Prominent People | Page 167 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

May 8, 2015 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Pualani Mossman

“They say she is the most photographed girl in the Islands …”

“(I)f you are really lucky … If you are one of those of whom refreshing and enchanting things sometimes happen. You will have wandered into the Hawaiian Room at the Lexington and seen her dance those ancient native hulas of Hawaii.”

“You will have hailed the first passing waiter and inquired her name. Let me beat the waiter to it. Let me tell you her name. It is Pualani, which in the land beyond old Diamond Head means ‘Flower of Heaven.’“ (Tucker, Man About Manhattan, June 14, 1938)

Pualani Mossman was born on April 16, 1916 in Honolulu. She began to work at the age of six in her father’s (George Paele Mossman) various Hawaiian ventures, which included ‘ukulele manufacturing and a Hawaiian language school. (Imada)

In 1932, her father opened the Lalani Village in Waikiki with demonstrations of traditional crafts, music and lūʻau as a way of preserving and teaching what he termed “Hawaiian lore that is fast vanishing.”

The family operation included every member of Mossman’s immediate family: his wife, Emma; several sons; and three daughters: Leilani, Piʻilani, and Pualani. Mossman and her sisters performed and taught hula.

Pualani was known for her “Volcano hula” dance, the highlight of the show. She would dance alone on a raised platform with another performer blowing fire and lighting a model of a volcano.

In 1934, Mossman was originally tapped by the Hawaiʻi Tourist Bureau to star in “Song of the Islands,” the first color movie made in Hawaiʻi, intended to promote tourism. After the film, she started modeling.

In 1937, Matson Navigation sent Mossman to New York City to be photographed for the company’s national advertising campaign. She became known as the “Matson Girl,” appearing in Life, Time and Fortune magazines.

“If you opened a major national magazine in those years it is very likely you would have seen Pualani in a Matson ad.” (Brown; Wilson) She was the face of Hawaiʻi in national travel advertisements.

“That photo appeared all over the country and was everywhere in New York City, even a year later. My, that was exciting, to be the Hawaiian poster girl.” (Mossman; Ryan)

For more than 50 years, Pualani Mossman epitomized the image of a Hawaiian hula dancer as the original poster girl for Matson cruises and the Hawaii Visitors Bureau. (Gee)

After the Hawaiian Room opened in the Hotel Lexington in New York City, Mossman, Meymo Ululani Holt, Mapuana Bishaw and Jennie Napua Woodd were dancers there – they were known as the “Aloha Maids.”

There, Mossman met her future husband, Randy Avon Sr, the hotel’s chief accountant; they married in 1939. The couple returned to Hawaiʻi for a few years, then relocated to Florida in 1950 where she taught hula.

Mossman was one of the most active fighters for statehood in Washington, DC, in the early-1950s. Her family later endowed the University of Hawaii with funds to perpetuate the Hawaiian language and traditions. (Ryan)

Pualani Mossman Avon’s hands symbolized the wind and the flowers when she danced and were like the song she inspired: “Graceful as birds in motion, gliding like gulls over the ocean.”

Mossman spent her last 55 years in Florida. She continued to dance hula and spread aloha well into her 80s, performing at senior-citizen centers during visits to Hawaiʻi and with Hawaiian entertainers appearing in South Florida. She died on May 8, 2006 in Palm Bay, Florida.

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Pualani Mossman Avon, Hawaii Statehood promotion-PP-33-5-034-1947

Pualani Mossman – the Matson Girl-1937

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‘Aloha Maids’–Jennie Napua Wood, Pualani Mossman, and Mapuana Bishaw-HawaiianRoom-1938

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Pualani Mossman dancing the hula at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-33-1-017-1935

Hula dancers-Pualani Mossman, Leilani Mossman, Piilani Mossman

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April 27, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ralph Sheldon Hosmer

“The forests and timber growing therein, shall be considered as government property, and under the special care of the minister of the interior, who may from time to time convert the products thereof into money for the benefit of government.”

Thus, through King Kamehameha III’s Act No. 2, Chapter III, Article I, Chapter VI, Section VII of April 27, 1846, ‘forestry’ began in Hawaiʻi.

Around 1870, Henry Perrin Baldwin of Maui, “had systematically planted blocks of forests on his lands on the lower slopes of Mount Haleakalā” with several hundred thousand koa, eucalyptus, ironwood, silk oak, cedar and Java plum trees. (anderson)

On the continent, on November 30, 1900, seven foresters formed the Society of American Foresters (Mr Gifford Pinchot, Mr Overton Price, Mr William Hall, Mr Ralph Hosmer, Mr Thomas Sherrard, Mr ET Allen and Mr Henry Graves.) Today, it’s the largest professional organization for foresters in the world.

On May 13, 1903, the Territory of Hawaiʻi, with the backing of the Hawaiʻi Sugar Planters’ Association, established the Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and Forestry. (HDOA)

The next year, Ralph Sheldon Hosmer (one of the Society founders) became the first Superintendent of Forestry in the Islands.

Hosmer, son and grandson of Unitarian ministers, was born on March 4, 1874 in Deerfield Massachusetts. (The Hosmer family first came from Kent, England to Boston in 1635, then settled in Concord in 1637.) His mother’s side of the family (Julia West (Sheldon) Hosmer (of the Williams family)) went to Deerfield in the Connecticut Valley about 1650. (Maunder)

After completing his preparatory education, two years of which were at the Boston Latin School, he entered Harvard University from which he was graduated in 1894.

His first government position was with the US Department of Agriculture Division of Soils from May 1896, to November 1898. In the latter year, he became interested in Forestry and transferred his activities to the Division of Forestry.

His early work in the field was spent principally in the Adirondacks and the White Mountains. After several years, Hosmer took a leave of absence to attend the newly established Yale School of Forestry, obtaining his Master of Forestry Degree in 1902. He was a member of the first class to be graduated from this School.

Shortly after, Hosmer left for Hawaiʻi to fill the Superintendent position.

On December 30, 1913 that Ralph Hosmer of Newton Massachusetts was married to Jessie Nash Irwin; their three children were born on the continent: David Irwin, Jane Sheldon (Mrs. Robert Hall Llewellyn), and Emily Francis (Mrs. Marc Daniels)

From 1908 to 1914 he was chairman of the Territorial Conservation Committee of Hawaiʻi, and from 1907 to 1914, vice-president of the Board of Regents of the College of Hawaiʻi. (Harvard)

A lasting legacy of Hosmer is the result of his implementation of the Forest Reserve System, created by the Territorial Government of Hawai’i through Act 44 on April 25, 1903.

With Hawai‘i’s increase in population, expanding ranching industry, and extensive agricultural production of sugarcane and later pineapple, early territorial foresters recognized the need to protect mauka (upland) forests to provide the necessary water requirements for the lowland agriculture demands and surrounding communities. (DOFAW)

After more than a century of massive forest loss and destruction, the Territory of Hawai‘i acknowledged that preservation of the forest was vital to the future economic prosperity of the Islands.

Urged by sugarcane growers and government foresters concerned about the vanishing woodlands, the forest reserve system became the basis for the largest public-private partnership in the history of the Islands. (Last Stand)

Hosmer considered “nine-tenths of the forest proposition of Hawaiʻi forest protection problem,” arguing, “What is needed is simply to leave the forest alone, keeping man and animals out.”

While forest reserves were important watersheds, their boundaries were drawn “so as not to interfere with revenue-producing lands,” and such lands were not generally thought to be useful for agriculture. (hawaii-edu)

Hosmer’s second priority was to explore the opportunities for planting trees on eroding hillsides where the native forest did not regenerate and to experiment with trees of value for lumber, fuel, posts, bridge timbers and other uses. Except for the endemics koa and ʻōhiʻa, none of the native tree species were considered valuable for commercial purposes.

Hosmer believed that the forest reserves were useful for two primary purposes: water production for the Territory’s agricultural industries, and timber production to meet the growing demand for wood products. The forest reserve system, he said, should not lead to “the locking up from economic use of a certain forest area.”

Even in critical watersheds the harvesting of old trees “is a positive advantage, in that it gives the young trees a chance to grow, while at the same time producing a profit from the forests. (LRB)

A main concern was finding an alternative to importing redwood and Douglas-fir from California for construction timbers. In 1904 the government nursery was asked to grow timber tree species instead of its usual ornamental, flowering trees (pines, cypress, cedar and Douglas fir.) (Anderson)

“The diminishing supply of wood and timber on the American mainland, the consequent rise in price of all wood products, the local need for wood suitable for fence posts, railroad ties, bridge timbers and the like, not to speak of general construction timber and the necessity for a cheap fuel supply–that already in some districts is a serious problem – all point to the wisdom of tree planting.” (Hosmer; LRB)

Hosmer held the Superintendent position until 1914, when he became Professor of Forestry and head of the Department of Forestry at New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University, a position he held until his retirement in June 1942. Hosmer died July 20, 1962 in Ithaca New York.

At the time of his resignation from service in Hawaiʻi, 37-areas had been designated forest reserve and acreage had grown from zero to 800,000-acres. The territory had set aside 550,000-acres, and private lands had contributed 260,000-acres.

Another legacy is the Hosmer Grove, located just inside the main entrance to Haleakalā National Park on Maui, at about 6,800-feet in elevation. It features many of the non-native species Hosmer experimented with. It also has a campground and picnic area (with picnic tables, barbecue grills, drinking water, and toilets.)

Charles S Judd, who succeeded Hosmer, was Hawaiʻi born and descended from the early missionary, Gerrit P Judd. He took over in 1914 and followed Hosmer’s lead in designating reserve areas. By 1930, more than 1,000,000-acres had been set aside. (Robinson)

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April 23, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

The King vs Greenwell

“The whipping of servants or laborers is not justifiable under the laws of this Kingdom.”

“Where the hurt of injury inflicted is of a severe or dangerous character, and the efficient cause of death, although there be a predisposing condition of the body, without which it would not have been fatal, it is, nevertheless, a killing by means of such hurt or injury.”

The King vs HN Greenwell, Indicted For Murder in the Second Degree (Hawaiʻi Reports; Supreme Court, 1853)

“This case was called on for trial and parties answering they were ready, accused was arraigned and plead not guilty and … jurors were drawn from the list sent in by the British Consul General, accused being a British subject.”

“(A) Chinaman (Salai) had run away … and the Chinaman was down and Mr Greenwell was beating him with his fists … he knocked the Chinaman down, … and he then kicked him, and the Chinaman got up and sat down, and Mr. Greenwell reached a piece of iron that was lying on the top of a barrel and struck the Chinaman between the shoulders…”

“(T)he day the Chinaman died he brought him back into his own room, the first day he tied him up, the second day he beat him, and the third day he died, they gave him nothing to eat or drink not even a drink of water”. (Polynesian, January 8, 1853)

Henry Nicholas Greenwell arrived in Hawaiʻi on January 20, 1850. He worked as an agent for HJH Holdsworth in his importing and retail business, and opened a branch of the business at Kailua (Kona) in September of 1850. (Kona Echo, April 1, 1950; Melrose, Kinue)

Later, Greenwell store was built around 1851 at Kalukalu (Kealakekua, near Konawaena High School) and originally served as a store and post office. (Greenwell also served as the area’s postmaster as well as the area’s general merchandiser.)

Greenwell started to buy land, gradually acquired extensive land holdings, and got into the cattle, sheep, coffee and orange business on a large scale. (In 1879, he acquired the lease on Keauhou from Dr Georges Trousseau.)

“It is said by the learned counsel for the defense, that there has not been a killing, because though Salai was severely whipped, yet he did not die from this or any other inflicted injury, but in the due course of nature, from long sickness and from his own voluntary exposure for several nights, without food or raiment, to the rain, cold and hunger in the forest.”

“Or at the most, the whipping would not have proved fatal, had it not been for the previous sickness, and exposure; and that where the death is occasioned partly by injuries and partly by predisposing circumstances, it is impossible to apportion the operations of the several causes…”

“… and to say with certainty that the death was occasioned by any of them in particular, and consequently you cannot find a killing from the whipping or other bruises, and the prisoner is entitled to an acquittal.”

“However feeble the condition of Salai may have been, and however short, the tenure of his life, if you find that the whipping, or any other injury inflicted by the accused, was the means of accelerating the death of deceased, then the killing is made out, and Greenwell must answer for it, unless he can show a legal justification for inflicting the punishment.”

“If you should find that the whipping or other injuries did not hasten or accelerate the death, then there is no killing, and your verdict should be not guilty.”

“But if you should find that there was a killing, the next question to determine will be, whether the accused is justified in inflicting the punishment complained of.”

“The whipping of servants or laborers is a custom not tolerated by the laws of this country, and the plea of necessity, which is urged in its behalf, when applied to coolies and natives, is without foundation in law, and totally opposed to freedom and humanity.”

“The next inquiry, should you find the killing, is, was it committed with malice aforethought? … Whoever kills another without malice aforethought, under the sudden impulse of passion, excited by provocation or other adequate cause, by the party killed, of a nature tending to disturb the judgment and mental faculties, and weaken the possession of self-control of the killing party, is not guilty of murder, but manslaughter.”

“The whipping was clearly an unlawful act, and if you shall be of the opinion that it was the efficient cause of the death or accelerated it, then, even though there was no malice, it is manslaughter.” (Hawaiʻi Reports; Supreme Court, 1853)

Several witnesses were called.

Cummings, the Deputy Sheriff for Hawaiʻi, noted, “I was present when the body of Salai was examined at the inquest … we examined the body very closely, there was a small space on the left breast and down the middle of the back not much bruised …”

“… but on his right thigh and side was a large bruise, and below that was a smaller one, on the left thigh was another dark place across the hip; below the small of the back, were several marks as though he might have been struck by a whip …”

“… the left arm was considerably bruised near the wrist a discoloration, the left hand was swollen and two marks across the back, and in a small place the skin was off probably the size of a rial. I saw the deceased before he was buried and saw nothing unnatural.”

Shultz noted, “(Salai) was sick at the time, and Mr Greenwell did not allow him to do heavy work; he was given work close by the house, so as to escape rain. His health improved … on Friday the same day he ran away again, he stole some of the Coolies clothes…”

Choo stated, “the day the Chinaman died he brought him back into his own room, the first day he tied him up, the second day he beat him, and the third day he died, they gave him nothing to eat or drink not even a drink of water”. (Polynesian, January 8, 1853)

The matter was handed over to the jury.

“The jury after an absence of half an hour returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty.” (Hawaiʻi Reports; Supreme Court, 1853)

The image shows Henry Nicholas Greenwell.

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April 13, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

For the Sake of Public Health

Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives presents it’s highly popular Cemetery Pupu Theatre series with a new set of historical characters.

These programs are waaay cool.

Actors are dressed in period costume, telling the life events of select individuals buried at O‘ahu Cemetery, at their respective grave sites.

Each ‘stage’ is at the respective subject’s gravesite at Oʻahu Cemetery in Nuʻuanu. There was nothing ghoulish about it; rather, it was very effective storytelling.

Cemetery Pupu Theatre takes us back to our shared history and allows us to “meet” people who have influenced Hawaiian history and hear their stories.

The scripts are researched and documented, making Cemetery Pupu Theatre a unique presentation of real history.

“For the Sake of the Public Health” presents a series of people who were intimately involved with the health, care and welfare of the people of Hawaiʻi.

Hawaiʻi faced many public health crises and had many healthcare needs during the days of the Kingdom, the Republic and the Territory.

Each person has an interesting and important story to share that sheds light on the challenges faced by doctors and victims of disease.

They are: the first licensed female physician in the islands tending to the needs of women and children; a dentist turned politician; a doctor who dedicated his life to fight against the Great White Plague of Tuberculosis; a doctor who did leprosy research at Kalihi Leper Hospital; and a victim of the 1853 smallpox epidemic.

These people who shaped health care in our islands today, help us remember those who have gone before us were public servants, and witnessed history.

Dr Archibald Sinclair (portrayed by Richard Valasek,) the founding director of Lēʻahi Hospital and an important pioneer in immunology who sought a cure for Tuberculosis.

Haliʻa is a composite character (portrayed by Karen Kualana) who was a victim of the 1853 smallpox epidemic in which 6,000 people died, 8% of the Kingdom’s population.

Dr John Mott-Smith (portrayed by Adam LeFebvre,) Hawaiʻi’s first royal dentist, who also negotiated both Reciprocity Treaties and was the Kingdom’s last ambassador to the United States.

Dr Sarah Eliza Pierce Emerson (portrayed by Karen Valasek,) Hawaiʻi’s first licensed female doctor, who was on the Board of Examiners for the Oʻahu Insane Asylum.

Dr William L. Moore (portrayed by Dezmond Gilla,) a member of the board of Health and superintendent of the Hilo Hospital, and was involved in searching for a cure for Leprosy.

Mike Smola and others at Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives researched the scripts.

William Haʻo directed “For the Sake of the Public Health.” He has performed in Hawaiian Mission Houses’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as all four Cemetery Pupu Theatre shows.

Carlyon Wolfe was the costume designer. She is currently the staff designer for Mānoa Valley Theatre. She has earned four Hawaiʻi State Theatre Council Poʻokela design awards for her efforts.

This sold out program was presented in June 2014 (with an encore in 2015.) If you weren’t one of the fortunate ones to see it live, the links will take you to the respective performances.

Click HERE for a link to the Mission Houses Calendar.

Don’t miss the Cemetery Pupu Theatre, or any of the other great programs at Mission Houses. (Lots of info here from Mission Houses.)

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Dr Archibald Sinclair (portrayed by Richard Valasek)

Haliʻa a composite character (portrayed by Karen Kualana)

Dr John Mott-Smith (portrayed by Adam LeFebvre)

Dr Sarah Eliza Pierce Emerson (portrayed by Karen Valasek)

Dr William L. Moore (portrayed by Dezmond Gilla)

April 11, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Benjamin Douglas Baldwin

Benjamin Douglas Baldwin (grandson of the Rev Dwight Baldwin) was born at Kohala, Hawaii, April 12, 1868, son of David D and Lois M Baldwin. He attended Fort Street School and Oʻahu College (Punahou.)

He married Louise Theresa Voss in Honolulu on April 11, 1893; they had three sons, Douglas Elmer, Paul Frederick and Cedric Benjamin. (Nellist)

Baldwin began his career in the sugar cane industry on Haiku Sugar Co plantation, Hamakuapoko, Maui, on January 1, 1889.

Then, “Mr Benjamin D Baldwin, head luna of Hamakuapoko plantation has accepted the position of assistant manager of the Hawaiian Commercial Company, thus filling the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. David Center.”

“Mr. Baldwin and family will remove to Spreckelsville during the first part of April upon the return of Manager HA Baldwin from California.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, March 26, 1901)

Then on January 15, 1903, he headed to Kauai. “Benjamin D Baldwin, formerly assistant manager of Puʻunene, is now permanently settled as manager of Makaweli plantation of Kauai. Mr and Mrs Baldwin will be much missed by Maui friends.” (Hawaiian Gazette, May 19, 1903)

“Makaweli is the banner plantation of Kauai since the Olokele ditch system enabled it to put a large additional area under cultivation.”

The Hawaiian Sugar Company, Ltd was headquartered at Makaweli, where the first cane was planted. The total land area was 7,000-acres held under lease from Gay & Robinson, extending from Waimea gulch to Hanapepe valley, a distance of several miles.

“The water supply for irrigation purposes is obtained from the Olokele and Hanapepe valley streams, the water flowing to all of the lands by gravity.”

“Work upon the Olokele ditch, which is the largest engineering scheme of the kind ever undertaken in the Islands, was begun for the Hawaiian Sugar Company by MM O’Shaughnessy and his assistants, Mr McLennan, HC Smalley and Guy P Rankin in 1902 and was completed in 1904.” (Evening Bulletin, March 25, 1909)

By the end of Baldwin’s management, in 1928, the annual yield increased to 27,057-tons of raw sugar and the company was noted as one of the most profitable and progressive in the Territory. (Faye)

“In the development of the property 2,250 skilled and unskilled laborers are employed who occupy several camps adjacent to their work. Better houses and better camps than are found on main plantations for the accommodation of men and their families have been erected.”

“The laborers receive in addition to their wages, which averages $20 per month, house room, fuel, water and medical attendance and have little patches of land where they raise vegetables.”

“The labor incident to the successful operation of this plantation is handled under two systems, one-third of the labor working under a or profit sharing system, and known as company men or contractors, the balance are day laborers, paid a regular rate per month of twenty-six working days.” (Evening Bulletin, March 25, 1909)

The Makaweli management takes much interest in the sports of the employes. A baseball diamond and land for tennis courts are provided. The Makaweli baseball team, by the way, secured the 1911 Kauai championship and in so doing gained three cups.”

“A club house for the skilled employes, which is equipped and supplied with reading matter and appliances, and a billiard and pool table, is supported by the company.” (Wright, Mid-Pacific Magazine, June 1914)

Baldwin died on April 27, 1928; a decade later, a substantial monument was erected by Makaweli Japanese sugar workers and dedicated to the memory of Baldwin, a highly respected plantation manager.

There are two circular metal medallions embedded in the column. The upper medallion has a bust of Baldwin surrounded by the words ‘Benjamin Douglas Baldwin 1867 – 1928,’ and the lower medallion has the words ‘Erected In Loving Memory by the Makaweli Japanese 1938.’ (Dorrance)

Baldwin was not just a sugar planter; he was commissioned as a major in the Hawaii National Guard (3rd Battalion, 4th Regiment) on Kauai and also commanded the Third Battalion of the Fifth Division during World War I. (Nellist) He was also postmaster at Makaweli.

A World War II ammunition magazine was located next to the monument (1942-1945.) Called ‘Battery Monument,’ it was armed with two old 7-inch/45 naval guns on pedestal mounts capable of hurling a 165-pound shell 16,500 yards (9.4 mi.) at 15° elevation. (Bennett)

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