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May 17, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Train Terminal, Depot

Benjamin Franklin (Frank) Dillingham’s OR&L company, created in 1889, changed the landscape of west Honolulu. Its first train depot was created between a fishpond and North King Street, next to Prison Road, later renamed Iwilei Road.

The first section of track extended only as far as Aiea, but by the 1920s, tracks had been laid all over the island. The train was the primary mode of transportation. (Burlingame)

“Among the most important works now in progress of rapid construction, is the Oahu Railway to Pearl Harbor, which is already approaching completion, so far as grading is concerned.”

“Eleven miles of this line will have the grading completed in two weeks; and of this length ten miles are already finished. The material for the bridges is already on the ground, and the work of driving the piles has been begun at the larger estuaries of Kalihi and Moanalua.”

“A few of the bridges on this line will be of considerable length; but, with the present energy being displayed only a short time will elapse before the gaps in the line will all disappear.”

“Many of the smaller bridges and culverts have been already built. There will be altogether twenty bridges between Honolulu and Ewa, of various lengths—from 16 to 300 feet, with an aggregate length of 1250 feet.”

“Plans have been approved by which the main depot will be placed 180 feet from King street in what is now a fish-pond dividing Oahu prison from the royal stables.”

“A large portion, if not all of this extensive fish-pond will be filled in without delay, and this substantial and eligible building ground, artificially firmed, will become of great value by close proximity to the main depot buildings.”

“The depot itself will be of imposing size and made as ornamental in appearance as convenience and traffic requirements will allow. The grading of the whole division of this line, twelve miles, will be completed within the next month; and the laying of the rails will commence immediately upon their arrival by the bank Deutschland now nearly due from Germany.”

“The progress of this important work has been so rapid during the month of July that we give it first place among works in progress. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 27, 1889)

The inauguration of the OR&L rail service was November 16, 1889. (LOC)Eventually, the railroad ran west out of Honolulu to Waianae, around Kaena Point and on to Kahuku, and is significant in the development of the sugar industry on the island of Oahu.

As a result of the development of this rail line the lands of western and northern Oahu were able to be opened for the cultivation of sugar, with plantations started at Ewa, Waipahu, Waianae, Waialua, Kahuku and other areas. Besides freight, the OR&L also provided plantation workers with easy access to Honolulu. (NPS)

In 1924-1925, a new Depot was constructed to replace an earlier 1889 wooden terminal building, and was the main Honolulu rail terminal for OR&L’s passenger operations.

The building was designed by local architect Guy N. Rothwell. The contract to erect the terminal was officially given to the Hawaiian Contracting Company (a company that was owned by the Dillingham family), though much of the work was performed by OR&L’s in-house construction crews.

Upon completion, the building had dual functions, with the 2nd floor providing offices for the company’s daily railroad operations, and the 1st floor accommodating passengers. The 1st floor layout included a porte-cochere, a ticket office and lobby with a restaurant and bar, as well as a news stand.

The offices upstairs were occupied by OR&L’s president, general manager, superintendent and treasurer, as well as the station’s dispatcher.

Both floors also included spacious restrooms for travelers and employees. As soon as the building was completed, an extension was constructed on the north side, to accommodate the company’s growing freight department.

The railroad prospered until the 1930s when the advent of improved roadways led to its decline. The railway continued in operation through World War II, but in 1947 all operations outside of Honolulu were abandoned. (NPS)

The company continued to use Depot building as a terminal well after rail passenger operations ceased at the end of 1947. The property was acquired by the State of Hawaii in 1961. After OR&L moved off the premises eighteen months later the building was used as office space.

A 1975 renovation completely reconfigured the interior of the building for office use, and an elevator and expanded stairwell were added at an unknown date. Various state organizations have occupied the offices, with the current users being the Division of Accounting and General Services, Department of Human Services in the terminal building. (HABS)

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First day of operation Nov 16, 1889.
First day of operation Nov 16, 1889.
OR&L Railroad Depot 1890
OR&L Railroad Depot 1890
OR&L Honolulu Depot-1890
OR&L Honolulu Depot-1890
OR&L Railway Depot
OR&L Railway Depot
OR&L Railroad Yard, November 1941
OR&L Railroad Yard, November 1941
OR&L Railroad Depot
OR&L Railroad Depot
OR&L Railroad Station 1890
OR&L Railroad Station 1890
OR&L Honolulu Terminal Roundhouse-Adv
OR&L Honolulu Terminal Roundhouse-Adv
OR&L Honolulu Depot-1914
OR&L Honolulu Depot-1914
OR&L Honolulu Depot_1890
OR&L Honolulu Depot_1890
OR&L Alakea Street Honolulu
OR&L Alakea Street Honolulu
OR&L Honolulu
OR&L Honolulu
OR&L Honolulu Depot-1901
OR&L Honolulu Depot-1901
OR&L Station 325 N. King St. Honolulu, late 1940s
OR&L Station 325 N. King St. Honolulu, late 1940s
OR&L-Iwilei-map
OR&L-Iwilei-map
OR&L-Oahu-Map
OR&L-Oahu-Map
OR&L-Map
OR&L-Map

Filed Under: Economy, General, Buildings, Prominent People Tagged With: Hawaii, Oahu, Oahu Railway and Land Company, Benjamin Franklin Dillingham, OR&L

May 11, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hui Nalu

When Duke Kahanamoku, Kenneth Winter and William ‘Knute’ Cottrell decided to form a boat club, one of the names they initially came up with for it was the ‘Very Lazy Surfers.’ They later settled on ‘Hui Nalu’ (the club of the waves, or surf club.) (Davis)

The club was loosely organized in 1905 and officially formed in 1911. (Walker) (Others suggest it was formed in 1908.) Based at the Moana Hotel in Waikiki, swimming was the primary activity of the club in the early years; it expanded into surfing and canoe paddling.

They met daily under the hau tree near the Moana Hotel and used the hotel’s basement bathroom for a changing room. They decided that dues were one dollar per year. ‘It was a poor man’s club, but it was made up of dedicated surfers.’ (Kahanamoku; Davis) Membership was by election.

(Founded before (1908,) Outrigger Canoe Club had previously snubbed Duke Kahanamoku, but later asked him to join. He accepted the invitation in large part because his good friend, George ‘Dad’ Center.) (Davis)

(Outrigger, the world’s oldest surfing organization, was a social club, as well as an athletic club; membership was almost entirely foreign-born haole, or white, and the ranks contained an ever-growing number of nonathletic Honolulu businessmen.)

Composed primarily of surfers of full or partial Hawaiian blood. Hui Nalu was a longtime rival to the 1908-formed Outrigger Canoe Club, the world’s oldest surfing organization.

The Outrigger was a social club as well as an athletic club; membership was almost entirely foreign-born haole, or white, and the ranks contained an ever-growing number of nonathletic Honolulu businessmen. Membership to Hui Nalu, in contrast, was by election, and the club, while social in its own way, was for athletes only. (Walker)

In 1915, Hui Nalu surfers opened lucrative beach concession businesses in Waikīkī. Through these concessions, Hui Nalu surfers found regular and profitable work and became known as Waikīkī beachboys.

The beachboys were lifeguards, bodyguards, instructors, entertainers, and tour guides for visitors in Waikīkī. For a relatively high price, they took customers out into their Waikīkī surf to ride waves on canoes and surfboards.

One beachboy recalled, “[You] could make as much as five dollars a day. Oh, boy, was that big money. . . . We go out and catch three waves. But we fill the boat up with as much as six paying customers. Six dollars!”

By the late 1920s and early 1930s, the beachboy concession evolved into a bigger business, catering to higher-paying customers, as some beachboys became constant companions/tour guides for visiting families and made very good money.

Louis Kahanamoku explained, “Us boys would go down the ship. And we’d buy leis for them. . . . We come out of there, twenty, thirty, forty bucks by the time we got out”. (Walker)

By the end of 1946, the two main original Waikiki surf clubs had changed considerably. The native Hui Nalu had limited its activities mostly to outrigger canoe racing.

The haole-influenced Outrigger Canoe Club had become more of an exclusive prestige-type establishment, “with a wide range of social and athletic interests.”

So, in 1947, the Waikiki Surf Club was formed for the same reasons that the other two had originally been put together. “Its purpose,” wrote surfing historian Ben Finney, “was to promote surfing as well as other Hawaiian water sports.”

“It provided board lockers and clothes changing facilities near the beach, for anyone who could pay the small initiation fee and monthly dues.” (Ian Lind)

Today, members of Hui Nalu O Hawai‘i share the vision ‘To come together as a family who shares and cares’ and mission ‘To promote and provide educational and personal achievement opportunities which
strengthen family, community and individual relationships’.

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Hui_Nalu-shirt image
Hui_Nalu-shirt image
Hui Nalu-1915
Hui Nalu-1915
Hui Nalu-1920
Hui Nalu-1920
Kahanamoku_and_the_Hui_Nalu_Club
Kahanamoku_and_the_Hui_Nalu_Club
Kahanamoku Brothers
Kahanamoku Brothers
Hui Nalu-trophies
Hui Nalu-trophies
Hui Nalu Cofounder Dude Miller-1921
Hui Nalu Cofounder Dude Miller-1921

Filed Under: Economy, General, Prominent People Tagged With: Hawaii, Waikiki, Canoe, Surfing, Duke Kahanamoku, Surf, Hui Nalu

May 10, 2017 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Cannery

French confectioner, Nicholas Appert, published the methods for preserving meats, vegetables, and fruits in glass jars in 1810. He had discovered that the application of heat to food in sealed glass bottles preserved the food from deterioration.

A British patent on the preservation of foods in tinplated cans and glass jars was issued to Peter Durand, a colleague of Appert, in 1810 and gave rise to the name ‘canning.’

Canning is the process in which foods are placed in jars or cans and heated to a temperature that destroys microorganisms and inactivates enzymes. This heating and later cooling forms a vacuum seal. The vacuum seal prevents other microorganisms from recontaminating the food within the jar or can. (Nummer)

A canning industry was established in Baltimore in 1819 and by 1850, five canning companies existed that mainly processed oysters. However, until relatively late in the 19th century, canned commodities remained beyond the reach of all but the wealthy and government troops on campaigns, ie the Civil War.

Baltimore became the canning center of America. Pineapple, initially imported from the Bahamas and later also from Cuba, was first canned there in 1865.

The fruits were of poor quality because they were picked green to reduce rotting during the 25- to 30-day sailing trip from the Bahamas. However, green pineapples “degreen,” but the quality and flavor only diminish with storage time.

Initially, the Baltimore pineapple canning industry was small because all work was done by hand. Machinery developed around 1870 to 1900 that could core, slice, and shred pineapples helped the industry to grow.

The ring-shaped slices so characteristic of premium canned pineapple originated in the Baltimore canneries and mechanical slicers were particularly popular with canners. (Bartholomew)

The earliest record of pineapple being canned in Hawaii was when the Kona Fruit Preserving Co., founded in 1882 in North Kona by John Douglas Ackerman and Waldemar Muller, sent samples of canned pineapple to Honolulu.

The fruit was reported to be of excellent flavor. However, the business apparently was unprofitable and only survived a few months.

The basis for the modern Hawaii pineapple canning industry was begun when John Kidwell, a trained horticulturist, arrived in Honolulu from San Francisco in 1882 and established a nursery in Manoa Valley.

Kidwell was encouraged by Charles Henson, a local horticulturist and fruit broker, to grow pineapples because he liked to include a few fresh pineapples in his banana shipments to the U.S. mainland.

In 1885, Kidwell started a pineapple farm with locally available plants, but their fruit was of poor quality. That prompted him to search for better cultivars.

A report in The Florida Agriculturist about ‘Smooth Cayenne’, a pre-Columbian cultivar first collected in French Guyana, prompted the importation of 12 plants. ‘Smooth Cayenne’ proved to be the best to grow and can.

The “development of the (Hawaiian) pineapple industry is founded on his selection of the Smooth Cayenne variety and on his conviction that the future lay in the canned product, rather than in shipping the fruit in the green state.” (Canning Trade; Hawkins)

The commercial Hawaiian pineapple canning industry began in 1889 when Kidwell’s business associate, John Emmeluth, a Honolulu hardware merchant and plumber, produced commercial quantities of canned pineapple.

Emmeluth refined his pineapple canning process between 1889 and 1891, and around 1891 packed and shipped 50 dozen cans of pineapple to Boston, 80 dozen to New York, and 250 dozen to San Francisco.

The test product was well received, but the profit margin was slim and he lost money because of the 35% duty on processed fruit imports to the United States. Kidwell and Emmeluth established the Hawaii Fruit and Packing Company in 1892 and built a small cannery.

The business was closed and the cannery was sold to the Pearl City Fruit Company after the 1898 season because the crushing tariffs and high shipping costs made the venture unprofitable. (Bartholomew)

One of the last laws passed by the Legislative Assembly before the overthrow had been an act to encourage the cultivation, canning, and preserving of pineapples in an attempt to diversify the economy away from sugar.

For a period of ten years after 1892, all tools, machinery, appliances, buildings, and all other personal property used in the cultivation, canning, or preserving of pineapples and held for export had been exempted from all taxes.

Furthermore, all tools, machinery, or appliances to be used exclusively in canning or preserving pineapples for export, or for the manufacture of containers for the same, and also all containers for use in connection therewith and the material for making them, could be imported into Hawai’i free of duty for ten years.

Kidwell was appointed the manager of the Hawaiian Fruit & Packing Company. The company’s cannery eventually had a capacity of ten thousand cans per day.

According to Kidwell, he received testimony from his customers that no other canned pineapples put on the American market came near to his in quality. (Hawkins)

In 1893 there were 13 pineapple growers, mostly on Oahu, with almost 400,000 plants in the ground and most fruits went to the fresh market. In 1897, almost 158,000 fruits were exported to the U.S. mainland. Production declined after 1897 and by 1901 no data on pineapple fresh fruit exports were collected.

Several events occurred in 1898 that facilitated the development of the new pineapple canning industry. First, the annexation of Hawaii in that year resulted in the revocation of the 35% duty on Hawaiian canned pineapple.

Second, the Republic of Hawaii legislature passed a law that made some 1,300 acres of government land near Wahiawa available for homesteading once a pasture lease expired.

In addition, Byron O Clark, Territorial Commissioner of the Board of Agriculture and Forestry, helped bring 13 southern California families to Wahiawa to homestead the land made available under the new law.

These early migrants and James Dole, who arrived in 1899, formed the nucleus of what would eventually become the largest pineapple industry in the world. (Lots of information here is from Bartholomew, Hawkins.)

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Hawaiian Pineapple Company Canning Lines, Honolulu, O‘ahu, 1958
Hawaiian Pineapple Company Canning Lines, Honolulu, O‘ahu, 1958
Women at Dole Pineapple Cannery
Women at Dole Pineapple Cannery
Pineapple-Cannery
Pineapple-Cannery
Pineapple fileds-1940
Pineapple fileds-1940
Libbyville-CrossroadsOfThePacific-1913
Libbyville-CrossroadsOfThePacific-1913
Girls at Dole Pineapple Cannery
Girls at Dole Pineapple Cannery
Ginaca machines Dole Cannery-DOLE-ASME
Ginaca machines Dole Cannery-DOLE-ASME
Ginaca machines cut cylinders out of pineapples, core them and remove that fruit
Ginaca machines cut cylinders out of pineapples, core them and remove that fruit
Ginaca machine Dole Cannery-Dole-ASME
Ginaca machine Dole Cannery-Dole-ASME
Dole_Pineapple_Cannery-Aerial-1940
Dole_Pineapple_Cannery-Aerial-1940
Dole_Pineapple_Cannery-(vic-&-becky)-1955
Dole_Pineapple_Cannery-(vic-&-becky)-1955
Dole_Cannery-Life-1937
19640816 - Fresh pineapple is sorted and packed at Dole's packing shed. SB BW photo by Photo Hawaii.
19640816 – Fresh pineapple is sorted and packed at Dole’s packing shed. SB BW photo by Photo Hawaii.
Dole Pineapple Cannery-HnlMag
Dole Pineapple Cannery-HnlMag
Dole Pineapple Cannery-girls
Dole Pineapple Cannery-girls
Dole Pineapple Cannery-cans
Dole Pineapple Cannery-cans
Dole Pineapple Cannery-canning
Dole Pineapple Cannery-canning
Dole Pineapple Cannery
Dole Pineapple Cannery
Dole Cannery pineapple water tank. Built in 1928, it was a Honolulu landmark until it was demolished in 1993
Dole Cannery pineapple water tank. Built in 1928, it was a Honolulu landmark until it was demolished in 1993
cannery-(kapalua-com)
cannery-(kapalua-com)
Bins filled with pineapple were unloaded from the trucks (steam cranes were still used through the 1960s)-(LCHC)
Bins filled with pineapple were unloaded from the trucks (steam cranes were still used through the 1960s)-(LCHC)
American_Can_Company-1920-WC
American_Can_Company-1920-WC

Filed Under: Economy, General, Prominent People Tagged With: James Dole, Pineapple, Hawaiian Fruit and Plant Company, John Kidwell, Smooth Cayenne, John Emmeluth, Hawaii, John Douglas Ackerman, Del Monte, Waldemar Muller, Libby, Hawaiian Pineapple Company

May 6, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Entourage

On November 27, 1823, L’Aigle, an English whaling ship under the command of Captain Valentine Starbuck, on which Kamehameha II (Liholiho), Kamāmalu, and their entourage traveled to England to gain firsthand experience in European ways.

The king and his chiefs agreed that Liholiho needed a competent interpreter to travel with him, and they asked Starbuck to permit the Englishman William Ellis and his family to join the royal suite. Starbuck adamantly and persistently refused. Frenchman John Rives went as interpreter.

Liholiho’s chosen party were Governor Boki and his wife, Liliha, Kapihe, Chief Kekuanaoa, steward Manuia, Naukana (Noukana), Kauluhaimalama, servant Na‘aiweuweu, and James Kanehoa Young. (Corley)

Boki was the son of Kekuamanoha, a chief of Maui (but it was rumored that he was the son of Kahekili II.) His original name was Kamaʻuleʻule; his nickname came from a variation on Boss, the name of the favorite dog of Kamehameha I.

His older brother, Kalanimōkū, was prime minister and formerly Kamehameha’s most influential advisor. His aunt was the powerful Kaʻahumanu, queen regent and Kamehameha’s favorite wife.

King Kamehameha II appointed Boki as governor of Oʻahu and chief of the Waiʻanae district. John Dominis Holt III said Boki was “a man of great charisma who left his mark everywhere he went.”

Boki married Chiefess Kuini Liliha; Liliha was the daughter of Kalaniulumoku II (some say Koakanu was her father) and Loeau, who were themselves full blooded brother and sister (children of Kalaniulumoku I and his own mother the venerable kapu chiefess Kalanikuiokikilo.)

This makes Liliha a niaupio child, a chiefess of the highest possible princely rank in the system of Hawaiian chiefs. She was hānai (adopted) daughter of Ulumāheihei (Hoapili). (Kekoolani)

Ulumāheihei’s father, High Chief Kameʻeiamoku, was one of the “royal twins” who helped Kamehameha I come to power – the twins are on the Islands’ coat of arms – Kameʻeiamoku is on the right (bearing a kahili,) his brother, Kamanawa is on the left, holding a spear.

Kapihe (Naihekukui) “was very intelligent, had an excellent memory, and spoke English tolerably. He was remarkably skillful in the game of draughts (Kōnane,) which he played with uniform success.” (Byron)

He was son of the chief Hanakāhi and also known as Jack the Pilot or Captain Jack. He had been the pilot for the Russian explorer Golovnin in 1818 and piloted Freycinet from Kailua Bay to Kawaihae in August 1819. (Birkett) Lord Byron referred to him as ‘Admiral.’

Kekūanāoʻa’s name (literally, the standing projections) is said to refer to ships’ masts seen in the harbor when Kekūanāoʻa was born. (Pukui) (Some claim Kekūanāoʻa to be the son of Ki‘ilaweau, the grandson of Alapaʻi, King of Hawai‘i, and the Chiefess Kaho‘owaha of Moana. (Kapi‘ikauinamoku))

“As a young man he was a favorite and attendant of the declining years of Kamehameha I. With Liholiho he was a punahele, or intimate attendant and friend, and in that capacity accompanied the Royal party to England”.

Kekūanāoʻa married Pauahi, formerly a wife of Liholiho. They had a daughter, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani. In 1827, Kīnaʻu, daughter of Kamehameha, became Kekūanāoʻa’s wife. Kīnaʻu and Kekūanāoʻa had five children: Prince David Kamehameha (who died as a child;) Prince Moses Kekūāiwa (who died in 1848;) Prince Lot Kapuāiwa (Kamehameha V); Prince Alexander Liholiho (Kamehamhea IV) and Princess Victoria Kamāmalu.

Boki’s younger cousin, Manuia, was in command of Fort Kekuanohu, of the fortified hill of Punchbowl and the harbor of Kou, and Boki made him Chief Marshall with power over life and death. He an Boki later set up grog shops at Honolulu.

Naukana (Noukana) was son of Kamanawa (one of the twins on the Islands’ coat of arms – and one of Kamehameha’s four Kona Uncles who helped him rise to control all of the Islands.)

Kauluhaimalama was son of Kekūhaupiʻo. Hawai‘i Island ruling chief Kalaniʻōpuʻu instructed Kekūhaupiʻo to teach Kamehameha the ancient martial arts of the land. Kekūhaupiʻo was determined to give all his knowledge to his chiefly pupil, and he indeed did so. This brought about the firm bond between Kekūhaupiʻo and the young Kamehameha.

Kekūhaupiʻo is arguably the one man most closely connected to Kamehameha I during Kamehameha’s formative years, while he developed his skills as a warrior, and through the early period of Kamehameha’s conquests.

“Kanehoa Young, the second son of John Young, was about the same age as Liholiho, had traveled widely throughout the world, and spoke English.” (Corley)

John Young, a boatswain on the British fur trading vessel, Eleanora, was stranded on the Island of Hawai‘i in 1790. Kamehameha brought Young to Kawaihae, where he was building the massive temple, Pu’ukoholā Heiau.

For the next several years, John Young, and another British sailor, Isaac Davis, went on to assist Kamehameha in his unification of the Hawaiian Islands.

Because of his knowledge of European warfare, Young is said to have trained Kamehameha and his men in the use of muskets and cannons. In addition, both Young and Davis fought alongside Kamehameha in his many battles.

With these powerful new weapons and associated war strategy, Kamehameha eventually brought all of the Hawaiian Islands under his rule.

In London, Liholiho and Kamāmalu became ill. It is believed they probably contracted the measles on their visit to the Royal Military Asylum (now the Duke of York’s Royal Military School.) Virtually the entire royal party developed measles within weeks of arrival, 7 to 10 days after visiting the Royal Military Asylum housing hundreds of soldiers’ children.

Kamāmalu (aged 22) died on July 8, 1824. The grief-stricken Kamehameha II (age 27) died six days later, on July 14, 1824. Prior to his death he asked to return and be buried in Hawai‘i.

Kapihe was the only one of the followers who had suffered from the disorder in a degree at all equal to the king and queen. Boki and Kekūanāoʻa rapidly recovered; and Kapihe soon grew better.

Shortly thereafter, the British Government dispatched HMS Blonde to convey the bodies of Liholiho and Kamāmalu back to Hawaii, along with the entourage. The Captain of the Blonde, a newly commissioned 46-gun frigate, was Lord Byron (a cousin of the poet.) The Blonde arrived back in Honolulu on May 6, 1825.

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Their_Majesties_King_Rheo_Rhio,_Queen_Tamehamalu,_Madame_Poke
Their_Majesties_King_Rheo_Rhio,_Queen_Tamehamalu,_Madame_Poke

Filed Under: Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Prominent People, Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks Tagged With: Kamamalu, Kalaniopuu, Isaac Davis, Ulumaheihei, Princess Ruth Keelikolani, Kamehameha, Kameeiamoku, Lot Kapuiwa, John Young, Eleanora, Kamanawa, Four Kona Uncles, Kekuanaoa, Pauahi, Victoria Kamamalu, Kekuhaupi, David Kamehameha, Manuia, Alexander Liholiho, Kinau, Naukana, Fort Kekuanohu, Moses Kekuaiwa, Noukana, Kaahumanu, Liliha, Kauluhaimalama, Kalanimoku, Naihekukui, Naaiweuweu, Boki, Liholiho, James Kanehoa Young, Hoapili, Kapihe, Hawaii, Kekuamanoha

May 5, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kapiʻolani Breast Cancer

“Kapiʻolani was born at Hilo, Hawaii, in the year 1781. She came into the world at a time when Kamehameha was engaged in his struggle for the conquest of Hawaii. It was not until she was fourteen years old that, for the first time in Hawaiian history, there ruled over all the islands, except Kauai, one king; and Kauai was soon to fall under the sway of the mighty Kamehameha.”

“Her father was Keawemauhili, one of the very highest chiefs known to the heralds. He was half-brother of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, king of the island of Hawaii.”

“The earliest incident on record of Kapiʻolani is her narrow escape from death, as a baby in arms, at the time of Kamehameha’s contest with the chiefs of Hilo. The little girl’s guardians, fleeing from the battle, in order to hasten their flight, threw her into a clump of bushes.”

“The story of her rescue, by an old native chronicler, tells that a certain man, named Ha‘aiawi, “passing that way, heard the voice of a child crying. He stood to listen, and being assured of the child’s voice, he drew near and looked, and behold there was his chiefess in the bushes, deserted by her guardians. His compassion was aroused and he hurriedly grasped the child and fled to the mountains.” (Morris)

“Kapiʻolani was one or the most distinguished of the female chiefs of the Islands. She was the wife of Naihe, a high chief on the island of Hawaii, who was an early convert, and became one of the most influential Christian chiefs, and one of the ablest counsellors of the missionaries.”

“The conversion of Kapiʻolani, and her elevation in character, is perhaps one of the most delightful instances of the results of missionary labour.” (Lucy Thurston)

“She told the missionaries she had come to strengthen their hearts and help them in their work. They rejoiced in the salutary influence which she exerted in favor of education and reform, an influence felt at once and happily continued when she had returned home.” (Bingham)

“Kapiʻolani was early converted to the truth, – applied herself to study, – readily adopted the manners and usages of civilized life, – and soon became distinguished for devoted piety, for intelligence, and for dignity of manners.”

“She took a bold stand against the vices and superstitions of her people, and exerted a decided influence in favour of Christianity.” (Thurston)

She won the cause of Christianity by openly defying the priests of the fire goddess Pele in 1825. In spite of their threats of vengeance she ascended the volcano Mauna-Loa, then clambered down to the great lake of fire – Kilauea – the home of the goddess, and flung into the boiling lava the consecrated ohelo berries which it was sacrilege for a woman to handle. (Tennyson)

Kapiʻolani, for more than a year before her death, suffered from breast cancer. “She came to Honolulu about the 20th of March by the advice of Dr. Andrews her Physician to be operated on”.

“It lasted about half an hour, and the ordeal was endured by this heroic woman without a tremor. During the course of the operation, Dr. Judd asked her if it pained. She replied, ‘It does pain, but I have fixed my mind on Christ, thinking of his pain on the Cross for me, and I am thereby enabled to endure.’” (Morris, Thrum)

“She bore the operation, which was severe, without manifesting the least symptom of pain. Her breast as she afterwards expressed it was with Jesus …”

“… and so vivid was her sense of the Divine presence that she seemed to be almost unconscious of what she was suffering. She was ready to die, and equally ready to live if that were the will of God.” (Judd, Report to Sandwich Islands Mission, 1840-1841)

“Both Dr Woodd & Dr Fox surgeon of the Vincennes united in opinion with me that the disease was removed & we might expect a perfect cure.”

“The wound healed kindly & at the end of a fortnight was really closed. She attended meetings & at the Poalima was very animated in her arguments with her sisters on the subject of their old superstitions about ghosts and pule ana‘ana which she had determined to refute as long as her life should be spared her.”

“About six weeks after the operation deeming my attendance no longer necessary I gave her permission to visit Maui as soon as she could procure a passage, and in preparation for leaving she took a long walk in the heat of the day which brought on a pain in the side.”

“The next day Apl 29th she visited each of the missionaries at their houses including those from other islands. Erysipelous now made its appearance which after two or three days by Metastasis affected the brain and she sunk away into palsy (paralysis with involuntary tremors)”. (Judd, Report to Sandwich Islands Mission, 1840-1841)

“The day before her death, those around the bed asked her, ‘To whom shall we attach ourselves if you die?’ meaning what chief should they follow. She replied, ‘Follow Jesus Christ.’”

“Thinking she had misunderstood, the question was repeated, but she again made the same answer. Kapiʻolani died about 11 am on May 5, 1841.” (Morris; Thrum) In communicating the intelligence, Mr. Forbes writes: ‘The nation has lost one of its brightest ornaments.’”

“’She was confessedly the most decided Christian, the most civilized in her manners, and the most thoroughly read in her Bible, of all the chiefs this nation ever had, and her equal in those respects is not left in the nation. Her last end was one of peace, and gave decided evidence that your missionaries have not laboured in vain.” (Thurston)

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Filed Under: Prominent People, Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings Tagged With: Hawaii, Kapiolani, Missionaries, Keawemauhili, Christianity, Naihe

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