreed to lift the taboo.

The prostitutes then came to the ship, and apparently the Navy’s Hawaiian mission was accomplished. Captain Percival arranged for the repair of the damaged homes and put two of the most violent sailors in irons.

After a visit of about three months, the Dolphin sailed, having obtained the name of “the mischief making man-of-war.” The incident was quickly christened “The Battle of Honolulu.”

Mad Jack’s actions were later renounced by the United States and resulted in the sending of an envoy to King Kamehameha III.

Kalanimōku wrote a letter to Hiram Bingham concerning the battle – in it he notes, “Here is my message to all of you, our missionary teachers. I am telling you that I do not see your wrongdoing. If I should see you to be wrong, I would tell you all. No, you should all just be good.”

“Give us literacy and we will teach it; and give us the word of God, and we will heed it. Our women are restricted, for we have learned the word of God.”

“Then foreigners come, doing damage to our land, foreigners of America and Britain. Do not be angry, for it is we who are to blame for you being faulted, and not you foreigners.” (Kalanimōku to Bingham, October 28, 1826)

You may see that letter (written in Hawaiian) and its translation in the Ali‘i Letters Collection at Hawaiian Mission Houses – here: https://hmha.missionhouses.org/collections/show/178.

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January 13, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Tea Party

The mission compound at Kawaiaha‘o was always a bustling place. There were many duties to attend to by the mission women: cooking cleaning teaching, entertaining guests and visitors, and raising their own children to name just a few.

These many domestic labors were hard on the mission women, so many of them hired for wages, Native Hawaiians to aid them in this domestic work. This interface between Native Hawaiians and Missionaries, and the women in particular was a major one, as it occurred on a daily basis, and occurred within the 1821 Mission House. (Mission Houses)

Then, they invited the leading chiefs to a tea …

“On Tuesday of last week (December 11, 1827,) Mrs. Bingham & Mrs. Richards, undertook to make a ‘tea party’ to bring all the chiefs in the place & the members of the mission family together to join in a friendly & social cup of tea, to shew Christian kindness & civility to our Sandwich Island neighbors and to promote kind feelings among the chiefs themselves now assembled from the different Islands.”

“The two sisters with their native domestics spent most of today in preparing biscuit, cakes &c. & making such arrangements as seemed to them desirable.”

“We sent out our billets in due form in the morning to the king & Ka‘ahumanu, and all the chiefs of the first & second rank and to some others connected with them by marriage. As soon as Kaahumanu received her invitation she sent over a supply of good white sugar for the occasion.”

Those in attendance included, Ka‘ahumanu, Kalākua, Pi‘ia, Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III,) Nahienaena, Kuakini, Naihe, Kapi‘olani, Hoapili, Kaikioewa, Keaweamahi, Kapule, Kaiu, Kekāuluohi, Kīna’u, Kekauōnohi, La‘anui, Keli‘iahonui, Kana‘ina, Leleiōhoku and Kamanele.

“But look, for a few moments, at the present group: twenty-one chiefs of the Sandwich islands mingling in friendly, courteous and Christian conversation with seven of the mission family, whom you have employed among them. Contemplate their former and their present habits, their former and their present hopes. They have laid aside their vices and excesses, and their love of noise and war.”

“(T)o this interesting group we should have been happy to have introduced you, or any of our Christian friends; and I doubt not you would have been highly gratified with the interview. …”

“Listen, and you will not only hear the expressions of gratitude to us and to God for the privileges they now enjoy, but you will hear these old warriors lamenting that their former kings, their fathers, and their companions in arms, had been slain in battle, or carried off by the hand of time, before the blessed gospel of Christ had been proclaimed on these benighted shores.”

“Your heart would have glowed with devout gratitude to God for the evidence that, while our simple food was passing round the social circle for their present gratification, the minds of some of these children of pagans enjoyed a feast of better things; and your thoughts, no doubt, like ours, would have glanced at a happier meeting of the friends of God in the world of glory.”

“When our thanks were returned at the close of our humble repast, though you might not have been familiar with the language, you would have lifted up your heart in thank-fulness for what had already appeared as the fruits of your efforts here, and for the prospect of still greater things than these.” (Bingham, December 15, 1827)

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December 21, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

William Sumner

William Sumner was born in 1786 in Northampton, England; he boarded a British vessel as a steward of the captain, and came to Hawaiʻi in 1807.

When the ship arrived on Kauai, William Sumner jumped-ship and lived amongst the Hawaiians there. Kaumuali‘i was the king of Kauai at the time, and when he saw Sumner, he was entranced by this youth, and took him as a “keiki hoʻokama” (adopted him.)

Archibald Campbell in his visit to the islands in 1809, referring to the vessels of Kamehameha, said, “I counted more than thirty vessels; they are kept with the utmost care, having sheds built over them, their spars laid alongside, and their rigging and cables preserved in stores.”

“They are chiefly sloops and schooners, under forty tons burden, and have all been built by his own carpenters, principally natives, under the direction of an Englishman of the name of Boyd.”

Captain William Sumner served as one of the captains on ships in this fleet. In doing so, he also participated in some of the monumental moments in Hawai‘i’s history of his time.

When Kamehameha called for Kaumuali‘i to meet, in 1810, reportedly, it was Sumner who accompanied King Kaumuali‘i to Pākākā for the peaceful settlement between Kaumuali‘i and Kamehameha.

After this meeting, Kaumuali‘i returned to Kauai, but because Kamehameha took a fancy to Sumner, he was held back to stay with Kamehameha. Sumner became one of the few who lived with the family of Kamehameha.

In 1817, he was Chief Mate on Brig Forrester, bound for China, under the command of Alexander Adams. On this trip they proceeded first to Kauai to haul down the Russian flag at Fort Elizabeth. After expelling the Russians, they then sailed for China.

In addition to interisland travel, Sumner captained ships for trade for the Kingdom.

In 1821, he commanded the Brig Thaddeus and sailed for Kamchatka with a load of salt; in 1824, he was given charge of the brig Ainoa for a sealing voyage, returning October with 5,845 fur skins, a quantity of elephant oil and fish; in 1829, he took charge of the Brig Neo bound to Tahiti, to recover “lost” cargo; and over the years, he transported sandalwood.

In 1822, Captain Sumner captained an expedition to claim Nihoa as a possession of Hawai‘i. He also took Ka‘ahumanu and a royal party including Kaumuali’i, Liholiho, Keōpūolani and Kahekili Ke‘eaumoku on a visit to Ni‘ihau.

In 1831, Captain Sumner played a role in expelling and deporting the Catholics priests out of Hawai‘i. On May 5, 1831, King Kamehameha III issued a commission to Sumner, as commander of the brig Waverley, “to receive on board two French gentlemen and their goods, or whatever they may bring on board, and to proceed on to California, and land them safe on shore, with everything belonging to them, where they may subsist, and then to return back to the Sandwich Islands.”

Some foreigners, like Captain William Sumner who sailed ships for Kamehameha, Liholiho (Kamehameha II) and Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III,) were awarded land grants for their services.

In 1819, Kamehameha I gave LCA 155 to ship Captain William Sumner for services rendered. This site was at the corner of today’s Hotel and Punchbowl Streets (near where the present Barracks are at ʻIolani Palace.)

In 1840, Kamehameha III granted William Sumner the “farmland to the west of Honolulu known as Kahaohao” (about 60-acres.) The deed included a “proviso that the said property cannot be transferred to any other than a native-born citizen of the Sandwich Islands.”

Sumner was also awarded “… a fishery of the 647 Diamond Head acres of the reef lying between the Kalihi and Honolulu Harbor Channels. The area carried the Hawaiian name of Kaholaloa (Koholaloa, Kahololoa, Kaholoa.) The Ewa portion of this reef was designated Mokauea.”

Following the Mahele, Mokapu Peninsula was kept as Crown Lands. Koʻolaupoko District Chief Abner Pāki was awarded over 3,000 acres in Heʻeia ahupua`a (LCA 10613) and Queen Kalama, wife of Kamehameha III was awarded over 9,000 acres in Kāneʻohe ahupuaʻa (LCA 4452). Both awards were given for nearly the entire ahupuaʻa.

Pāki’s portion of ili Mokapu was sold at auction to brothers William and John Sumner and included 464 acres. John Sumner became sole owner upon his brother’s death, and left the lands in trust to Robert Wyllie Davis, his nephew.

The area was later divided into house lots in 1932 and sold off. In 1940, by Federal Executive Order through the U.S. Navy, all 331 parcels on the 464 acres were condemned and a Declaration of Takings enacted.

Sumner married the High Chiefess Keakuaaihue Kanealai Hua in 1818; they had three children, William Sumner, Jr.; John K. Sumner; and Maria K Sumner. In 1847, William Sumner died; he’s buried at O‘ahu Cemetery.

The map shows the approximate area of William Sumner’s 60-acres of “farmland” (green) and 647-acres of “fishery” (blue) – this covers most of what is now Honolulu Harbor and Sand Island. Note Sumner’s house across from what is now downtown Honolulu.

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