Peter T Young

July 10, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Edward LaVaun Clissold

Edward LaVaun Clissold was born in Salt Lake City April 11, 1898. He grew up in Salt Lake City and attended East High School. After high school he received at least some education from the University of Utah. World War I apparently cut short his education.

Clissold served in the Navy along with his brother Albert aboard the battleship USS Arkansas in the Atlantic. Returning from the Navy at age 22, he married Irene Picknell.

While still barely a newlywed, he made a monumental decision that would affect the rest of his life. At age 23, a war veteran, a husband and soon to be father, he chose to serve a Mormon mission in a time when only a few served missions.

As a brand new missionary, he sailed for Hawaii on the S.S. Manoa alone. When he arrived in Honolulu a week later on July 27, 1921, there was no one to meet him.

He sat alone with his trunk on the dock not knowing what he should do next. A baggage man approached him, asking if he were a Mormon Missionary. He replied yes and asked how he knew.

The man replied “Well, we have a forlorn-looking group come in here every once in awhile. I take their baggage up to the mission home.” And so the baggage man took Elder Clissold to the mission home.

Elder Clissold was assigned to the Oahu Conference (zone) and two months later to Laie where he would serve from August to November of 1921. The Temple in Laie, which was less than two years old.

He left on November 15, 1921 for Kona (Big Island) where he would spend the next 13 months. It was there that he learned to speak Hawaiian.

Elder Clissold spent the remainder of his mission in the Honolulu area, serving in leadership positions for the Sunday Schools, as was often the practice for missionaries in those days.

Clissold returned to Salt Lake City in 1924 following his mission. When he returned home to his wife, he met a two-and-a-half year old daughter he had never seen before.

Clissold started working for American Savings in Salt Lake City; they wanted to open a branch in Honolulu and Clissold was offered the job of running the Honolulu Branch.

Clissold arrived in Hawaii in January 1925, with Irene following a few months later. In August of 1926 he moved to State Savings and remained there until 1970.

During the 1920s and 30s, he was involved with the Lions Club; in addition to his other responsibilities, becoming the president at age 33 and District President at age 42.

Associated with his business activities at the time was his desire to learn to speak Japanese. He had observed that approximately half of Hawai‘i’s population at the time was first and second generation Japanese.

He thought it made good business sense to learn their language and hired a tutor to teach him the language from 1926-34. His Japanese apparently was not as good as his Hawaiian.

However, the fact that a haole businessman could speak both Hawaiian and Japanese was most unusual, and earned him respect from the speakers of these languages. Additionally, the Clissold children attended the Makiki Japanese School from 1934 to 1936.

Ten years after he moved to Honolulu, the Oahu Stake was created, and Clissold was called as 1st counselor to Stake President and served as such for 9-years. In 1936, Clissold became the Hawai‘i Temple President; he served as the president until 1938.

Clissold resumed his association with Navy in 1936 by joining the Navy reserve as a Lieutenant. He soon went on a shakedown cruise to the South Pacific on the destroyer USS Maori, DD-401. Then came war.

1942 found him serving as the Hawai‘i Temple President again due to the departure of the former president and the lack of replacements to serve because of the war.

At the same time, he became the acting president of the Japanese Mission. It was during this time that the mission name was changed to the Central Pacific Mission.

In 1943 the war finally carried him away from Hawai‘i as he was sent to the Mainland, first to Charlottesville, Virginia and then to the University of Chicago, to teach the US occupational forces who were preparing for post-war Japan.

His military service overseas saw him participating in the military government in Philippines, Okinawa and Japan. While in Japan, he surveyed the situation in anticipation for reopening missionary work there. He finally returned home to Hawai‘i in 1946.

He became the Oahu Stake President, from 1951 until 1963; his responsibilities included forming a school, the Church College of Hawai‘i (now known as Brigham Young University – Hawaii), which opened in 1955.

In addition, Clissold became the manager and then chairman of Zions Securities (now known as of Hawai‘i Reserves) during the years 1953 to 1970. He also served on the Hawaiian Homes Commission from 1954 to 1958.

Simultaneous with these activities, he was also laying out the foundation of what would become the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). (It opened on October 12, 1963.) He served a third term as Hawai‘i Temple President from 1962 to 1965.

Clissold’s personality has been described by himself and numerous others as quiet, humble, private, self-effacing, with a tendency to detail. He held an unprecedented number of callings and responsibilities, simultaneously.

Because of his multiple responsibilities, he has been referred to as ‘Mr. Everything,’ or in the words of one Hawaiian man, ‘the second most powerful man in the Church’ (Church President David O. McKay being the single most powerful). (All here is from a summary by Brian O’Brien)

July 9, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Keawalaʻi Congregational Church

Keawakapu is the traditional name of the bay fronting Ka‘eo, and is the ‘ili where the historical church (now known as Keawala‘i), is situated. In the present day, the place names, Ka‘eo and Keawakapu are not widely used.

The name Keawakapu is almost unknown in this area. This is because the name “Keawala‘i” for the Hawaiian Church has been generally in use since sometime in the early-1900s. Keawakapu was the traditional name of the ‘ili on which the Church is situated. (Maly)

The traditional name of a neighboring bay, Makena actually in the ahupua‘a of Papa‘anui, is the locality name most familiar. The association of the larger area with the name Makena – formerly only a small locality name in a larger ahupua‘a of the Honua‘ula District – dates back to the late-1840s, when the bay of Makena was made the primary landing and coastal economic center of the region.

From 1800 to the 1840s (in the period prior to the Mähele ‘Äina), the land of Ka‘eo was managed for members of the Kamehameha household and supporting high chiefs by konohiki—lesser chiefs appointed by Kamehameha III and Ulumäheihei Hoapili. (Maly)

Up to the early 1840s, land use, access, and subsistence activities in Ka‘eo remained as it had from ancient times. But by the middle 1840s, land use in Ka‘eo and in neighboring lands, transitioned from traditional subsistence agriculture to business interests, focused on ranching and plantations (the latter occurring in the cooler uplands).

Honua‘ula District was one frequented by droughts and famines. Native residents supported themselves by cultivating in the uplands, and fishing, with some lowlands agriculture when rains fell. They also traded woven goods and other items for kalo from Na Wai ‘Ehä (Waikapü, Wailuku, Wai‘ehu and Waihe‘e.) (Maly)

Also, in the 1830s, just prior to the development of fee-simple property rights in the Hawaiian Kingdom, the land of Ka‘eo was selected as the center for educational and church work in the Honua‘ula District.

The first place of worship and instruction was established at Keawakapu, Ka‘eo, in 1825, as a thatched pili grass structure.

On August 1st and 8th, 1834, Ka Lama Hawai‘i published two letters from John S. Green (Garina), reporting on a visit to the various church stations of East Maui, including Honua‘ula. Green wrote to Lorin Andrews reporting that there were few children at the Honua‘ula Church (Keawakapu), but that he preached to a gathering of nearly 2,000 people, observing the people of the district were very poor. (Maly)

In 1856, the Sunday school raised $70 which was sent to the United States to buy a bell for the church. (The bell arrived in January 1860 and was lifted to the belfry in February 1862.)

The Stone Meeting House at Keawakapu (also called Honua‘ula or Makena Church) was completed in 1858.

The land where the church now stands was purchased in 1864. The minister asked that the property, church and deed be turned over to the mission in Boston, but the members voted to retain the property as their own and elected trustees who had charge of the worship services in the absence of ministers.

Life in Mākena was not easy a hundred years ago and it did not get easier as time went on. First, because the weather pattern for the area changed, the once fertile lands became parched and the small farmers who lived in Mākena were forced to pick up and begin their lives again elsewhere on Maui. Then came the Great Depression, then Second World War.

In 1944, the church known as the Stone House, Honuaʻula, Keawekapu, Makena and Kaʻeo was renamed Keawalaʻi – the name it retains today.

The plight of the church went virtually unnoticed until Kahu Abraham Akaka spearheaded a rededication of the church on May 25, 1952. The church structure was repaired and a new, revitalized spirit came over the small congregation. Membership rose.

When the belfry collapsed in January 1968, the church members decided to build a new one and to do repairs on the interior, including replacement of the windows and doors.

In 1975 the church building was in need of restoration and funds were raised by members and friends and the work undertaken; the old roof was removed and all damaged rafters and trusses were replaced. On May 16, 1976 a worship service was held with the rededication and a lū‘au.

The church has made a commitment to maintain Hawaiian tradition and culture, to incorporate the use of Hawaiian language, music and dance as well as to honor the various traditions and cultures represented in its membership within its ministry of worship and service. Lots of information here is from Kepa Maly and the Keawalaʻi Church website.

July 8, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sad Sailing of the HMS Blonde

Ka‘iana‘ahu‘ula was the first Hawaiian chief to travel to foreign countries; he went to Canton, China in 1787 returning in 1788.

In November 1823, Kamehameha II (Liholiho) and Queen Kamāmalu were the first Ali‘i to travel to England.

They commissioned the British whaling ship L’Aigle (French for “the Eagle”) to carry them to London to gain firsthand experience in European ways and to seek an audience with King George IV to negotiate an alliance with England.

Going along were High Chief Boki and wife High Chiefess Liliha, and other chiefs and retainers. Liholiho and Boki brought with them several feather cloaks and capes, visual symbols of Hawaiian royalty. Kamāmalu and Liliha took with them fine kapa clothing suitable for their rank.

In February 1824, along the way, after rounding Cape Horn, they arrived at Rio de Janeiro in newly-independent Brazil where they met Emperor Pedro I.

The Emperor gave Kamehameha II a ceremonial sword, and in return was presented with a native Hawaiian feather cloak made from rare tropical bird feathers.

L’Aigle arrived on May 17, 1824 in Portsmouth, and the next day the entourage moved into the Caledonian Hotel in London. Foreign Office Secretary George Canning appointed Frederick Gerald Byng to supervise their visit.

In London, the royal party was fitted with the latest fashion and they toured London, visiting Westminster Abbey, attended opera and ballet at Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, and the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. On May 28 a reception with 200 guests, including several Dukes, was held in their honor.

King George IV finally scheduled a meeting for June 21, but it had to be delayed; Liholiho and Kamāmalu became ill. The Hawaiian court had caught the measles (like other Hawaiians, they did not have immunity to outside diseases.)

It is believed they probably contracted the disease on their visit to the Royal Military Asylum (now the Duke of York’s Royal Military School.)

Virtually the entire royal party developed measles within weeks of arrival, 7 to 10 days after visiting the Royal Military Asylum housing hundreds of soldiers’ children.

Kamāmalu (aged 22) died on July 8, 1824. The grief-stricken Kamehameha II (age 27) died six days later on July 14, 1824. Prior to his death he asked to return and be buried in Hawai‘i.

Boki took over leadership of the delegation and finally did have an audience with King George IV.

Shortly thereafter, the British Government dispatched HMS Blonde to convey the bodies of Liholiho and Kamāmalu back to Hawaii, along with the entourage. The Captain of the Blonde, a newly commissioned 46-gun frigate, was Lord Byron (a cousin of the poet.)

The Blonde arrived back in Honolulu on May 6, 1825.

Kalanimōkū (who was not on the trip) had been notified of the deaths in a letter, so Hawaiian royalty gathered at his house where the bodies were moved for the funeral.

Liholiho and Kamāmalu were buried on the grounds of the ʻIolani Palace in a coral house meant to be the Hawaiian version of the tombs Liholiho had seen in London. They were eventually moved to Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum.

Kamehameha II was succeeded by his younger brother Kauikeaouli, who became King Kamehameha III.

Before 1848 measles was unknown in Hawaii. Several epidemics struck Hawaiʻi in late-1848, beginning with measles and whooping cough, then the flu.

July 7, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sibling Rivalry

Over the centuries, the islands weren’t unified under single rule. Leadership sometimes covered portions of an island, sometimes covered a whole island or groups of islands. Island rulers, Aliʻi or Mōʻī, typically ascended to power through warfare and familial succession.

In the pursuit of power, following the death of a chief, conflict sometimes arose; this even led one seeking more power to kill his own brother or cousin as a means to gain control. Let’s look back a little, to see a few examples.

According to oral tradition, Piʻilani unified the entire island of Maui and ruled in peace and prosperity, bringing together, under one rule, the formerly-competing eastern (Hāna) and western (Wailuku) multi-district kingdoms of the Island.

Piʻilani’s prosperity was exemplified by a boom in agriculture and construction of heiau, fishponds, trails and irrigation systems. Famed for his energy and intelligence, Piʻilani constructed the West Maui phase of the noted Alaloa, or long trail (also known as the King’s Highway.)

Pi‘ilani died at Lāhainā and the kingdom of Maui passed to his son, Lono-a-Piʻilani. Pi‘ilani had directed that the kingdom go to Lono, and that Kiha-a-Piʻilani (Lono’s brother) serve under him. In the early years of Lono-a-Piʻilani’s reign all was well; that changed.

Lono-a-Piʻilani became angry, because he felt Kiha-a-Piʻilani was trying to seize the kingdom for himself. Lono sought to kill Kiha; so Kiha fled in secret to Molokaʻi and later to Lānaʻi. When Kiha, with chiefs, warriors and a fleet of war canoes, made their way to attack Lono; Lono trembled with fear of death, and died. (Kamakau)

Kiha assumed power over Maui. Like his father, the reign of Kiha-a-Piʻilani was, “eminently peaceful and prosperous, and his name has been reverently and affectionately handed down to posterity”. (Fornander) Kiha resumed what his father had started in West Maui and connected the trail with East Maui (the only ancient pathway to encircle any Hawaiian island (not only along the coast, but also up the Kaupō Gap and through the summit area and crater of Haleakalā.)

That was on Maui; here are a couple examples in the successions in the Kamehameha line.

When Keōua, the father of Kamehameha, died, he commended his son to the care of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who received him, and treated him as his own child. (Dibble) Following Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s death in 1782, the kingship was inherited by his son Kīwalaʻō; Kamehameha (Kīwalaʻō’s cousin) was given guardianship of the Hawaiian god of war, Kūkaʻilimoku.

Dissatisfied with subsequent redistricting of the lands by district chiefs, civil war ensued between Kīwalaʻō’s forces and the various chiefs under the leadership of his cousin Kamehameha.

In the first major skirmish, in the battle of Mokuʻōhai (a fight between Kamehameha and Kiwalaʻo in July, 1782 at Keʻei, south of Kealakekua Bay on the Island of Hawaiʻi,) Kiwalaʻo was killed. With the death of his cousin Kiwalaʻo, the victory made Kamehameha chief of the districts of Kona, Kohala and Hāmākua, while Keōua, the brother of Kiwalaʻo, held Kaʻū and Puna, and Keawemauhili declared himself independent of both in Hilo. (Kalākaua)

Kamehameha, through the assistance of the Kona “Uncles” (Keʻeaumoku, Keaweaheulu, Kameʻeiamoku & Kamanawa (the latter two ended up on the Islands’ coat of arms;)) succeeded, after a struggle of more than ten years, in securing the supreme authority over that island (and later, the entire Hawaiian Islands chain.)

Prior to his death on May 8, 1819, Kamehameha decreed that that his son, Liholiho, would succeed him in power; he also decreed that his nephew, Kekuaokalani, have control of the war god Kūkaʻilimoku (a similar scenario to Kalaniʻōpuʻu and Kiwalaʻo/Kamehameha.)

Following the death of Kamehameha I in 1819, King Kamehameha II (Liholiho) declared an end to the kapu system. “An extraordinary event marked the period of Liholiho’s rule, in the breaking down of the ancient tabus, the doing away with the power of the kahunas to declare tabus and to offer sacrifices, and the abolition of the tabu which forbade eating with women (ʻAi Noa, or free eating.)” (Kamakau)

Kekuaokalani, Liholiho’s cousin, opposed the abolition of the kapu system and assumed the responsibility of leading those who opposed its abolition. These included priests, members of his court and the traditional territorial chiefs of the middle rank.

Kekuaokalani demanded that Liholiho withdraw his edict on abolition of the kapu system. (If the kapu fell, the war god would lose its potency.) (Daws) Kamehameha II refused.

After attempts to settle peacefully, “Friendly means have failed; it is for you to act now,” and Keōpūolani then ordered Kalanimōku to prepare for war on Kekuaokalani. Arms and ammunition were given out that evening to everyone who was trained in warfare, and feather capes and helmets distributed. (Kamakau)

The two powerful cousins engaged at the final battle of Kuamoʻo. In December 1819, just seven months after the death of Kamehameha I, the allies of his two opposing heirs met in battle on the jagged lava fields south of Keauhou Bay. Liholiho had more men, more weapons and more wealth to ensure his victory. He sent his prime minister, Kalanimōku, to defeat his cousin.

Kekuaokalani marched up the Kona Coast from Kaʻawaloa and met his enemies at Lekeleke, just south of Keauhou. The first encounter went in favor of Kekuaokalani. At Lekeleke, the king’s army suffered a temporary defeat.

Regrouping his warriors, Kalanimōku fought back and trapped the rebels farther south along the shore in the ahupuaʻa of Kuamoʻo. (Kona Historical Society)

Kekuaokalani showed conspicuous courage during the entire battle. He kept on advancing and even when shot in the leg he fought on bravely until afternoon, when he was surrounded and shot in the chest and died facing his enemies. His wife Manono fought and died at his side. (Kamakau) His forces were routed.

In these and other battles and wars, in the pursuit of power, Hawaiians were killing Hawaiians; as you see, sometimes the rivalries pitted members of the same family against each other.

“Whether we contemplate the horrors or the glories of the rude warfare which wasted the nation, we are not to confine our views to the struggles of armed combatants – the wounds, the reproaches, and various evils inflicted on one another, but the burden of sustaining such armies deserves attention, and the indescribable misery of the unarmed and unresisting of the vanquished party or tribe, pursued and crushed, till all danger of further resistance disappeared, must not be forgotten.” (Bingham)

July 6, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Bishop Street

On the continent or in the Islands, in the early-1800s there was limited private and public transportation and it was expensive. Thus, workers’ homes were always within two miles of downtown – less than an hour’s walk. For these reasons cities of the mid-1800s were virtually all small, dense and on the water.

Hawaiʻi’s streets, for the most part, started out as trails that were widened and straightened, as horses, buggies and then transit became available. In Honolulu, over time, trails headed mauka following and crossing the Nuʻuanu River, or headed southerly (to Kālia – Waikīkī) or easterly (toward Mānoa.)

Some of the present downtown Honolulu street alignments have origins dating back to 1809. It was about this time that Kamehameha the Great moved his capital from Waikīkī to what is now downtown Honolulu.

A large yam field (pa uhi), footpaths and other sites that existed then, served as the alignment for future streets. The field’s rock walls along its edges would later border King, Alakea, Beretania and Nuʻuanu Streets.

In 1825, Andrew Bloxam (naturalist aboard the HMS Blonde) noted in Honolulu that, “The streets are formed without order or regularity. Some of the huts are surrounded by low fences or wooden stakes … As fires often happen the houses are all built apart from each other. The streets or lanes are far from being clean …” (Clark, HJH)

In 1838, a major street improvement project was started. Honolulu was to be a planned town. Kinaʻu (Kuhina Nui Kaʻahumanu II) published the following proclamation: “I shall widen the streets in our city and break up some new places to make five streets on the length of the land, and six streets on the breadth of the land… .” She designated her husband, Governor Mataio Kekūanāoʻa, to head the project.

As early as 1838, sidewalks along Honolulu streets were constructed, usually of wood. Paved streets were unknown until 1881; in that year, Fort Street was paved.

In 1845, Commander Charles Wilkes criticized the city by saying: “The streets, if so they may be called, have no regularity as to width, and are ankle-deep in light dust and sand … and in some places, offensive sink-holes strike the senses, in which are seen wallowing some old and corpulent hogs.”

It wasn’t until 1850 that streets received official names. On August 30, 1850, the Privy Council first named Hawaiʻi’s streets; there were 35-streets that received official names that day (29 were in Downtown Honolulu, the others nearby.)

Before that, many of the streets had multiple names – mostly related to who or what was on them. Honolulu’s first street names were printed on wooden sign posts, in both English and Hawaiian. In that same meeting, they officially named the City of Honolulu and designated it the capital of the kingdom.

The first sidewalk made of brick was laid down in 1857 fronting a shop on Merchant Street; Hawaiʻi’s first concrete sidewalk (it already had a brick sidewalk) was poured in front of a store on Queen Street in 1886.

As Honolulu grew, so did the number of streets. One relative latecomer to that list was Bishop Street – running mauka-makai, through what is now the core of the downtown business district.

In earlier times, the main streets were Fort or Nuʻuanu (mauka-makai) and Beretania, Merchant and Queen (heading relatively northwest-southeast.) Back then, if you wanted to go up to Nuʻuanu, you took … Nuʻuanu Street.

Bishop Street came into existence around the turn of the century (about 1900.) Initially, it was only a couple of blocks long, between Queen and Hotel Streets.

By 1923, it extended makai to the harbor (absorbing (and realigning) the former Edinburgh Street) – still no further extension mauka. By 1934, it extended mauka to Beretania (it absorbed (and realigned) Garden Street.)

In 1949, Bishop only went to Beretania – with no further mauka extension (it finally popped through and extended/connected to the Pali Highway and became the windward gateway into “Town.”)

Named for Charles Reed Bishop (1822 – 1915), banker, financer, philanthropist and public official and his wife Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop (1831-1884), great-granddaughter of King Kamehameha I and last surviving heir – whose will and landholdings established the Kamehameha Schools.

The couple lived for many years near the site of Bishop Trust Building (1000 Bishop Street) – their property was known as Haleʻākala (built by Pauahi’s father Abner Paki;) the building itself is called Aikupika.) When Bishop Street was created, it cut through their property.

CR Bishop came to Honolulu just before the California gold rush of 1849. Mr. Bishop married Bernice Pauahi Paki, daughter of high chief Abner Paki. In 1853, he founded Bishop and Company Bank, now First Hawaiian Bank.

Do you remember the Big Five?

Look at the 1950 map of Honolulu. Did you notice their placement on Bishop Street (and to each other) back then?

Five major companies emerged to provide operations, marketing, supplies and other services for the plantations and eventually came to own and manage most of them. They became known as the Big 5: Amfac – Hackfeld & Company (1849;) Alexander & Baldwin (1870;) Theo H. Davis (1845;) Castle & Cooke (1851) and C. Brewer – (1826.)

Although it took a while to be formed, Bishop Street was and continues to be the center of Hawai‘i commerce and banking – and “the” address to have for your business.

The image is a view toward Diamond Head looking from Fort Street down King Street; Haleʻākala (the Bishop’s house, is marked as “2”. This was taken in 1855.