Prominent People | Page 151 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 16, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mary Hannah Krout

“Learning that a revolution was imminent in the Hawaiian Islands, she induced her editor to send her to Honolulu. She would have been the only special correspondent upon the ground at the time of the Queen’s disposition; but two days before she was to set out, she made a misstep and broke her foot.”

“This postponed her departure until the revolution was an accomplished fact. But eventually, with the foot in a silicate cast and on crutches, she made the journey, reached Honolulu safely, and remained until the American flag was hauled down from the government building – a ceremonial of which she was an eyewitness …”

“(S)he was at once placed in personal communication with the heads of the government, even Queen Liliʻuokalani giving her an audience.” (Hawaiian Gazette, December 24, 1901)

“When I visited the Islands first, in 1893, I went prejudiced in favour of the natives, deeply sympathising with them because they had been dispossessed of their lawful possessions.”

“A careful and conscientious study of the situation on the spot led me to change my views absolutely, and I perceived that whatever had been done had been done of necessity and with wisdom and forbearance.” (Krout)

Mary Hannah Krout was born on November 3, 1851 in Crawfordsville, Indiana, daughter of Robert Kennedy Krout and Caroline VanCleve Brown Krout. She was the oldest of eight children, and after their mother died early in Mary’s life, they were raised by their strict father.

Mary Hannah Krout traveled the world at a time when women stayed home and tended the hearth, but she always returned to her family on West College Street in Crawfordsville. (Turchin)

Mary became one of the leading feminists in Indiana, perhaps in reaction against the strict social structure that she and her other sisters were forced to follow by her father.

She was educated in Crawfordsville, first in subscription schools, then in Crawfordsville public schools. Like many women of her time, Mary Hannah chose teaching as a career and taught in the Crawfordsville schools for about a dozen years.

But her passion was for journalism, a field almost completely closed to women in the 1800s, except for occasional articles on homemaking and other feminine pursuits. First writing for area newspapers while she was still teaching, in 1879 she got a job on the Crawfordsville Journal and contributed to Indianapolis and Cincinnati papers.

On the Journal, besides reporting, she wrote a gossip column under the pseudonym “Heinrich Karl,” a lively, perhaps libelous account of Crawfordsville people and their activities, which was also sold to other papers.

In 1881 she became associate editor, and in 1882 was hired as editor by the Terre Haute Express. Long hours eventually forced a partial retirement during which she kept writing, but was unable to work at a job.

Krout’s career took a great leap forward in 1886 when she began a ten-year affiliation with the Chicago Inter-Ocean, presumably as a result of her position as a writer for the Chicago Interior.

The Inter-Ocean was a weekly paper delivered by mail via the transcontinental railroad across the country. For about forty years beginning in 1872, the paper was a definitive source of business news to subscribers throughout the American west. (Turchi)

That paper sent her to Hawaiʻi to cover the installation of the new provincial government. This led to her first book, Hawai‘i and a Revolution, in 1898, and later, two biographies of prominent Hawaiian women. In 1900, Alice’s Visit to the Hawaiian Islands (an ‘imaginary journey’ through the Islands) was published.

After an extended trip to New Zealand, Tasmania and Australia, “In 1895, Miss Krout was sent to London, where she remained nearly three years as staff correspondent of the Inter-Ocean … she saw London as few American women have ever seen it.”

“She was received not only be exclusive English nobility, but by artists, writers, musicians, men and women identified with the universities and worldwide philanthropic work.”

“In 1899, this noted correspondent went to China for a syndicate of newspapers, collecting data mainly relating to the commercial relations of that empire with the United States. “

“From Peking she made a journey into the interior with the wife of the Rev Mr Gamwell, one of the heroes of the siege of the British consulate. On this journey the two women, accompanied only by their native servants, penetrated the very fastnesses of the Boxer country, which was then even in a state of ferment.”

“When asked ‘if the demands of her profession had not overtaxed her strength,’ she replied: ‘On the contrary, I left the position of teacher a nervous wreck.”

“Engaged in a profession to which I felt myself adapted, and even the drudgery of which I loved, my physical condition steadily improved, until I am now in robust health, and good, I hope, for active duty for many years to come.’”

“Asked what she considered to be the chief essentials of good newspaper work, she said: ‘Energy in the doing, a knowledge of what is wanted, and accuracy – accuracy before all else, for, no matter how cleverly a statement may be put, one error invalidates the whole, and it is labor lost.’” (Hawaiian Gazette, December 24, 1901)

“She has an affection for Hawaii strengthened by several visits, and a great many residents here who know her personally are very anxious to make her present stay a permanent one.” (Hoosier State Chronicles, April 2, 1900)

“In my account of the political changes that have occurred, I have had occasion to criticise Mr. Cleveland and his personal representative, Mr. Blount, with some severity, and in defence of my statements I will merely say that much that I have written I saw; the rest is a matter of public knowledge”. (Krout, January 9, 1898)

It had been said, and truthfully, that the greatest influence of the 20th century would be the influence of educated women an influence which civilization had never yet felt.”

“The pupils of the Kamehameha Schools had been preparing themselves for the new duties which changed conditions ordained. The times had changed, and, in the highest and best sense, they were changing with them.” (Krout; Advertiser, October 20, 1907)

“The Hawaiian race had produced great women, who, in their natural qualifications, were equal to the greatest women rulers of Europe – Kapiʻolani, Kaʻahumanu, Kīnaʻu and Bernice Pauahi Bishop (Krout wrote a book, Memoirs of Hon. Bernice Pauahi Bishop.) There would be yet others, whose work and influence would be a blessing to the land and to the people.” (Krout; Advertiser, October 20, 1907)

She never married, but had no lack of suitors and never exhibited the appearance of the daring woman traveler she was. At the same time, she lectured whenever possible on women’s suffrage, in America, in England, in New Zealand, China and Hawai‘i. (Carnegie Museum)

Between 1898 and 1910, seven of her books were published. Krout died on May 27, 1927 at Crawfordsville, Indiana. (Lots of information here is from Carnegie Museum and Turchi.)

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Mary Hannah Krout

August 14, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Moreno Episode

Celso Caesar Moreno, a professional lobbyist well known in Sacramento and Washington, DC, arrived in Honolulu on the China Merchant Steam Navigation Company’s ship ‘Ho-chung’ in November 1879.

One week later, he invited King Kalākaua, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Royal Chamberlain aboard the steamer to meet Fan Yau Ki, a wealthy Chinese industrialist. Moreno presented four proposals to the King.

First, the Chinese company planned to establish a line of steamers between China and Honolulu, and later expand to California and Peru with the idea of securing a large share of the passenger traffic between there and China.

Another of Moreno’s schemes was the laying of an ocean cable to connect the American and Asian continents. While he succeeded in getting a cable act passed by Congress in 1876, he did not get sufficient financial backing in the US.

The third plan was the liberalization of Hawai‘i’s strict opium laws. He advocated making Honolulu the opium processing and distribution center for the whole Pacific.

Finally, Moreno proposed a $10-million loan, half the funds would be spent in building forts and warships; $3-million would be used to buy gold and silver bullion to be converted into a national coinage; and the rest would be used to build hospitals, schools, harbor improvements, etc. (Hsiao-ping Huang)

“He won the entire confidence and admiration of the King by endorsing as sound wisdom all the royal views and theories of government. … He filled the King’s mind with dreams of navies and forts and armies and power.”

“(O)n August 14, 1880, King Kalakaua dissolved his then Cabinet and appointed another comprising: Edward Hush, Minister of the Interior; Caesar Celso Moreno, Minister of Foreign Affairs; M. Kuaea, Minister of Finance, and WC Jones, Attorney General.”

“This action, which popular opinion looked upon as unprecedented, unwarranted and inimical, caused great excitement and indignation. There were meetings and demonstrations by the people.”

“The American and British Ministers declined to have anything to do with the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was considered to be disreputable and incapable.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, March 22, 1901)

“The abdication of the King, the crowning of Queen Emma, annexation to the United States, the lynching of Moreno, were as openly discussed on the streets …. Business was nearly suspended. The feeling against the King and the new Cabinet was unanimous, among all classes of the community.”

“Queen Dowager Emma was very active in a social way, showing herself everywhere and being everywhere received with enthusiasm, in which the American element for the first time joined. She gave parties and balls a number of times during the excitement, but seemed to take no overt part in the proceedings outside.” (Comly; Kuykendall)

“If there had been any doubt as to public opinion on the matter of Ministerial appointments, that doubt must have been put at rest with any person present at the meeting at Kaumakapili last Monday evening.”

“Before dark the streets were full of men thronging towards that corner of town, and at half past seven, the great building was packed full, and the windows crowded. Outside was a dense mass of people trying to catch word or sign from within.”

“A few words from the Chair, explained the object of the meeting to be, for the purpose of expressing public opinion upon the action of His Majesty in removing a Cabinet which had by vote received the endorsement of the Legislative Assembly, and appointing in place thereof, others not so well known, and particularly one CC Moreno, an alien unknown to the public.”

“Mr. Dole then with a short and vigorous speech offered the following resolution, condemning the action of His Majesty as contrary to the traditions of the Government and the spirit of the Constitution,. His remarks were greeted with applause from all parts of the house:”

“Whereas, His Majesty Kalākaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands has arbitrarily and without cause dissolved the late Ministerial Cabinet while they bid the confidence of the Legislative Assembly and of the country at large, and has appointed in their stead a Ministry Including one Celso C Moreno, a stranger and foreign adventurer …”

“… who has identified himself with interests hostile to the prosperity of the Hawaiian Kingdom and who has neither the confidence nor respect of the community nor of the Representatives of Foreign Powers as Minister of Foreign Affairs;

“Be it resolved – That His Majesty has thereby acted inconsistently with the principles of the Hawaiian Government as a Constitutional Monarchy as established and handed down by the Kamehamehas and their successor Lunalilo …”

“… and that his action therein is hostile to the permanence of Hawaiian Independence, the perpetuity of the Hawaiian race and the security of life, liberty and property In the Hawaiian Islands.”

“Loud calls for the question here arose, and the resolution in both English and Hawaiian was then slowly and distinctly read, and on the vote being called for by a show of hands, the house became one vast forest of uplifted arms.”

“The call for the negative was responded to with not over twenty-five or thirty hands, and the resolution was declared to be adopted by an almost unanimous vote.” (Hawaiian Gazette, August 18, 1880)

“(T)he King sent a messenger with an urgent request that (James M Comly, Minister Resident of the United States in Hawai‘i) would come to the palace and consult with him.”

“(Comly) said to him: ‘Your Majesty, I have no personal affair with Mr. Moreno. He is nothing to me personally, one way or another. I found him abusing the confidence of yourself and people by false pretenses, and I brought you the proofs that he was a false pretende(r) and a dangerous adventurer — that is all.” (Comly; Kuykendall)

On August 17, 1880, Comly received a note from Kalākaua stating, “‘Mr Moreno has resigned his portfolio and I have accepted his resignation.’”

Comly then approached a gathering and noted, “‘Gentlemen – I am authorized to say to you that His Majesty, entirely of his own volition, has dismissed Mr. Moreno from the Ministry.’”

“The whole house rose, and cheer after cheer burst forth, with cries of ‘Long live the King!’ ‘Three cheers for Kalākaua!’ and the like. I was informed that the uproar was kept up some minutes. …”

“A committee of 13 ‘solid men’ was appointed to convey the thanks of the people to the King.” (Comly; Kuykendall) (The next day, John E Bush, Minister of the Interior, was appointed to act as Minister of Foreign Affairs ad interim.)

“(Kalākaua) still held (Moreno) in favor, and secretly sent him abroad with a commission as Minister to the United States and every court in Europe.”

“Moreno took with him three Hawaiian youths to be educated in Italian schools. One of these, Robert Wilcox, is the Delegate at Washington. Another, Robert Boyd, … living in Honolulu and active in Honolulu politics. The third, Booth, died abroad.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, March 22, 1901)

Some suggest Moreno helped ignite the flame of ambition in Kalākaua’s quest in forming a Polynesia Confederacy, a failed effort launched by Walter Murray Gibson for Kalākaua.

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Caesar_Celso_Moreno

August 10, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mr Smith

It’s not clear when or why his middle and last names were hyphenated to give him a new last name; his father had the same name, but was identified as “Smith, John Mott, Rev Prof” in the Wesleyan University Alumni Record (1881-3) (where he was listed as former faculty.)

The father, professor of Latin and Greek, was the first to be buried in the Wesleyan ‘College Cemetery.’ A Methodist preacher, a sermon of his, ‘The Kingdom,’ was posthumously published; it was attributed as ‘Rev John M Smith’s Sermon.’

When the son died, his widow (and executor of his estate) was identified as Ellen Dominis Smith. His children generally carried the ‘Smith’ last name, as well.

Never-the-less, Hawai‘i’s first royal dentist and last royal ambassador was commonly known as John Mott-Smith. (Gibson) So, we’ll call him what others called him in the Islands.

John Mott-Smith was born in New York City November 13, 1824 (his mother was Amada Day Smith.) Although not schooled in dentistry, Mott-Smith borrowed a book from a friend who was attending dental school and passed the exams to set up a practice in Albany, New York.

Then, “He was among the first in the great migration from the Eastern States to California in 1849, when the news of the great gold discoveries caused one of the greatest stirs of the century. For two years he shared the vicissitudes of the California pioneers, and in 1851 came to Honolulu”. (Evening Bulletin, August 10, 1895)

“Dr Mott Smith in 1859 married Miss Ellen Dominis Paty, a daughter of the late Collector General Paty and cousin of Mr John H Paty. Three sons and four daughters were born to the couple, all having Honolulu for their birthplace but receiving their higher education in the colleges and seminaries of New England.” (Evening Bulletin, August 10, 1895)

He was Hawai‘i’s first dentist to settle permanently in the Islands. A ‘Card’ publishing in the Polynesia (March 8, 1851) announced business:

“Dr J Mott Smith. Dentist, of Albany NY, has the pleasure to inform the citizens of Honolulu that he has opened an office in Hopewell Place, corner of Beretania and Smith streets. He is now prepared to receive all who may desire his services.”

For many years he did virtually all the dental work in Honolulu and maintained a full practice until 1866 and followed his profession on a part-time or intermittent basis.

In 1866 Mott-Smith gave up his dental practice to John Morgan Whitney (the first in Hawai‘i to actually graduate from a dental school. Whitney, MD, DDS, was for more than fifty years regarded as Honolulu’s leading dentist.)

Then, Mott-Smith got into politics and served Kings Kamehameha V, Lunalilo (he was later named to the first board of trustees of Lunalilo Trust,) Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani.

“He was appointed director of the Government press in 1867, and the following year was sent to Washington as Charge d’ Affaires, where he performed valuable service in advocating the reciprocity treaty. “

“Returning home in 1869 he was appointed Minister of Finance by Kamehameha V, holding that office for the remaining two or three yours of that king’s reign.”

“King Lunalilo appointed Dr Mott Smith president of the Board of Education in 1873, and King Kalākaua on his accession reappointed him as a member of the same body. He was about the same time made a member of the House of Nobles, which was a life position until that body was changed to an elective one by the constitution of 1887.”

“Dr Mott Smith was also a member of the Privy Council of State. He was called to the Cabinet a second time by King Kalākaua in 1876, holding the office of Minister of the Interior for three years.”

“From 1882 to 1891 Dr. Mott-Smith at intervals assisted the late Minister Carter at Washington as Charge d’affaires. He was in his place in the Legislature of 1884, going back to the United States the following year, when he had charge of the Hawaiian exhibit at the New Orleans Exposition.”

“In 1891 the lamented gentleman was appointed by Queen Liliuokalani to be Minister of Finance, the third time he occupied a position in the Cabinet of this country.”

“Upon resigning that office he was appointed Minister to Washington, holding the commission until he was recalled by the Provisional Government in 1893.” After a protracted illness, John Mott-Smith died on August 10, 1895. (Evening Bulletin, August 10, 1895)

Here is a short video about Dr Mott-Smith, portrayed by Adam LeFebvre at a ‘Cemetery Pupu Theatre,’ sponsored by Mission Houses:

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John Mott-Smith-Evening Bulletin-Aug_10_1895

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No._3._View_of_Honolulu._From_the_Catholic_church._(c._1854)-Portion-Dentist

Rev John Mott Smith headsone

August 8, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Transportation Determines the Flow of Population’

John Diedrich Spreckels was born August 16, 1853 in Charleston, South Carolina, the oldest of five children of Claus and Anna Spreckels. (The siblings were: Adolph Bernard (1857-1924), Claus August (1858-1946), Rudolph (1872-1958), Emma Claudina (1869-1924) Spreckels.)

The family moved to New York and then to San Francisco where he grew up. He studied at Oakland College and then in Hanover, Germany, where he studied chemistry and mechanical engineering in the Polytechnic College until 1872.

He returned to California and began working for his father, who had grown extremely wealthy in the sugar business. In 1876 he went to the Hawaiian Islands, where he worked in his father’s sugar business.

Sons of the Hawai‘i “Sugar King” (Claus Spreckels) formed John D Spreckels and Brothers (John, Adolph and Claus Spreckels.) On December 22, 1881, the Oceanic Steamship Company was incorporated in California.

It was the first line to offer regular service between Honolulu and San Francisco, and it reduced travel time immensely. While the sailing ship “Claus Spreckels,” made the trip in less than ten days in 1879, the new steam vessel Mariposa required fewer than six days to make the run in 1883.

On November 8, 1883, the Mariposa delivered Mother Marianne Cope, the leader of a small group of Franciscan Sisters who sailed to Hawaii to help “procure the salvation of souls and to promote the glory of God.” (She is now Saint Marianne.)

John became very wealthy in his own right.

In October, 1887, he married Lillie Siebein in Hoboken, New Jersey, and together they had four children. They first lived in Hawaii and then in San Francisco.

In 1887, Spreckels visited San Diego on his yacht Lurline to stock up on supplies. (Nearly forty years earlier (1850,) Honolulu-born William Heath “Kanaka” Davis, Jr. (1822 – 1909) had arrived in this part of California. Davis purchased 160-acres of land and, with four partners, laid out a new city (near what is now the foot of Market Street.) He built the first wharf there in 1850.)

Impressed by the real estate boom then taking place, Spreckels invested in construction of a wharf and coal bunkers at the foot of Broadway (then called D Street). That boom ended soon but Spreckels’ interest in San Diego would last for the rest of his life.

“You have often heard the remark that San Diego is a one-man town. Personally I feel proud to live in San Diego when it is referred to as a one-man town … this afternoon you can’t give our great leader enough glory.” (Mayor Wilde of Spreckels, November 15, 1919; San Diego History))

Spreckels became an investor in the Coronado Beach Company in 1889, buying out Hampton L. Story’s one-third interest and over the next three years, s bought controlling interest in the company and became the sole proprietor of the Hotel del Coronado. (Coronado History)

He established Tent City, a large vacation campground that sprung up near Hotel del Coronado. Tent City grew quickly — from 300 tents in the first year to more than 1,000 three years later, and attracted visitors from across the nation as an affordable vacation alternative.

“To be candid, I did not entirely fancy the idea at first, and then for a time I was doubtful of the success of the place. I was somewhat of the opinion that it might detract from the popularity of the resort proper and the hotel,” Spreckels said in a 1903 interview. “But Tent City has … established itself as firmly in my favor as in that of the public.” (San Diego Union Tribune)

In 1892, Spreckels bought a failed streetcar operation and launched the San Diego Electric Railway Company. Spreckels’ business played a key role in San Diego’s growth, providing access to areas such as Mission Hills, North Park, Kensington and East San Diego that were largely undeveloped at the time.

For a time, Spreckels was owner of the San Francisco Call, then a morning newspaper. While still living in San Francisco he continued his investment in San Diego, buying the San Diego Union newspaper in 1890 and the Tribune in 1901.

He moved his family permanently to San Diego immediately after the 1906 earthquake and moved into his new mansion on Glorietta Blvd. in Coronado in 1908. That structure survives today as the Glorietta Bay Inn.

In the next decades Spreckels became a millionaire many times over, and the wealthiest man in San Diego.

At various times he owned all of North Island, the San Diego-Coronado Ferry System, Union-Tribune Publishing Co., San Diego Electric Railway, San Diego & Arizona Railway, Belmont Park in Mission Beach.

He built several downtown buildings, including the Union Building in 1908, the Spreckels Theatre and office building, which opened in 1913, the San Diego Hotel and the Golden West Hotel. He employed thousands of people and at one time he paid 10% of all the property taxes in San Diego County.

“Transportation determines the flow of population,” said Spreckels, and throughout his ownership of the streetcar system he extended it from downtown to new areas where he owned land, such as Mission Beach, Pacific Beach and Normal Heights.

He invested millions in the San Diego & Arizona Railroad, the “Impossible Railroad”, which finally opened a rail link to the east in 1919, after 13 years under construction.

Spreckels organized the Southern California Mountain Water Company, which built the Morena and the Upper and Lower Otay dams, the Dulzura conduit and the necessary pipeline to the city.

Spreckels contributed to the cultural life of the city by building the Spreckels Theatre, the first modern commercial playhouse west of the Mississippi.

He gave generously to the fund to build the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and, together with his brother Adolph B. Spreckels, donated the Spreckels Outdoor Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park to the people of San Diego just before the opening of the Exposition.

Spreckels died in San Diego on June 7, 1926. His biographer, Austin Adams, called him “one of America’s few great Empire Builders who invested millions to turn a struggling, bankrupt village into the beautiful and cosmopolitan city San Diego is today.” (San Diego History Center) (Lots of information here is from San Diego History Center and Coronado History)

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JohnDSpreckels-1901-WC

JohnDSpreckels-SanDiegoRailwayMuseum

John D Spreckels

The_Hotel_Redondo,_ca.1900

Tent City, a vacation land for the common man of the early 20th century

Streetcar_barn–Mission_Cliffs_Gardens_on_Adams_Avenue_circa_1915

Spreckels Theatre

Oceanic_SS_Co

Mariposa-Oceanic_Steamship_Company-1883

John D Spreckels Mansion-Coronado-San Diego

JD Spreckels driving ‘golden spike’ on the San Diego & Arizona Railway_November_15_1919

Hotel-Del-Coronado-Beach-1900

Double-decker_San_Diego_Electric_Railway,_5th_&_Market,_Sept_21,_1892

Coronado_Ferry_Co_Ramona_circa_1910

Coronado Ferry Landing

Class_1_Streetcar_5th_and_Broadway-San_Diego-1915

August 6, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Jonathan Hawaii Napela

“The moment I entered into the house of this native and saw him and his two friends, I felt convinced that I had met the men for whom I had been looking. The man who owned the house was a judge and a leading man in that section. His name was Jonatana H Napela.”

“His companions’ names were Uaua and Kaleohano. They were all three afterwards baptized and ordained to be Elders, and all are still members of the Church. They were graduates of the high school in the country, fine speakers and reasoners, and were men of standing and influence in the community.”

“Napela was very anxious to know my belief, and wherein our doctrines differed from those taught by the missionaries in their midst I explained to him, so well as I could, our principles, with which he seemed very well satisfied.” (Cannon; Millennial Star, April 10, 1882)

Let’s look back …

Two decades after the founding of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in 1830, Mormonism was introduced to the Hawaiian Islands.

In the fall of 1850, Elder Charles C Rich of the LDS Church Council of the Twelve Apostles called on a company of LDS (Mormon) gold miners working on the American River near Sacramento, California.

The miners had been sent from Utah the previous year on a “gold mission,” an unusual decision in light of the fact that church president Brigham Young was strongly opposed to the Saints running off to California in the pursuit of riches.

Yet he was willing to make an exception, for it was agreed that the Mormon missionaries would bring home to Utah whatever treasure they gleaned. (Woods)

Ten men accepted the call to preach Mormonism in what came to be known as the Sandwich Islands Mission. Embarking from San Francisco on November 12, they landed in Honolulu on December 12, 1850.

Elder George Q Cannon was called to serve in the Sandwich Islands, in October 1849 while fulfilling a unique assignment in California: He was mining for gold; it was not his favorite assignment. “I heartily despised the work of digging gold. … There is no honorable occupation that I would rather not follow than hunting and digging gold.” (Livingston; DeseretNews)

One of the early baptisms was Jonathan Hawai‘i Napela, who is considered by many to be the most influential Hawaiian convert to Mormonism. Descending from the ali‘i, Napela was born September 11, 1813, in Honokōwai on the island of Maui, to his father, Hawai‘iwa‘a‘ole, and his mother, Wikiokalani.

In 1831 at the age of 18, Jonathan began his formal education on Maui among the first group of 43 students to attend the Protestant school called Lahainaluna.

From this academic foundation, Jonathan developed a keen mind and went on to practice law. He later served as a district judge in Wailuku during the years 1848–51.

On August 3, 1843, Jonathan married Kitty Kelii-Kuaaina Richardson (half-Hawaiian and half-Caucasian), who was also from ali‘i blood. From them came one known child, Hattie Panana Kaiwaokalani Napela.

Napela was introduced to the Mormon Church by Cannon (who would later serve as a counselor in the LDS Church First Presidency.) (Woods)

Cannon first came into contact with the influential Hawaiian judge on March 8, 1851. He said Napela was “the most intelligent man I have seen on the Islands.” (and further noted the quotes at the beginning of this summary.) During their island years together, Napela and Cannon enjoyed a warm friendship.

Less than two weeks after their first meeting, Cannon noted, “I was invited by Napela to come and stay with (him.) I having told (him) I wanted to find somebody to learn me Hawaiian and I would him English; he told (me) he wanted (to learn) & to stay with him.” Ten months after their first meeting, Cannon recorded that he baptized Napela on January 5, 1852.

Not only did they learn each other’s language, but Napela, while also learning the principles of Mormonism from Cannon, was able to show Cannon and eventually other Utah missionaries a greater dimension of faith. (Woods)

Napela dedicated himself to building Mormonism in the islands and thus had a great influence in furthering the work in his native homeland. Not only did he collaborate with Cannon on the translation of the Book of Mormon (1852–1853,) Napela also deserves credit for having first suggested the idea of a missionary training center. (Woods)

Then in 1873, tragedy struck the Napela household; his wife Kitty contracted leprosy. She faced confinement on the island of Molokai at the settlement of Kalaupapa. Napela joined her as her kōkua (helper.) (This was the same year that Father Damien volunteered and started to serve at Kalaupapa.)

In the October conference at Laie, the members, reluctant to see him leave, sorrowfully sustained Brother Napela as the branch president of the Kalaupapa branch of the Church. His return to a conference in Laie the following year was his last opportunity to be blessed by a gathering of the Saints in a conference. (Spurrier; LDS)

He returned to Kalaupapa and served the settlement there. Notwithstanding their differences in religiosity and ethnicity, one resident in the Kalaupapa settlement noted that Jonathan and Father Damien “were the best of friends.”

In 1877, a Utah missionary who visited the Saints in this remote peninsula during the time of Jonathan’s spiritual supervision wrote, “At this place we found brother Napela, who is taking care of his wife and presiding over the Saints there; he is full of faith, and is still that good-natured, honorable soul.”

Napela contracted leprosy, and like Damien, literally gave his life to service, dying from Hansen’s disease on August 6, 1879. (Welch) Kitty passed away just over two weeks later from complications related to the same illness. (Woods)

The Hawaiian Studies Center at Brigham Young University Hawai‘i is named after Napela. In 2010, the Roman Catholic Church presented the Polynesian Cultural Center with a certificate commemorating Napelaʻs cooperation with Saint Damien. (NPS)

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