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September 11, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Near Abdication

“In referring to the several journals of the day one is struck with the absence of any account of the occurrence at the time”. (Thrum)

While local papers appear to have had stories squashed by a “pocket veto” of the King, a couple mainland papers ran short stories on the tragic events and follow-up.

“No legal notice of the event was in any way taken; no person would have been foolhardy enough to propose it. It is not my purpose to defend the right of the king to this execution of summary vengeance …”

“… especially as it was done in a moment of anger; yet beyond the sadness of the act, it has a certain bearing on this sketch of my life as one of the descendants from the ruling families of Hawaii.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“On Sunday, September 11th, 1859, occurred a melancholy and tragical affair at Lahaina, which, as a matter of history, should not be omitted in these recollections.” (Thrum)

“The first news we received was that the king in a fit of passion had shot and mortally wounded one of the party, his own secretary, Mr. HA Neilson.”

“After the occurrence all that the tenderest of brothers could have done was proffered by the king to the wounded man; but after lingering for some months, Mr. Neilson died.“ (Liliʻuokalani)

“(T)he community was electrified by the intelligence, from Lahaina, that his Majesty had shot, and dangerously, if not fatally, wounded Henry A Neilson, formerly of New York, but since the accession of the King … his private secretary and constant attendant, confident and friend.” (New York Times)

“Much more might be said, were I disposed to report every flying rumor. Conjecture is alive to the motive of such an imprudent, impolitic act. The first supposition of all is that it was jealousy – whether well-founded or baseless.”

“But no breath of suspicion lights upon the young Queen. She is by every one acquitted of such a folly and dishonor as giving any cause of vengeance to her lord. She is above reproach.” (New York Times)

“I incline to the opinion that the act was committed under the influence of ungovernable passion, accompanied by more or less of temporary mental aberration brought on by brooding on his troubles.”

“There seemed to be a distinct intention to kill the man he shot. For this some assign as the cause jealousy, created by ill-disposed persons in his train; others anger at indiscretions of Neilson. All feel deeply for the Queen.” (New York Times)

The Honolulu Advertiser ventured an editorial on September 28 and actually mentioned the act (“the king shooting his secretary”) but with no details. They said the act was “an open contradiction to the laws of God and man, which can under no pretext be justified.” Yet, it concluded: “He has erred, so we are all liable to commit acts of error.” (Theroux)

On October 12 the king wrote a letter to Neilson in which he “regretted” this “great false act of my life … the act committed by me was premeditated, founded upon suspicions long harrowed up and extending for a length of time.” (Theroux)

King Kamehameha IV (Alexander Liholiho) announced that he would make a public proclamation, submit to a trial and abdicate the throne. A flurry of letters were exchanged between the king and his minister of foreign affairs, Robert Wylie.

The King listed his reasons for abdication, but Wylie begged him not to exaggerate the gravity of the affair and opposed the proclamation. He insisted that “no emergency has occurred,” that “abdication” would be “a shame on himself” and “annihilation on the sovereignty of the nation.” (Theroux)

The Privy Council and the House of Nobles, the legislatures of the day, advised against “abdication.” One of the few items that appeared in the papers was a notice from the Privy Council that, despite rumors, the king would not abdicate his throne.

“We are authorized to state, for the purpose of allaying any anxiety that may exist in the public mind, that the rumors in regard to his Majesty’s abdication are, we are happy to say, without foundation.” (New York Times)

By October 20, McKibbin reported to the king that Neilson was “feverish and in low spirits.” On November 20, he suffered a relapse and the wound opened “afresh.”

“There were causes which were apparent to any of our people for something very like righteous anger on the part of the king. His Majesty was trying to make us each and all happy; yet even during moments of relaxation, undue familiarity, absence of etiquette, rudeness, or any other form which implied …”

“… or suggested disrespect to royalty in any manner whatsoever, would never be tolerated by anyone of the native chiefs of the Hawaiian people.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“To allow any such breach of good manners to pass unnoticed would be looked upon by his own retainers as belittling to him, and they would be the first to demand the punishment of the offender.”

“It was in this case far too severe. No one realized that more than the king himself, who suffered much distress for his victim, and was with difficulty dissuaded from the abdication of his throne.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“If ever mortal man suffered the pangs of remorse it was Liholiho the king. From the first sober moment, if he was drunk, he never forgot the deed, and all that he could order done for the poor unfortunate sufferer was done to relieve him.” (Gorham D. Gilman, in Thrum)

“I used to visit Mr. Neilson and never a word did I hear him utter against the king. I believe that they were two friends until that fateful night. … In my recollection Kamehameha IV was the most of a gentleman in his manner of the five kings I was favored to be acquainted with. He was so from boyhood.” (Gorham D. Gilman, in Thrum)

“The (then) seaside cottage of the king, on the present site of the Enterprise Mill, was assigned to him for a residence. Subsequently he was moved to a cottage on Alakea street, just below the Wicke’s premises, and which he occupied to the time of his death, which occurred February 12th, 1862, as shown by the following notice in the Advertiser of the 13th:”

“‘Yesterday morning, Mr. Henry A. Neilson died in this city. In former years he was well known, but for two and a half years past has been confined to his room by the unfortunate occurrence which is familiar to all.’” (Thrum)

There was never an official investigation into the shooting of Henry Neilson.

On the 27th of August, 1862, Prince Albert, the four-year-old son of Alexander Liholiho and Emma died. “The king and queen had the sympathy of all parties in their bereavement; but Kamehameha IV completely lost his interest in public life, living in the utmost possible retirement until his death.” (Liliʻuokalani)

The king became a recluse, suffering from asthma and depression. He died on St. Andrew’s Day, November 30, 1863, two months’ short of his 30th birthday. Emma ran unsuccessfully for the throne in 1874, losing to David Kalākaua. She died in 1885 at the age of 50.

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KamehamehaIV-1855
Henry_A._Neilson-(WC)
Queen_Emma_and_Kamehameha_IV-between 1856 and 1863
Queen_Emma_Kamehameha_IV
KamehamehaIII & wife Kalama (L); rear KamehamehaIV (L), KamehamehaV (R) & sister, VictoriaKamāmalu (R)
Ka_Haku_O_Hawaii-Albert Edward Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa a Kamehameha
The Prince of Hawaii (Albert Edward Kauikeaouli)_by_Enoch_Wood_Perry,_Jr.,_1865
Kamehameha_IV-Genealogy
Kinau_returning_from_church-(daughter_of_Kamehameha_1-mother_of_Alexander_Liholiho)-1837
Mataio Kekūanāo‘a-(father_of_Alexander_Liholiho)
Queen's_Hospital

Filed Under: Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance Tagged With: Hawaii, Kamehameha IV, Lahaina, Maui, Neilson, Prince Albert, Queen Emma

August 26, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Barony de Princeville

Kauai is the oldest of the eight main Hawaiian islands, and the island consists of one main extinct shield volcano( estimated to be about 5-million years old), as well as numerous younger lava flows (between 3.65-million years to 500,000-years old). The island is characterized by severe weathering. (DLNR)

Historically, the Island was divided into several districts and political units, which in ancient times were subject to various chiefs – sometimes independently, and at other times, in unity with the other districts. These early moku o loko, or districts included Nāpali, Haleleʻa, Koʻolau, Puna and Kona (Buke Mahele, 1848; Maly)

Located along the north coast of Kauai, Haleleʻa today is commonly referred to as the Kauaʻi “north shore”, which today encompasses the communities of Kilauea, Kalihiwai, ‘Anini/Kalihikai, Princeville, Hanalei/Waiʻoli, Wainiha and Haʻena.

Some suggest Hanalei ahupua‘a extended up onto the bluff to the east; others suggest Pupoa appears as the ahupua‘a in this area (between ʻAnini Beach to the east and Hanalei Bay to the west).

In 1831, Richard Charlton, British Consul to the Hawaiian Islands, leased lands between Hanalei and Kalihiwai from Governor Kaikioewa of Kauai to be used as a cattle ranch. Charlton brought in longhorn cattle from “Norte California,” and by 1840 the herd numbered 100 head.

In 1842, British sea captain Godfrey Rhodes (1815-97) and his partner, Frenchman John Bernard, established the first commercial coffee plantation on Kauai at Hanalei, on 150 acres of government-leased land along the banks of the Hanalei River. (Soboleski; TGI)

By 1846, Rhodes’ plantation and Yankee Charles Titcomb’s neighboring plantation had more than 100,000 coffee trees in cultivation. (Soboleski; TGI)

Yet, beginning in the late-1840s, coffee production suffered. Flooding damaged the coffee crop in 1847, workers were lost to the California Gold Rush beginning in 1848, a severe drought struck in 1851 and epidemics killed Native Hawaiian laborers.

By the time the rains finally returned and immigrant Chinese had eased the labor shortage, a blight caused by aphids ruined the coffee crops in Hanalei. (Soboleski; TGI)

In 1845, Charlton sold the ranch to the Dudoit family (later French consular agent). By this time, the number of cattle increased to an impressive 1800 head. The Dudoits salted beef locally to sell to whalers as well as shipped cattle to Honolulu for beef.

In 1855, Robert Crichton Wyllie (a Scottish physician who served as foreign minister under Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V) bought the Rhodes Coffee Plantation, which included 1700 acres in Hanalei.

He continued to acquire land and in 1862 purchased the remaining ranch lands as well as Titcomb’s Hanalei Sugar Plantation. (PrincevilleRanch) Wyllie abandoned the entire coffee planting of Hanalei and planted the land in sugar cane.

By 1860, coffee literally disappeared from Kauai and the decline continued in the other islands in the Kingdom. Sugar took its place. (Goto)

In 1860, Robert Crichton Wyllie, hosted his friends King Kamehameha IV, Queen Emma and their two-year-old son, Prince Albert at his plantation estate for several weeks.

In honor of the child, Wyllie, founder of the plantation, named his estate the “Barony de Princeville,” the City of the Prince (Princeville on Kauai.)

Alexander Liholiho and Emma had hoped to have Albert christened by a bishop of the Church of England. However, the prince became ill. As Albert became sick, and the bishop’s arrival was delayed; he was baptized on August 23, 1862 by Ephraim W. Clark, the American minister of Kawaiahaʻo Church. (Daws)

On the 27th of August, 1862, Prince Albert, the four-year-old son of Alexander Liholiho and Emma died, “leaving his father and mother heartbroken and the native community in desolation”. (Daws)

Albert Spencer Wilcox (1844-1919, son of eighth company of missionaries Abner Wilcox (1808-1869) and Lucy Eliza (Hart) Wilcox (1814-1869) was born in Hilo on Hawai‘i Island and grew up at Waiʻoli in Hanalei, Kauai.

He worked with his brother George Norton Wilcox (1839-1933) in a sugarcane business in Hanalei, before working as the manager of Hanamāʻulu Plantation; for many years (1877-1898) he managed that section of Līhuʻe plantation.

In 1892, Albert purchased an interest in the Princeville Plantation, and by 1899 had complete ownership; he sold the Princeville lands in June of 1916.

Līhuʻe Plantation expanded in 1910 with the purchase of controlling interest in Makee Sugar Company. Expansion again occurred in 1916 when Līhuʻe Plantation and WF Sanborn purchased the 6,000-acre Princeville Plantation.

Today, Princeville is a 2,000-acre resort and residential community along the sea cliffs between ʻAnini Beach to the east and Hanalei Bay to the west.

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The-Prince-of-Hawaii-Albert-Edward-Kauikeaouli-_by_Enoch_Wood_Perry-_Jr.-_1865

Filed Under: Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Economy, General, Place Names Tagged With: Barony de Princeville, Hawaii, Prince Albert, Princeville

July 7, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Sarah Rhodes von Pfister

Sarah Rhodes von Pfister was not only a tutor and governess, but also a trusted mentor and confidante to one of Hawaiʻi’s Queens. Sarah played an important role in her growing up during her adolescence. (Kanahele)

Let’s look back.

Siblings, (the boys) Henry and Godfrey Rhodes, and (the girls) Mary Ann, Annie, Sarah and Sussannah (Mrs Brown, Mrs. Covington, Mrs. von Pfister, and Mrs. Robinson) were children of a prominent officer of the Bank of England.

The von Pfister family came of good stock and was among the early settlers in New York; the brothers were Frank M, Edward H and John R von Pfister. (Brown)

Members of both families came to the Islands. John von Pfister courted and married Sarah Rhodes. They had two children, Ida and Ramsay.

In 1842, George Rhodes and Frenchman John Bernard “obtained a lease from the government for fifty years, on two parcels of land, ninety acres east and sixty acres west of the (Hanalei) river, and there started a coffee plantation.”

“This was a new industry for Kauai, although coffee berries had been brought to Honolulu from Brazil in 1825 on the British frigate Blonde, and a few plants had then been started in Manoa Valley on Oahu.

“Four or five years later the missionaries at Hilo and other planters in Kona on the island of Hawaii had begun to grow coffee around their houses, but it was from the original source in Manoa Valley that the seed and young were obtained for Hanalei.”

In October of 1845, Godfrey Rhodes and John von Pfister formed a partnership. By 1846, the Rhodes and Company Coffee Plantation covered seven hundred and fifty acres, so that the two plantations counted over one hundred thousand trees and “a great part of the valley, at least to the extent of a thousand acres, was under cultivation in coffee at this time.” (Damon)

“In May, 1847, just as the trees were in good condition of full bearing, they had “severe rains for two weeks which did much damage to the valley, flooding the coffee plantations.”

“Masses of rock, trees and earth were loosened and carried by force of water, crushing several hundred trees and doing much other damage.”

“Recovering from this pullback another difficulty was met with the following year by the California gold fever, rendering labor scarcer and dearer.” (Thrum)

John caught the Gold Fever and headed to California.

Placards posted around told the sad news, “Posted around San Francisco was a placard stating that a reward of $5,000 would be paid for the apprehension of Peter Raymond, who murdered John R von Pfister at Sutter’s Mill, or for his head in case he could not be taken alive.” (Grimshaw)

Widowed, Sarah managed to get along by teaching school, which filled a long-felt want in the community. (Brown)

Sarah moved to Honolulu and set up a “select” school for the children of Honolulu’s elite, which was located on Smith and Beretania Streets. (Kanahele)

Smith Street was opposite the old Kaumakapili church, and was named after its pastor, Rev. Lowell Smith. Sarah lived nearby and had a school there. (Unfortunately Sarah’s building burned down, but she was able to get a new school site.) (Brown)

Then came the new special student for Sarah Rhodes von Pfister. At the age of five, the child had entered the Chiefs’ Children’s School.

That school was created by King Kamehameha III; the main goal of the school was to groom the next generation of the highest ranking chief’s children of the realm and secure their positions for Hawaii’s Kingdom.

Seven families were eligible under succession laws stated in the 1840 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i; Kamehameha III called on seven boys and seven girls to board in the Chief’s Children’s School.

The Chiefs’ Children’s School was unique because for the first time Aliʻi children would be brought together in a group to be taught, ostensibly, about the ways of governance.

Amos Starr Cooke (1810–1871) and Juliette Montague Cooke (1812-1896), missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, were selected by the King to teach the 16-royal children and run the school.

The school closed in 1849; then, when the school closed, Thomas Rooke, hānai father of Emma Naʻea Rooke, hired Sarah Rhodes von Pfister to tutor his daughter for the next four years.

As noted above, Sarah not only taught the young girl, she also became her friend.

On June 19, 1856, Emma married Alexander Liholiho (who a year earlier had assumed the throne as Kamehameha IV) and became Queen Emma.

In March 1853, Robert Crichton Wyllie bought the coffee plantation at Hanalei. In 1860, he hosted his friends King Kamehameha IV, Queen Emma and their two-year-old son, Prince Albert, at his estate for several weeks. In honor of the child, Wyllie named the plantation the “Barony de Princeville”, the City of the Prince (Princeville.)

Members of Queen Emma’s family are interred in the Wyllie Crypt at Mauna Ala: Queen Emma’s mother, Kekelaokalani; her hānai parents, Grace Kamaikui and Dr. Thomas Charles Byde Rooke; her uncles, Bennett Namakeha and Keoni Ana John Young II; her aunt, Jane Lahilahi; and her two cousins, Prince Albert Edward Kunuiakea and Peter Kekuaokalani.

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Princeville_plantation,_Hanalei,_Kauai,_by_M._Dickson-1870
Princeville_plantation,_Hanalei,_Kauai,_by_M._Dickson-1870
Hanalei Bay, Kauai-River-(HSA)-PPWD-10-6-003-1890
Hanalei Bay, Kauai-River-(HSA)-PPWD-10-6-003-1890
Godfrey Rhodes-TGI
Godfrey Rhodes-TGI
Photograph_of_the_Royal_School,_probably_after_1848
Photograph_of_the_Royal_School,_probably_after_1848
Emma with her parents Grace Kamaikui and Dr. Thomas Charles Byde Rooke-(HSA)-PP-96-3-018-1853
Emma with her parents Grace Kamaikui and Dr. Thomas Charles Byde Rooke-(HSA)-PP-96-3-018-1853
Queen_Emma_Kamehameha_IV
Queen_Emma_Kamehameha_IV
Queen_Emma_and_Kamehameha_IV-between 1856 and 1863
Queen_Emma_and_Kamehameha_IV-between 1856 and 1863
The Prince of Hawaii (Albert Edward Kauikeaouli)_by_Enoch_Wood_Perry,_Jr.,_1865
The Prince of Hawaii (Albert Edward Kauikeaouli)_by_Enoch_Wood_Perry,_Jr.,_1865
Christening_cup_of_Prince_Albert_Kamehameha_given_by Queen Victoria of the UK-his godmother
Christening_cup_of_Prince_Albert_Kamehameha_given_by Queen Victoria of the UK-his godmother
Mauna_Ala-(DMYoung)
Mauna_Ala-(DMYoung)
Robert_C._Wyllie_tomb_-_Royal_Mausoleum,_Honolulu,_HI
Robert_C._Wyllie_tomb_-_Royal_Mausoleum,_Honolulu,_HI

Filed Under: Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Prominent People Tagged With: Chief's Children's School, Hawaii, Prince Albert, Queen Emma, Sarah Rhodes von Pfister

January 29, 2014 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Solomon Lehuanui Kalaniomaiheuila Peleioholani

Solomon Lehuanui Kalaniomaiheuila Peleioholani (also called Peleioholani the 4th or Lehuanui, or simply, Peleioholani) (1843-1916) was the son of Peleioholani (uncle to the Kings Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V) and Piikeakaluaonalani (mother.)

His great grandfather was the high chief Keʻeaumoku (father of Kaʻahumanu,) one of the ablest supporters of Kamehameha I.

Keʻeaumoku distinguished himself in the battle of Mokuʻōhai, (a fight between Kamehameha and Kiwalaʻo in July, 1782 in which Kamehameha won and put the island of Hawaiʻi under his control – this led to his ultimate control of all the islands.)

Keʻeaumoku killed Kiwalaʻo in a hand-to-hand combat; however, Keʻeaumoku’s mamo ʻahuʻula (feather cape) was bloodstained in that fight.  The cape, named “Eheukani” was later passed down through generations to Peleioholani.

Solomon LK Peleioholani, one of the highest surviving Hawaiian chiefs, was the man who stood before Lunalilo when he was crowned King of the Hawaiian Islands, wearing the famous cape, helmet and necklace, and also stood before Kalākaua at his coronation.  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 22, 1902)

Unfortunately, “Eheukani” was later lost and presumed destroyed, along with other chiefly regalia and precious possessions belonging to Solomon LK Peleioholani, during the great Chinatown Fire of 1900.

As a boy, Peleioholani was the protégé of Kamehameha IV and his Queen Emma and the companion of their son Prince Albert (“Ka Haku O Hawaiʻi, “The Lord of Hawaiʻi.”)

During the short life of the little Prince, Peleioholani was his playmate, and both were treated with utmost respect by all they met. During this time, Peleioholani lived at the residence of Kekūanāo’a (hānai father of Bernice Pauahi Bishop.)  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 22, 1902)

After the Prince’s death, Peleioholani traveled; for five years, he made voyages visiting the South Seas, Japan, Manila and the Indian Ocean.  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 22, 1902)

One day, a steamer came into port and Peleioholani was given an opportunity to go with her to Australia. He remained there, became a British subject, drilled with the Australians who were to do service for the Queen in Africa, and he went in a transport to the eastern coast of South Africa, arriving there as a sub-officer.

He was a Hawaiian Chief who fought in Africa.

“Destiny seems to have called him to become a soldier as his ancestors were warriors in the service of Kamehameha I. The blood of brave men flowed through his veins and from his infancy he had heard almost daily the tales of the deeds done by his great grandfather”.  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 22, 1902)

The blacks were on the shore that day, October 22, 1869, when the troops commenced to land. The ships opened fire upon them and attempted to land men in launches. Seven of the latter were disabled.

From one of them Peleioholani was forced to swim back to the ship, carrying nothing but his sword and belt.  He obtained another launch and thus from 2 until 5:30 o’clock in the afternoon the landing went on, the troops finally driving the enemy back.  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 22, 1902)

When they went to England, Queen Victoria (Prince Albert’s godmother) gave Peleioholani a service medal for bravery on the battlefields of Africa.

The Queen asked is nationality. “I told her I was Hawaiian. I told her my great grandfather had accompanied Kamehameha II to England. I told her Kamehameha V was my King.”  (Peleioholani, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 22, 1902)

In 1874, he returned to Hawaiʻi and was a well-respected genealogist.  For many, Peleioholani was considered an important Hawaiian antiquarian and the final word in Hawaiian genealogy, especially of the chiefs and royal families.

He also wrote of the Hawaiian history.  One work, ‘The Ancient History of Hookumu-ka-lani Hookumu-ka-honua,’ was a commentary of the ancient Hawaiian cosmogonies (creation theories.)

One of Peleioholani’s theories in that book notes, “The ancestors of the Hawaiian race came not from the islands the South Pacific – for the immigrants from that direction were late arrivals there – but from the northern direction (welau lani,) that is, from the land of Kalonakikeke, now known as Alaska.”

Peleioholani was a High Chief, and in many ways both the pinnacle and terminus of the old royal blood lines from Maui, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi and Kauaʻi.

His grandparents were among those who sided with Kamehameha I to achieve unity of the islands. His father was an uncle to the Kings Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V and he was himself one of the highest ranking chiefs in the Hawaiian Islands.  (kekoolani-org)

Besides being a direct lineal descendant of all the last independent ruling kings, he was also descended from what Hawaiian scholar Mary Pukui called the “chiefs of Pōkano,” chiefs of unblemished bloodline from remote times.  (kekoolani-org)

The image shows Solomon LK Peleioholani in 1903 in a holiday pageant costume.  (Lots of information here from Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 22, 1902 and kekoolani-org.)

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Filed Under: Prominent People Tagged With: Hawaii, Kaahumanu, Kalakaua, Kalonakikeke, Kamehameha, Keeaumoku, Kekuanaoa, Lunalilo, Peleioholani, Pokano, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria, Solomon Lehuanui Kalaniomaiheuila Peleioholani

August 7, 2013 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Robert Crichton Wyllie

Robert Crichton Wyllie was born October 13, 1798 in an area called Hazelbank in Dunlop parish of East Ayrshire, Scotland. His father was Alexander Wyllie and his mother was Janet Crichton.

He earned a medical diploma by the time he was 20.  In 1844, he arrived in Hawaiʻi and stayed in the Hawaiian Islands for the rest of his life.

Wyllie first worked as acting British Consul. During this time he compiled in-depth reports on the conditions in the islands. Attracted by Wyllie’s devotion to the affairs of Hawaiʻi, on March 26, 1845, King Kamehameha III appointed him the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Kamehameha IV reappointed all the ministers who were in office when Kamehameha III died, including Robert C. Wyllie as Minister of Foreign Relations.  Wyllie served as Minister of Foreign Relations from 1845 until his death in 1865, serving under Kamehameha III, Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V.

Within five years after taking the helm of the office he had negotiated treaties with Denmark, England, France and the United States whereby Hawaiʻi’s status as an independent state was agreed.

Wyllie eventually gave up his allegiance to Queen Victoria and became a naturalized Hawaiian subject.

In 1847, Wyllie started collecting documents to form the Archives of Hawaii.  He requested the commander of the fort in Honolulu and all the chiefs to send in any papers they might have.  Two of the oldest documents included the 1790 letter of Captain Simon Metcalf and a letter by Captain George Vancouver dated 1792.

The foundation of the Archives of Hawaiʻi today are based almost entirely upon the vast, voluminous collections of letters and documents prepared and stored away by Wyllie.

Wyllie built a house in Nuʻuanu Valley he called Rosebank. He entertained foreign visitors at the house, and the area today still has several consular buildings.

In his role in foreign affairs, Wyllie was seen as a counter to the American influence.  Wyllie wrote in the early part of 1857, “There are two grand principles that we aspire to; the first is that all nations should agree to respect our independence and consider the Archipelago strictly neutral in all wars that may arise – and the second is, to have one identical Treaty with all nations.”  (Kuykendall)

Of these two principles, the second was auxiliary to the first. Wyllie’s great ambition was to set up some permanent barrier against any possible threat to Hawaii’s national independence. He had a clear idea as to the direction from which danger was most likely to come.  (Kuykendall)

In the latter part of 1857 he wrote, “If we be left to struggle for political life, under our own weakness and inability to keep up an adequate military and naval force, in the natural course of things, the Islands must sooner or later be engulfed into the Great American Union, in which case, in time of war, the United States would be able to sweep the whole Northern Pacific.”  (Kuykendall)

Wyllie, above all other men in Hawaiʻi, succeeded in compelling the powers to maintain an attitude of “hands off”, leaving the kingdom in the list of independent nations.  (Taylor)

In March 1853, he bought a plantation on Hanalei Bay on the north shore of the island of Kauaʻi. In 1860, he hosted his friends King Kamehameha IV, Queen Emma and their two-year-old son, Prince Albert, at his estate for several weeks. In honor of the child, Wyllie named the plantation the “Barony de Princeville”, the City of the Prince (Princeville.)

Originally the land was planted with coffee; eventually it was planted with sugarcane.  Princeville became a ranch in 1895, when missionary son Albert S Wilcox bought the plantation.

A bachelor all his life, Wyllie died October 19, 1865 at the age of 67; Kamehameha V and the chiefs ordered the casket containing his remains be buried at Mauna ʻAla, the Royal Mausoleum, adjacent to those of the sovereigns and chiefs of Hawaiʻi.

Members of Queen Emma’s family are also interred in the crypt with Mr. Wyllie: Queen Emma’s mother, Kekelaokalani; her hānai parents, Grace Kamaikui and Dr. Thomas Charles Byde Rooke; her uncles, Bennett Namakeha and Keoni Ana John Young II; her aunt, Jane Lahilahi; and her two cousins, Prince Albert Edward Kunuiakea and Peter Kekuaokalani.

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

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Filed Under: Prominent People Tagged With: Hawaii, Kamehameha III, Kamehameha IV, Kamehameha V, Mauna Ala, Prince Albert, Princeville, Queen Emma, Robert Wyllie, Rooke, Rosebank

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Images of Old Hawaiʻi

People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

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Hoʻokuleana LLC

Hoʻokuleana LLC is a Planning and Consulting firm assisting property owners with Land Use Planning efforts, including Environmental Review, Entitlement Process, Permitting, Community Outreach, etc. We are uniquely positioned to assist you in a variety of needs.

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