Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Newton Kulani Purdy

“The ‘Polynesian Registry’ is a kind of who’s who and where of Hawaiians in New York”. (Lois Taylor, SB, Jan 9, 1963)

“In 1958 [Newton Kulani Purdy] founded the Polynesian Registry to help locals and expats keep up with each other, and has watched it grow from 50 names to more than 1,000, and his newsletter, which started out at two pages, is now more than 30.” (Donnelly, SB Dec 13, 2002)

“Newton Kulani Purdy was born Oct. 15, 1928, in Kalaupapa, Molokai. His father, Robert Waipa Purdy, was a leprosy patient who lived in Kalaupapa with Kulani’s mother, Marcy Kepalai Kinney. Kulani’s mother did not have leprosy but had volunteered to accompany his father to Kalaupapa to care for him as a family helper.”

“State law at the time required the separation of all children at birth from their parents. Most of the children grew up with other relatives or were taken to an orphanage. Immediately after Kulani was born, he was taken from his parents and was raised outside the Kalaupapa settlement by an aunt.”

“Though Kulani was born in Kalaupapa, his birth certificate listed his place of birth as Honolulu. This was a common practice by the Health Department for birth certificates of the children born in Kalaupapa.  At the time it was done to spare children born at Kalaupapa the stigma of having a parent or parents with leprosy.” (Machado)

“Kulani attended Roosevelt High School but left before graduating to join the Army. He was in the Army for seven years, serving as an infantry soldier, military police officer and Army Signal Corps. At one point during his service in the Army, he served under Gen. “Ike” Eisenhower.”

“His final Army assignment was in New York City, where he was honorably discharged. He decided to stay in New York and ended up living there for more than 50 years.” (Machado)

“The Registry took five years to prepare and was originally the brain child of Honolulu born Kulani Purdy, 31, who combined his job as a cutter in New York’s garment district with his love – being with other Hawaiians and collecting lore about the Islands.”

“Kulani accidentally bumped into a cousin, Everett R Kinney, one night in New York and discovered that Everett was living nearby on Long Island.  The encounter so impressed Purdy, that he deserted his collection of more than 200 books about Hawaii and set out to compile the Registry.”

“He enlisted a number of other Island ‘exiles’ in the endeavor, principally Cousin Everett and Ed Kenney, now one of the principals in Broadway’s ‘Flower Drum Song.’ … they want no profit and plan to plough any extra receipts back into enlarging the Registry”.  (Adv, Dec 26, 1959)

“How often have you stood alone in the midst of a strange city and speculated about the people milling about you? And as you walked aimlessly along the streets, you suddenly bumped into a familiar face and miraculously, the city no longer seemed cold and unfriendly.  Or, have you idly sat alone with your thoughts, wondering if per chance your unknown neighbors could be Islanders?”

“We believe that Islanders away from home sooner or later begin a quest for people and things that serve to make them feel a little more in Hawaii-foods, Island talk, an exchange of memories. Our cultural heritage is unique and we somehow like to be able to express it wherever we may be.”

“Who can be listed in this book? Anyone who comes from Polynesia. Island Friends throughout the world or anyone in the business world who deals with things typical of Island culture and interest.”

“Those who want their names to appear in the Registry need only notify the Registry of this intention, for there is no fee attached to this privilege.” (Polynesian Registry Inro by Edward Mana Keeney, SB Feb 2, 1960 )

“Intended basically to permit homesick Islanders to locate each other, the 44-page volume contains the names and ‘off-island’ addresses of 800 individuals and a listing of scores Polynesian clubs, restaurants, gift shops and service establishments.  (SB, Dec 26, 1959)

Purdy’s newsletter, “The Polynesian Registry, kept Hawaiians who were living in the Big Apple in touch with one another. Hawaiians performing in the Hawaiian Room of the Lexington Hotel belonged to Kulani’s network. “

“They included: Mahi Beamer, Ray Kinney, Manu Kanemura Bentley, Mona Joy, Leilani Kaleikini, Betty Makia, Momi Kai Gustafson, Lei Becker, Joyce Ontai, Io Cabanos, Tutasi Wilson and Te Moana Makolo.”

“His newsletter also reached Hawaiians in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. ‘He also was an integral part of organizing Hawaiian luau in Central Park every May Day, and later held on June 1 as it was too cold in May,’ Hale Kaohu Rowland said.”

“‘The luaus are still being held. Kulani would have us gather at Nainoa and Pat Brett’s little restaurant called The Poi Bowl on 71st Street. Later on, we all met at Janu Cassidy’s shop called Radio Hula, in Soho, and also at The Symphony Cafe, a restaurant on 56th and 8th that my husband, Manny, and I had part-ownership,’ Hale said.” (Ben Wood)

“Kulani was a confirmed bachelor, and his ‘ohana consisted of all the ‘local’ expats in and around the New York area, extending into New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.”

“He was known as the glue that held everyone together and was the first to reach out to homesick Hawaiians in Manhattan. Everyone knew him for his kindness and generosity.” (Machado)

Purdy left New York in 2006 to return home to Molokai; he died February 11, 2012 at the in Leahi Hospital at the age of 83.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waiakea

Every morning and evening
When upward turn we our eyes
High above stands Mauna Kea and
In the distance, the wide Pacific Ocean
Scenery so beautiful, inspiring, and tranquil,
Certainly is the pride of Yashiljima.

Aa the waves of the East and West
Beat upon the shore of our crescent bay,
The moonlight streams through the
shimmering leaves of the Yashi no ki.
This enlightening purity, we are
reminded to etch upon our hearts to keep.

Increasingly learn, let us all of us together,
For Americans of Japanese ancestry by birth we be,
And, as such, fulfill we must a calling of great significance.
Go forth then, and bring good name to
our Yashijima Nihongo Gakkoo.

(English translation of the Waiakea Japanese School alma mater)
(The message was: Learn to take the good of Japan and the good of America and serve your country well.)

“The Waiakea peninsula … was a compact community separated from Hilo by the Wailoa River.” (HTH Mar 7, 1994) “Waiakea town was the original. Everybody was living Waiakea town. From Kamehameha Avenue all the way to Coconut Island. So they used to call [Waiakea] ‘Yashijima.’ ‘Yashi’ is coconut, and ‘jima’ is [island].” (Hayato Okino)

“Many immigrants from Japan settled in Waiakea, making it a thriving community, nearly as popular as downtown Hilo.” (HTH, Feb 24, 1980) “A compact, cohesive and tightly knit community, Waiakea was predominantly Japanese but included other ethnic groups. The men worked primarily as fishermen and stevedores.” (HTH. Mar 31, 1999)

“Life was tough. Families were large and many lived frugally with little to spare. The Waiakea Social Settlement was the only organized social facility for the deprived children.” (HTH. Mar 31, 1999)

“A majority of the men who first settled there were fishermen from Oshima-gun, Yamaguchi-ken. As a result, a thriving fishing industry was started along Wailoa River.” (HTH, May 23, 1986) “And then … they started to move over to the Shinmachi area.” (Hayato Okino)

Between 1913 and 1946, the present green space between Hilo Iron Works towards the old Hilo town was Shinmachi (‘New Town’), a thriving neighborhood of small business owners who established many of Hawai‘i Island mainstays.

These include Hawaii Planing Mill, Atebara Potato Chips, S. Tokunaga Sports, Hilo Transportation, and Hilo Macaroni Factory (makers of the Saloon Pilot Cracker). (Lyman Museum)

“Waiakea was roughly bounded by Lihiwai Street, what is now Banyan Drive and Lanikaula Street. It also encompassed Waiakea Houselots with Manono as the main street and Mililani, Hinano and Laupaku as the side streets.” (HTH Mar 7, 1994)

“Waiakea Social Settlement was ‘Founded January 1, 1903, by the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, as the enlargement of a Sunday-school work already begun ‘to be a home-place for the community …’”

“‘… where all are welcome to partake of rest, social pleasure, mental food and spiritual nourishment; to help the children especially to be happy as well as good.’ Maintained by the Hawaiian Board of Missions and by subscriptions.”

“Maintains daily dispensary; Sunday school; ‘friendly talks’ on Sunday evenings; sewing school; music and culture classes; girls’ weaving class; women’s class (industrial and devotional); prayer meeting; reading room; socials; drills; visits; collecting savings; annual concert.” (Handbook of Settlements, 1911)

“The finishing touches are being put on the two new buildings of the Waiakea Social Settlement located on the corner of Kamehameha Ave. and Kilohana Street. These larger facilities will make possible an expansion of the services to the whole of the neighborhood. ‘It’s the place of the people,’ said a scout, referring to the Settlement.”

“The new facilities are making possible activities which heretofore were closed to them. A complete stage with make-up rooms will permit all sorts of performance for story acting to big time plays not to mention community meetings of all kinds.”

“The standard size gymnasium and showers will offer athletic facilities for boys’ and girls’ groups with a variety of sports from basketball to shuffleboard and games.”

“The new clinic and meeting rooms will make possible the improved services of cooperating agencies of the Board of Health, religious education, the University Extension Bureau, Baby Conference, Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts and Hilo Recreation Committee.” (HTH, Feb 1, 1939)

“Yashijima Nihongo-Gakkoo [Waiakea Japanese School] had its beginnings in 1904 in a Christian Mission in Waiakea Town, the Waiakea Social Settlement of later years.” (HTH, July 27, 1980)

The lyrics as the beginning of this summary are the alma mater for the Waiakea Japanese School. “The song had been very dear to the students. It had etched into their hearts and minds the destiny and the responsibilities of the Americans of Japanese Ancestry.”

“Singing it not only brought back fond as well as humorous memories of learning the Japanese language but also of the many activities which helped to mold their lives in preparation for the future.” (HTH, July 27, 1980)

The Waiakea Social Settlement which stood in the area just behind where the clock stands today was the hub of activities for the children of Waiakea. (Historical Marker Database)

“The village had two theaters, restaurants, general merchandise stores, grocery stores, meat markets, drug stores, coffee shop, barbershops, billiard parlor, poi factory, kamaboko factories, a transportation company, railroad depot and terminal with a tum-table in the middle of the Wailoa River …”

“… fish markets, sampans, garages, and Waiakea Kai School on Kilohana Street facing the Japanese school located on Kainehe Street. There was also Coconut Island and the landscaped park now called Liliuokalani Park, dry docks for sampans, and homes.” (HTH, July 27, 1980)

“Waiakea Social Settlement is a social work agency. By that definition its responsibility is to help people adjust to where they are or to be efficient as citizens. It is a group agency and thus helps people by the use of groups rather than as individuals As people came through the doors, there were achievements and failures.” (HTH, Apr 23, 1949)

Waiakea Social Settlement “Was a good place for a number of children that couldn’t make the – that the Boy Scouts couldn’t take in. They’ve become much broader lately.”

“You had to be a good boy to get into the Boy Scouts and there were too many youngsters that weren’t interested in being good boys – you know, parents were at fault – but the Waiakea Settlement would try to work with them.”

“I thought it was a splendid thing. Or anything like that, you know. I wish there had been something that could have taken in more girls than the YW did. You know, girls down at Keaukaha [Hawaiian homestead area in Hilo, Hawaii] and along in there that needed that kind of help. I think they’re getting more help now.” (Lorna Hooleia Jarrett Desha)

In 1958, the Waiakea Social Settlement board of trustees approved the settlement consolidation with the Hawaii County YMCA. The two agencies had been working together on a cooperative program for two years. (HTH, Oct 2, 1958)

Waiakea Social Settlement’s Clock was dedicated in 1939, in memory of Mrs CS Richardson; it adjoined the Settlement building. The clock was significantly damaged in the 1960 tsunami. It was refurbished and re-erected on this original concrete stand by the Waiakea Pirates Athletic Club in May, 1984.

The clock is significant to the people that grew up in the community. The time is stopped at 1:04 am when the clock itself was destroyed by the 3rd and largest wave. (Tsunami Museum) Today it serves as a symbol of the strength, courage. and resilience of the residents of Waiakea. (Historical Marker Database)

Waiakea Town, Yashijima, was never rebuilt after the 1960 tsunami. The golf course and park that you see today was once filled with homes, businesses and schools, all of which provided the backbone for a local economy of fishing, stevedoring, sugar, railroading and service industries. (Historical Marker Database)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Christian Jacob Hedemann

Christian Jacob Hedemann was born at Flensborg in the Dukedom of Slesvig, Denmark on May 25, 1852; he was the son of a military surgeon Christian August Ferdinand Hedemann, 1810-1879, and his wife Caroline Amalie Cloos, 1824-1867.

Christian Jacob Hedemann married Meta Marie Magdalene Nissen in Denmark October 27, 1877; she was born at Copenhagen June 23, 1850.

Christian Jacob Hedemann was educated at the famous boarding School Herlufsholm (founded 1565), and at the Danish Technical University from which he graduated. In 1870-1878 he served as a draughtsman and constructor of machinery at Burmeister & Wain at Copenhagen. (Wangel)

“A friend of his father, August Unna, a Danish sugar plantation owner on Hana, Maui an isolated part of the islands, offered Christian Hedemann a position as chief engineer.” (Davis)

In 1878 he came to Hawaii and became factory manager and engineer on the Hana plantation. (Nellist) Hedemann was responsible for the construction of sugar mill machinery to be delivered to Hana.

This appointment turned out to become a 6-years employment, and a life-long friendship. In 1884 he came to Honolulu Iron Works in order to construct machinery for sugar cane industry. (Wangel)

When Mr. Hedemann joined the Honolulu Iron Works in 1884, it was little more than a repair shop. With the development of the sugar industry on a large scale in Hawaii, the plant began the manufacture of sugar mill machinery and the furnishing of complete sugar factories. It has constructed most of the modern sugar mills in the Territory. (Nellist)

As a manufacturer of sugar cane factory equipment he got Honolulu Iron Works to become leading in the world. 1904 he was appointed general manager of Honolulu Iron Works. (Wangel)

In 1905, Mr. Hedemann realized the need for a New York branch and, against the advice of many leading business men of Honolulu, an office was opened in small quarters at No. 11 Broadway, New York City.

All purchasing for the iron works was then done directly through this office, thus dispensing with Eastern agents, and contracts for the furnishing of sugar factories and equipment in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico and Louisiana were obtained. One of these was for the largest sugar factory in the world, located in Cuba, having a daily grinding capacity of 9,000 tons of cane.

Hedemann also went to Japan and Formosa and secured contracts for the building of seven large sugar mills, all of the machinery being built at the Honolulu works, and later fifteen sugar factories were constructed in the Philippines.

The Honolulu Iron Works had a plant in Manila where the requirements of the Philippines are met and two dry docks for the repairing of local ships. The New York office of the Honolulu Iron Works Co. became a large division and occupied a large portion of two floors in the famous Woolworth Building, besides operating a branch engineering office in Havana, Cuba. (Nellist)

1917 he retired from Iron Works Management, retained as Advisory and Technical Director, 3rd Vice President of the firm. (Wangel)

Hedemann was also a noted, although amateur, photographer. “Hedemann carried a camera with him, having taken up photography as a natural extension of his fascination with mechanical developments.”

“He made a visual record of his experience in the islands, photographing the family’s exotic surroundings and providing evidence of its well being, that could be kept for posterity and shared with his relatives in Denmark.”

“He created a virtually unrivalled view of 19th century Hawaii, highlighting change and industrial development in the islands. … Hedemann’s first dated photograph, a view of his house with a Danish flag flying gaily overhead was taken February 1, 1880.” (Davis)

“Early in 1883 Hedemann went to considerable trouble to convert his carriage shed into a small studio where he could take portraits. To illuminate the room, he made sections of the roof removable, creating a makeshift skylight.”

“Using plans from early photo journals, he had a portable reflector and head rests made in the blacksmith and carpenter shops at the mill.”

“In this ‘Big Photo Studio in Hana, Sandwich Islands’, as he jokingly called it, Hedemann executed a body of work of lasting importance.”

“Opening the studio not only enhanced his ability to control the photographic environment but also created a neutral location where the haole (Caucasian) photographer could establish a formal relationship with unfamiliar sitters.”

“Before starting the studio, Hedemann’s portraits were limited to family members and fellow Danes; now he proceeded to produce a remarkable visual inventory of the growing ethnic diversity in Hana.”

“Photographs he took there, as Meta noted later, depict ‘the many different people who came around to work in the fields from time to time … Southern Islanders, Chinese, Portuguese, and even a small colony of Scandinavians.’” (Davis)

“Hedemann took his camera inside sugar mills, and the Honolulu Iron Works. His photographs of the mills reflect personal pride in his accomplishments as well as the prevailing fervor of the steam age and Hedemann’s love of ‘beautiful things for the sake of their perfection of design and intricate workmanship.’”

“The gleaming sugar mill machinery of Hana Plantation provided forms pleasing to the photographer’s eye but also emblems of the industrial era.”

“Hedemann helped organize the Hawaiian Camera Club, drawing amateur photographers he knew in Honolulu together with others he had met during his travels around the islands on Iron Works business.”  (Davis)

In March, 1917, he was decorated by the King of Denmark as a “Knight of Dannebrog.” He became an American citizen in 1903. (Nellist)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sarona Road

Mai ka Lani mai nei ka leo kahea,
Pio mai la kona nani i ka lua kupapau.
A o oe la e, e Opukahaia, Hauoli avanei,
ke ike aku oe, O kou aina hanau, ke pua mai nei;
Opuu ae la na rose, aala mai hoi,
Nani loa o Sarona, hiehie moana.

The call came from Heaven,
His glory faded from the grave.
And you, Opukahaia, be happy now,
when you see, Your native land is blooming;
The roses bloomed and smelled,
Sharon is very beautiful, the sea is beautiful.
(Ka Moolelo o Heneri Opukahaia; Chris Cook)

ʻIsaia 65:10, A e lilo nō ʻo Sārona i pā no nā hipa, A ʻo ke kahawai ʻo ʻAkora i wahi moe no nā bipi, No koʻu poʻe kānaka i ʻimi mai ai iaʻu.

Isaiah 65:10, Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me.

Song of Solomon 2:1, “ʻO wau nō ka rose o Sārona, A me ka līlia o nā awāwa.“ “I am the rose of Sharon, And the lily of the valleys.” (Hawaiian Baibala)

“The Rose of Sharon is a flower that grows on mountaintops, and that’s why the Lord referred to Himself as The Rose of Sharon. His mountaintop was Golgotha, and the Lord let me know that people can only find this Rose on Mount Calvary.”

“Roses are noted for their fragrances, and the fragrance from this great Rose travels down from the mount of God and into the valley for us.” (Ernest Angley Ministries)

Sharon is the Mediterranean coastal plain between Joppa and Caesarea. In the time of Solomon, it was a place of great fertility. It is in North Palestine, between Mount Tabor and Lake Tiberias. (Bible-org)

Sarona is the name of a road in Kailua-Kona in the immediate vicinity of Moku‘aikaua Church. As noted in the translations above, Sarona is the Hawaiian word for Sharon.

Moku‘aikaua Church started in 1820 with the arrival of the first American Protestant missionaries. With the permission of Liholiho (Kamehameha II), the missionaries built a grass house for worship in 1823.

It soon was found that the church was incapable of holding the growing following of the missionaries. The Kona District had by the mid-1820s, an estimated population of 20,000 and congregations became so large that a considerable number had to be excluded from services.

Governor Kuakini immediately agreed to help in the erection of a new structure. Every male in the district was sent into the mountains to help cut and haul timber. On September 27, 1826, the church was dedicated. (NPS)

It was destroyed by fire in 1835; the present lava rock and coral mortared church, capped with a gable roof, was dedicated on February 4, 1837. It is the oldest intact Western structure on the Island of Hawai‘i.

Moku‘aikaua Church is on a small level lot near the center of Kailua-Kona. Its high steeple stands out conspicuously and has become a landmark from both land and sea.

Some believe Sarona Road was the path people took to/from Mokuaikaua Church that takes an idyllic biblical name (reminiscent of the Rose of Sharon and other Sharon references in the Bible) that was named by Asa Thurston.

Reverend Asa and Lucy Thurston were in the Pioneer company of American Protestant Missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands, arriving in Kailua-Kona on the Thaddeus in 1820.

The Thurstons made their home in Kailua Village, in a house the Hawaiians named Laniākea. Thurston received Laniākea, a 5.26-acre homestead parcel as a gift from Governor Kuakini.

As noted by Rev. Sereno Edwards Bishop, in his book “Reminiscences Of Old Hawaii”: “In the early [1830s,] Kailua was a large native village, of about 4,000 inhabitants rather closely packed along one hundred rods [1650-feet] of shore, and averaging twenty rods [330-feet] inland.”

“It had been the chief residence of King Kamehameha, who in 1819 died there in a rudely built stone house whose walls are probably still standing on the west shore of the little bay. Nearby stood a better stone house occupied by the doughty Governor Kuakini.”

“All other buildings in Kailua were thatched, until Rev. Artemas Bishop built his two-story stone dwelling in 1831 and Rev. Asa Thurston in 1833 built his wooden two-story house at Laniakea, a quarter of a mile inland.”

“Most of the native huts were thatched with the stiff pili grass. The better ones were thatched with lau-hala (pandanus leaf) or with la-i.”

“The second company [of missionaries] consisted of six married couples and two single persons. They sailed from New Haven, Conn., Nov. 19, 1822, and arrived at Honolulu, April 27, 1823, in 158 days. Among the second company was Rey. Artemas Bishop, a native of Pompey, NY …”

“He was married in November, 1822, to Elizabeth Edwards, who was born at Marlborough, Mass., June 17, 1796. Mrs. Bishop had been a girlhood friend of Mrs. Lucy G. Thurston, who had preceded her to Hawaii as a missionary, some four years earlier.”

Missionaries that served at the Kailua-Kona Mission Station, whose principal church was Moku‘aikaua, included, Asa Thurston, Thomas Holman, Artemas Bishop, James Ely, Delia Stone and Seth L Andrews.

Back to the naming of the road … Hawaiian Place Names notes the reference to the Land Commission Award Book and Tax Map, apparently, all references are linked to the Land Commission decisions.

Early references to ‘Sarona’ are found in the Land Commission Awards (LCA) Book 3 related to awards to Leleiōhoku. Leleiōhoku was son of Kalanimōku; Leleiōhoku married Princess Ruth (Keʻelikōlani).

On August 30, 1851, the Land Commission records note LCA 1028 and LCA 9971 Apana 46 and 47 (as well as many other parcels) were in a partial list of lands agreed upon by the Mahele to belong to the more important Aliis and Chiefs and confirmed to Leleiōhoku by Award of the Commission to Quiet Land Titles.

Mapping for LCA 1028 noted ‘Ala Ololi Sarona’ (Narrow Sharon Path) as a boundary and mauka of the parcel the trail/road is noted as ‘Ala Ololi Pii Sarona’ (Narrow Sharon Path going up).

Mapping for the LCA 9971 Apana parcels 46 and 47 note “Alanui Sarona” (Sharon Road/Trail) as a boundary. The ‘Alanui’ reference suggests larger trails/road.

LCA 9971 Apana 47 also notes Alanui Tatina (now spelled Kakina) as a boundary – Tatina was the Hawaiian name for Thurston. Alanui Tatina is likely the trail used by the Thurstons that lead from their home, ‘Laniakea’, down into Kailua-Kona).

Given its location, the early reference of the name (1851), the biblical nature of the name, the religious passion of Asa Thurston, Artemas Bishop and the other missionaries and their families, it is plausible (probable) that Sarona Road was named by the missionaries and was a trail used by the Hawaiians from the surrounding area to get to Moku‘aikaua Church.

By Resolution 288, dated January 19, 1956, the Hawai‘i County Board of Supervisors approved the ‘Naming of Streets in Kailua Keahou [sic] Area, Kona’; the list of ten streets included Sarona Road.

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