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April 22, 2026 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Likelike

She was the sister of a King and Queen – and the daughter of High Chief Kapaʻakea and Chiefess Analeʻa Keohokālole – her sister became Queen Liliʻuokalani and her brothers were King Kalākaua and William Pitt Leleiōhoku.

Miriam Kapili Kekāuluohi Likelike was born on January 13, 1851. Unlike her brothers and sister, Princess Likelike’s early years were spent on the Island of Hawaiʻi.

On returning to Honolulu, “Her first course of instruction was at the school of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, and she finished her education at Kawaiahaʻo Seminary.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 4, 1887)

Then her musical endeavors began in earnest; encouraged by her siblings she wrote music. With her sister, she led one of the three royal music clubs that held regular friendly competitions to outdo each other in song and poetry.

Like her sister, Princess Likelike sponsored many concerts and musical pageants in and around Honolulu, and played an important role in the development and perpetuation of Hawaiian music by the encouragement and patronage she gave to young musicians and composers. (HMHOF)

On September 22, 1870, Princess Likelike was married to Honolulu businessman Archibald Scott Cleghorn. The wedding was held at Washington Place, the residence of Governor Dominis and Princess Liliʻuokalani.

Cleghorn, born November 15th 1835 in Edinburgh, Scotland, was brought to Hawaii by his parents, Mr and Mrs Thomas Cleghorn by way of New Zealand.

After arriving to Honolulu in 1851, Thomas set up a dry goods store in Chinatown, but within the year, at the age of 54, Thomas suffered a fatal heart attack while on his way home from church. Archibald took over his father’s business and turned it into one of the most successful mercantile chains in the islands. (Kaʻiulani Project)

“Princess Likelike visited New Zealand and Australia with her husband, Hon AS (Archibald Scott) Cleghorn, soon after her marriage and was very favorably impressed with what she saw, more especially the city of Melbourne.”

“She also twice visited San Francisco. Her mind, expanded by travel and intercourse with the world, was bent upon the moral and physical elevation of her own race, and she therefore lent herself heartily to every educational scheme looking to that end.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 3, 1887)

When her brother David Kalākaua became King in 1874, Miriam was given the title ‘Princess Likelike’ and she was appointed governess of Oʻahu.

The Cleghorns had one child Kaʻiulani (born on October 16, 1875) – “the only member of the Royal Family having issue.” (Daily Herald, February 3, 1887)

ʻĀinahau, Princess Likelike’s Waikiki home was said to have been the most beautiful private estate in the Hawaiian Islands. A driveway between rows of stately palms led to the gracious pillared mansion set in a grove of 500 coco palms. Artificial lakes dotted with pink water lilies, and statues found here and there, added to the charming grounds.

Mango trees were plentiful, and everywhere one could catch the scent of sweet smelling pīkake and gardenias. Proud peacocks strutted through the grounds displaying their beautiful feathers. Thousands of trees, shrubs and vines grew in this huge garden estate.

Today, ʻĀinahau is no more. The Governor Cleghorn Condominium stands at the entrance to the driveway which led to the house. (Likelike ES)

‘ʻĀinahau,’ the most famous of Likelike’s compositions, was written about the Cleghorn residence in Waikiki, the gathering place for Sunday afternoon musical gettogethers. She wrote most of her compositions there, and supported the musical education of her daughter, Princess Kaʻiulani. (HMHOF)

Click here, then the link, to hear a performance of ʻĀinahau (1914, LOC)

Not in very good health, Princess Likelike died at the early age of 36 on February 2, 1887. She will be long be remembered for her kindness to children, her pleasing manners, her many charities, her never failing hospitality, and her beautiful songs. (Likelike ES)

“Princess Likelike was generally beloved for her amiable and kindly disposition her cordial and gracious manners. Her late Royal Highness will long be remembered for the deep interest she took in the welfare of her race and in many worthy objects of a religious and benevolent nature.”

“Although a leading member of St Andrews Cathedral she held a lively concern for the prosperity of native churches outside of the Anglican communion. This was strikingly manifested in her attendance on last Saturday week although in a weak physical condition at a festival in aid of the Kaumakapili Church building fund.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 4, 1887)

April 21, 2026 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Possibly the Last Human Sacrifice

“In 1804 when Kamehameha was on his way from Hawaiʻi to invade Kauai he halted at Oahu with an army of eight thousand men at Oʻahu.”

“The yellow fever broke out among the troops, and in the course of a few days swept away more than two thirds of them. During the plague, the king repaired to the great marae (heiau) at Wytiti, to conciliate the god, whom he supposed to be angry.”

“The priests recommended a ten days’ tabu, the sacrifice of three human victims, four hundred hogs, as many cocoa-nuts, and an equal number of branches of plantains.”

“Three men, who had been guilty of the enormous turpitude of eating cocoanuts with the old queen, were accordingly seized and led to the marae.”

“But there being yet three days before the offerings could be duly presented, the eyes of the victims were scooped out, the bones of their arms and legs were broken, and they were then deposited in a house, to await the coup de grace on the day of sacrifice.”

“While these maimed and miserable creatures were in the height of their suffering, some persons, moved by curiosity, visited them in prison, and found them neither raving nor desponding, but sullenly singing the national huru (anthem) – dull as the drone of a bagpipe, and hardly more variable – as though they were insensible of the past, and indifferent to the future.”

“When the slaughtering time arrived, one of them was placed under the legs of the idol, and the other two were laid, with the hogs and fruit, upon the altar-frame. They were then beaten with clubs upon the shoulders till they died of the blows.”

“This was told us by an eye-witness of the murderous spectacle. And thus men kill one another, and think that they do God service.” (Journal of Tyerman And Bennet, 1832)

But that wasn’t the last …

“Kaʻahumanu was a woman of the chiefly stature and of celebrated beauty … her husband (Kamehameha) cherished her exceedingly. He had the indelicacy to frame and publish an especial law declaring death against the man who should approach her, and yet no penalty against herself.”

“And in 1809, after thirty-four years of marriage, and when she must have been nearing fifty … Kanihonui, was found to be her lover, and paid the penalty of life”. (Stevenson)

Kanihonui was a handsome 19-year old. Reportedly, Kaʻahumanu had seduced the boy while she was intoxicated; in addition, the boy was the son of Kamehameha’s half-sister – and, Kamehameha and Kaʻahumanu raised him.

Kanihonui was put to death at Papaʻenaʻena Heiau on Leʻahi (Diamond Head) for committing adultery with Kaʻahumanu.

“After the death of Kanihonui the mind of Kaʻahumanu dwelt thereon; she could not readily dismiss the thought. This event was preceded by the death of Keʻeaumoku, the father of this chiefess, by the plague; therefore she was sent to a disconcerting place, but to no purpose.” (Thrum)

“She sought to recover from her anger but was unable to do so; and she considered … taking the kingdom from the king by force and giving it to the young chief, Liholiho.”

“Before she laid her plans for the war, a holiday for the purpose of surfing at Kapua in Waikiki was proclaimed, because the surf was rolling fine then.”

“It was where one could look up directly to the heiau on Leʻahi, where the remains of Kanihonui were, all prepared in the customary manner of that time.”

“It was said that only Kaleiheana, who was a Luluka, watched over the corpse from the time of death until it was decomposed.”

“The chiefess had heard something about her lover’s remains being there, and perhaps that was why the proclamation was made.”

“On the appointed day, chiefs, chiefesses, prominent people, and the young chief Liholiho went to Kapua. When all had assembled there, the king gathered his men together in readiness for trouble.”

“He sent a messenger, Kinopu, after Kaahumanu’s followers to find out what they were planning. It is said that three things were done at Kapua: surfing, lamenting, and more surfing; and it is said that they had intoxicants with them.”

“Thus they whiled away the time until evening.” (John Papa Ii)

“And thus it was the young prince was before them and the chiefs at the time when Kalanimōku asked him, whilst the chiefs were assembled together: ‘What think you? Let us take the government from your father, and you be the king, and your father be put to death?’”

“When the child heard these words he bent forward and thought deeply of the question’s meaning. Straightening himself up and looking at the assembly, he replied: ‘I do not want my father put to death.’”

“By this answer all the chiefs who were gathered together at that time were greatly gratified.” (Kuokoa, August 4, 1869; Thrum)

George W. Bates, in 1854, describes a heiau at the foot of Leʻahi (believed to be Papaʻenaʻena) as: “Just beyond Waikiki stand the remains of an ancient heiau, or pagan temple. It is a huge structure, nearly quadrangular, and is composed merely of a heavy wall of loose lava stones, resembling the sort of inclosure commonly called a ‘cattlepen.’”

“This heiau was placed at the very foot of Diamond crater, and can be seen at some distance from the sea. Its dimensions externally are 130 by 70 feet. The walls I found to be from six to eight feet high, eight feet thick at the base, and four at the top.”

“On climbing the broken wall near the ocean, and by carefully looking over the interior, I discovered the remains of three altars located at the western extremity, and closely resembling parallelograms. I searched for the remains of human victims once immolated on these altars, but found none; for they had returned to their primitive dust, or been carried away by curious visitors.”

Later (at about 1856,) Queen Emma ordered her workers to take rocks from Papaʻenaʻena heiau to build a stone wall around her property at Waikīkī.

“After the death of Kanihonui at Waikiki … Kamehameha … moved to Honolulu from Waikiki.” (Laʻanui, Kumu Hawaiʻi, 1839; Thrum)

April 20, 2026 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Piggly Wiggly

On February 4, 1928, the Star Bulletin noted that three men arrived from the mainland to open Hawai‘i’s first chain grocery store; it was situated on Beretania Street at Keʻeaumoku, a “large crowd attends the Piggly Wiggly opening.”

Andrew Williams, president and general manager of Piggly Wiggly Pacific made the decision to enter the Hawai‘i market and promised 7 stores by the end of the year. (Krauss)

The entry of Piggly Wiggly initiated the first national chain grocery store into the Islands; with it came a new way of food shopping.

Today, we take for granted the convenience of comparing and choosing from a wide range of prepackaged products, placing them in our shopping carts and going through a checkout.

The late-19th and early-20th centuries were the age of the independent mom-and-pop store. Grocery stores of that era tended to be small (generally less than a thousand square feet) and also focused on only limited aspects of food retailing.

Grocers sold what is known as “dry grocery” items, or canned goods and other non-perishable staples. Butchers and greengrocers (produce vendors) were completely separate entities, although they tended to cluster together for convenience’s sake.

These were counter-service stores; owners/workers were hands on with each customer, pulling individual needs out of bulk jars or bins and packaging each for each customer on the other side of the counter.

Piggly Wiggly stores (established by Clarence Saunders in Memphis in 1916) are widely credited with introducing America to self-service shopping, revolutionizing the grocery industry.

Self-service stores came to be known as “groceterias” due to the fact that they were reminiscent of the cafeteria-style eateries that were gaining popularity at the time. (groceteria)

Instead of a clerk to assist individual customer needs behind a counter, there were open aisles, open shelves with individually-packaged products to select from, shopping baskets and check-out stands.

The largest order for receipt printing National Cash Registers ever received has just been placed with The NCR Company by the Piggly Wiggly Stores. This order called for 1,030 receipt printing registers of the Class 800 type. One hundred of the registers were to be delivered at once and the remainder from time to time as new stores are opened up. (Hotel Monthly, Vol 26)

In the cafeteria style or “Piggly Wiggly” groceries, the storerooms were all planned alike, and every shelf had a designated and uniform place for the particular kind of groceries allotted to that particular space; and the grocery shelves were arranged to conform to the storeroom shelves.

Rather than pull and package for individual needs from bulk jars and bins, items such as sugar, rice, coffee, etc, were automatically weighed into uniform packages by a machine. The correct weight was stamped on the bottom of the package and it is then sealed by adhesive tape and put on display on a shelf in the aisle.

In the Piggly Wiggly stores customers become their own clerks and select their own purchases without interfering with any of the other customers who are on similar missions. By this method, the customer is made part of the machinery of distribution.

All goods are placed on the shelves with careful consideration as to display, convenience, and classification (several kinds of the same article are always grouped together.) Thus in one part of the store the soap will be found, in another the cereals and in another the canned goods.

The overhead of the store is reduced and the individual purchaser is directly benefited by the reduced price. (Hotel Monthly, Vol 26)

Piggly Wiggly was the first to:
• Provide checkout stands
• Price mark every item in the store
• High volume/low profit margin retailing
• Feature a full line of nationally advertised brands
• Use refrigerated cases to keep produce fresher longer
• Put employees in uniforms for cleaner, more sanitary food handling
• Design and use patented fixtures and equipment throughout the store
• Franchise independent grocers to operate under the self-service method of food merchandising

Shoppers and store owner loved it. Likewise, the Piggly Wiggle brand issued franchises to hundreds of people across the country – the company slogan was “Piggly Wiggly All Over the World.”

The number of Island Piggly Wigglys grew; however, “because of the inconvenience of proper supervision”, on January 2, 1935, Theo H Davies (then, a Hawai‘i Big 5 company) bought out the Piggly Wiggly brand in Hawai‘i. They expanded and grew into the 1950s.

While supermarkets increased in number throughout the mainland during the 1930s, it was not until after World War II that supermarkets developed on a large scale basis in Hawai‘i.

Foodland opened in May 1948, and Albert and Wallace Teruya started Times in 1949. Star Market opened its Mōʻiliʻili store in 1954. Chun Hoon in Nuʻuanu built a new store along supermarket lines, which opened in December 1954.

By 1957 supermarkets accounted for close to fifty percent of all retail food business in America. In 1963 the national chain Safeway made its appearance in the islands.

With lower payroll and handling costs, coupled with volume purchasing and high turnover in sales, the supermarket was able to cut prices and take over the retail grocery business. (HHF)

Supermarkets typically served as anchors for community shopping centers, providing economic stability and even encouraging further commercial and residential development in surrounding areas.

In addition, government-supported services such as libraries and post offices were often constructed within or immediately nearby these new commercial hubs. The clustering of such amenities provided individuals and families with the mainland style a “one-stop” shopping center. (docomomo) Davies sold Piggly Wiggly in the mid-1950s.

Saunders’ reason for choosing the intriguing name “Piggly Wiggly” remains a mystery; he was curiously reluctant to explain its origin. One story says that, while riding a train, he looked out his window and saw several little pigs struggling to get under a fence, which prompted him to think of the rhyme.

Another suggests that someone once asked him why he had chosen such an unusual name for his organization, to which he replied, “So people will ask that very question.” Regardless of his inspiration, he succeeded in finding a name that would be talked about and remembered. (Lots of information here is from Piggly Wiggly.)

April 19, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

About 250 Years Ago … Shot Heard Round the World

British victory in the Seven Years War (1756-63) sowed the seeds of the American revolt. It freed the colonists from the need for protection against the French threat on their frontier. It also gave free rein to the forces working for independence.

The British wanted to increase taxes and make the colonies pay for their defense. The colonists argued that only their own assemblies, and not the British parliament, had a right to levy taxes. (British National Army Museum)

In 1775 there were about 7,000 British redcoats in America, with around 4,000 in Massachusetts itself. The royally appointed governor, Thomas Gage, had been granted broadly expanded powers.

Rebellion was in the air.

Acting on intelligence that the militia were stockpiling weapons, Gage ordered British Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Smith to march to Concord and seize the arms. Smith commanded the 800-strong force, drawn from several regiments, that was sent to seize the arms. An officer with 12 years’ colonial experience, Smith had served in America since 1767.

The rebel intelligence network suggested that the British aim in Lexington was to capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock, two of the most prominent Patriot leaders, but the size of the British army force was large enough to suggest they had bigger goals in mind.

The British soldiers and rebel militiamen raced to Lexington during the night; they confronted each other at Lexington Green – a village common area – just as the sun was rising on the morning of April 19. Captain John Parker, a veteran of the Seven Years’ War, led a contingent of 80 Lexington militiamen, known as minute men because they had to be ready to fight at a minute’s notice.

Most of the militiamen were farmers or tradesmen. Non-uniformed, they were armed with a variety of firearms including muskets and fowling pieces. (British National Army Museum)

Years later, one of the participants recalled Parker’s words right before the deadly skirmish: “Stand your ground; don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”

On April 19, 1775, initial skirmishes between British regulars and American Patriots marked the beginning of the American Revolution.

… at 5 o’clock we arrived there and saw a number of People, I believe between 2 and 300 … we still continued advancing, keeping prepared against an attack tho’ without intending to attack them …

… they fired one or two shots, upon which our Men without any orders rushed in upon them, fired and put ‘em to flight; several of them were killed. (Diary of Lt. John Barker, Library of Congress)

It is unclear who fired the first shot.

A skirmish ensued, during which eight militiamen were killed and only one British soldier wounded.

After order was restored, the British soldiers began the march to Concord, where militias from Concord and the nearby town of Lincoln were waiting. After the British found and destroyed rebel weapons caches, they squared off against the colonial forces at the North Bridge. Outnumbered and outmaneuvered, the British soldiers broke rank and fled, handing the stunned colonists a victory. (Khan Academy)

The march back to Boston was a genuine ordeal for the British, with Americans continually firing on them from behind roadside houses, barns, trees, and stone walls. This experience established guerrilla warfare as the colonists’ best defense strategy against the British.

Total losses were British 273, American 95. The Battles of Lexington and Concord confirmed the alienation between the majority of colonists and the mother country, and it roused New Englanders to join forces and begin the Siege of Boston, resulting in its evacuation by the British the following March. (Britannica)

Within a week, 16,000 men from the four New England colonies formed a siege army outside British-occupied Boston. In June, the Continental Congress took over the New England army, creating a national force, the Continental Army. Thereafter, men throughout America took up arms. It seemed to the British regulars that every able-bodied American male had become a soldier. (Smithsonian, Ferling)

Following this, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence and it was signed by 56-members of the Congress (1776.)

The next eight years (1775-1783) war was waging on the eastern side of the continent. The main result was an American victory and European recognition of the independence of the United States.

Some 100,000 men served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Probably twice that number soldiered as militiamen, for the most part defending the home front, functioning as a police force and occasionally engaging in enemy surveillance. (Smithsonian, Ferling) Though never more than 48,000 served at a time. (Military-com, Stilwell)

The formal end of the war did not occur until the Treaty of Paris and the Treaties of Versailles were signed on September 3, 1783 and recognized the sovereignty of the United States over the territory bounded roughly by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west.

The last British troops left New York City on November 25, 1783, and the US Congress of the Confederation ratified the Paris treaty on January 14, 1784.

Between 25,000 and 70,000 American Patriots died during active military service. Of these, approximately 6,800 were killed in battle, while at least 17,000 died from disease. The majority of the latter died while prisoners of war of the British, mostly in the prison ships in New York Harbor. (Veterans Museum)

Lexington and Concord led many Americans to support the ‘revolution’. For John Adams, these battles were the moment ‘the Die was cast, the Rubicon crossed’. They also showed that American citizen soldiers could stand up to redcoats; something previously doubted by many on both sides.

It was the turning point in the future of the continent and an everlasting change in what would become the United States.

It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who coined the phrase ‘Shot Heard Round the World’ and used it his 1837 poem, ‘Concord Hymn,’ that he wrote for the dedication of a battle monument at the site of the North Bridge.

Click the following link to a general summary about Lexington and Concord – “The Shot Heard Round the World”:

Click to access Shot-Heard-Round-the-World.pdf

Click to access Lexington-and-Concord-–-‘The-Shot-Heard-Round-the-World-SAR-RT.pdf

April 18, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The 5th Gate

The cornerstone for ‘Iolani Palace was laid on December 31, 1879 with full Masonic rites. Construction was completed in 1882; in December of that year King Kalākaua and Queen Kapi‘olani took up residence in their new home.

The first floor consists of the public reception areas – the Grand Hall, State Dining Room, Blue Room and the Throne Room.

The second floor consists of the private suites – the King’s and Queen’s suites, Music Room, King’s Library, and the Imprisonment Room, where Queen Lili‘uokalani was held under house arrest for eight months in 1895, following a counter-revolution by royalists seeking to restore the Queen to power after the overthrow of 1893.

The Palace area was originally enclosed by an eight-foot high coral block wall with wooden gates. In 1887, work was requested to alter the Mauka, Makai and Richards Street Gateways of the wall surrounding the Royal Palace would be curved at the respective gates with double iron door (similar to the Likelike gate.)

Also intended were 2-story wooden guardhouses on each side of the four main gates. However, those were not built (the contract to construct them was cancelled in July 1887).

Then, Robert Wilcox and other revolutionaries broke into the grounds, set themselves up in the Palace Bungalow, and using the walls surrounding the grounds fired at approaching loyal troops.

After this, it was felt that the Palace no longer served as a bastion against invasion, and a decision was made to tear down the wall surrounding the grounds. In 1889, it was lowered to 3’6″. In 1892, it was topped with the present painted iron fence.

“Early this morning a gang of prisoners commenced to take down the Palace wall. Up to one o’clock this afternoon they had it down from the front gate on King Street to the corner of King and Richards Streets.”

“It is being taken down to within three feet six inches of the ground. The King suggested that an iron fence take its place, and that will be done. It is understood that the government has already sent for designs of ornamental fencing, and as soon as a design is selected the fence will be ordered. There is no doubt that the taking down of the wall will be a great improvement.” (Daily Bulletin, August 9, 1889)

Removal of this wall was met with great approval. In prior years newspapers had often recommended that the prison-like stone wall be removed. In tearing down the wall it was also felt that the grounds, being opened to public view, would be improved and would become the most beautiful in the city. (Fairfax)

New gate arrangements were made, as well. The gates before this time had been flush with the wall, but as part of the improvements, curved walls were built, recessing the gateways into the grounds. (Fairfax)

The four principal gates each display the Coat of Arms of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and have a distinctive name and purpose:
• Kauikeaouli – was named in honor of King Kamehameha III and used for ceremonial occasions (fronting King Street)
• Kīna’u – was named after the mother of Kings Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V and used by tradesmen (fronting Richards Street)
• Hakaleleponi – was named for Queen Kalama, consort of Kamehameha III and used by servants and retainers of the royal household (mauka – facing Capitol)
• Likelike – was given the name of Princess Likelike, sister to King Kalakaua and Queen Lili‘uokalani and reserved for private use by the royal family (facing State Library)

But those are not the only gates onto the Palace grounds – a smaller 5th gate is located on the mauka-Ewa wall (fronting on Palace Walk, just mauka of the Barracks. While other gates had general ‘assignments’ of who would enter, the 5th gate was initially made for a single person.

“On my accession to the throne my husband (John Owen Dominis) had been made prince consort, and after my brother’s burial I had proposed to him that he should move to the palace …”

“… but in his feeble health he dreaded the long stairs there, which he would be obliged to climb, so I proposed to have the bungalow put in repair, and that the entire house should be placed at his service.”

“With this proposition he was much pleased, and hopefully looked forward to the time when, recovering from his illness, he would be able to take possession of his new home.”

“He asked that there might be a small gate opened near the bungalow, so that he might easily come and go without being obliged to go through the form of offering to the sentry the password required for entrance by the front gate.”

“His wish was immediately granted, and instructions given to the Minister of the Interior to that effect. The bungalow was handsomely fitted up, and all things were made ready for his occupation; but owing to his continued and increasing ill-health he never moved into it.” (Lili‘uokalani) (There is another gate at the corner of King and Richards.)