Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 5 Comments

Tauʻā

William Ellis (August 24, 1794 – 1872) applied to train as a Christian missionary for the London Missionary Society and was accepted to the school.  After attending Homerton College he was ordained in 1815; later that year, he married Mary Mercy Moor (November 9, 1815.)  He served the London Mission in the Society Islands, Hawaiian Islands and Madagascar.

From 1816, when he first entered on his missionary career, until 1825, he devoted himself to “service of the Lord as a missionary” among the South Pacific Islands.

“It was the morning of the Sabbath when we embarked.  Our friends in Gosport were preparing to attend public worship, when we heard the report of a signal-gun. The sound excited a train of feeling, which can be understood only by those who have been placed in similar circumstances. It was a report announcing the arrival of that moment which was to separate, perhaps for ever, from home and all its endearments, and rend asunder every band which friendship and affection had entwined around the heart.”  (Ellis on departing for the South Pacific)

First landing in Eimeo (Moorea,) and travelling throughout the area, he served the London Mission for the next 6-years in the Society Islands (so named by Captain James Cook in honor of the ‘Royal Society,’ “as they lay contiguous to one another.”)

After an initial brief visit in 1822 to Hawaiʻi, arrangement were made between the American Board of Commissions for Foreign Mission, London Missionary Society and local chiefs, Ellis returned to Hawaiʻi to join the American mission there.

On April 16, 1822, the schooner Mermaid, arrived at Honolulu from Tahiti; on board were Ellis, other English missionaries and Auna and Matatore, Tahitian chiefs and teachers. After providing support for a few months to the American missionaries in the Islands, they returned to Tahiti, giving up their original plan of visiting the Marquesas Islands.

February 4, 1823, Ellis returned to the Islands, bringing his wife with him as well as Tahitian teachers, including Tauʻā. (Ellis remained at this time for about eighteen months; then returned to England, with his family.)

Tauʻā, originally known as Matapuupuu, was born in about 1792 and was by birth a raʻatira or landowner.  He had been a principal Arioi (secret religious order of the Society Islands,) and succeeded his elder brother as chief priest of Huahine.  (Gunson)

In August 1813 he joined John Davies’s school at Papetoʻai, and later accompanied Ellis to Huahine, where he became a prominent church member and was appointed deacon. He was also appointed first Secretary of the Huahinean Missionary Society.  His speeches at prayer meetings and May meetings were reported with some pride.  (Gunson)

Shortly after Ellis and Tauʻā arrived in Hawaiʻi, the Second Company of American missionaries arrived, bringing the Reverend William Richards and the Reverend Charles Stewart (April 1823.)

About this time, Queen Mother Keōpūolani (mother of Kamehameha II and III) began to accept many western ways.  She wore western clothes, she introduced western furniture into her house and she took instruction in Christianity.

But her health began to fail, and she decided to move her household from the pressures of the court circle in Honolulu to the tranquility of Waikīkī. With her she took Hoapili (her husband) and Nahiʻenaʻena (her daughter.)

Each Sunday the missionaries walked across the hot plain from Honolulu to Waikīkī to hold divine service and to instruct the Queen Mother in Christian doctrine. Keōpūolani decided, however, that these Sunday meetings did not suffice; she asked that a religious instructor be attached to her household. Her choice was Tauʻā; the mission approved.  (Sinclair)

In May of 1823, Keōpūolani decided to make her last move, this time back to the island of her birth, Maui.  She chose Lāhainā, with its warm and sunny climate – another place traditionally a favorite with the chiefs.  (Sinclair)

Before leaving, Keōpūolani requested the Americans to assign teachers to go with her. She wanted a mission established in Lāhainā, and further instruction in reading and writing for herself; she also wished to have a man of God to pray with her. The Honolulu mission selected Charles Stewart and William Richards to accompany the queen.  (Sinclair)

Immediately on their arrival in Lāhainā, she requested them to commence teaching, and also said, “It is very proper that my sons (meaning the missionaries) be present with me at morning and evening prayers.”

They were always present, and sung a hymn in the Hawaiian language.  Often in conversation she would introduce the subject which had been discussed, and ask important questions respecting it.  (Memoir of Keōpūolani)

She became more attentive to the Gospel as she was resting. It was Tauʻā who became the teacher she relied on as perhaps they were able to converse with each other in the Polynesian language.  (Mookini)

Tauʻā proved a faithful teacher, and he did much to establish her in the Christian faith.  He answered several of her questions on the subject of Christianity.

She said to Tauʻā, “My heart is much afraid I shall never become a Christian.” He replied, “Why, what is in the way?”  She said, “I think I am likely to die soon.”  He replied, “Do you not love God?” She answered, “O yes, I love – I love him very much.”  Tauʻā then communicated farther instruction to her. At the close of the conversation she said, “Your word, I know, is true.  It is a good word; and now I have found, I have obtained a Saviour, and a good King, Jesus Christ.”

She asked him for advice about her having two husbands (at the time she was married to Kalanimōku and Hoapili.) Tauʻā  answered: “It is proper for a woman to have one husband, man to have one wife.”   She then said: “I have followed the custom of Hawaiʻi, in taking two husbands in the time of our dark hearts. I wish now to obey Christ and to walk in the right way. It is wrong to have two husbands and I desire but one. Hoapili is my husband, hereafter my only husband.”  (Memoir of Keōpūolani)

To Kalanimōku she said: “I have renounced our ancient customs, the religion of wooden images, and have turned to the new religion of Jesus Christ. He is my King and my Savior, and him I desire to obey. I can have but one husband. Your living with me is at an end. No more are you to eat with my people or lodge in my house.”  (Mookini)

She was asked, “How do you feel, as you are about leaving the world?”  She answered, “I remember what my teachers told me.  I pray much to Jesus Christ to be with me and take me to himself.  I am now about to leave my three children, my people and my teachers.  But it is not dark now.  It would have been, had I died before these good times.  You must pray for me, and all the missionaries must pray for me. I love you. I love them. I think I love Jesus Christ, and I trust he will receive me.”  (Memoir of Keōpūolani)

In Keōpūolani’s earnest inquiries after truth, and the increasing experience of its power on the heart, Mrs. Ellis had, in common with other members of the Mission, ever taken a lively interest, and she shared with her companions at Lāhainā in the hallowed joy which was felt by the growing meetness for heaven which the first convert in Hawaiʻi had manifested, as the signs of her approaching dissolution became more frequent and decisive.  (Mary Mercy Ellis Memoir)

In the presence of the royal family and the chiefs, Ellis delivered a short address to explain the meaning of baptism; he sprinkled Keōpūolani with water in the name of God – Ellis administered the rite of baptism to Keōpūolani. She had earlier chosen Harriet, the name of Mrs. Stewart, to be her baptismal name.  (Sinclair)

The King (Liholiho, her son) and all the heads of the nation listened with the most profound attention, and when they saw that water was sprinkled on her in the name of God, they said, “Surely she is no longer ours, she formerly gave herself to Jesus Christ.  We believe she is his, and will go to dwell with him.”  (Memoir of Keōpūolani)

The ceremony was performed at five in the afternoon of September 16, 1823; at six o’clock the Queen was dead.

The funeral ceremonies, after the Christian manner, were held two days later with chiefs, missionaries and foreigners surrounding the corpse. (Mookini)

It was a season of much spiritual enjoyment to all present, it was peculiarly solemn and impressive; especially from the number of native chiefs and others who were present, some of whom were among the most earnest inquirers after truth, and all of whom seemed much affected, and anxious to ask the meaning of an observance to them so new and strange.  (Mary Mercy Ellis Memoir)

After her death, Tauʻā joined the household of Hoapilikane and remained with that chief until his death in 1840. He then joined the household of Hoapiliwahine.  (Tauʻā died in about 1855.)

The image shows the initial burial tomb for Keōpūolani; she was later reburied there in Waineʻe Church cemetery (now known as Waiola Church) in Lāhainā.

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Anthony Lee Ahlo

Anthony Lee Ahlo was born in 1876, in Honolulu (he was “Pake hapa-Hawaiʻi.”)  His father Lee Ahlo (April 23, 1841- July 3, 1906) was born in Chong Lok near Canton, China, and came to Hawaiʻi in 1865.

His mother Lahela Kauhi Kehuokalani (April 22, 1852 – December 16, 1911) is reported to be a descendent of Kamehameha.  (Anthony is also identified as Li Fang Ahlo and Lee Fong Ahlo, at various places and times.)

His father worked for seven years as a cook for Mr Lewers of Lewers & Cooke. He and Lahela were married June 22, 1872. In 1873, he started a small grocery at the corner of Maunakea and King Streets, in 1876 it moved to corner of Nuʻuanu and Chaplain Lane; he later expanded into rice planting/processing and general merchandising.  (Krauss)

“(The mill) belonged to a man by the name of Lee Ahlo … (it) was near the Waikalua River, and there was a ditch and flume higher up the river that brought water from the river to the rice mill to make the water wheel go around, and that is where the rice mill got its power to clean the rice. The mill hulled the rice and it came out white. When it was still in the hull we called it paddy rice.”

“The river was near the rice mill and sometimes ulua and other large fish came up the river, following the water at high tide. They came into the ditches leading into the rice fields. Workmen netted them.”  (Ching, History of Kāneʻohe)

His father died a very prominent merchant and had many friends. His estate was valued at $50,000 (about $1,500,000, today;) the inventory list includes $17,500 real property in Honolulu, $17,500 in Kāneʻohe, $3,000 in Waialua, $2,000 in personal property in Honolulu and $10,000 in Kāneʻohe.  (Krauss)

Anthony Lee Ahlo graduated from Oʻahu College (Punahou) in 1897.  He then was admitted at Trinity Hall, Cambridge University in 1898 and earned his BA in 1901 and MA 1911.

In 1901, Anthony married Gladys Fitzgerald.  A reception, with over five hundred guests, being all the prominent society people of the city, was given by Mr. and Mrs. Lee Ahlo, in honor of their son and his young English wife, at their magnificent new residence off Liliha street, it “was a most brilliant and delightful affair.”  (Honolulu Republican, October 20, 1901)  Young Ahlo and his bride moved to Shanghai, China.

An article in the Maui news noted, “The Chinese government by imperial edict has requested Chinese residing in foreign countries to interest themselves in the matter of developing the mineral resources of China, and has pledged itself to grant the necessary rights, privileges and protection to those who desire to invest.”

It further noted, “China Waking Up. Mr. Anthony L Ahlo, an intelligent young Chinese, and by the way, a graduate of Cambridge, England is on Maui this week, and while here, is submitting an Investment for the purpose of developing the vast coal, copper and tin mines of the Chong Lock District in the province of Kwangtung (his father’s home town”.)

“Mr. Ahlo will proceed to China and secure the desired concessions. There is no question but what Chong Lock is a rich mineral district, and with the energy, ability and integrity of Mr. Ahlo back of the enterprise, there is no question but what the enterprise will prove successful and lay the foundation for vast fortunes for its promoters.”  (Maui News, June 20, 1903)

Anthony was well-connected with the revolutionary movement that was underway in China.  From 1894 to 1911, Sun Yat Sen traveled around the globe advocating revolution and soliciting funds for the cause. At first, he concentrated on China, but his continued need for money forced him elsewhere. Southeast Asia, Japan, Hawaii, Canada, the United States, and Europe all became familiar during his endless quest.  (Damon)

However, movement by Chinese to and through the US was restricted.  Sun needed a certificate to enter the United States at a time when the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 would have otherwise blocked him.  Although born in China, to allow movement through the States, Sun sought a birth certificate from Hawaiʻi.

Ahlo provided sworn testimony supporting Sun Yat Sen’s ʻEwa birthplace (signed by A. Ahlo on March 22, 1904.)  In part, he swore, “I have lived in Hawaii for 41 years. Have known Dr Sen a Chinese person, and knew his parents – since about 1870.  I owned a rice plantation at Waipahu at that time and went there after to give it my attention.  The father and mother of Dr Sen lived at Wamano and I often stopped at their house – sometimes overnight.”

On March 14, 1904, while residing in Kula, Maui, Sun Yat-sen obtained a Certificate of Hawaiian Birth, issued by the Territory of Hawaiʻi, stating that “he was born in the Hawaiian Islands on the 24th day of November, A.D. 1870.”

A May 26, 1908 article in the Chinese Public Opinion, an English paper of Peking, noted, “We are pleased to note the appointment of Mr. AL Ahlo to a position as justice in the Supreme Court in Peking. This gentleman is one of the new generation and was educated at the University of Cambridge, England where he passed his degree with honors.”

“He has been for some time acting as legal adviser to the High Court of Justice and has been doing good work in this department. It is a noteworthy fact that he is the returned student who has been appointed to a position of any importance in the Judiciary of China.” (Hawaiian Gazette, June 26, 1908)

In a speech he noted, “The world has become accustomed to seeing China plodding contentedly in rough conservatism and has not noted the size of reawakened China. Everywhere in the empire there are abundant evidences of material progress, and educational, industrial and scientific institutions tell the tale of life and activity.”

“The old-time superstitions and customs which stood in the path of its development are now being rudely brushed aside, and today behold China, a nation throbbing with the thrill of a new era, an era of advancement in the cause of humanity!”   (Congress of American Prison Association, 1910)

The revolutionary movement in China grew stronger and stronger. Revolution members staged many armed uprisings, culminating in the October 10, 1911 Wuhan (Wuchang) Uprising which succeeded in overthrowing the Manchu dynasty and established the Republic of China.

That date is now celebrated annually as the Republic of China’s national day, also known as the “Double Ten Day”. On December 29, 1911, Sun Yat-Sen was elected president and on January 1, 1912, he was officially inaugurated.  After Sun’s death in March 1925, Chiang Kai-shek became the leader of the Kuomintang (KMT.)

The Republic of China governed mainland China; during the Chinese Civil War, the communists captured Beijing and later Nanjing. The communist party led People’s Republic of China was proclaimed on October 1, 1949.

Ahlo’s provided further support and participation in the new China did not end there.  Ahlo drafted the constitution of the Chinese republic which was submitted to the national assembly.  It follows partially the federal law of America and part of that of France. It provides for a national assembly to consist of two houses, called the council of the people and the council of the provinces.  (San Francisco Call, May 19, 1912)

In the early-1920s he was Chinese consul in Samoa and then Borneo, before being a secretary of foreign affairs at Peking, and then subsequently an assistant commissioner of foreign affairs in Canton.

“Dr. Ahlo’s 12-months sojourn in Samoa has enabled him to study the Pacific. He sees it as the meeting ground of England, Japan, and America, all striving to gain supremacy.”

“The enormous trade possibilities of this romantic region, with peoples of diverse races, numbering 800,000,000, waiting to be exploited as factors in trade and ideas, call the colonizers and traders of the Great Powers, and right through the Pacific the fight for this supremacy is going quietly on.”

“Tariffs and other things are playing their part, but the suspicions and antagonisms engendered by this competition are reflected in the naval importance given to the Pacific. It is now talked of as the scene of the next great war.”

“’The spending of millions on armaments will inevitably result in bankruptcy,’ said the doctor, and, on account of the enormous cost.”  (The Advocate, Tasmania, August 4, 1921)  The image shows Lee Fong Aholo.

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Kaʻalāwai

Along the coastal area between Lēʻahi (Diamond Head) and Kūpikipikiʻō (Black Point) several small neighborhoods are sometimes identified by the names of the main roads in the area Kaikoo, Papu Circle and Kulamanu. However, the historic name for this area of Oʻahu’s is Kaʻalāwai.

Kaʻalāwai literally means ‘the water (basalt) rock’ and is probably named for the springs on the beach and among the rocks at the east end of the beach.

It is a narrow, white-sand beach with a shallow reef offshore, which generally has poor swimming conditions. There are only a few scattered pockets of sand on the nearshore ocean bottom.  Lots go surfing outside.

At the east end of the beach near Black Point is a mansion turned museum, built by Doris Duke, the daughter of James Duke, the founder of the American Tobacco Company, and her husband, James Cromwell.  (It’s their name that is attributed to the “Cromwell’s” Cove and Beach references.)

In the late-1930s, Doris Duke built her Honolulu home, Shangri La, on five acres overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Diamond Head.  Shangri La incorporates architectural features from the Islamic world and houses Duke’s extensive collection of Islamic art, which she assembled for nearly 60 years.

Through an Exchange Deed dated December 8, 1938 between the Territorial Land Board of Hawai‘i and Ms Duke, two underwater parcels (totaling approximately 0.6-acres) were added to the Duke property.

At water’s edge below the estate, Duke then dynamited a small-boat harbor and a seventy-five-foot salt-water swimming pool into the rock.  The harbor was built to protect Duke’s fleet of yachts, including Kailani Lahilahi, an ocean-going, 58-foot motor yacht and Kimo, the 26-foot mahogany runabout that Duke sometimes used to commute into Honolulu.

Part of the deal was that the transfer gave the Territory (now State) a perpetual easement of a four-foot right-of-way for a pedestrian causeway along the coastline.  It’s a popular swimming area (ongoing media reports note the hazards here, so be careful.)

Today, Shangri La is open for guided, small group tours and educational programs. In partnership with the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art – which owns and supports Shangri La – the Honolulu Museum of Art serves as the orientation center for Shangri La tours.

Another stretch of beach here had some other interesting ownership/use issues.

In the old days, a Beach Road ran right next to the water at Kaʻalāwai. When some of the private property mauka of the road was subdivided into seven lots and conveyed in 1885, the makai boundaries of these seven lots were specified “along the road”.

However, in 1959, folks adjoining the then-abandoned road soon made claims to it – most extended their landscaping (and even put in improvements (patio, walls, etc)) out over the old beach road.

Some of the abutting owners succeeded in their title claims and subsequent legal battles, obtaining declaratory judgments in their favor and they gained title to the road remnant real estate.  Subsequently, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court ruled that the State owns the road.

The last property made application to the State to acquire the road remnant, however, after following discussions, they ended up seeking a long-term easement over the old roadway.

Oh, one more Kaʻalāwai story … following the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893, the Committee of Safety established the Provisional Government of Hawaiʻi as a temporary government until an assumed annexation by the United States.

The Provisional Government convened a constitutional convention and established the Republic of Hawaiʻi on July 4, 1894. The Republic continued to govern the Islands.

From January 6 to January 9, 1895, in a “Counter-Revolution,” patriots of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the forces that had overthrown the constitutional Hawaiian monarchy were engaged in a war that consisted of battles on the island of Oʻahu.

It has been called the Second Wilcox Rebellion of 1895 (named after Robert William Wilcox.)  In their attempt to return Queen Liliʻuokalani to the throne, it was the last major military operation by royalists who opposed the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

Wilcox’s headquarters was at Kaʻalāwai. (Daily Bulletin, January 19, 1895)  Shortly after the fighting began, losing the element of surprise and seeing no tactical importance in remaining at Diamond Head, Wilcox ordered his men to retreat to Waiʻalae.

Wilcox and his men then escaped to the Koʻolau up a trail on the precipice to the ridge separating Mānoa from Nuʻuanu. On that ridge his men dispersed into the mountain above; Wilcox and a few others crossed Nuʻuanu that night, eluding the guards.  They were later captured.

Queen Liliʻuokalani was put under arrest on the 16th, and confined in a chamber of ʻIolani Palace.  A tribunal was formed and evidence began to be taken on the 18th.  Nowlein, Wilcox, Bertelmann and TB Walker all pleaded guilty, and subsequently gave evidence for the prosecution.

Wilcox was court-martialed and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to thirty-five years.    In January, 1896, he was given a conditional pardon and became a free man; in 1898, President Dole gave him a full pardon.  (Wilcox later served as the first delegate and representative of Hawaiʻi in the US Congress.)

Convicted of having knowledge of a royalist plot, Liliʻuokalani was fined $5,000 and sentenced to five-years in prison at hard labor. The sentence was commuted to imprisonment in an upstairs bedroom of ʻIolani Palace.

She spent 8 months in this room.  After her release from ʻIolani Palace, the Queen remained under house arrest for five months at her private home, Washington Place. For another eight months she was forbidden to leave Oʻahu before all restrictions were lifted.  Liliʻuokalani died of a stroke on November 11, 1917 in Honolulu at the age of 79.

The image shows Kaʻalāwai and Black Point area prior to development.  In addition, I have added others similar images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Order of Kamehameha I


An Order or Order of Merit is a visible honor (in many cases represented in some form of medal and/or ribbon) awarded by a monarch, government or organization to an individual. Most historic orders imply a membership in a group.

Modern Orders of Merit and other Decorations can be traced back to the monarchical and honorific orders of chivalry as established in the Middle Ages. These were societies, fellowships and colleges of knights created by European monarchs in imitation of the military orders of the Crusades.

Fast forward to 1863 and Hawaiʻi; with the death of his younger brother (Alexander Liholiho – Kamehameha IV,) Prince Lot Kapuāiwa became Kamehameha V. He sought a new constitution to restore more powers to the king. In 1864, when it appeared that a new constitution could not be agreed upon, he declared that the Constitution of 1852 be replaced by one he had written himself.

Consistent with the prior constitution, Article 35 of the Constitution of 1864 (identified as Article 37 in the prior Constitution of 1852) states, “All Titles of Honor, Orders, and other distinctions, emanate from the King.”

The King’s Decree noted he was “desirous to cultivate and develop among (his) subjects the feelings of Honour and loyalty to Our Dynasty and its institutions…”

It also expressed his “wish to confer honorary distinctions upon such of Our subjects and foreigners as have rendered, or may hereafter render, to Our dynasty and People important services …”

Privy Council meeting minutes state:
“His Majesty stated that it was his intention to make Known to the Privy Council that it is his desire to institute an order of merit. Having read the 35 article of the Constitution he asked the advice of the members of the P. C. as to the propriety of creating an order, and read a Decree which he had prepared. Members Varigny, Harris and Andrews spoke in favor of the Institution and the following resolution Passed unanimously.”

“Res 2. Resolved that this Council fully concurring in the views embodied in the preamble of a decree instituting an order of merit, respectfully advises His Majesty to promulgate the proposed decree.”

The King made himself an ex officio Grand Chancellor of the Order of Kamehameha I; he also conferred the Order to a number of people, including, Mataio Kekūanāoʻa and Richard Wyllie (Grand Cross;) CG Hopkins, GM Robertson and EH Allen (Commander;) and a number of Knights.

His Decree and subsequent Statutes and meeting notes of what appears to be an organizational meeting, held March 16, 1867, note that there were initially three classes and limits on the number of (living) members in each class: Knights Grand Cross (10-members,) Knights Commanders (30-members) and Knights Companions (Knight) (50-members.) (Admittance fees were $250, $140 and $75, respectively.)

Participants in the 1867 meeting included King Kamehameha V, Mataio Kekūanāoʻa, Elisha H Allen, E Varigny, CC Harris, John O Dominus, Paul Kanoa and HP Staley.

The class and membership limitations did not include the King’s right to make appointments to foreigners (Foreign Exchanges) or as complementary to foreign sovereigns or powers.

Prior to admittance, prospective members were required to state the following oath: “I do hereby solemnly swear to remain faithfull to the principles of honor, obedient to the rules of the Order of Kamehameha I and to be a true and faithfull Knight of the said order of which I am this day a member.”

Commissions issued to members of the Order were signed by the King and countersigned by the Chancellor of the Order.

In the duration of the issuance of Order medallions under the Hawaiian monarchs (1865-1886) the Order of Kamehameha was awarded 57-times by King Kamehameha V and 82-times by King Kalākaua.

The insignia, worn on the left breast, consists of a Maltese surmounted by the Hawaiian crown. Rays of gold or silver are found between the arms of the cross. Enameled in blue and white and centered on the cross is a circular shield, the center of which is inscribed and elaborate “K”.

On the periphery of the shield, in a blue band, is the inscription “Kamehameha I”, on the badge’s reverse, around the shield is inscribed “E Hookanaka” (To be a man.)

In 1893, after the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani, the Order operated as a secret society until 1903, when under Prince Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole it returned into the public light.

“Credit for the founding of this order, which dates from May, 1903, or a little more than ten years after the close of the monarchy and a little less than five years after annexation to the United States, belongs to Dr George H Huddy, who has served the territory faithfully and well as a representative in the legislature, first from Kauaʻi and then from Hawaiʻi … Prince Jonah Kūhio Kalanianaʻole, delegate to congress, was the first aliʻi ʻaimoku, or sovereign head of the revived order.” (Star-Bulletin; June 10, 1913)

In 1905, the Order of Kamehameha brought solemnity to the holiday (Kamehameha Day) by draping a lei on the statue of Kamehameha in front of Aliʻiolani Hale and standing watch throughout the day. (Stillman)

On July 16, 1907, Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, George H Huddy, Nagaran Fernandez, Carlos A Long, James H Boyd, George E Smithies, Charles H Rose and Abraham Fernandez petitioned for a Charter for the Hawaiʻi Chapter No. 1, Order of Kamehameha.

“… the object for which the same is organized is as follows, 1. To inculcate the cardinal principles of Friendship, Charity and Benevolence; to provide for Sick and Funeral Benefits; to aid the widows and orphans; and to improve the social and moral conditions of its members.” (Hawaii Chapter No. 1, Order of Kamehameha; Petition for Charter, July 16, 1907) (An announcement in the Hawaiian Star shortly after noted similar language for the Māmalahoa Chapter. No. 2 )

In 1912, members of the Order of Kamehameha invited representatives of other fraternal and civic organizations to participate in a commemorative ceremony to honor Kamehameha I; in 1914, the planning committee opted to organize a parade to process from ‘A’ala Park to ‘Iolani Palace as a prelude to the ceremony at the Kamehameha statue. Thus, the inception of the Kamehameha Day parade. (Stillman)

“The Order of Kamehameha ought to endure as long as social order and fraternal amenities prevail in these fair Islands. This organization has changed fitful and voluntary homage to the memory of Kamehameha the Great to bounden and regular service on each anniversary of his birth. That the foremost young men of the rare are attending to this patriotic office is one of the best omens of the time.”

“It shows that their ideals are those of unity courage and progress. As they decorate the statue of Kamehameha, this day of his, with the fragrant wreaths that have long been world-known as the regalia of the warmest human hospitality, let it be believed that they dedicate themselves anew to the social and political betterment of the still potent remnant of their wondrously Interesting race.” (Star-Bulletin; June 10, 1913)

A preface to on-line application for membership in Royal Order of Kamehameha I (Moku O Kona) states, “The Order interferes neither with religion nor politics, but has for its foundation the great basic principles of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man.”

“The Order strives to teach a man the duty he owes to God, his neighbor, and himself. It inculcates the practice of virtue, and makes an extensive use of symbolism in its teachings.” (It also notes, “The Order is not a benefit society.”)

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Kauai

Poetically the island is reportedly called, “Manōkalanipō”, or “Kauai a Manō” after the ancient chief who was largely responsible for elevating Kauai’s ancient society to sophisticated heights of advancement and productivity.  (NativeKauai)

Geologically, Kauai is the oldest of the main inhabited islands in the chain. It is also the northwestern-most island, with Oʻahu separated by the Kaʻieʻie Channel, which is about 70-miles long. In centuries past, Kauai’s isolation from the other islands kept it safe from outside invasion and unwarranted conflict.

Kauai was traditionally divided into 5 moku (districts) including: Koʻolau, Haleleʻa, Nā Pali, Kona and Puna. (Common district names that are universally used across of the Hawaiian archipelago include “Koʻolau” marking the windward sides of the islands; “Kona” – the leeward sides of the islands; and “Puna” – indicating regions where springs and fresh water abound.)

The whole of the northwest coast (Napali) show the remains of extensive agricultural work and a fairly extensive population; the Mana region had clusters of house sites in the dry valleys that cut through the cliffs. Nearly all the great river valleys are thoroughly terraced and show evidence of population.

The principal location of the house sites is on the shore line, especially near the mouths of the river valleys where the taro was growing; in the mountains are some house sites and small villages.

The principal cultivated products on Kauai were taro, sweet potatoes, yams and gourds among the vegetables, and banana, breadfruit, coconut palm and paper mulberry among the trees.  (Bennett)

Malo notes that the “cultivation of kula lands is quite different from that of irrigable lands. The farmer merely cleared of weeds as much land as he thought would suffice. If he was to plant taro (upland taro), he dug holes and enriched them with a mulch of kukui leaves, ashes or dirt, after which he planted the taro.”

“In some places they simply planted without mulch or fertilizer … If a field of potatoes was desired, the soil was raised into hills, in which the stems were planted; or the stems might merely be thrust into the ground anyhow, and the hilling done after the plants were grown.”

The boundaries of the five moku on Kauai were changed in the late-1800s to reflect the present day judicial land districts, Kawaihau, Hanalei, Waimea, Kōloa and Līhuʻe.

In 1877, Hanalei and Līhuʻe shared a common boundary.  Kawaihau was set apart by King Kalākaua, who gave that name to the property lying between the Wailua River and Moloaʻa Valley.  A bill was introduced into the legislature and the eastern end of Hanalei District was cut out and Kawaihau became the fifth district on the island of Kauai.

Though comprising only 547-square miles, Kauai is large enough to have figured at all times as a major influence on Hawaiian culture. Together with Niʻihau it forms a group which is considerably isolated from the other Hawaiian islands.  (Bennett)

Fornander notes, “the ruling families of Kauai were the highest tapu chiefs in the group is evident from the avidity with which chiefs and chiefesses of the other islands sought alliance with them. They were always considered as the purest of the “blue blood” of the Hawaiian aristocracy; … But of the exploits and transactions of most of the chiefs who ruled over Kauai during this period, there is little preserved to tell.”

He further notes that during the “nine generations from Laamaikahiki (about the 14th century – he reportedly came from Tahiti,) the island of Niihau bore about the same political relation to the mōʻi (king) of Kauai as the island of Lanai did to the mōʻi of Maui – independent at times, acknowledging his suzerainty at others. … Springing from and intimately connected with the Kauai chiefs, there was a community of interests and a political adhesion which, however strained at times by internal troubles, never made default as against external foe.”

Then things changed for Kauai and the rest of the Islands.  In the dawn hours of January 18, 1778, on his third expedition, British explorer Captain James Cook on the HMS Resolution and Captain Charles Clerke of the HMS Discovery first sighted what Cook named the Sandwich Islands (that were later named the Hawaiian Islands.)  He first landed at Waimea, Kauai.

“The height of the land within, the quantity of clouds which we saw, during the whole time we staid, hanging over it, and frequently on the other parts, seems to put it beyond all doubt, that there is a sufficient supply of water; and that there are some running streams which we did not see, especially in the deep valleys, at the entrance of which the villages commonly stand.”  (James Cook Journal)

“From the wooded part to the sea, the ground is covered with an excellent sort of grass, about two feet high, which grows sometimes in tufts, and though not very thick at the place where we were, seemed capable of being converted into plentiful crops of fine hay. But not even a shrub grows naturally on this extensive space.”  (James Cook Journal)

Throughout their stay the ships were plentifully supplied with fresh provisions which were paid for mainly with iron, much of it in the form of long iron daggers made by the ships’ blacksmiths on the pattern of the wooden pāhoa used by the Hawaiians.  The natives were permitted to watch the ships’ blacksmiths at work and from their observations gained information of practical value about the working of iron. (Kuykendall)

After a month’s stay, Cook got under sail again to resume his exploration of the Northern Pacific. Shortly after leaving Hawaiʻi Island, the foremast of the Resolution broke and the ships returned to Kealakekua Bay for repairs.  On February 14, 1779, at Kealakekua Bay, Cook and some of his men were killed.

At the time of Cook’s arrival, the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokai, Lanai and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and at (4) Kauai and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

Kamakahelei was the “queen of Kauai and Niʻihau, and her husband (Kāʻeokūlani (Kāʻeo)) was a younger brother to Kahekili, while she was related to the royal family of Hawaiʻi. Thus, it will be seen, the reigning families of the several islands of the group were all related to each other, as well by marriage as by blood. So had it been for many generations. But their wars with each other were none the less vindictive because of their kinship, or attended with less of barbarity in their hours of triumph.”  (Kalākaua)

Kaumuali‘i was the only son of Kamakahelei and Kāʻeo; he was born in 1778 at Holoholokū, a royal birthing heiau specifically designated for the birth of high ranking children.  Kaumuali‘i became ruling chief of Kauai upon the death of his parents.

In 1784, Kamehameha I began a war of conquest, and, by 1795, with his superior use of modern weapons and western advisors, he subdued all other chiefdoms, with the exception of Kauai.  King Kamehameha I launched his first invasion attempt on Kauai in April of 1796, having already conquered the other Hawaiian Islands, and having fought his last major battle at Nuʻuanu on O‘ahu in 1795.

Kauai’s opposing factions (Kaumuali‘i versus Keawe) were extremely vulnerable as they had been weakened by fighting each other (Keawe died and Kaumuali‘i was, ultimately, ruler of Kauai and Ni‘ihau.)  Kamehameha’s two attempts at invading Kauai were foiled (by storm and sickness.)

The island was never conquered; in the face of the threat of a further invasion, in 1810, at Pākākā on Oʻahu, negotiations between King Kaumuali‘i and Kamehameha I took place and Kaumualiʻi yielded to Kamehameha. The agreement marked the end of war and thoughts of war across the islands.

After King Kamehameha I died in 1819, Kaumuali‘i pledged his allegiance to Liholiho, Kamehameha’s son and successor.    Kaumuali‘i settled in Honolulu and became a husband of Kaʻahumanu, widow of Kamehameha I.

Hiram Bingham was on a preaching tour of the island of Kauai in 1824, shortly before King Kaumuali‘i died.  Kaumuali‘i had been living on Oahu for three years.  Bingham spoke to him just before coming to Kauai.

Bingham writes:
“We found Kaumuali‘i seated at his desk, writing a letter of business.  We were forcible and pleasantly struck with the dignity and gravity, courteousness, freedom and affection with which he rose and gave us his hand, his hearty aloha, and friendly parting smile, so much like a cultivated Christian brother.”

When the king died, Bingham said a gloom fell over Kauai.

Kaumuali‘i was buried at Waine‘e Church (Wai‘ola Church,) on Maui (he wanted to be buried near Keōpūolani, another of Kamehameha’s wives – mother of Liholiho (Kamehameha II) and Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III.))  (King Kaumuali‘i’s granddaughter Kapiʻolani (1834–1899) married King Kalākaua.)

The image shows a map of the island of Kauai, noting moku (districts) and ahupuaʻa. I added a couple of other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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