Prominent People | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 8, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“Pele’s Grandson”

He was known as “Pele’s Grandson” to many – and “The Runt” to his boss, Thomas R Boles, Superintendent of the Hawaiʻi National Park (he was 5-foot 1-inch in height and weighed ninety-five pounds.) (NPS, 1953)

Alexander P Lancaster (aka Alex or Alec,) a Cherokee, was employed by Volcano House and Hawaiʻi Volcanoes Observatory, guided tourists to Kilauea’s active lava lake from 1885 to 1924. (Wright)

Lancaster was a firm believer in Pele and her powers; he took a proprietary interest in the volcanoes – thus the nickname. He enthralled thousands of visitors with his intimate knowledge of volcanoes.

When someone mentioned Vesuvius to him, his stock reply was, “Vesuvius is just an old man. Pele is sturdy on her job.” It was nothing short of a sacrilege to talk about other volcanoes in Alec’s presence. (NPS)

An interview with “Uncle George” Lycurgus Volcano House owner (on his one-hundredth birthday) reveals more on Pele. When asked if he had ever seen Pele, Lycurgus replied:

“Oh, yes. I tell you. I saw Pele, in the fire. There is a woman … you can see a woman, in the flames … she comes out and walks around … then she goes back in the fire … and prays ….”

“The Hawaiians believe in Pele. Certainly I believe in Pele, too. Pele belongs to the Islands. She will come to tell us what to do. She always comes when we need her. Pele is bound to come soon.” (Nimmo)

When Halemaʻumaʻu was inactive and business at the hotel was poor, Lycurgus decided to offer prayers and rituals at the volcano to coax the goddess back to the crater and thereby improve business at the hotel.

He and Lancaster “walked down to Halemaʻumaʻu and invoked some prayers to the volcano goddess. Following that, they tossed into the fire pit an Ohelo berry lei made by Lancaster … “

“As a final gesture, Lycurgus tossed in a bottle of gin which had been partially drained by him and Lancaster on the walk to the pit. More prayers followed and the two of them returned to the Volcano House for the night. Within hours after the men went to bed, the volcano began erupting.” (Nimmo)

“Alec Lancaster, the well-known guide at the crater, has made a trail to a ledge of pahoehoe, a distance of 200-feet from the brink, and takes down to that point those visitors who desire to make a closer inspection than can be made at the edge. So far not many have shown a willingness to accept Alec’s invitation.” (Evening Bulletin, June 15, 1902)

Thomas Augustus Jaggar, Jr was an American volcanologist; he founded the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and directed it from 1912 to 1940.

“Lancaster, probably wound up each trip into Kilauea caldera with one pocket full of tips and another full of Cuban cigars – until Jaggar put him on the Observatory’s payroll as janitor, guide and general roustabout. Lancaster’s experiences close to Kilauea’s flowing and fountaining lava made him a good hand for Jaggar.” (USGS)

“Once again, in the interest of science, Madame Pele has been braved by the investigators living on the volcano’s brink for the purposes of studying systematically the vagaries of the fire goddess and of reducing her phenomena down to rules of cause and effect.”

“Last week, while the pit of Halemaʻumaʻu was in a state of unusual activity, with lava fountains playing, spatter cones forming, streams of liquid fire swelling in flows over the hardened crust…”

“Dr ES Shepherd, of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution, and HO Wood, technical assistant of Professor Jaggar, accompanied by Alex Lancaster the veteran Volcano House guide, descended four hundred feet into the pit, crossed the hardened but heated lava floor and collected sufficient of the nascent gas from one of the open vents for analyses.”

“Rope ladders were used to descend the first one hundred and eighty feet of the pit, for which distance the walls are sheer. At this depth the walls were broken down and the intrepid scientists and their daring companion were able to scramble down the rest of the way to the fire level, over the smoking, crumbling lava.”

“During the greater part of their descent, the three were hidden from the view of those who tried to watch them from the pit’s rim by the swirling, opaque gases that swept in clouds over the surface of the lower levels. (Hawaiian Gazette, December 10, 1912)

Alec’s thirst for liquor was his undoing; he was dismissed from the Park in 1928. He spent his last years as a public ward in the Old Folks’ Home in Hilo. (NPS) (Reportedly born in 1861, Lancaster died in 1930.)

October 6, 2025 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Carriage to Horseless Carriage

“The automobile owner uses his car six days a week either in direct pursuit of his business or as a means of quickly transporting himself and others to and from that place of business.”

“The fact that he may take his family out on a Sunday is not a pleasure trip, but a necessary recreation in order, to ‘keep fit’ for his work.” (McAlpine, Schuman Carriage, Honolulu Star Bulletin, November 3, 1907)

“The automobile is here to stay. If we had better roads there would be more automobiles sold, naturally.” (Gustav Schuman, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 24, 1916)

Gustav Adolph Schuman was born July 6, 1867 in Dresden, Germany to Charles and Martha (Schmalden) Schuman. (His father was a state highway inspector.) Mr. Schuman attended the public schools until he was fourteen.

He left school and started as an apprentice to learn furniture making in Germany. In 1884, he followed an older brother to Hawaiʻi and took a position as a carriage trimmer (upholsterer) with the Carriage Manufacturing Co.

Four years later, he started a carriage shop of his own, and in 1896 he disposed of it to enter the livery business (boarding and care of horses) with the purchase of the Club Stables. In 1900, he built the Territorial Stables on King Street, which he sold two years later.

“Gustav Schuman in 1897 started a business in carriages and harness on Fort Street above Hotel. All of the goods sold at the time were American made, and the business steadily increased year by year.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 24, 1916)

“The business carried on by G. Schuman has been incorporated, and from this time the name will be G. Schuman, Ltd. The corporation will have the right to do all kinds of merchandising, handling real estate, and do a livery and sale business”. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 6, 1901)

“The principal attention will be given to the carriage and harness lines, and the hacks which have been run for several years by Schuman, the sales of animals and their hiring, will be carried on only as before, there being no intention to expand at this time.”

“The declared objects of the company are to deal in carriages and all kinds of conveyances and vehicles, in grain, provisions and feed, horses and real estate, and to have stables for the purpose of keeping horses to hire.”

“While there is little chance that the company should go into general livery business, there are many members of the company who foresee that there will be some difficulty in the future, if they try to keep out of this all the time.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 6, 1901)

“At the time of the organization of the business the concern covered 2,000 feet of floor space. There is now 80,000 feet of floor space in the new building.”

“In 1897 there were two employees busily engaged in handling the business. Today the establishment is a veritable beehive, with upward of 100 employees carrying on the business that is forty times larger than that of less than twenty years ago.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 24, 1916)

“From a modest beginning in the days before the ‘horseless carriage,’ the Shuman Carriage company has developed into a concern known throughout the territory and with dealings in every part of the island.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, March 31, 1917)

“Mr Schuman visited the world’s exposition at St. Louis in 1904, and brought back the first car with him. It was a (gasoline powered) Ford. Mr Schuman drove this car, and the first year eight of the cars were sold. One of the features of the sales was that the Club Stables bought four cars to be placed in the rent services in 1905.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 24, 1916)

“The Schuman Company was a going concern before the auto invaded the ‘Paradise of the Pacific.’ Foreseeing the possibilities of the gasoline engine, Gus Schuman took up the auto and soon it superseded the wagon and carriage business in importance.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, March 31, 1917)

“During the early years in the automobile business Mr Schuman, like many other men, believed that the automobile was merely a fad, and expected it to die out in time.”

“But as the fad grew to be a necessity he took advantage of the opportunities and went into the automobile business with a purpose, and as a result the sales average about one car per day at the present time.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 24, 1916)

The company grew and at a point was the largest privately-owned automobile concern in the Territory, and the agent for Ford, Lincoln, Hudson and Essex cars, Federal and White trucks, Goodrich tires, tractors and various automobile accessories. (Nellist)

“The various departments, including the motorcycle, bicycle and accessories, are connected. … Other departments are: automobile accessories and tires, including all supplies; carriage and wagon materials; farming implements; auto repair shop; carriage shop, which includes woodworking, blacksmith and trimming and painting departments; garage, including the Associated Garage on Bethel and Merchant streets, where a service is still retained for automobile owners.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 24, 1916)

Over the years, it was situated in several locations. One notable site was at the corner of Beretania and Richards, Schuman bought it in the mid-1920s. Before he modified the building it had been the Central Union Church (they needed more room and built a new facility down Beretania Street.)

The Schuman display room had stained glass windows. (Schuman later moved down Beretania for his later, and last, Honolulu facility. Schuman Carriage closed its dealerships in 2004.) (The first autos that appeared on the streets of Honolulu on October 8, 1899 were Woods electric cars (this story is about later cars with internal combustion engines. (Schmitt.))

October 3, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lusitana Society

On September 30, 1878, a pioneer band of 180 Portuguese landed in Honolulu. The Portuguese entered Hawaiian society in large numbers between 1878 and 1913, predominantly, although not exclusively, to join the sugar plantation workforce. (Bastos)

“About 65 per cent of the Portuguese, who formed the bulk of the assisted Caucasian immigrants, were women and children, as against 19 per cent of the Japanese.”

“Therefore at a time when it cost but $87.75 to bring a Japanese laborer to the islands, it cost $266.15 to bring a Portuguese, including the passage of the nonproducing members of his family.” (Report of the Commissioner of Labor, 1902)

“In the long run the discrepancy in cost was not so great, because the Portuguese settled in the country and raised up children there, so that they and their families were a permanent increment to the working population”.

“The Portuguese are largely employed in the semi-skilled occupations of the plantation … These people are an exceedingly hopeful element of the population. They are both industrious and frugal, and their vices are not of a sort to injure their efficiency as workers.” (Report of the Commissioner of Labor, 1902)

Few returned to the Portuguese islands, and to the disappointment of the planters, very few renewed their contracts. (Portuguese Historical Museum)

On O‘ahu, they followed the classic pattern: when their contracts expired, they moved to town, concentrating in the Punchbowl and Pauoa districts. (Jardine)

“Around the base of Punchbowl is to be found a colony of Portuguese, who naturally draw together in this strange land, and there they distinguish themselves by the neatness of their dwellings, the growth of pretty (if common) flowers, and a general air of thrift is lacking on the part of many of their neighbors.” (PCA, Sep 23, 1884)

Here, street names commemorate famous Portuguese people and the areas from which they came: Lusitana, Funchal, Lisbon and Azores; Alencastre, Madeira, Morreira and Magellan; Correa, Enos and Osorio. (Jardin)

Lusitana Street was named for the Lusitana Society (sometimes referred to as Lusitania Society), although two with that name existed: the Sociedade Lusitana Beneficente de Hawaii, and the União Lusitana Hawaiiana, founded in 1882 and 1892, respectively. (Bastos) (Lusitania is the ancient name of West Hispania, and now a poetic name for Portugal. (Hawaiian Dictionary))

“Like most other immigrant groups with little or no access to established sources of capital, the Portuguese fostered accumulation of savings among their number.”

“But the Portuguese Benevolent Society was formed in order to be able to help individuals hit by adversity – invalids, widows, and orphans, for example.” (Correa & Knowlton)

“The remarkable financial results achieved by our Portuguese immigrants grow more apparent still in their Benevolent Societies, of which there are four in Honolulu – the Lusitana (1,900 members), the San Antonio (2,100 m), the Patria (125 m) and the San Martino (200 m), to which must be added the Camoes Court of Foresters, with two societies in Hilo.” (Thrum)

“Of all these, the ‘Lusitana’ is the only one which possesses a complete financial statement from its incipiency; it was created in 1882, especially to help the newly-arrived plantation laborers, and has been, for the greater part of its existence, sustained nearly exclusively by such laborers from savings out of their meager wages”.

“Moreover, the ‘Lusitana’ owns its own premises, has $53,000 safely invested, thereby helping members in mortgages, and it keeps an emergency fund of about $9,000.” (Thrum)

“This shows on the part of the members of this Association a very laudable spirit of providing for the future, as well as a pride to prevent themselves from becoming helpless objects of charity during sickness or accidents, which might well be imitated by other nationalities in this Territory.” (Thrum)

“It is no small accomplishment for a few thousand imported plantation laborers, mostly driven to Hawaii by distress in their own country and arriving in a nearly indigent condition …”

“… to have insured themselves and their families against the worst economic consequences of illness and death, and to have accumulated so large an amount of collective funds during the two or three decades that they have been settled in the Territory.” (Report of the Commissioner of Labor in Hawaii, Sep, 1906)

The Lusitana Society building was at the intersection of Alapai and Lunalilo. It was later used as a dance hall and academy, and as the home of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The site was later run over by the H1 freeway.

The Portuguese population all over Hawai‘i declined significantly in the early 1900s. Partially due to the Gold Rush in California and the 1906 San Francisco fire, many moved to California to help rebuild or to find their fortune. (NPS)

October 1, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Holy Moses’

In 1886, “a small whaling vessel anchored off the Island of Oʻahu, opposite the city of Honolulu. A wizened little man with knowing, twinkling eyes of jet black, and some sixty odd winters in his long white beard, and a wind-lashed face, disembarked the ship.” (Canadian Jewish Chronicle, April 15, 1938)

“His quick smile, his rapid wit, his good nature, his feats of magic, soon made him a popular figure among the natives of the flourishing community of Honolulu, and earned for him the affectionate name of ‘Rosey.’”

“It is by this name alone that the old-timers still remember him, and only after considerable inquiry was the writer able to learn that ‘Rosey’ was a contraction of ‘Rosenberg,’ the true name of this wandering prophet.” (His full name was Elias Abraham Rosenberg.)

“’Rosey’ amused the King by telling him prophetic stories and reading his horoscope. From this amusement Rabbi ‘Rosey’ turned to mysticism and interpretations of the Talmud, read and explained to King Kalākaua the Torah.” (Canadian Jewish Chronicle, April 15, 1938)

He also earned the name ‘Holy Moses.’ He befriended Kalākaua and was appointed appraiser at the Custom House. “A foreign fortune teller by the name of Rosenberg acquired great influence with the King.” (Alexander)

He had his detractors; “A curio by the name of Rosenberg, who is too well known in our neighborhood (San Francisco) to need much introduction, is cavorting around Honolulu and has succeeded in ingratiating himself in the King’s favor.”

“At last accounts he was teaching his Majesty Hebrew, and predicting all manner of disturbance in the line of earthquakes, fires, etc., thus endeavoring by a species of charlatanism to work on the superstitions of an easily deluded neighborhood.”

“The Islands, more especially Honolulu, have a Hebrew population of which they have ample reason to be proud, and when such a scalawag as Rosenberg comes floating around, putting himself forward as a prominent representative of Judaism …”

“… a good-sized boot should he effectively applied to the more delicate portion of his anatomy, and instead of the Custom House, a berth should be given him in some distant land where at least he might be far removed from respectable members of a refined Jewish community.” (Jewish Progress; Daily Bulletin, May 10, 1887)

However, Kalākaua took such a shine to him that at one point Rosenberg was actually granted a room in ʻIolani Palace for fortune-telling and drinking sessions which the King frequently took part in. (Kain)

“I struck old Holy Moses last Friday on his way to the Custom House. He looked as smiling as a summer morning and had a big envelope in his hand. I asked Holy Moses how he was getting along. He told me he had just got his appointment as appraiser …” (Flaneur, Hawaiian Gazette, April 5, 1887)

“I noticed my venerable friend Holy Moses knocking round the Custom House lately and the boys there have dropped calling him ‘Moses,’ ‘Rosy’ and other pet names. Now they are very circumspect and never forget the Mr when they address him. … Holy Moses has promised to tell them the number of the lucky ticket in the Louisiana lottery.” (Flaneur, Hawaiian Gazette, April 26, 1887)

“Though his stay on the island was only six months, Rosenberg made quite the impression on the reigning monarch, King Kalākaua. He spent time teaching the king to read Hebrew and gained the monarch’s trust.”

“His majesty is said to have been so impressed that he started the study of Hebrew in order that he could read from the ancient Torah that his Rabbi friend carried with him and temper the laws of his ocean-bound kingdom with many of its teachings.” (Canadian Jewish Chronicle, April 15, 1938)

A Sefer Torah (Pentateuch) and Pointer were brought to Hawaiʻi in 1886 by Elias Abraham Rosenberg who came here from San Francisco. Although the rabbinical lists do not contain his name, he called himself a rabbi.

He appears to have ingratiated himself with King David Kalākaua and became a royal soothsayer, of sorts, preparing horoscopes and prophecies for the King as well as telling him Bible stories and teaching him Hebrew. Rosenberg left the Torah and Pointer with Kalākaua for safe-keeping. (Temple Emanu-El)

Kalākaua presented Rosenberg with a silver cup and a gold medal; “Mr. A. Rosenburg, the Custom House Appraiser, received a present of a silver cup and a gold medal, on the first instant. The cup bears the inscription ‘His Majesty Kalākaua I to Abraham Rosenberg, June 1st, 1887.’”

“The gold medal, which is about the size of a $5 gold piece, is similarly inscribed, with the King’s features on the reverse side, and a small attachment on the upper rim in the shape of a crown, to which is fastened a strip of blue ribbon.” (Daily Bulletin, June 3, 1887)

“The king received the Torah scroll and yad … over the years that followed, the scroll and yad gradually made their way to Temple Emanu-El, where they remain to this day, safely ensconced in a glass cabinet.” (Canadian Jewish Chronicle, August 4, 2011) Rosenberg left the Islands June 7, 1887 and returned to San Francisco; he died a month later.

September 28, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

John Meirs Horner

“’You have no wheat here, your share was destroyed by elk, antelope, and other wild animals….’ So we got nothing for our labor. Thus ended my first year’s farming in California.” (Horner)

Whoa, let’s look back …

John Meirs Horner was born on a New Jersey farm June 15, 1821. He attended the public schools and later worked on farms in the summers and taught school in the winters.

“I had been wrought up over the subject of religion. The Methodists were the most persistent in my neighborhood and my preference was for them. In these days came ministers of a new sect calling themselves Latter-day Saints, with a new revelation preaching the gospel of the New Testament with its gifts and blessings.”

“It attracted much attention, people listened and some obeyed thereby enjoying the promised blessing. Members of the Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian faith as well as non-professors began to join them. Among the latter class were my father, mother and sisters”

“I was the first of the family to obey being baptized by Erastus Snow in the Layawa Creek on the second day of August 1840. In the spring of 1843, … I was introduced to and shook hands with the Prophet Joseph Smith.” (Horner) In 1846 he married a neighbor’s daughter, Elizabeth Imlay.

They headed west.

“The day finally arrived for the Brooklyn to set sail. The wharf was crowded with friends and relatives bidding their good-byes.”

“The Brooklyn set sail and left the New York harbor with 238 passengers including 70 men, 68 women and 100 children. … They took with them agricultural and mechanical tools for ‘eight hundred men,’ a printing press, two milk cows, forty pigs and a number of fowls. Also brought onboard were school books, histories, slates, and other school materials.” (Horner)

Yerba Buena (now known as San Francisco) was their destination, and they arrived there by way of New York, Cape Horn, Juan Fernandez Island and the Hawaiian Islands. It took 6-months and they covered 18,000-miles. The population of Yerba Buena was said to be forty; their company of 268 made an addition to their number of over 600%.

War was raging between Mexico and the US when they arrived in California. The upper part of the territory was already in possession of the US forces. After about 30-days, Horner moved to farm 40-acres of wheat on the lower San Joaquin.

Despite the early quote related to his farming experience, he turned that failure into future success. “Although I got no dollars out of it, I did get experience, which I profited by in after years. I had tested the soil in different places, with several different kinds of farm products and learned the most suitable season for sowing and planting.”

As a pioneer in agriculture, he furnished fresh vegetables and grain to the gold-crazed miners and the people of the growing city of San Francisco, as early as 1849. He fenced and brought under production many hundreds of acres, established a commission house in San Francisco for the sale of produce in 1850, imported agricultural implements from the east and iron fencing from England and built a flour mill.

He became known as “The Pioneer Farmer of California,” “California’s First Farmer” and, due to a speculative real estate venture, “Father of Union City.”

He also acquired part of Rancho San Miguel; it’s now known as Noe Valley in San Francisco. Horner’s Addition still carries some of the streets and names he laid out (among others, Elizabeth is for his wife and Jersey is for the place he was born.)

In the course of his operations, he opened sixteen miles of public road, operated a steamer and a stagecoach line, laid out no fewer than eight towns, built a public schoolhouse, and paid for the services of a teacher.

Missionaries and other brethren traveling through the area always received kind and ready assistance from his hands. Although he never visited Utah, he sent numerous cuttings of fruit trees, vines, and berries to aid the Mormons in establishing themselves there.

Then the Panic of 1857 caused him considerable loss, he sold his land holdings and moved to Maui (arriving on Christmas day 1879.)

At the time, his oldest son was growing sugar cane there; they contracted with Claus Spreckels for shares, with five hundred acres of land allotted to them and farmed under the name JM Horner & Sons.

“Our crop did well. It exceeded our expectations, in both yield and the price for which it sold. … Our crop yielded two thousand pounds of sugar more per acre than the land cultivated by the plantation, which fact fired its manager with jealousy”.

They “left Mr. Spreckels and contracted with the owners of the Pacific Sugar Mill Co. to do one-half of the cultivation for their mill … Here we made considerable sugar, increasing the yield on our half of the plantation from five hundred tons per year to two thousand.” (Horner)

They then “rented in the district of Hawaiʻi-Hāmākua, twelve hundred and fifty acres since increased to twenty four hundred of good, wild cane land with a view to starting a new plantation”.

“Not wishing to carry all our eggs in one basket, we established a stock ranch where we raised all the horses and mules required on the plantation, and some for sale. We have over four hundred head of horses and mules on the ranch, and one hundred and twenty on the plantation.”

“The ranch has some three thousand four hundred head of beef and dairy stock, the plantation and neighborhood are supplied with butter and beef from the ranch, and the surplus is disposed of elsewhere.” (Horner)

“Horner, a man of broad vision and accurate foresight, was quick to appreciate the possibilities of the sugar industry and was a big factor in its development.”

“At a meeting of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association in the early 80’s he declared that Hawaii eventually would produce 600,000 tons of sugar a year. His prediction was ridiculed then, but in 1924 the Territory’s output was more than 700,000 tons.”

Hawaiian planters were heavily interested in a refinery at San Francisco, operated in competition with the then powerful sugar trust dominated by the Havermeyers. Under pressure, the Hawaiian planters decided to dispose of their refinery to the trust.

Horner fought this move at every stage, asserting that Hawaii should refine its own produce and remain independent, and was the last man to transfer his holdings in the California enterprise. (Nellist)

Public duties also called and he served at two sessions as a Noble in the Hawaiian legislature. Horner died at his home on Hawaiʻi in 1907, at the age of 86 years. (Nellist) (Lots of information here from Nellist and Horner autobiography.) The image shows John Meirs Horner.