Kanaka | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 31, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Canuck

Canuck. A Canadian, specifically, a French Canadian.

One of the earliest uses of the word ‘Canuck’ in print (although there it was spelled as ‘Kanuk’) appears in ‘From Notes Upon Canada and the United States’ by Henry Cook Todd and published around 1835:

“Canadians are somewhat jealous of the Americans; that they are secretly manoeuvering, not exactly with the inoffensive good humor of a much respected yeoman of England, in whose sequestered dwelling I some time resided, who was fond of pozing the learned with …”

“Can you spell bullock in two letters (or) but rather after the inordinate example of Ahab of old, so pithily recorded by the sacred historian. Jonathan distinguishes a Dutch or French Canadian, by the term Kanuk. ‘Jonathan distinguishes a Dutch or French Canadian, by the term Kanuk.’”

Later (1855), Walt Whitman wrote the poem ‘Leaves of Grass’ and referenced the Kanuck – again, with a ‘K’ …

“A child said What is the grass? …
How could I answer the child?
I do not know what it is any more than he.
I guess it must be the flag of my disposition
out of hopeful green stuff woven. …
Or I guess the grass is itself a child …
Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,
And it means, Sprouting alike
in broad zones and narrow zones,
Growing among black folks as among white,
Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff
I give them the same, I receive them the same.

“The origin of Canuck is curiously uncertain. On the face of it, the word would appear to derive from the first syllable of Canada. Other guesses have been made, however …”

“… e.g., that it comes from Johnny Canuck, a cartoon character of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, similar to John Bull and Uncle Sam, that it comes from Connaught, originally used by French Canadians to refer to Irish immigrants …”

“… and that it is a variant of the Hawaiian kanaka, man, brought by whalers back to New England, whose residents then applied the term to their neighbors to the North.”

“The last theory, as farfetched as it might seem, is reinforced by the earliest known spelling of the word: Kanuk (noted in 1835 above, and in Walt Whitman’s poem (referring to all Canadians, not just those of French extraction)).” (Rawson)

Hawaiians in the northwest and reference to ‘kanaka’ outside the islands started shortly after ‘contact.’ Within ten years after Captain Cook’s 1778 contact with Hawai‘i, the islands became a favorite port of call in the trade with China. The fur traders and merchant ships crossing the Pacific needed to replenish food supplies and water.

The maritime fur trade focused on acquiring furs of sea otters, seals and other animals from the Pacific Northwest Coast and Alaska. The furs were mostly sold in China in exchange for tea, silks, porcelain and other Chinese goods, which were then sold in Europe and the United States.

Needing supplies in their journey, the traders soon realized they could economically barter for provisions in Hawai‘i; a triangular trade network emerged linking the Pacific Northwest coast, China and the Hawaiian Islands to Britain and the United States (especially New England).

As early as 1811, Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) had already hired twelve Hawaiians on three year contracts to work for them in the Pacific Northwest. By 1824, HBC employed thirty-five Hawaiians west of the Rocky Mountains.

The number of Hawaiians working as contract laborers for the Hudson’s Bay Company steadily grew. The large number of Hawaiian workers in the village at Fort Vancouver led to the name “Kanaka Town” in the early 1850s.

Again, it is not clear if Canuck is any form of derivation of Kanaka (man), but the Hawaiians were there, and the Kanaka name was used in other references.

Canuck

December 4, 2014 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kanaka Pete

“It is my painful duty to report to you that the extreme sentence of the law has been carried out upon a native born Hawaiian, who had been in this Colony for many years, and who was convicted at the last assizes of the murder of his wife and child, and his wife’s father and mother.” (Henry Rhodes, Hawaiian Consulate, Victoria, May 18, 1869; Hawaiian Gazette, July 7, 1869)

Today, there is a place known as Kanaka Bay, named after Kanaka Pete on the east side of Newcastle Island, off Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Let’s look back.

Peter Kakua (‘Kanaka Pete’) left his home in Honolulu in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi for Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory, in 1853. He travelled to Victoria in 1854 but soon departed for Fort Rupert in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Pete remained at Fort Rupert for five years, then returned to Victoria where he “worked for Sir James Douglas (Governor of both Vancouver Island and British Columbia) for a year.” He left and took a job with the Vancouver Coal Company at Nanaimo. (Illerbrun)

Kakua’s aboriginal wife, Que-en (his ‘common law’ wife of about six years, known as Mary,) told him, via her brother, that she was leaving her husband. Kakua returned home to find Mary, their young child, plus Mary’s parents, packing up her things. (Fryer, BC Local News)

Then, on December 4, 1868, four bodies were found in Peter Kakua’s home and the Hawaiian was missing. They didn’t have to look far, however, to find him; he was sitting beside a fire on Newcastle Island.

December 5, 1868, he was arrested and charged with the murders of his Indian wife, Que-en (known as Mary;) their infant daughter and his wife’s parents (Squash-e-lik and Shil-at-ti-Nord.) (Cunningham, BC Local News)

At the Coroner’s Inquest, Pete willingly offered the following statement, “My wife had gone away and left me for some days, and had sent me a message by her brother to say that she did not intend living with me anymore.”

“I began drinking and continued up to the night of Thursday the 3rd Decr. About 12 o’clock on that night I returned to my house with the intention of going to bed.”

“When I opened the door I found a fire burning, and my wife and her father and mother sitting round it. I asked them what they wanted, and if my wife was going to live with me again, they told me no, they had only come for her things.”

“I got some drinks from a friend. I then thought I would go and sleep in my own house on the floor. When I went in I found the old man in bed with his daughter. I thought this too bad, and took hold of him to drag him out.”

“He caught hold of my hair and pulled me down on the bed and got my finger into his mouth and called out to the old woman to come and beat me. The old woman rushed at me and began striking me on the head and body with a stick, my wife also striking me.” (Kakua’s hand had a mangled stump, he claimed his wife’s father had bitten off his finger.)

“Being considerably intoxicated at the time, and owing to the pain I was suffering I became almost mad and laid hold of the first thing I could reach which was an axe, produced in court, and laid about me indiscriminately.”

“After a time I fell down and remember nothing more until I awoke at daylight on Friday the 4th instant when I saw my Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, my wife and child all dead.”

Those at the Inquest heard more from Dr. Klein Grant, who had examined the bodies of the victims. According to Grant, who described the condition of each corpse in detail, the wounds which brought death “were all inflicted by a heavy weapon such as the axe produced.” (Illerbrun)

After pleading not guilty to four counts of ‘wilful murder,’ Pete was tried on two counts, one heard on February 16, 1869, the other on February 17. (Illerbrun)

“The jury, upon the first trial (murdering Que-en,) upon the testimony furnished, found the prisoner guilty of murder, and recommended him to mercy.” (Henry Rhodes, Hawaiian Consulate, Victoria, May 18, 1869)

The mercy recommendation was made on the ground that “Kanakas (Hawaiians) are not Christians and killing men may not be such an offense in their eyes.” (Illerbrun)

He was then tried upon the second indictment (murdering Shil-at-ti-nord, Que-en’s mother,) and a verdict of guilty was rendered against him, without the recommendation of the first jury.” (Henry Rhodes)

The “crime of passion” aspect of the case, though not clearly enunciated in Kakua’s own testimony, had apparently made no impact on the jurors, for Judge Needham had informed them that if Que-en was involved in “open adultery” Pete should not be found guilty of murder. (Illerbrun)

The next day he was sentenced to be hanged “on a day to be henceforth designated by the Executive.”

The day after sentencing, Attorney General Crease wrote: “Although the murders were committed by the same person and at nearly the same time the facts the provocation and the law were different in their application to each individual case and were so stated by the Judge in his charges.” (Illerbrun)

Henry Rhodes, Hawaiian Consulate, Victoria, noted, “I endeavored to get his sentence commuted, and for this purpose requested his Counsel to draw up a petition to the Governor praying for a commutation.”

“This petition (forwarded to the Colonial Secretary) was signed by a number of the members of the Legal profession and by a number of influential gentlemen of this city”.

“Taking all these matters into consideration, and the ignorance of the prisoner, and the uncertainty I feel as to the statement taken down by the magistrate, … I have no hesitancy in joining the prayer of the petitioners, and I sincerely hope, that taking these matters into consideration. His Excellency will find sufficient ground for exercising the prerogative of the Crown, and acceding to the prayer of the petition.” (Henry Rhodes)

Rhodes was later notified that “the Governor regrets that in this instance, he cannot interfere with, the course of the law, by acceding to the prayer of the petition.” (Hawaiian Gazette, July 7, 1869)

Peter Kakua (Kanaka Pete) was hanged at Nanaimo, “the scene of his fearful crimes,” at 7 am on the morning of March 10, 1869. “He ascended the scaffold unflinchingly, made no remarks, and struggled but slightly after the drop fell. His neck was evidently broken.” (Illerbrun)

Being of neither Caucasian nor First Nations descent, Kakua could not be buried in any of the city’s cemeteries and was instead interred on his last place of freedom – the east side of Newcastle Island.

Unfortunately, Kakua was still not allowed to rest. Thirty years later, the Vancouver Coal Mining and Land Company unearthed Kakua’s coffin as they dug for a new coal mine. Kakua was reburied, in another unmarked grave, for good. (Nanaimo News Bulletin)

Today, the gory tale lives on in the form of ghost stories told around the fire by those camping on Newcastle Island. (Nanaimo Daily News) Many claim the most haunted area in the Pacific North West is Newcastle Island.

The image shows Kanaka Bay. In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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October 16, 2014 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sandwich Islander Tax

Within ten years after Captain Cook’s 1778 contact with Hawai‘i, the islands became a favorite port of call in the trade with China. The fur traders and merchant ships crossing the Pacific needed to replenish food supplies and water.

After acquiring the “Louisiana Purchase” in 1803, under the directive of President Thomas Jefferson, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the “Corps of Discovery Expedition” (1804–1806), was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific coast undertaken by the United States.

As early as 1811, Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) had already hired twelve Hawaiians on three year contracts to work for them in the Pacific Northwest. That year John Jacob Astor built Fort Astoria, it was later sold to the North West Company.

Comfortable with the service from the Hawaiians, in 1817, North West sent a ship “to bring as many of the Sandwich Islanders to the Columbia river as we could conveniently accommodate.” (Corney)

Historians suggest “that young Hawaiian males left Hawaiʻi as workers on whaling ships and traveled to China, Europe, Mexico, and the US mainland. In addition, many ventured into the Pacific Northwest territory, worked in the fur trade, and ended up settling in those areas.” (pbs-org)

Sandwich Islanders (Hawaiians) came to Oregon Country as seamen. Many remained in Oregon to work under contract as laborers, servants and craftsmen.

The growing population of Hawaiian into the Oregon Country resulted in growing concerns.

Then, in 1845, the Oregon legislature addressed a bill designed to reduce the flow – it was called the Sandwich Islander Tax.

It was an attempt to raise revenue by taxing employers of these Islanders, and it reflects the notion that they will not become permanent residents of Oregon.

A transcript of original drafting of the bill notes, “An Act concerning the introduction of Sandwich Islanders or natives from any of the adjoining islands.”

“Sec 1 Be it enacted by the house of Representatives of Oregon Territory as follows – That all persons who shall hereafter introduce into Oregon Territory any Sandwich Islanders or natives from any of the neighboring Islands for a term of Service shall pay a tax of five dollars for each person so introduced;”

“Sec 2 Each and every person in this Territory shall pay a tax of three dollar per annum for each and every Sandwich Islander or any native from a neighbouring Island that they keep in their service for a term of years’”

“Sec 3 The revenue arising from said tax shall be assessed and collected as other Taxes are assessed and collected, and paid into the Territorial Treasury the same time the other Territorial Revenue is paid in.”

While introduced, the bill never passed.

“The bill to tax Sandwich Islanders, was read a third time, and indefinitely postponed.” (December 18, 1845; Oregon Archives)

The intent was later disclosed, “For the taxation of the Sandwich Islanders, employed almost exclusively as servants and laborers, by the HB Company, and intended merely to annoy and embarass the gentlemen in charge of the said company.” (Oregon Historical Quarterly, 1909)

However, on October 15, 1862, Oregon Governor Addison C Gibbs approved the law that had passed the House of Representations (October 8, 1862) and Senate (October 13, 1862) that stated:

“That each and every negro, Chinaman, kanaka and mulatto (“mixed” or “biracial,”) residing within the limits of this state, shall pay an annual poll tax of five dollars, for the use of the county in which such negro, Chinaman, kanaka and mulatto may reside.”

“That every such negro, Chinaman, kanaka and mulatto, shall, between the first day of January and the first day of March, of each year, pay to the county treasurer of the county in which he may reside, the sum of five dollars, and thereupon said treasurer shall make out and deliver to such person a receipt”.

“When such negro, Chinaman, kanaka and mulatto shall fail and neglect to pay the tax required by section second of this act, then it shall be the duty of the sheriff of the county wherein such tax payer may reside or be found, to immediately collect such tax, with the additional sum of one dollar, and mileage, which additional sum and mileage shall go to the sheriff, as his fees; the balance shall be paid into the county treasury, and the sheriff is required to make return to the county treasurer of the taxes collected under the provisions of this act, on the first Monday of June, and every three months thereafter.”

“Should such negro, Chinaman, kanaka or mulatto, fail to pay the tax required by section second of this act, and should the sheriff be unable to collect the same, or make the same out of property belonging to such tax payers, then it is made the duty of the sheriff to arrest such negro, Chinaman, kanaka or mulatto, and put him at work on the public highways, under the direction of the road supervisor …”

“… such taxpayers shall be required to work one day on such highways, for every half-dollar of such tax due and unpaid, and in addition thereto, shall be allowed his board, which shall be paid by the county in which such labor is performed, and the sheriff shall be allowed by the county court a reasonable sum for his service.”

The image shows the draft of the original ‘Sandwich Islander Tax Bill.’

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February 16, 2014 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Saint Didacus of Alcalá

For more than 10,000-years (over 600 generations,) the original inhabitants of the region were known as the Kumeyaay people. Other native people there are known as the La Jolla.

The first European expedition known to visit the area was a Spanish sailing expedition led by the Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (in 1542.)

Later, the Mission Basilica Saint Didacus of Alcalá, on a site known as ‘Kosoi’ overlooking a bay, was the first Franciscan mission there (also the first in the broader region.) It was founded in 1769 by Spanish missionary Fray Junípero Serra. It was not always successful and occasionally met with opposition from the native people.

Never-the-less, the mission and surrounding town grew. A military installation was built nearby. Captain George Vancouver visited in November 1793, and reported it “to be the least of the Spanish establishments. … With little difficulty it might be rendered a place of considerable strength, by establishing a small force at the entrance”. (NPS)

In 1810, the force numbered about 100 men, of whom 25 were detached to protect the four missions in the district. The garrison level was maintained until about 1830. After 1830, however, the military force soon declined rapidly. The last of the troops were sent north in 1837, and the facility was completely abandoned as a military post. (NPS)

“In the town at that time the inhabitants, soldiers and citizens numbered between 400 and 500. Quite a large place. At that time there was a great deal of gayety and refinement here. The people were the elite, of this portion of the department of California. In the garrison were some Mexican, and not a few native Spanish soldiers.” (Davis)

The site of the town was by no means favorable for a seaport town. The military site (known as the Presidio) was located on the hill above the river, at the outlet of Mission Valley, merely because the place could be easily fortified and defended. The town grew up upon the flat below Presidio Hill, because it was originally only an overflow from the garrison itself.

From 1830 onward, the town grew rapidly and was soon, for the time and country, an important commercial and social center.

When William Heath Davis first came in 1831, he found it quite a lively town. Davis and his partners did a large business with the missions for many years. (Smythe)

William Heath “Kanaka” Davis, Jr. (1822 – 1909) was a merchant and trader. Born in Honolulu in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi to William Heath Davis, Sr (a Boston sea-faring ship-owner) and Hannah Holmes Davis, a daughter of Oliver Holmes (another Boston ship-master and a relative of Doctor Oliver Wendell Holmes.)

The shipping trade to the Coast and to Hawaiʻi was almost exclusively in the hands of Boston firms from its beginnings to the days of the Gold Rush. Davis’ grandmother on his mother’s side was a native of Hawaiʻi, and her husband, Oliver Holmes, in addition to his trading operations, was at one time Governor of Oʻahu.

Davis’ nickname “Kanaka” refers to his Hawaiian birth and blood; he was one-quarter Hawaiian. He first visited California as a boy in 1831, then again in 1833 and 1838. The last time he joined his uncle as a store clerk in Monterey and Yerba Buena (now San Francisco). He started a business in San Francisco and became a prominent merchant and ship owner.

For many years, he was one of the most prominent merchants in San Francisco, and engaged in some of the largest trading ventures on the coast. He moved to southern California in 1850, around the same time California became part of the United States.

In March 1850, Davis purchased 160-acres of land and, with four partners, laid out a new city (near what is now the foot of Market Street.) He built the first wharf there in 1850.

The town took the name of the surrounding Mission Basilica Saint Didacus of Alcalá (the “Mother of the Alta California Missions”) – today, we call it San Diego.

Whenever a ship came to anchor, saddle-horses were at once dispatched from the Presidio to bring up the Captain and supercargo. Monterey being at that time the seat of government of California, and the port of entry of the department, all vessels were compelled to enter that port first. After paying the necessary duties, they were allowed to trade at any of the towns along the coast, as far south as Lower California.

Davis was one of the founders of “New Town” San Diego in 1850, though he did not live there for long (and the venture turned into a failure.) He believed that a town closer to the waterfront in San Diego would attract a thriving trade.

He later wrote “Messrs. Jose Antonio Aguirre, Miguel Pedrorena, Andrew B Gray, TD Johns and myself were the projectors and original proprietors of what is now known as the city of San Diego.”

An economic depression in 1851 put an end to their plans, and New Town rapidly declined. Although these men had the judgment to choose the best spot for the city and the imagination to behold its possibilities, they lacked the constructive capacity required for its building. Hence, their effort goes into history as an unsuccessful effort to take advantage of a genuine opportunity. (SanDiegoHistory)

For more than a hundred years Old Town was San Diego. It began with the founding of the fort and mission in 1769; it ended, as a place of real consequence, with the fire of April, 1872, which destroyed most of the business part of the town.

In 1867, Alonzo Horton arrived in San Diego from San Francisco. He also decided the best place for the city to develop was down by the waterfront and, determined to build a new downtown on the site of Davis’ failure, Horton purchased at auction land on the waterfront. The new settlement which had sprung up was called Horton’s Addition, or South San Diego. (now known as Downtown San Diego.) (Smythe)

San Diego’s William Heath “Kanaka” Davis House is the oldest surviving structure in the New Town area. It was one of the first houses built in 1850 in the New Town. A pre-framed lumber “salt box” family home; it was shipped to California by boat around Cape Horn. (It was never the home of Davis, whose own home at State and F Streets was a duplicate of the surviving one. By 1853, most of the houses constructed by Davis were moved to Old Town or used for firewood.)

The original plaza for New Town is not today’s Horton Plaza, but New Town Plaza, which still exists and is bounded by F, G, Columbia and India Streets. Davis eventually settled in San Leandro. He died in Hayward, California on April 19, 1909. (Lots of information is from San Diego History Center.)

The image shows Point Loma and the Silver Gate, San Diego (San Diego History Center.) In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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