Prominent People | Page 110 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

April 5, 2018 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Japanese Language Schools

Japanese came to Hawai‘i to work on the plantations between 1885 and 1924, when limits were placed on the numbers permitted entry.

“The government contract workers who arrived in Hawaii in the 1880s did not have much time or energy to worry about their children’s education.”

“Their only aim was to make enough money to return to Japan. With mothers going to work from early in the morning the children were virtually left to themselves all day long.”

“Takie Okumura, posted in Hawaii as a minister after his graduation from Doshisha University, was astonished as he made his pastoral rounds at how little communication the immigrant children had with their parents.” (Duus)

“Christian missionary Reverend Takie Okumura, who started Honolulu’s ﬁrst Japanese language school, was moved by a little girl’s peculiar Japanese: ‘Me mama hanahana yōkonai’ in response to his question ‘Are you with your mother?’[“

“He learned that ‘me mama’ was pidgin for ‘my mother’, ‘hanahana’ was the Hawaiian word for ‘work,’ and ‘yōkonai’ was a Japanese expression equivalent to ‘cannot come.’”

“Okumura credits this exchange for his strong urge to establish a school.”

“After several failed attempts to receive support from either the Japanese consul general in Honolulu or politicians in Japan, Reverend Okumura decided to establish a school independently.”

“On April 6, 1896, he opened the Nihonjin Shōgakkō (Japanese Elementary School) in a room of the Queen Emma Hall, originally used as Queen Emma’s residence, with 30 students. Okumura purchased desks and chairs from $15 in donations and was able to use the room for free.”

“The ﬁrst Japanese language program at a public school was established at McKinley High School in Honolulu on October 1, 1924.

“The first instructor of Japanese language at the public school was University of Hawaii Japanese Professor Tasuku Harada, who had a close relationship with Reverend Okumura. Harada was a former president of Dōshisha University (Congregationalist).” (Asato)

“Both Harada and Okumura were on the Japanese committee of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association and members of the Textbook Revision Joint Committee.”

“This Japanese language program was arranged by the Committee for Oriental Language Studies, chaired by University of Hawaii President Arthur L. Dean, who also was an American member of the Joint Committee for Textbook Revision.”

“The minutes of the Japanese committee of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, dated September 10, a month before the Japanese program at McKinley High School began, reveals who was involved with this movement.”

“During the meeting, Treasurer Theodore Richards expressed his concern about female high-school students who attended the Hongwanji School for advanced Japanese language study, saying that they ‘were getting led away from Christianity.’”

“Richards was discussing the Hongwanji Girls’ High School (Hawai Kōtō Jogakkō) established in 1910, the girls’ counterpart of Hongwanji’s junior high school, Hawai Chūgakkō, established three years earlier.”

“Okumura and Imamura had a long history of confrontation over creating their own high schools. Imamura invited Ryūsaku Tsunoda, who later established Japanese Studies at Columbia University, to be principal of the ﬁrst Japanese junior high school, the Hawai Chūgakkō.”

“Okumura tried to compete by offering a junior-high-school-level class at his “secular” Honolulu Nihonjin Shōgakkō, although this advanced class was short-lived because of low enrollment.”

“Then, in 1910 the Hongwanji Girls’ High School opened, and Okumura again countered by expanding his Japanese school with both its junior high school and girls’ school, renaming it the Hawaii Chūō Gakuin or Central Institute.”

“So it was no surprise that in 1924, after discussion, the Evangelical Association appointed Harada and Okumura to ‘investigate the matter of organizing a Japanese high school.’”

“At their next meeting, on October 8, 1924, Reverend William D. Westervelt reported that Japanese instruction at McKinley High School was arranged by working with Superintendent Willard E. Givens, University of Hawaii President Dean, DPI supervisor of foreign language schools Henry B. Schwartz and McKinley High School Principal Miles E. Cary. “

“Westervelt also reported that the University of Hawaii agreed to recognize the credits students earned from the Japanese program at the high school as entrance credits for the university. Okumura stated that ‘this plan was satisfactory for the present taking care of the Japanese High School teaching’”.

“Although Japanese instruction began at public schools in 1924, it did not seem to prosper. Besides McKinley High School, only one other public school seems to have offered Japanese. Reverend Kikujiro C. Kondo of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association began teaching Japanese at Maui High School in 1925 while taking care of the Paia church on Maui.”

“Reverend Kondo later moved to Honolulu to take over the McKinley High School Japanese program from Mr. Kunimoto, Harada’s successor, in 1926.” (Asato)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Japanese_Coming_Off_Ship-causeway on Sand Island-(HSA)-PP-46-4-005-00001

April 4, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Missionary Sewing Circle

Kalākua (also Kaheiheimālie) (c. 1778–1842) was daughter of Keʻeaumoku (a chief from Hawaiʻi Island) and Nāmahana, from the royal family on Maui. She was described as physically being ‘tall and gigantic,’ like her siblings. (Bingham)

“Kalākua, a widow of Kamehameha … asked (the missionary women) to make a gown for her in fashion like their own.” (Bingham) “(She) was told that it was the Lord’s day, and that they would make it tomorrow.” (April 2, 1820, Thaddeus Journal)

The next day, the first Hawaiian sewing circle was held on the decks of the Thaddeus, “Kalākua brought a web of white cambric to have a dress made for herself in the fashion of our ladies, and was very particular in her wish to have it finished while sailing along the western side of the island, before reaching the king.”

“Monday morning April 3d (1820,) the first sewing circle was formed that the sun ever looked down upon in the Hawaiian realm. Kalākua was directress. She requested all the seven white ladies to take seats with them on mats, on the deck of the Thaddeus.”

“The dress was made in the fashion of 1819. The length of the skirt accorded with Brigham Young’s rule to his Mormon damsels, – have it come down to the tops of the shoes. But in the queen’s case, where the shoes were wanting, the bare feet cropped out very prominently.” (Lucy Thurston, part of the Pioneer Company)

Later, another ‘sewing circle’ was presented by some of the early missionary descendants. But first, some background …

About 30-years after the first sewing circle (June 5, 1832), the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society (HMCS) was formed. At the time, “there were no places of entertainment, for social enjoyments or organized mission work, or any society for the missionary children, no uplifting influences at their disposal.”

“The family rules were strict. Native prayer meetings at five o’clock in the morning and long Sunday services, mostly in Hawaiian, were the only change the poor children had, and the formation of the HMCS was a beautiful and wise undertaking. It has done its work faithfully and well.” (Cooke; HMCS, 1900)

Then in 1900, the HMCS membership was asked, “What is the future of the Society?” Outgoing HMCS president, AF Cooke noted, “Having fulfilled its original design, let us now form a new society with broader aim …”

“… and with a more extended scope for membership, and plan to become a historical centre for all missionary efforts in the wide Pacific. … A historical or commemorative society offering occasion for missionary intelligence and personal reminiscences of the lives of our fathers and mothers …”

“…would give to us and to our children and to the Christian world, a most valuable record and much history might be preserved that would otherwise remain unknown.” (Cooke; HMCS, 1900)

The Society acquired the 1821 Mission House in 1907 and later the coral block Chamberlain house. The making of a museum was underway (and remains under HMCS control to today).

A House warming was given here on April 4th, 1908. The officers of the Society and others received the Cousins and their friends in the old historic reception room where royalty was entertained in the long ago, and where, no doubt, every missionary to these sunny islands has gathered in consultation and knelt in prayer.

Many guests went up the winding stairs to the chambers above, out to the stone kitchen and down to the cellar dining and store rooms before going through to the makai lawn where chairs were arranged for the audience.

A dramatic performance of an old-time missionary sewing circle, supposedly held during the General Meeting of 1840, was presented.

“Our Cousin James A. (Judd) Wilder has with a most sympathetic hand, woven together various incidents and anecdotes from unwritten missionary history, into a brief drama of one scene, apologies need be made for any anachronisms as to pretense to be more than a composite picture.”

“The missionary mothers are represented by grand and great-grand-daughters, and the old-time dress will enhance family resemblances and are sure to be pleasing to those who remember dear faces gone.” (HMCS Annual Report, 1908)

“The acting was good and the whole scene very realistic. The play was given at the rear of the Old Mission Home, between that and the vine-clad coral kitchen, and the audience were seated on the lawn.”

“A platform was built in front of the stage, between trees and draped with flags, ferns and ilima wreaths, on which sat the guests of honor, Queen Lili‘uokalani, Gov. Pinkham, Admiral Moore and General Macomb.” (HMCS Annual Report, 1912)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

‘OLD MISSION HOUSE’ (LOC)-photo ca 1907

April 3, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mānoa Heritage Center

Mānoa Heritage Center is a non-profit organization, whose mission is to promote stewardship of the natural and cultural heritage of Hawai‘i. The site consists of Kūali‘i, a Tudor-style house built in 1911, Kūka‘ō‘ō Heiau and a Native Hawaiian garden.

The site is the former home of Charles Montague Cooke, Jr. Charles Montague Cooke Sr gave the land to his son in 1902. On it his son established Kaimi dairy.

In 1911, Emory & Webb, a major architectural firm in Honolulu, designed this house, and it stands as one of their major works from this period. Other works of theirs from this time include the YMCA and the First Methodist Church.

Amos Starr Cooke came to Hawai‘i in 1837 as a missionary. He and his wife Juliette, were selected by King Kamehameha III to educate the next generation of Hawai‘i leadership (including Kamehameha IV and V, Lunalilo, Kalākaua, Lili‘uokalani and others)

Cooke later founded the firm of Castle & Cooke in 1851, which became one of the ‘Big Five’ sugar companies, which dominated so much of Hawai’ i’s economic, social and political history up through World War II.

Charles Montague Cooke Jr. was the grandson of Amos Starr Cooke and the son of Charles Montague Cooke. His father was the President of both C Brewer, another of the ‘Big Five’ firms, and the Bank of Hawai’i.

Dr. Charles Montague Cooke Jr. was born in Honolulu in 1874, and attended Punahou and Yale. In 1901 he received his PhD and went to Europe to do scientific work in London and Paris.

In 1902 he returned to Hawai’i to work at the Bishop Museum, where he made valuable contributions to the field of malachology, the branch of zoology that deals with mollusks, especially with regards to the study of Hawaiian land snails. He headed a number of scientific expeditions throughout Polynesia and was the author of 45 scientific works. (NPS)

Kūali‘i, the house on the site, is a two-story Tudor revival style house. It is situated at the top of a hill in Mānoa Valley and has a large front lawn gracefully landscaped with several mature monkey pod and shower trees. The front of the house is separated from Mānoa Road by a stone wall, and a circular drive provides vehicular access to the property. (NPS)

The lava rock basement and first floor support half-timber and stucco second and third floors. The home has three bays with a large 2-story porte cochere off the center bay. Two stonewall chimneys anchor the outside bays. The stone was quarried in the front year where the driveway now circles between two stone pillars of the front rock wall.

The house was originally going to be sited where a heiau (temple) was situated – and use the stone from the heiau as the foundation. Instead, the house was located so as not to disturb the heiau. (Ferraro; Pōhaku) The heiau was later restored.

According to legends, the menehune built a fort and heiau at the top of the hill ‘Ulumalu. They were driven away from their fort by the high chief Kūali‘i during his reign (sometime in the 1700s). Kuali‘i rebuilt it after his seizure of the fort. (Cultural Surveys)

This heiau was the center piece of a string of heiaus that strung across the Kona district. The existence of such an important heiau at the mouth of the valley could be taken as an indication of the early importance of Mānoa.

Another legend says that the menehune were driven from their fort and temple by the owls, who became their bitter enemies.
The legends say that the fairy people, the Menehunes, built a temple and a fort a little farther up the valley above Pu‘u-pueo, at a place called Kūka‘ō‘ō.

Surrounding Kūka‘ō‘ō Heiau is a Native Hawaiian garden featuring endemic and indigenous plants, as well as Polynesian introductions.

In addition, a Polynesian Introduced Garden offers an array of ‘Canoe Plants’ representing those that may have come with ancient seafarers from the Marquesas, Tahiti, Samoa and other South Pacific archipelagoes.

The first settlers of Hawaiʻi arriving by canoe, brought many of their favorite plants for food, seasoning, medicine, making household items and implements to farm, build structures and use for clothing.

Taro (kalo) became the staple of the Hawaiian diet and they developed hundreds of varieties, adapted to suit diverse terrain and weather conditions. Sweet potato (uala) was sometimes substituted for taro in the drier areas.

Tumeric (ʻolena) was used to produce a brilliant yellow orange dye for clothing, coconut (niu) for bowls, drums and roof tops, and kawa (ʻawa) to ease a painful headache were treasured supplies. (Mānoa Heritage Center)

The house, heiau and gardens are part of the Mānoa Heritage Center, a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote stewardship of the natural and cultural heritage of Hawai‘i. It was the home of Sam and Mary Cooke and the restoration of the property was through their efforts.

Currently, Kūka‘ō‘ō Heiau and garden tours are available, guided by volunteer docents. Reservations are needed with two-week advance notice preferred.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Manoa Heritage Center map

Kukaoo_Heiau-AuthorGeneParola

Kukaoo_Heiau-AnnCecil

Kualii-Manoa Rd-2859-gateposts-WC

Kualii-from-Oahu Ave-below-WC

Honolulu-Manoa-Road-2859-WC

Charles-Montague-Cooke-Jr-House-WC

Kualii-Manoa-Valley-above-WC

March 28, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Alfred Preis

“I do believe deeply that the arts (reside) in the truly human area, where each individual is going to do something he or she does because he or she wants to do something well and does it better and better and better until he or she is gratified; that this is the essence of a successful life. Because you can do that as a cook, you can do that by making beds.” (Alfred Preis)

“I hoped to be interned! I wanted America to win the war, and if I hadn’t been picked up, I would have lost confidence in the authorities.” (Pries; Clarke)

Whoa … let’s look back …

Alfred Preis was one of 112 Germans and Italians – both aliens and naturalized citizens – who were interned in Hawai‘i on December 8, three days before the US went to war. (Clarke)

Preis “was born February 2, 1911, in Vienna, Austria. That was before the outbreak of the First World War. I lived at that time in a working-class district. My grandfather, whom I never knew, was a furniture maker and had his workshop there.”

“And my father was in the army and sent his wife to live somewhere near the grandmother, so that she would be sheltered and protected and have help. I lived in that area for three years and got ill, because the living conditions in Vienna at that time were dreadful. The apartments were not worth anything.”

“My grandmother lived in a suite composed of a large kitchen and one room, and to get into the room you had to walk through the kitchen. The only illumination at that time was kerosene lamps, which absorbed all the oxygen in the room.” (Preis; SFCA)

“But the situation in Vienna at that time-already before the outbreak of the war – was so that tuberculosis was all-prevalent. And when I was four years old, I got a touch of [tuberculosis] on my lungs.”

“The war broke out in 1914. [The sanatorium] was administered by the wives and daughters of Austrian aristocrats. It was a little chalet – a hunting chalet – up on the foothills of the Alps. I was dropped there by my mother, and she was advised, evidently, to leave me (without saying goodbye).”

“I (was released) after about half a year, not only hale but a different person. They planted seeds in me of curiosity-of (love for) literature (and good German). But the sheer interest these women had in us left an imprint on me which I still cherish. It was very important (for my future education).”

“I (grew up) in Catholicism. My father, however, was Jewish. Under the Nazi’s law I would have been considered half Jewish or Jewish, which (in effect) is the same thing. I was in danger.”

“My future wife also was in danger, although she was Catholic. She came as a refugee from the Russian Revolution and had to leave, as a child at that time, without a passport. So she had no citizenship, and she was vulnerable therefore.”

“The Nazis announced that they will put into concentration camp gypsies and loafers. And we were afraid that something would happen to her. We knew the Nazis would come. We still never talked about marriage or of intentions like that. After graduating from high school in 1929, he traveled throughout Europe and later returned to Vienna to study architecture.” (Preis; SFCA)

“We got our papers. But then we had to have a valid passport, which we had originally. But every time the Nazis reorganized the status of Austria, it meant that it had to be a different passport. So I think we had about five passports. The fina passport was a Nazi passport.”

“(W)e found out that the Queen Mary – an English ship, (and the fastest liner at the time) – that they (sold with the tickets) board money. That means (we) could pay with German money and get scrips. And (what we didn’t spend on board), they will (refund) them then in (dollars).”

“We arrived on April the 6th, 1939, in New York, before Easter – we saw an Easter parade on the 5th Avenue – and left on the 28th of May. Now before we could do that, we had to find contacts. I still wanted to go to Hawai’i. We had a letter [from] the priest who married us to a Catholic refugee organization in New York, which we presented.”

“(T)here was a priest – his name was Father Ostermann – and he was very different from the Austrian clerics. He was a very worldly man, experienced, had a sense of humor. I suspect he was skeptical, but certainly he was frivolous. And he said, “What do you want?”

“And we showed him our letter. ‘We would like to go to Hawaii’ (a destination they chose after seeing movies about the South Seas. (Clarke)) Father Ostermann looked at it and said, ‘Let me try.’ He obtained a waiver of a particular prohibition that people could [not] travel from an American port to another American port on a freighter.”

“Maybe Hawai’i was, to them, still a foreign port. He had to get that waiver. So we actually were then booked as a passenger on a 9,000 ton ship (of the Pioneer Line), a freight boat called the Sawoklah. And we were supposed to go through the [Panama] Canal to Hawai’i. … Then we left.” (Preis; SFCA)

Upon arrival in the Islands, he went to work with an architectural firm; “I did (design) a great number of (buildings) and residences, predominantly for Chinese.”

Then, that fateful day that changed the Islands and the world … “(we heard shooting and felt the impact of bombs or shots. And I turned to my wife and said, ‘That’s a very realistic maneuver today.’”

“At ten-thirty we … turned it to radio. KGU every Sunday at ten-thirty had a symphony concert, which we turned on. There was no symphony. There was a man who said, ‘This is not a maneuver. This is the real McCoy.’ We couldn’t believe it. We were all prepared for it, but we couldn’t believe it.”

“About seven o’clock in the evening … (following) the attack (on Pearl Harbor) – two men in civil[ian dress] came and said, ‘We have to ask you to come with us. We have to ask some questions. You will be back very soon.’”

“But it was seven o’clock in the evening. Somehow my upbringing under the Nazis made me skeptical. I said, ‘Do you mind if we take some toothbrushes along?’ ‘Well, you don’t need them, but okay, if you want to.’ We were the only people with toothbrushes.”

“We drove very, very slowly at that time (through the) darkened streets. The headlights were blue – later on red – (painted) with a tiny slit (for) the light (to shine through). And so the cars were creeping. I recognized – it was dark already, it was December – that we (were driving) to the immigration station.”

“We came to a one-story building which used to be a part of the quarantine station for immigrants. (The) man in charge, a major (who was originally) a customs officer, was (evidently) overanxious (and) strict. He (made us strip off) our (wedding) rings, which made me break down. Not even the Nazis took my wedding ring.”

“I was very nervous. I was worried about my wife. I made such a scene there that he returned all of our rings to all of us. With that man we had other (troubles). We were moved to an open area. There was a bunch of rolled up tents, and they said, ‘Erect them.’ So we built tents.”

“We were guarded by people from the national guard, local people. Some of them we were befriended with (from before). They were tired, and they didn’t have any sleep, (so) they begged us to (let them) sleep in our tent and that we would watch them so they wouldn’t get caught, which we did.”

“There were two camps side by side, separated by about (a) twenty-feet (wide maze) of barbed wire. We, the Haoles, were about fifty men. The Japanese camp had about 2,500”.

“The difference between the Japanese camp and ours was striking. Every tent – they had tents, as we did – (was adorned with tiny) pebbles, shells, and coral (splinters). They picked (them) up, and they made patterns like stone gardens out of it – neat, beautiful, clean, (with an innate genius) compared to us. We (at most) picked up cigarette butts (which our men just) threw away.”

“We saw that (from our) fifty people-Germans, Norwegians, Italians, (Austrians, and) Hungarians, all people (whose countries) were invaded and occupied by the Nazis and therefore (suspect) – small groups were leaving the camp.”

“The others, we later learned, were shipped to the Mainland. My wife and I and two others were left over. But eventually we were released on parole on March 28, 1942.” (Preis; SFCA)

Preis returned to his architectural practice. A notable, now iconic, structure was the USS Arizona Memorial.

The USS Arizona Memorial, located at Pearl Harbor, marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors killed on the USS Arizona during the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 by Japanese imperial forces and commemorates the events of that day.

The memorial, which was dedicated in 1962 and spans the sunken hull of the battleship Arizona, without touching it. The memorial visually floats above the water like an out stretched white sail hovering above the waters of the harbor.

The memorial was designed by Honolulu architect Alfred Preis, his design set out to create a bridge that would float above the battleship with room for approximately 200 visitors at a time. (Johnston)

Critics of the memorial’s design have likened it to a “squashed milk carton,” but the USS Arizona Memorial’s design is a little more complex than that. Preis had a clear idea in mind when he designed the memorial and everything about it serves a purpose.

The structure is about 184 feet long, and at both ends, it rises. The peaks are connected to a sag in the middle of the structure. This was no random design choice. It’s a metaphor for the United States at the time of World War II.

On one side, the first peak represents the country’s pride before the war. In the middle, the sag represents the shock and depression the country faced just after the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor.

One the other side of the structure, the second peak represents the might and power of the US after the war. Together, all three components tell a story. (Visit Pearl Harbor)

In 1963, Preis became state planning coordinator. While serving in that position, he helped draft the bill that established the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts [SFCA] in 1965. Preis served as acting executive director of the SFCA until July 1, 1966, when he was formally appointed executive director. He retired from the position in 1980. (SFCA)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

USS_Arizona_Memorial_(aerial_view)

A;fred and Jana Preis on way to Islands-HanaHou

Alfred-Preis-HanaHou

Arizona-before-Arizona_Memorial-1957

USS_Arizona_(BB-39)_wreck_in_the_1950s

Arizona Memorial under construction

USS Arizona Memorial under construction. The memorial opened in 1962

US_Navy_031206-N-3228G-001_The_UArizona_Memorial-WC

USS_Missouri_and_USS_Arizona_Memorial_12-07-10

Arizona Memorial-Missouri

Blueprint-Arizona Memorial

March 19, 2018 by Peter T Young 7 Comments

Ebenezer Parker Low

“He described sitting on the veranda there at that ranch. It’s on the slopes going down to Mahukona from Kohala and you could look and late in the afternoon when the sun used to hit the Hualalai Mountains …”

“(H)e would see this funny little sponge cake-looking hill sticking out in the side of Hualalai. And he used to just dream about getting over to that place that had a perfect fascination for him.” (Lucas; Watumull)

“My father was known as Rawhide Ben because ever since he was knee high to a grasshopper, I guess, he loved the ranch life. And he was brought up as a member of the family in Mana and Kamuela with the rest of them.”

“So as a little boy he always had a chance to do something with animals. And this was his whole life. All he ever thought about was his cowboy experiences.”

“And as soon as he became an adult, his first job – big job – was given him by Theo. H. Davies and Company as manager of Puakea Ranch which is in Kohala – South Kohala there.”

“Eben Parker Low was born in Honolulu, a great grandson of John Palmer Parker I and his Hawaiian wife, Kipikane. He spent his early years on Parker Ranch, Handling cows and calves by the time he was six years old.”

“He had very little education; in his own words, ‘… just plain common sense plus some English grammar and arithmetic and writing.’”

“At the age of 26 he became manager of Pu‘uhue ranch in Kohala, and began a career that made him one of the big island’s most famous and colorful paniolo.” (Hawaii Cattlemen’s Hall of Fame) Unfortunately, he lost a portion of his left arm while roping.

Back to the sponge cake hill … “finally he found a Hawaiian who knew how to go across the lava flows there. I don’t know if he went on a mule or on a horse. But this man took him with him and they one day got across all that long lava flow by a trail and got to Puuwaawaa Ranch – Puuwaawaa Hill.” (Lucas; Watumull)

Then, he and Robert Robson Hind finally got a chance to take control of it … they picked up the Pu‘uwa‘awa‘a lease (General Lease No. 186; March 1, 1894) covering 40,000 acres for 25 years, and established a ranch. (Marion Kelly)

“(I)t was just a wilderness and lava and really rough country and they had to begin from scratch. But my father loved it. He just loved every minute of it. … What food was available in the rocks there up in that mountainside was very rich, evidently, very nutritious, because the cattle that came up to that ranch were always very fat.”

“Then they finally decided to split up after nine years because they couldn’t work together and my father didn’t have enough money to buy out Mr. Hind (his brother-in-law, Robbie married Low’s sister, Hannah.) But they finally split up and my father came to Honolulu from Pu‘uwa‘awa‘a. “ (Lucas; Watumull)

Eben was instrumental in bringing the talent of the Hawaiian paniolo to the national scene when he sent Archie Ka’au’a, Jack Low and Ikua Purdy to the Frontier Days World Championship Roping Competition in Cheyenne Wyoming in 1908.

Mid-westerners watched the Hawaiians compete. Purdy won the World’s Steer Roping Championship – roping, throwing, and tying the steer in 56 seconds flat. Ka‘aua and Low took third and sixth place.

“His confidence and pride in them were expressed by his own words, “’one cannot imagine the noise of the applause our boys received from those 30,000 watchers . . . The kanakas had won!’” (Hawaii Cattlemen’s Association)

“(B)efore my father died he asked his nephew, Archie Ka‘aua, to take care of his ashes when he died . Archie’s family lived in Kamuela and his family still own property right in the village there at Kamuela, forty acres out in the homestead section there.”

“Archie at that time was a young man and seemingly very well. Archie promised to take his ashes and scatter them up at Mauna Kea. But Archie had a funny feeling that he wasn’t going to outlive my father and he went to Willie Kaniho, who was the head cowboy of Parker Ranch.”

“So Willie Kaniho was given the assignment by Archie. … So sure enough, Archie Ka‘aua did die before my father died. But when my father passed away, Willie Kaniho was ready to do this.”

“There was no way of getting up there unless you got up on horseback. So Anna Lindsey [Perry- Fiske] who is, of course, one of my father’s pets too, came forth … Well, the family went up. … and Reverend Akaka–Abraham Akaka–went with us.”

“We got to the very top of that mountain – the very top – Reverend Akaka said a prayer and read a little bit from Scriptures and then Kaniho and Reverend Akaka scattered the ashes right at the top of the mountainside. It was really very impressive.” (Lucas; Watumull)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Eben ‘Rawhide Ben’ Low-PP-75-5-006-1931