Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kekūanāoʻa

His name (literally, the standing projections) is said to refer to ships’ masts seen in the harbor when Kekūanāoʻa was born. “As a young man he was a favorite and attendant of the declining years of Kamehameha I. With Liholiho he was a punahele, or intimate attendant and friend”. He married Pauahi, formerly a wife of Liholiho. They had a daughter, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani. (Keʻelikōlani later passed her great land holdings to Bernice Pauahi Bishop; it was the land base that formed Kamehameha Schools / Bishop Estate.)

In 1827, Kīnaʻu, daughter of Kamehameha, became Kekūanāoʻa’s wife. They both publicly professed the Christian faith in 1830. Kīnaʻu and Kekūanāoʻa had five children: Prince David Kamehameha (who died as a child;) Prince Moses Kekūāiwa (who died in 1848;) Prince Lot Kapuāiwa (later Kamehameha V;) Prince Alexander Liholiho (later Kamehameha IV) and Princess Victoria Kamāmalu. As the last Kuhina Nui, Kekūanāoʻa essentially presided over the demise of the office. Kekūanāoʻa died November 24, 1868.

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Kekāuluohi

Kekāuluohi, daughter and firstborn (July 27, 1794) of Kaheiheimālie and Kalaʻimamahu (Kamehameha’s younger half-brother,) was reared by her maternal grandparents, Namahana and Keʻeaumoku (the most noted of all the warriors of Kamehameha I.) Kekāuluohi was looked on as the family head, and her father’s own trusted kahu and the latter’s kin were her caretakers. Kekāuluohi became Kamehameha’s youngest wife; after Kamehameha’s death his son Liholiho (Kamehameha II) took her as one of his wives.

Around 1821 Kamehameha II gave Kekāuluohi to his friend Charles Kanaʻina. By Kanaʻina she had a son Prince William Charles Lunalilo, born on January 31, 1835; he succeeded Kamehameha V as king. Kekāuluohi succeeded her half-sister Kīna‘u as Kuhina Nui. Kekāuluohi was a co-signer with Kamehameha III of Hawai‘i’s first Constitution in 1840. Kekāuluohi became a member of the Protestant church of the missionaries. The Hawai‘i State Archives is located in the Kekāuluohi Building on the ʻIolani Palace Grounds just behind the Kanaʻina Building (Old Archives Building.)

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Kīnaʻu

Kīnaʻu was the daughter of Kamehameha and Kalākua Kaheiheimālie (Hoapili Wahine.) She was a niece of Kaʻahumanu. Kīnaʻu was born probably in 1805 at Waikiki. She was first married to her half-brother Liholiho who became King Kamehameha II with the death of their father 1819. Her second husband was Kauai Governor Kāhalaiʻa Luanuʻu, a grandson of Kamehameha I. Her third husband was O‘ahu Governor Mataio Kekūanāoʻa.

Kīna’u was the highest in rank of any of the women chiefs of her day. With Kekūanāoʻa she had several children, including Lot (afterwards Kamehameha V,) Alexander Liholiho (afterwards Kamehameha IV) and Victoria. Kīnaʻu “was sedate, courteous, and reliable, a little haughty in her deportment toward strangers, but a loving, exemplary wife, a tender mother, and a warmhearted, unwavering friend.” Kīnaʻu died on April 4, 1839.

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US Annexation (almost, in 1854)

In February 6, 1854, an order of the King to Wyllie noted, “that plans are on foot inimical (unfavorable) to the peace of Our Kingdom and the welfare of our people … We Do Hereby command you, Our Minister of Foreign Relations, to take such immediate steps as may be necessary and proper, by negotiation or otherwise, to ascertain the views of the United States in relation to the Annexation thereto of these Islands”.

It is interesting (and important) to note that, “The protestant missionaries at these Islands have never engaged in any scheme of annexation. It has been their cherished wish, that the government may remain independent under the present constitution and rulers.” (The Polynesian, September 10, 1853.) The Annexation Treaty was never finalized, “The signatures were yet wanting; His Majesty more determined and impatient than ever, when he was taken suddenly ill, and died in three weeks (December 15, 1854.)”

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Victoria Kamāmalu

Victoria Kamāmalu, the only daughter of Kīnaʻu, Kaʻahumanu II and her third husband Mataio Kekūanāoʻa, was born at the Honolulu Fort, on November 1, 1838. Through her mother, she was granddaughter of King Kamehameha I; she was named after her maternal aunt Queen Kamāmalu, wife of Kamehameha II.

At the age of 17, Victoria Kamāmalu was appointed Kuhina Nui (“Prime Minister,” “Premier” and “Regent”) by her brother Kamehameha IV. She died on May 29, 1866. Without a written will, her vast landholdings eventually passed to her half-sister Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani who willed them to Bernice Pauahi Bishop and became part of the Kamehameha Schools.