Images of Old Hawaiʻi

  • Home
  • About
  • Categories
    • Ali’i / Chiefs / Governance
    • American Protestant Mission
    • Buildings
    • Collections
    • Economy
    • Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings
    • General
    • Hawaiian Traditions
    • Other Summaries
    • Mayflower Summaries
    • Mayflower Full Summaries
    • Military
    • Place Names
    • Prominent People
    • Schools
    • Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks
    • Voyage of the Thaddeus
  • Collections
  • Contact
  • Follow

March 2, 2016 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Insane Asylum

The first hospital service for mentally afflicted persons in America was established at the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia in the year 1752. (Kimmich)

Later, across the US, interest was growing in caring for the mentally ill; asylums are opened in East Coast US cities. Kamehameha V expanded his interest in medical facilities.

The 1863 law passed by the Hawaiian legislature states: “A building is to be erected for the reception of insane persons. This facility will furnish restraint till the person becomes of sane mind or is discharged.”

“There shall be in Honolulu, at such places as the superintendent of public works shall direct, a suitable building for the reception of all insane persons, to be styled an insane asylum … The board of health shall have the management and control of the insane asylum.” (1862, Revised Laws, 1915)

“It shall be the duty of (the) district magistrate or circuit judge to examine all persons brought before them on said warrants as to their sanity.”

It was difficult to obtain the funds for this purpose, however, and the hospital was not constructed until 1866. Its first location was at the corner of School and Lanakila Streets.

The hospital was completed in 1866, and the first six patients were transferred to the hospital from the jails at which the mentally ill had previously been kept. By 1867, there were 62 patients. (Cultural Surveys)

The annual report of 1867 mentions a total of 62 admissions, an average age of 40 years, and goes on to state that 17 of the 62 admissions were discharged as “recovered.” (Kimmich)

The patients, with the exception of those most violent, were allowed to wander about the extensive grounds, assisting in the care of the lawns and flowers, and in light manual labor of various kinds.

The Hawaiians have ample allowances of their much loved poi, likewise, there were large luau, held there once or twice during each year.

These were attended by many of the residents and visitors to Honolulu, who chose these occasions to satisfy their curiosities. The inmates of the Hospital are of all nationalities, the aggregate number, in proportion of the Islands, being small. (Ellsworth)

The Legislature increased the Maintenance Appropriation from $40,000.00 to $45,000.00 under the title “Insane Asylum And Infirmary” in response to the representations of the President of the Board relative to the necessity of a place of detention and care of those whose cases properly require observation before a charge of insanity should be lodged against them.

“Many of these cases are the result of indulgence in liquor and drugs and in short time their normal mental balance becomes restored.”

“We have already taken steps to erect a building that will shelter forty patients and so relieve the buildings at the entrance of the grounds: they can be turned into the Infirmary and accommodate some twenty patients.”

“A visit to the Insane Asylum will show many improvements. Nothing is more conducive to the bodily health and mental condition of the physically able insane than employment to a moderate degree.”

“During the past twelve months the inmates have quarried stone, made curbing and macadam, filled in ground where necessary and generally improved the Asylum grounds. They practically rebuilt one building for men, repaired several cottages, and have done general renovating and painting.”

“They have built quite a large addition to the woman’s building and are now completing a cottage of four special rooms with a separate lanai for each, that patients may be isolated where the case requires, or friends desire by special arrangement.” (Report of President of the Board of Health, 1907)

“All inmates, if physically able, are taken out of doors every day … .During the year the female employees and patients made a considerable amount of clothing for use in the institution.”

“The principal articles for food were bread, beef, fresh fish, salmon, codfish, beans, poi, rice, potatoes, cabbages, carrots, prunes, canned fruits, eggs, milk, ham, bacon, fresh vegetables, tea and coffee, and fresh milk.” (Report of Governor of Hawaii, 1921)

“No institution extant is better, more cleanly and more orderly kept, resources considered, than the Oahu Insane Asylum. The Asylum is regularly, professionally and officially inspected each two weeks by the two medical members of the Board of Health. The President of the Board visits the Insane Asylum at least once each week.” (Report of President of the Board of Health, 1907)

From 1903 to 1928, a new site was looked for, a final decision on the present location in Kāneʻohe being made in late 1928. (Kimmich)

In 1930, all 549 patients in the then-named Territorial Hospital were transferred to the new Territorial Hospital in Kāne‘ohe, O‘ahu.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook 

Follow Peter T Young on Google+ 

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn  

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

© 2016 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Hawaiian_Insane_Asylum-PP-40-7-010
Hawaiian_Insane_Asylum-PP-40-7-010
Honolulu_Harbor_to_Diamond_Head-Wall-Reg1690 (1893)-noting Insane Asylum
Honolulu_Harbor_to_Diamond_Head-Wall-Reg1690 (1893)-noting Insane Asylum
Kapalama_Insane_Asylum-1880s
Kapalama_Insane_Asylum-1880s
Hawaiian_Insane_Asylum-PP-40-7-030
Hawaiian_Insane_Asylum-PP-40-7-030
Insane Asylum - 1893 map over Google Earth-zoom
Insane Asylum – 1893 map over Google Earth-zoom
Hawaiian_Insane_Asylum
Hawaiian_Insane_Asylum
Insane Asylum - 1893 map over Google Earth
Insane Asylum – 1893 map over Google Earth

Filed Under: General, Buildings, Economy Tagged With: Hawaii, Oahu, Insane Asylum, Territorial Hospital

March 1, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Fire Department

Formal fire prevention and firefighting date back to Roman times. During the middle ages many towns and cities simply burned down because of ineffective firefighting arrangements and because of the building materials used at the time, mainly wood.

Following some spectacular losses, some parishes organized basic firefighting, but no regulations or standards were in force. The Great Fire of London, in 1666, changed things and helped to standardize urban firefighting. (Fireservice UK)

Following a public outcry during the aftermath of that, probably the most famous fire ever, a property developer named Nicholas Barbon introduced the first kind of insurance against fire.

Soon after the formation of this insurance company, and in a bid to help reduce the cost and number of claims, he formed his own Fire Brigade. Other similar companies soon followed his lead and this was how property was protected until the early 1800s.

Policy holders were given a badge, or fire mark, to affix to their building. If a fire started, the Fire Brigade was called. They looked for the fire mark and, provided it was the right one, the fire would be dealt with. (Not the right mark; folks let it burn.)

Many of these insurance companies were to merge, including those of London, which merged in 1833 to form The London Fire Engine Establishment. (Fireservice UK)

No organized fire protection system existed in Honolulu until November 6, 1850, when the city’s first volunteer fire brigade was formed.

WC Parke formed Honolulu’s first Volunteer Fire Brigade (the same day a fire broke out and eleven homes were destroyed.) Reportedly, King Kamehameha III took an immense interest in the department. When the alarm went off, the reigning monarch shed his coat, rolled up his sleeves and helped right alongside the other volunteers.

The Privy Council authorized the procurement of “sixty buckets, painted and marked ‘FB Engine No. 1.’ and place the same at the disposal of the Foreman of Fire Engine to No.1, until the organization of the Fire department …”

“… when they shall go into the custody of the officer to be designated to have charge of the Fire Apparatus of Honolulu, and that the Minister of Finance pay the cost of the same out of the public Exchequer.” (Privy Council Minutes, December 9, 1850)

Shortly thereafter, “the Minister of the Interior (is) hereby required to confer with the forman of the First fire Company of Honolulu as to the necessary building required for the protection of the fire apparatus of the Government and for the meetings of the fire Company …”

“… should it be found necessary that a new building be erected for the purpose aforesaid, that the Minister of the Interior is hereby instructed to cause the same to be erect a suitable lot, at cost not exceeding $1000, and in case a lot is not now owned by the Government, to purchase or lease such an one as may be required.” (Privy Council Minutes, December 27, 1850)

Thus, on December 27, 1850, Kamehameha III established the Honolulu Volunteer Fire Department, and the 1851 legislature enacted the ordinance into law.

In August 1851, a second-hand fire engine was purchased through public subscription and became the property of Engine Company No. 1. Within ten years, the city had four engine companies, including No. 4, which was composed exclusively of Hawaiians.

Kings Kamehameha III, Kamehameha IV, Kamehameha V and Kalakaua were all active members of Company No. 4, with Kamehameha V, as Prince Lot, playing an instrumental role in its foundation and Kalakaua served as the company’s secretary.

Thus, the Honolulu Fire Department is perhaps the only fire department in the world to have the distinction of including monarchs as active members. In 1878, Engine Company No. 5, a Chinese company, was formed.

The volunteer fire companies, each with their fifty plus membership, were active and influential factors in various municipal activities, including politics. One of the first acts of the Provisional government was the disbanding of the volunteer fire companies and the creation of a full-time paid fire department.

The Fire Department was to “consist of a Board of Commissioners, consisting of three members, who shall be appointed by the Minister of the Interior with the consent of the Executive Council, and who shall serve without pay ; a Chief Engineer, who shall be appointed by the Board of Commissioners.”

“There shall be three or more fire companies under pay, in the discretion of the Board of Commissioners, and such other volunteer companies as the Commissioners shall deem fit. The general care and supervision of the department shall be under the direction of the Board of Commissioners, who shall also have power to issue such general rules and regulations for the government of the department as they shall deem necessary.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 28, 1893)

Each volunteer company had its own fire house and held regular meetings. The most substantial of the early firehouses was Engine Company No. 5’s brick station on Maunakea Street. Erected in 1886, it replaced a frame building destroyed in the first Chinatown fire. Subsequently, the brick station was consumed in the Chinatown fire of 1900.

Due to the expansion of the city and the need for more adequate quarters, as the volunteer stations were not designed to stable horses or serve as dormitories for the men on twenty- four hour duty, new stations replaced the earlier ones.

In 1897, the original Central Fire Station was erected on Beretania and Fort Streets, consolidating Engine Companies 1 and 2, and in 1899, a frame station was constructed on “the plains of Makiki” for Engine Company No. 3.

In 1901, the Palama Station was built to replace the Maunakea Street Station. With the development of Kaimuki as a suburb, a frame station was built there in 1913. (NPS) (Lots of information here from NPS ands Nucciarone.)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook 

Follow Peter T Young on Google+ 

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn  

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

© 2016 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Fire Department-PP-21-2-023-00001
Fire Department-PP-21-2-023-00001
Fire Department-PP-21-2-010-00001
Fire Department-PP-21-2-010-00001
Fire Department-PP-21-3-014-00001
Fire Department-PP-21-3-014-00001
Fire Department-PP-21-3-013-00001
Fire Department-PP-21-3-013-00001
Fire Department-PP-21-3-012-00001
Fire Department-PP-21-3-012-00001
Fire Department-PP-21-3-008-00001
Fire Department-PP-21-3-008-00001
Fire Department-PP-21-2-004-00001
Fire Department-PP-21-2-004-00001
Fire Department-PP-21-2-001-00001
Fire Department-PP-21-2-001-00001
Chinatown Fire-PP-21-4-012-00001-1886
Chinatown Fire-PP-21-4-012-00001-1886
Fire Department-PP-21-3-039-00001
Fire Department-PP-21-3-039-00001
Chinatown Fire-PP-21-4-010-00001-1886
Chinatown Fire-PP-21-4-010-00001-1886
Cartwright-PP-21-2-019-00001
Cartwright-PP-21-2-019-00001
Fire tower and Engine House No. 2-PPWD-8-8-011
Fire tower and Engine House No. 2-PPWD-8-8-011

Filed Under: Buildings, Economy, General Tagged With: Hawaii, Honolulu Fire Department

February 29, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pele’s Hair

“In the afternoon, Messrs. Thurston and Bishop walked out in a NW direction, till they reached the point that forms the northern boundary or the bay, on the eastern side of which Kairua (Kailua) is situated. It runs three or four miles into the sea; is composed entirely of lava …”

“… and was formed by an eruption from one of the large craters on the top of Mouna Huararai, (Hualālai,) which, about twenty-three years ago, inundated several villages, destroyed a number of plantations and extensive fish-ponds, filled up a deep bay twenty miles in length, and formed the present coast.”

“An Englishman, who has resided thirty-eight years in the islands, and who witnessed the above eruption, has frequently, told us he was astonished at the irresistible impetuosity of the torrent. Stone walls, trees, and houses, all gave way before it ….”

“Numerous offerings were presented, and many hogs, thrown alive into the stream, to appease the anger of the gods, by whom they supposed it was directed, and to stay its devastating course. All seemed unavailing, until one day the king Tamehameha (Kamehameha) … as the most valuable offering he could make, cut off part of his own hair, which was always considered sacred, and threw it into the torrent.”

“A day or two after, the lava ceased to flow. The gods, it was thought, were satisfied; and the king acquired no small degree of influence over the minds of the people, who, from this circumstance, attributed their escape from threatened destruction to his supposed interest with the deities of the volcanoes.” (Ellis, 1823)

Others did the same in offering hair to Pele. “This volcano, which has the name of Peli (Pele) from the goddess supposed to inhabit it, is also called by the natives, Kairauea Nui (Kilauea,) or the greater, and the extinguished crater, Kairauea in, or the little …”

“Night increased the magnificence, perhaps the horror, of the scene. The volcano caused … ‘a terrible light in the air.’ The roar occasioned by the escape of the pent up elements, and the fearful character of the surrounding scenery, suited with that light; and all impressed us with the sense of the present Deity …”

“No wonder, then, that the uninstructed natives had long worshipped, in this place, the mysterious powers of nature. Here it was that they supposed the gods of the Island had their favourite abodes, and that, from this centre of their power, they often shook the land, when it pleased them to pass under ground to visit the sea, and take delight in open places.”

“The first pair who arrived at the Island, with the animals and fruits necessary for their subsistence, met the fire gods, say they, on their first landing, and propitiated them by offerings of part of their provisions. …

“Hence no ohelo berry was eaten on Peli, till some had been offered to the goddess of the same name: the sandal-wood was not cut, nor the fern roots dug, without propitiating her by locks of hair, and often more precious things.”

“Frequently the hog and the dog were sacrificed to procure her favour; and never was the ground disturbed or any thing carried away from Kairauea.” (Byron, 1825)

But these offerings of hair to Pele are not the focus of this summary; this is about Pele’s Hair – a volcanic phenomenon that internationally carries the name of ‘Pele.’

Missionary Titus Coan describes Pele’s Hair: “All at once the scene changes, the central portion begins to swell and rise into a grayish dome, until it bursts like a gigantic bubble, and out rushes a sea of crimson fusion …”

“… which pours down to the surrounding wall with an awful seething and roaring, striking this mural barrier with fury, and with such force that its sanguinary jets are thrown back like a repulsed charge upon a battle-field, or tossed into the air fifty to a hundred feet high, to fall upon the upper rim of the pit in a hail-storm of fire.”

“This makes the filamentous vitrifaction called ‘Pele’s hair.’”

“The sudden sundering of the fusion into thousands of particles, by the force that thus ejects the igneous masses upward, and their separation when in this fused state, spins out vitreous threads like spun glass.”

“These threads are light, and when taken up by brisk winds, are often kept floating and gyrating in the atmosphere, until they come into a calmer stratum of air …”

“… when they fall over the surrounding regions, sometimes in masses in quiet and sheltered places. They are sometimes carried a hundred miles, as is proved by their dropping on ships at sea.”

“This ‘hair’ takes the color of the lava of which it is formed. Some of it is a dark gray, some auburn, or it may be yellow, or red, or of a brick color.” (Titus Coan)

Scientists say Pele’s hair is “volcanic glass that has been stretched into thin strands by the physical pulling apart of molten material during eruptions. Most commonly it forms during fire fountain activity.” (Batiza)

Thin strands of volcanic glass drawn out from molten lava have long been called Pele’s hair, named for Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes.

A single strand, with a diameter of less than 0.5 mm, may be as long as 2 m. The strands are formed by the stretching or blowing-out of molten basaltic glass from lava, usually from lava fountains, lava cascades, and vigorous lava flows (for example, as pāhoehoe lava plunges over a small cliff and at the front of an ‘a‘a flow.)

Pele’s hair is often carried high into the air during fountaining, and wind can blow the glass threads several tens of kilometers from a vent. (USGS)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook 

Follow Peter T Young on Google+ 

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn  

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

© 2016 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Peles_Hair_USGS
Peles_Hair_USGS
Peles_Hair-ohiostate
Peles_Hair-ohiostate
Peles_Hair-huffington
Peles_Hair-huffington
Pele's Hair, auch Pele-Haar, feinste vulkanische Glasfasern aus der aktuellen Kilauea Eruption, Volcanoes National Park, Big Island of Hawaii, USA
Pele’s Hair, auch Pele-Haar, feinste vulkanische Glasfasern aus der aktuellen Kilauea Eruption, Volcanoes National Park, Big Island of Hawaii, USA
Peles_hair_on_Devastation_trail-WC
Peles_hair_on_Devastation_trail-WC
Peles Hair_on_antenna-WC
Peles Hair_on_antenna-WC

Filed Under: General, Hawaiian Traditions Tagged With: Hawaii, Volcano, Pele, Pele's Hair

February 26, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawaiian Colonization

“The question of colonization in the Hawaiian Islands has, during the last few months, virtually absorbed all smaller issues touching our material welfare, and at present is justly made the leading topic of public thought and newspaper discussion.”

“While colonization has long been talked of, it has never before been put into practical working shape by practical responsible men, in whom the people at home have entire confidence.”

“The status and practicability of the present scheme, backed as it is by our largest capitalists and business men generally, will be a guarantee of the good faith of the promoters and the practical utility of the scheme, which will attract and retain the support of both home and foreign capital.”

“The present colonization scheme is too large an investment to be entirely handled by home capital. It is not only too large for our present population, but it is large enough to satisfy the standard idea of both American and English capitalists.” (Daily Press, December 16, 1885)

Let’s look back …

On August 5, 1885, Honolulu businessman James Campbell offered Benjamin F Dillingham a one-year option to purchase his Kahuku and Honouliuli ranches on Oahu, ‘including no fewer than nine thousand cattle for the sum of $600,000.’

Shortly afterward, Dillingham issued a ‘preliminary prospectus’ for what was to be called the Hawaiian Colonization Land and Trust Company.

The prospectus proposed the formation of a joint stock company to buy and then divide the properties. The lands totaled 63,500-acres in fee, and 52,000-acres of leased land; and 15,000 head of cattle and 260 head of horses. (Forbes)

Dillingham was the chief promoter; others involved were James Campbell (owner of Honouliuli and Kahuku estates;) John Paty of Bishop Bank (primary owners of Kawailoa and Waimea estates; and M Dickson and JG Spencer (part owners of Kawailoa and Waimea ranches.) Those properties made up the bulk of the land in the offering. (Forbes)

“The ‘Preliminary Prospectus of the Hawaiian Colonization Company’ has already attracted a good deal of notice and has been widely, but by no means exhaustively discussed in the columns of every paper in Honolulu.” (Hawaiian Gazette, December 15, 1885)

“The inducements which are offered to settlers under the present scheme that be briefly summed up as follows : There will be a sure market for all products raked ; there are 17,000 acres of fine sugar land in the Honouliuli ranch alone, which includes the 10,000 acres set aside for colonization purposes.”

“Seven thousand acres of this tract forms an alluvial plain lying along the seashore; abundant water can be obtained, by sinking artesian wells, as has already been practically illustrated, the 7,000 acres, one half of which nowhere lies more than 35 feet above the sea level …”

“… cheap and practical dams, as have already been constructed on the Kawailoa ranch, can be thrown across the gulches of the foothills of the Waianae mountains, which will drain immense watersheds into perpetual reservoirs, and will do away with the possibility of droughts …”

“… the land will be offered to responsible cultivators in lots of from 5 to 500 acres, for sugar cane cultivation ; it is proposed that the cane shall be raised upon shares, as set forth in the Colonization Company’s circulars ; the cane land will yield an average of from five to seven tons to the acre.”

“The Company proposes to furnish the land and give small cultivators five-eighths of the profit, which, at a low estimate for five-acre lots of cane land, will net the cultivator $1,500 per year, after all deductions are made and expenses paid. This amount is the practical result of the figures given by practical sugar men.” (Daily Press, December 16, 1885)

“The company proposes to build the mills, furnish the water supply and build tramways for transporting the cane and sugar. For this work the Company will lay out at least $300,000.”

“This will put the scheme in working order and will give the cultivator immediate returns upon his labor without the outlay of capital. It is a scheme for the development of Hawaii and the up-building of the labor interests.”

“The scheme, however, is not confined to sugar raising, and those colonists who prefer can take up land for stock raising in lots of 200 to 1,000 acres, or even more. The land could be either bought or leased.” (Daily Press, December 16, 1885)

“‘The Hawaiian Colonization, Land and Trust Company,’ and a preliminary prospectus issued, which has been given enormous circulation through the newspapers, the Planters’ Monthly, and detached pamphlets by the thousand.”

“These efforts to present the scheme to the public at home and abroad have already yielded good promise of ultimate success. Letters of enquiry have crossed continents and oceans to reach the promoters.”

“Friends and agents of the kingdom in foreign lands arc encouraging the project, and looking about them for capital to start it, and for settlers to occupy the available territory and build up the nation.”

“Applications in large number have already been received for apportionments of land. That all these gratifying results should have been obtained within so short a period speaks well for the intelligent devotion of the gentlemen who have assumed the undertaking”. (Daily Bulletin, January 2, 1886)

While, initially, things went well, eventually the project ‘fell flat.’ (Forbes) While Dillingham couldn’t raise the money to buy the Campbell property, he eventually leased the land for 50-years. Dillingham realized that to be successful, he needed reliable transportation.

Dillingham formed O‘ahu Railway and Land Company (OR&L,) a narrow gauge rail, whose economic being was founded on the belief that O‘ahu would soon host a major sugar industry.

Ultimately OR&L sublet land, partnered on several sugar operations and/or hauled cane from Ewa Plantation Company, Honolulu Sugar Company in ‘Aiea, O‘ahu Sugar in Waipahu, Waianae Sugar Company, Waialua Agriculture Company and Kahuku Plantation Company, as well as pineapples for Dole.

1902_Land_Office_Map_of_the_Island_of_Oahu,_Hawaii_(_Honolulu_)_-_Geographicus_-1902-portion
1902_Land_Office_Map_of_the_Island_of_Oahu,_Hawaii_(_Honolulu_)_-_Geographicus_-1902-portion

Filed Under: Economy, General, Prominent People Tagged With: Oahu Sugar, the Hawaiian Colonization Land and Trust Company, Benjamin Franklin Dillingham, Hawaii, Honouliuli, James Campbell, Oahu Railway and Land Company, Honolulu Sugar Company, Ewa Plantation, Waialua Agricultural Co

February 24, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lydia Panioikawai Hunt French

“’We are fortunate; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ These were her last words. She did not say anything until the day she left, then she said clearly: Aloha, three times, and her body’s work was done.” (Kuokoa, March 6, 1880)

Let’s look back …

Lydia Panioikawai Hunt French (Panio) was born in Waikele, Ewa, on the 15th of July, 1817. She married her husband, Mr. William French (Mika Palani) in 1836 at Kailua, Hawai‘i. Governor Kuakini was the one who married them.

William French arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1819 and settled in Honolulu. He became a leading trader, providing hides and tallow, and provisioning the whaling ships that called in Honolulu. Financial success during the next decade made French known as “the merchant prince.”

It “was with this husband who she lived in aloha with until death separated them. The two of them had three children—a daughter that is still living, and a mother that is admired along with her husband and four children—and twin sons, one who has died, and one who is living in China.” (Kuokoa, March 6, 1880)

French had property on the Island of Hawaiʻi, with a main headquarters there at Kawaihae, shipping cattle, hides and tallow to Honolulu; he hired John Palmer Parker (later founder of Parker Ranch) as his bookkeeper, cattle hunter and in other capacities. (Wellmon)

When French made claims before the Land Commission regarding one of the properties (identified as “slaughter-house premises” that he bought from Governor Kuakini in 1838,) testimony supporting his claim noted it was “a place for a beautiful house which Mr French would not sell for money. … It was enclosed by a stone wall. There were two natives occupying houses on his land.” (Land Commission Testimony)

The 2.8-acre property is in an area of Waimea known as Pu‘uloa; French built a couple houses on it, the property was bounded by Waikoloa Stream and became Parker’s home while he worked for French. (In addition, in 1840, this is where French built his original home in Waimea. (Bergin))

At Pu‘uloa, Parker ran one of French’s stores, which was nothing more than a thatched hut. Although this store was less grandiose than the other one at Kawaihae, it became the center of the cattle business on the Waimea plain.

French, like other merchants in the Islands at the time, grew concerned about decisions and laws that started to be made that affected their ability to trade. These changes also affected French citizens, especially the French Catholics.

On July 21, 1838, the French minister of the navy dispatched orders to Captain Cyrille-Pierre-Theodore Laplace, who at the time was already en route to the Pacific on a voyage of circumnavigation. Laplace received these orders, along with supporting documents, at Port Jackson, Australia, in March 1839.

The plight of French Catholics in Hawai‘i being distressingly similar to that of French Catholics in Tahiti, these orders read: “… What the English Methodists are doing in Tahiti, American Calvinist missionaries are doing in the Sandwich Islands.”

“They have incited the king of these islands, or rather those who govern in his name, to actions that apply to all foreigners of the Catholic faith – all designated, intentionally, as ‘Frenchmen.’”

“They found themselves prohibited from practicing their religion, then ignominiously banished from the Island … You will exact, if necessary with all the force that you command, complete reparation for the wrongs that they have committed and you will not leave those shores until you have left an indelible impression.”

In addition to the religious persecution, “Our wines, brandies, fabrics, and luxury goods find ready purchasers in Honolulu as well as in Russian, British, and Mexican settlements; but these articles are imported by American merchants (or replaced by substitutes of American manufacture).”

“French wines and brandies are subject to excessively high duties, on the grounds that bringing them into the Sandwich Islands would be harmful to the morals of the native population. American rum, on the other hand, is brought in—whether legally or illegally, I do not know—and consumed in prodigious quantities.” (Laplace; Birkett)

Captain Laplace and his fifty-two-gun frigate L’Artemise arrived in the Hawai‘i in July 1839. Laplace was the first Frenchman to visit the Islands with specific instructions from Paris to enter into official diplomatic relations with the Hawaiian government.

“It was my task to end this prohibition so detrimental to our commercial interests. I succeeded in doing so through a convention with the king of the Islands where he agreed that in the future French wines and brandies would be subject to no more than a 6 percent ad valorem duty when imported under the French flag.”

“The American missionaries raged and fumed at me, claiming that I was anti-Christian. They brought down on me all the curses of New and Old World Bible societies, to whom they depicted me as championing drunkenness among their converts …”

“… as if the way in which they were running things allowed these poor people to earn enough to buy Champagne, Bordeaux, or even Cognac brandy. Despite these diatribes, as unjust as they were treacherous, I carried my project to completion.” (Laplace; Birkett)

Here’s a portrayal of Panio by Danielle Zalopany during a presentation at Mission Houses– she gives some background on the family, as well as the ‘Laplace Affair.’

William French died at Kawaihae on November 25, 1851. “Many who have made their fortunes in these Islands have owed their rise in the world to the patronage of Mr French.” (Polynesian, December 6, 1851)

“On the 24th of February past (1880,) Panio left this life, at the home of her daughter in Ka‘akopua, after being in pain for several weeks. In her sickness, her great patience was made clear, along with her unwavering faith in the goodness of the Lord, her Redeemer, and her Savior; and she was there until the victorious hour upon her body.” (Kuokoa, March 6, 1880)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook 

Follow Peter T Young on Google+ 

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn  

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

© 2016 Hoʻokuleana LLC

L'Artemise,_Arthus_Bertrand
L’Artemise,_Arthus_Bertrand

Filed Under: General, Prominent People, Economy Tagged With: Lydia Panioikawai Hunt French, Hawaii, Parker Ranch, Kawaihae, William French, John Parker, Catholicism

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 247
  • 248
  • 249
  • 250
  • 251
  • …
  • 273
  • Next Page »

Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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

Info@Hookuleana.com

Connect with Us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

  • Hawaiians Study Abroad
  • Kaʻawaloa
  • The Reef
  • It was a dark and stormy night …
  • Joseph Paul Mendonça
  • Near Abdication
  • Karsten Thot

Categories

  • Buildings
  • Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings
  • Hawaiian Traditions
  • Military
  • Place Names
  • Prominent People
  • Schools
  • Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks
  • Economy
  • Voyage of the Thaddeus
  • Mayflower Summaries
  • American Revolution
  • General
  • Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance

Tags

Albatross Al Capone Ane Keohokalole Archibald Campbell Bernice Pauahi Bishop Charles Reed Bishop Downtown Honolulu Eruption Founder's Day George Patton Great Wall of Kuakini Green Sea Turtle Hawaii Hawaii Island Hermes Hilo Holoikauaua Honolulu Isaac Davis James Robinson Kamae Kamaeokalani Kamanawa Kameeiamoku Kamehameha Schools Lalani Village Lava Flow Lelia Byrd Liliuokalani Mao Math Mauna Loa Midway Monk Seal Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Oahu Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument Pearl Pualani Mossman Queen Liliuokalani Thomas Jaggar Volcano Waikiki Wake Wisdom

Hoʻokuleana LLC

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

Info@Hookuleana.com

Copyright © 2012-2024 Peter T Young, Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

Loading Comments...