Prominent People | Page 119 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

April 28, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Artesian Way

Actually, a lot of streets fit into the telling of this story: Marques Street, Evelyn Lane, Oliver Street, and Artesian Way. They are all associated with Auguste and Evelyn Oliver Marques and, the drilling of the first artesian well in Makiki, Honolulu.

A plaque marks the spot – I’ve been by it too many times to count, and never noticed it – and as the plaque notes, “This Means the Promise of Beauty and Fertility For Thousands of Acres.”

Most of the early water wells were drilled in and around Honolulu. It was James Campbell who furnished the first conclusive demonstration of the practicability of artesian wells in Hawaii, when on the summer of 1879, on the plain near his ranch house in Ewa, a good flow of water was obtained. (Kuykendall)

Success of this experiment created intense interest and a group of men in Honolulu brought over from California another well-driller, AD Pierce, with better equipment, and in the spring of 1880 a flowing well was completed (April 28) on the land of Auguste Marques near Punahou.

Subsequently, many other wells were drilled, and it became evident that a large supply of water could be obtained by this method. Early in the 1880s, the McCandless brothers (James S., John A., and Lincoln L.) began their long career as artesian well drillers in the islands. (Kuykendall)

“The first artesian well bored in Honolulu was marked in appropriate ceremonies yesterday on the premises of the Marques home on Wilder avenue near Metcalf street.”

“The first shaft tapping Honolulu’s subterranean water supply was marked with a bronze plaque which reads, “Site of Honolulu’s Pioneer Artesian Well, brought in on April 28, 1880 for Dr. Augustus Marques. ‘This means the promise of beauty and fertility for thousands of acres’ —King Kalakaua. Sealed August, 1938—Board of Water Supply.” (Nippu Jiji, June 21, 1939)

Doctor Marques lived much of his Hawaiian life at 1928 Wilder Avenue (now the site of a small apartment building). He originally owned about 30 acres of land, most on the slope below Vancouver Place.

Immediately Ewa side of it is Punahou School. The eventual tract (of about 30 acres, one supposes) was complete by 1880, at a cost of perhaps $10,000.

The area was called ‘Marquesville.’ He “was instrumental in bringing a colony of Portuguese to Honolulu … and sold lots on long term credit to encourage them to become home owners.” (Bouslog) Later, there was also a Catholic Church, with services in English and Portuguese.

“When asked to what nationality he belongs, Dr. A. Marques replies that he Is a true cosmopolitan”. (Hawaiian Star, March 9, 1899) Marques Auguste Jean Baptiste Marques was born in Toulon, France, on November 17, 1841.

His father was French and Spanish and was a general in the French Army. His mother, of English an Scotch descent, was the daughter of General Cooke of the British Army. Auguste’s boyhood was spent in Morocco, Algiers and the Sahara.

His early ambition was to become a doctor, but his mother wanted him to become a scientist. As a compromise, he acquired a medical and scientific education but agreed not to take a diploma or to practice medicine.

After four years of medical training, he was valedictorian of his class at the University of Paris, but, true to his agreement, never accepted his diploma. For some years following his graduation he was connected with the Bureau of Agriculture in Paris.

Shortly after his mother’s death in 1875, Dr. Marques started on a trip around the world. Arriving in Honolulu Christmas Eve of 1878, he decided to stay over between steamers, and so liked Hawaii that he cancelled his passage and from then on made his home in Honolulu and later became a naturalized citizen.

From 1890 to 1891 Dr. Marques served in the Hawaiian legislature. In 1893 he organized the Theosophical Society in Honolulu and six years later went to Australia to serve as General Secretary of the Society for that country.

From Australia he was sent to India as a delegate to the Theosophical Society convention, representing both Australia and the United States. In 1900 he returned to Honolulu.

On June 7, 1900, Dr. Marques married Evelyn M. Oliver, manager of the Woman’s Exchange in Honolulu. (Mamiya Medical Heritage Center)

Born in Canada in 1863, Evelyn Oliver had come to Hawai’i from Canada in 1889 as a publisher’s representative. She soon became interested in providing a sales outlet and a source of income, for Hawaiian women’s handicrafts.

“This institution served a double purpose, it preserved the old arts and it enabled native women to profitably market their products.” In 1899, her store was at 215 Merchant Street, which was also her residence.

The 1905-6 Directory describes her business as “South Seas Curios, hats and calabashes.” Women of Hawaii thought her noteworthy because of her joining the struggle for women’s suffrage, as “an active worker in the Women’s League of Voters of Hawaii…” (Bouslog)

As with her husband, Mrs. Marques is also remembered by a street name or two. Across from their home on Wilder Avenue is Artesian Street, commemorating the “pioneer artesian well.” East of Artesian is Evelyn Way, then Oliver Lane.

Both first appear in the City Directory of 1914. And so for her last 25 years she lived across from street signs displaying her maiden names. (Bouslog)

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April 27, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Syngman Rhee

The roots of the Korean War can be traced back to before the Second World War. Korea had been occupied by the Japanese empire since 1895 and was left in a state of limbo when Japan was defeated in the Second World War.

During World War II, the US and the USSR agreed to divide the Japanese colony of the Korean peninsula into two parts along the 38th parallel north circle of latitude, with the North controlled by the USSR and the South by the US.

“The Asian country was eventually split in two – with the Soviets occupying the north of the ‘38th parallel north’ – a line of latitude on maps – and the south controlled by a US military administration.”

“In the North, a Stalinist regime was installed under client Kim Il-sung – the grandfather of Kim Jong-un – and a powerful North Korean People’s Army was created which was equipped with Russian tanks and artillery.” (The Sun)

In the South (the Republic of Korea), Syngman Rhee was elected as its president. (World Peace Foundation)

USSR and the newly communist People’s Republic of China (PRC) supported an attempted invasion. (World Peace Foundation)

Citing concerns of a potential global spread of Communism, the US requested and received the approval of the UN Security Council (during a Soviet boycott) to militarily intervene.

North Korea invaded the South on June 25th, 1950, using its Soviet-supplied armament to easily defeat the lightly armed South Korean Army. (World Peace Foundation)

“North Koreans advanced through the country rapidly, even after American troops were drafted in from bases in Japan, and the war seemed all but over.”

“Then in September General MacArthur landed two divisions in the enemy’s rear and North Korea was forced to flee amid heavy aerial bombardment.”

“The United Nations looked on the verge of victory but the tide was turned again when China entered the war.”

“The Chinese sent 200,000 troops to North Korea in October 1950 and forced the UN forces to withdraw back to the 38th parallel after decisively winning the Battle of the Ch’ongch’on River.”

“The last two years became a war of attrition on the ground, but a fierce battle raged in the skies above Korea.” (The Sun)

“This war pitted North Korea and China which were backed with arms by the Soviet Union against South Korea and the UN. The UN force included 21 different countries, with just under 600,000 troops from South Korea and half that number from the US”. (The Sun)

“The Korean nationalists split into two warring camps – Communists and anti-Communists. The Communists split into several factions and fought amongst themselves.”

“Likewise, the anti-Communists split into numerous factions. Korean Communists killed anti-Communist Koreans and Japanese collaborators.”

“Anti-Communist Koreans killed Communists and Japanese collaborators. Japanese collaborators killed both Korean Communists and anti-Communist Koreans. (Kim Young Sik)

In July 1951, President Truman and his new military commanders started peace talks at Panmunjom. Still, the fighting continued along the 38th parallel as negotiations stalled.

Both sides were willing to accept a ceasefire that maintained the 38th parallel boundary, but they could not agree on whether prisoners of war should be forcibly “repatriated.” (The Chinese and the North Koreans said yes; the United States said no.)

Finally, after more than two years of negotiations, the adversaries signed an armistice on July 27, 1953. The agreement allowed the POWs to stay where they liked; drew a new boundary near the 38th parallel that gave South Korea an extra 1,500 square miles of territory; and created a 2-mile-wide “demilitarized zone” that still exists today.

The Korean War was relatively short but exceptionally bloody. Nearly 5 million people died. More than half of these–about 10 percent of Korea’s prewar population–were civilians. (This rate of civilian casualties was higher than World War II’s and Vietnam’s.) Almost 40,000 Americans died in action in Korea, and more than 100,000 were wounded. (history-com)

“The first president of the newly-formed Republic of Korea, Syngman Rhee, had an impressive background from the perspective of both the Americans, who had ruled the southern half of the peninsula for three years before its establishment, and the Korean citizenry. “

“‘Few heads in international politics have been battered longer or harder than his,’’ an advisor, Robert Oliver, wrote in a biography, ‘The Truth about Korea,’ which came out in 1951.”

“‘During a political career that began in 1894, Dr. Rhee has spent seven years in prison, seven months under daily torture, and forty-one years in exile with a price on his head.’”

“‘He has directed a revolution, served as president of the world’s longest-lived government-in-exile, has knocked vainly at the portals of international conferences, and finally shepherded his cause to success ― only to see his nation torn asunder by a communist invasion.’’”

“But, he is not remembered fondly by Koreans today. That is in part because, historically, the separation of Korea into two rival halves is something of an aberration.”

“‘The future ‘father’ of a unified Korea, if there is one, is more likely to be much better remembered). It is also in part because his administration presided with a heavy hand over a poor and corrupt society which changed little under his watch.”

“Given this, his departure from office was fitting. Rhee was effectively run out of town by student protestors after a rigged election, a humiliating end followed nine months later by a military coup.”

“In the early evening of March 15, 1960, 1,000 residents gathered in front of the opposition Democratic Party building in the southern city of Masan. The police started shooting and protestors responded by throwing rocks.”

“Students at Korea University in Seoul, one of whom was the current president, Lee Myung-bak, took to the streets and were set upon by police and thugs. On April 19, when they tried to march on Gyeong Mu Dae the presidential residence (later renamed Cheong Wa Dae), calling on Rhee to resign, police opened fire. One hundred and twenty-five were killed.” (Korean Times)

With the intervention of the US, Rhee resigned on April 27, 1960, and went into exile in Hawaii. He died in Honolulu on July 19, 1965, at the age of 90.

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Syngman Rhee

April 25, 2018 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

Watumulls

Jhamandas Watumull, originally from Hyderabad, Sindh (in what became Pakistan), the son of a brick contractor, was one of the first people of Indian descent to come to Hawai‘i.

Jhamandas left his home as a young boy of 14 to earn a living and help his disabled father. His mother sold her jewelry to buy his passage to the Philippines.

Jhamandas stayed with an older brother and worked in Manila’s textile mills. He opened a small import shop in Manila that specialized in imports from the Orient with his partner Rochiram Dharamdas. The shop attracted American troops stationed in the Philippines and business was good.

In 1913, when the troops were withdrawn from the Philippines and moved to Hawai‘i, the two partners decided to follow them and explore business opportunities.

A year later, Dharamdas opened a branch of ‘Dharamdas and Watumulls’ on Hotel Street in Honolulu. Unfortunately, two years later, Dharamdas died of cholera and the store became Jhamandas’ responsibility.

Unable to leave the Manila business for long, he decided to send his younger brother, Gobindram (GJ), to take care of the Honolulu store, which was renamed ‘East India Store’

GJ settled in Hawaii and, in 1922, married Ellen Jensen, an American music teacher. (IPAHawaii and Sharma)

Ellen’s sister, Elsie Jensen, traveled to Hawaii in 1928 to visit her. Elsie then started working at Watumull’s East India Store as a window display designer.

Watumull’s later commissioned Elsie to create hand-painted floral designs on silk for interior decoration. Her clothing designs would come later. (Honolulu)

During the following years, Jhamandas spent much time travelling looking for merchandise and visiting his family in Sind. Though he returned to Hawaii often, he could not make it his home as his wife Radhibai did not want to live in a foreign country.

The initial years in Hawaii were difficult and trying. As the first Indian businessmen in Hawaii, they faced many setbacks, discrimination and daunting immigration laws, including denial of citizenship to GJ although he was married to an American. His wife, Ellen, lost her American citizenship because she had married a British East Indian subject.

As time passed, the East India Store flourished, selling raw silk goods and ‘aloha shirts’ on the island, turning into a major department store, before eventually opening additional branch stores in Waikiki and the downtown Honolulu area.

They opened the Leilani Gift Shop, and introduced their coordinated Hawaiian wear for the entire family – men’s and boys’ shirts and women’s and girls’ muumuus in matching authentic island prints. The shop also sold Hawaiian gifts and souvenirs and imported goods from the Far East.

After the Partition of India in 1947, Jhamandas and his family left Sind and moved to Bombay, India. The family celebrated India’s independence in faraway Hawaii by serving refreshments at an extended Open House and offering a 10 per cent discount on all purchases at the Waikiki branch of the East India Store.

The proceeds of the day’s business were donated to Indian charities. Later the Watumulls helped install a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Kapiolani Park on Waikiki beach in Honolulu.

In 1954, there were a total of eight Watumull stores. Rejecting a consultant’s advice to change the “tourist-oriented” names of his stores like Leilani Gift Shop and focus on mainland-type goods, they opened more “tourist-oriented’ stores.

During the next 20 years, the number of stores increased to 29 and included East India Stores, Aloha Fashions, Malihini Gifts and Leilani Gift Shops.

The business became among the top 250 businesses of Hawai‘i. Over time, the Watumull stores have all closed down; one remains at the Ala Moana Center.

The Watumull family also set up several local philanthropic and educational institutions, including the Rama Watumull Fund, the J. Watumull Estate, and the Watumull Foundation.

The Watumulls are also involved in considerable charitable work in India — a hospital and an engineering college in Mumbai, a school in Pune and the funding of a Global Hospital in Mt. Abu. . (Lots of information here is from Hope, Honolulu, Watumull, Allen and Sharma.)

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East India Store window decorated for Indian independence-SAADA

Photograph of window display of one of the Watumull stores. Image credited to Salart Studios-SAADA

Gulab Watumull speaking with customers. Photo credited to Honolulu Star-Bulletin.-SAADA

Gulab Watumull, the son of Jhamandas Watumull-SAADA

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‘Watumull’s Might’ in Indian Home magazine-SAADA

Watumull’s Advertisement (1987)-SAADA

April 18, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Joe the Statue Worshipper

“Honolulu like other and larger cities, has its street characters. They are, fortunately, but few, which fact renders them perhaps all the more familiar to residents and noticeable to strangers.” (Thrum)

“Jose de Medeiros, 1880(?)-1932, popularly known as ‘Joe the Statue Worshipper,’ kept an almost daily vigil in front of the Honolulu statue for about 35 years. In tattered clothes he would shuffle back and forth in front of the South Iolani Palace gate.”

“Sometimes he would cross the street to stare fixedly at the statue and go through various obeisances.” (Adler)

He “began his strange veneration in 1896, when he was sixteen. Daily he would appear in early morning before the monument.”

“He would shuffle back and forth or stand in apparent rapture staring at the bronze figure. He would depart in late afternoon.” (The Bend Bulletin, August 19, 1932)

“Once a reporter asked him if he liked to see Kamehameha every day, and he answered: ‘He step down some day. Then I see him.’”

“Joe became a familiar sight to townspeople, many of whom gave him gifts of clothes or food or cigars.”

“Former Mayor John H. Wilson remembered seeing him in front of the statue as early as 1896. By 1930 Joe was missing from his usual post, and it turned out he was sick. He died in July, 1932.”

“How account for his strange behavior? As a child of two, Joe came to Honolulu in 1882 with his Portuguese immigrant parents on the Earl of Dalhousie, the same ship that brought the damaged original statue. He may have been influenced by the awed superstition of the immigrants toward it, or by remarks of his parents.” (Adler)

“Old Joe, who truly was one of the extraordinary characters of the Pacific, possessed an endurance record that put in the shade the activities or such persons as marathon dancers, pole sitters, pie-eating champions and the like.”

“He stood voluntary guard before the gilded statue of Kamehameha the Great in the plaza between ‘Iolani Palace and the Judiciary Building, Honolulu for thirty-four years.”

“As to way he stood there day after day, year after year, no one ever found out.”

“That was the mystery of Joe.”

“All that the oldest residents of Honolulu ever knew Joe to say was that ‘Someday he step down – then we talk.’ The ‘he’ was the great bronze Kamehameha effigy of the first of the line of Hawaiian kings, the ‘Napoleon o’ the Pacific’ who united the group in government and whose intellect was said to have been proportionate to his mighty stature of seven feet.”

“Kamehameha reigned about the time the American Colonies were setting their faces against kings in general.”

“The gilt statue of the great king stands today in the middle of Honolulu and is the tribute of this age to a man whose tactful efficiency made a true golden one of his reign a century and a half ago.”

“Hence, the legend rose that perhaps Joe Medeiros. Whose family came from the Azores, was the reincarnation of some far-wandering Portuguese seaman who landed in Hawaii when Kamehameha was king and remained there to live and love as his heart dictated.”

“Some, however, said that the reason poor Joe stood there before the statue was that he in his youth on the Island of Hawai‘i had been kicked on the head by a calf.”

“For some years, Riley H. Allen, Editor of The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, as a test of ingenuity, would send new members of the staff from the mainland to interview old Joe.”

“But with one exception, there was uniform failure.”

“Joe would accept a cigar or maybe a half dollar, regard the donor tolerantly and return to his ‘job.’”

“Old Joe lived with his sister in that section of Honolulu between the palace and the Ala Moana, and, contrary to general opinion, he never married. He was fifty-two years old.” (Noted within Goodrich)

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April 16, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Bishop Restarick Takes Over Episcopal Church

“Not only did (the influence of Captain Vancouver) with Kamehameha lead the latter to consider the possibility of England’s protective and developing hand in the future of the Islands, but he was also led to welcome Vancouver’s promise that upon his approaching return to England he would use his influence to have Christian teachers sent to the Islands.”

“Vancouver made an effort to fulfill this promise; but on his return he found England occupied with European troubles, and he himself died soon after.”

The Islands were not left entirely without the ministry of the Church. Vancouver had discovered an English chaplain, one John Howell, whom he could commend to Kamehameha along with Isaac Davis and John Young. However, Howell’s stay in the Islands proved brief; he left in 1795.

Other English chaplains visited the Islands from time to time and it was one of these who, early in the 19th Century, celebrated the first Christian marriage according to the form of the Episcopal Church between James Young, the second son of John Young, and a daughter of Isaac Davis.

Vancouver’s promise was not forgotten; in November, 1823, Liholiho (Kamehameha II) sailed for England one of his purposes was to remind George IV of the English promise. Unfortunately, he contracted measles and died in England before he had even seen King George.

Missionaries did come … American Protestant missionaries were the first to arrive (in 1820). Then, early in July 1827, there arrived at Honolulu the French ship La Comete with a band of Roman Catholic missionaries. In 1852, the desire for the Episcopal Church was still alive.

Admirable as these efforts were in ministering to the foreign residents of Honolulu and in maintaining interest in the Church, no really effective or permanent work could be done without a resident Bishop.

Then, the Rev. Thomas Nettleship Staley, fellow of Queen’s College, Oxford, and a tutor of St. Mark’s College, Chelsea, was consecrated on December 15, 1861, as Bishop for Honolulu.

Bishop Staley reached Honolulu on Saturday, October 11, 1862. The Mission inaugurated by Bishop Staley was almost immediately incorporated as the Hawaiian Reformed Catholic Church.

A continual source of encouragement to Bishop Staley was the steadfast devotion of Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma to the Mission. Confirmed on November 28, 1862, the sovereigns gave generously of their time and influence.

Not infrequently they were sponsors in Baptism, and the King prepared an Hawaiian translation of the Book of Common Prayer. He also rendered invaluable service in assisting Bishop Staley in the preparation and delivery of his sermons in Hawaiian. (Anglican History)

“The establishment here of the Reformed Catholic Church was one of the visionary schemes of the late R. C. Wyllie and never met with the cordial support of English or American Episcopalians for the main object appeared transparent from the first to be political rather than religious.” (Restarick) Finally, in 1870. after seven years of effort, Bishop Staley felt obliged to resign.

When Kamehameha IV died on St. Andrew’s Day, 1863, it seemed fitting that the proposed Cathedral should be erected in his memory and dedicated to St. Andrew. On March 5, 1867, Kamehameha V laid the cornerstone

Unfortunately, Bishop Staley’s return to England brought the work to an end with only the choir and tower foundations completed. Nothing further was done for about a decade.

The stone which had been sent out from England was allowed to remain crated on the ground. The congregation seemed satisfied to continue worshipping in the small frame Pro-Cathedral which had served them since 1866.

Failing to secure an American Bishop, the English authorities then turned to a successful parish priest, the Rev. Alfred Willis, who accepted the call and was consecrated February 2, 1872, in Lambeth Chapel. In 1901, Bishop Willis resigned as the Bishop of Honolulu.

Then, “On April 16, 1902, there flashed across the Pacific a message for the House of Bishops, then meeting, which read: ‘Transfer made. Good feeling prevails. Cathedral unified.’”

“‘Seldom better property or promise to start Missionary District. Movement to provide house for new Bishop. Young Bishop would rally young lay helpers. Disastrous to delay election.’”

“In response to this urgent appeal, there was elected the next day, as the first American Bishop of the Hawaiian Islands, the Rev. Henry Bond Restarick, then rector of St. Paul’s Church, San Diego, California.”

“This event, as intimated by the cablegram, was not the beginning of the Church in Hawaii. Something had gone before”. (Protestant Episcopal Church, Department of Missions, 1927)

In 1920, Bishop Restarick, having undergone two serious operations and being quite ill, determined to resign. The House of Bishops accepted his resignation and chose as his successor the Rev. John D. La Mothe. Bishop La Mothe was consecrated on June 29, 1921, in the Church of the Ascension, Baltimore, and arrived in Honolulu on August 16.

Initially the church was called the Hawaiian Reformed Catholic Church but the name would change in 1870 to the Anglican Church in Hawai‘i.

In 1902 it came under the Episcopal Church of the US. Initially the church was called the Hawaiian Reformed Catholic Church but the name would change in 1870 to the Anglican Church in Hawai‘i. In 1902 it came under the Episcopal Church of the US.

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