Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pelekunu

“The glimpses of Molokai which one obtains from a steamer’s deck while passing to Honolulu from San Francisco or in passing to and from Maui (along its south shore,) give the impression that the island is bleak, mountainous and desolate.”

“Skirting its (north) shores on the Hālawa, Wailua and Pelekunu sides on Wilder’s fine steamer Likelike, gives a far different picture.  For miles sheer precipices rise from the sea and tower 1,500 feet into the air.”

“Now and then, and sometimes in groups, beautiful waterfalls are seen on the face of the cliff, now falling in clear view for a couple of hundred feet, now hidden under denses masses of foliage, only to reappear further down, another silvery link In the watery thread which ends In a splash and scintillating mist in the breakers below.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, March 31, 1905)

The large windward valleys – Pelekunu, Wailau and Halawa – and Papalaua, along with all of Kalaupapa comprise the old Hawaiian Koʻolau Moku (district) of Molokai.

Literally defined, the word Pelekunu means “smelly for lack of sunshine.” (Pukui)   Being that it is such a tall and narrow valley, the sun is out for only about seven hours a day. Short days, coupled with the windward tendency for rain, creates a generally damp condition in Pelekunu.

Marion Kelly gives an alternate possibility suggesting the name Pelekunu relates to Pele, the goddess of the volcano. The area is said to be sensitive to very light earthquakes that are felt by the folks in the area, thus the name, Pelekunu, “coughing” or “grumbling” Pele.

Archaeological evidence suggests this area of Molokai was traditionally the home of the majority of early Hawaiians. The water supply was ample; ʻauwai (irrigation ditches,) loʻi kalo (wetland taro ponds) and habitation sites were found here.

“Every possible square yard was utilized for growing taro as the patches go nearly to the beach and even up the small ravines which cut the sides of the valleys. … In the matter of food, the emphasis which has been placed upon taro should not obscure the importance of fish whether from deep water or from other places and of fruits and other plant products.”

“The depth of the sea off this region prohibited the development of fish-ponds … but fishing with hook and line or with nets found rich opportunities.”  (Phelps, NPS)

The “narrowness of the gulches and their steep slopes result in the patches being no more than 12-feet on a side and the down-slope retaining wall may have to be seven-feet high.  The stream flows on one side of the gulch and is tapped at the highest placed patch, the water running successively into the lower ones.” (Phelps (1937,) NPS)

Pelekunu is an unusual ahupua‘a for several reasons. Within the Pelekunu ahupua‘a are three lele (disconnected portions of associated land) that belong to ahupua‘a on the other side of the island in the Kona District. Another unusual feature is that the ahupua‘a of Kawela actually extends up and over the mountains at the back of Pelekunu and runs into the valley.

Additionally, the ahupua‘a of Pelekunu includes not only most of the valley itself (less the extension of Kawela at the back and the lele within), but also the land of Honokaʻupu to the west as well as the small valley of Waiahoʻokalo just beyond.  (Eminger/McElroy)

The windward valleys developed into areas of intensive irrigated taro cultivation and seasonal migrations took place to stock up on fish and precious salt for the rest of the year. Kalaupapa was well known for its bountiful ʻuala (sewwt potato) crops and its fine-grained, white salt which was preferred over that from the salt ponds of Kawela and Kaunakakai.  (Strazar)

Emory (1916) describes Pelekunu Valley as the “most densely populated area of the ahupuaʻa … where we found miles and miles of huge stone terraces, witnesses of a once thriving population that must have run into the thousands.”  Taro was grown on the flat land and in the steep ravines of the valley.  (NPS)

The earliest recorded population figures we have for Molokai are those of visiting missionaries in 1823. A loose estimate of three to four thousand inhabitants in 1823 was published by Claudius S. Stewart in 1830. The Reverend Harvey Rexford Hitchcock who established the first permanent Mission Station at Kaluaʻaha in 1832, gave a census figure of 6,000 for the island.  (Strazar)

These early counts were generally taken in the field by both native school teachers and missionaries. During this period, the Reverends Hitchcock and Smith preached once a week at seven different stations from Kamaloʻo to Hālawa, and in 1833 they estimated the population of the entire island to be about 3,300.  (Strazar)

During the years around 1854, taro was raised extensively in the windward valleys and shipped as far away as Maui. Everywhere the inhabitants (of Pelekunu) were busy making baskets of ki (ti) leaves …., which they used to pack and transport … the product of their oasis, taro reduced to paʻiʻai (dry poi.)  (Strazar)

In 1898, Johnny Wilson (later Mayor of Honolulu) looked into living in Pelekunu and farming there.  Wilson’s parents’ friends included John and Lydia Dominus (Queen Liliʻuokalani) and King Kalākaua.

“We had known Mr. Wilson quite well as a young man when he was courting his wife. My husband and myself had warmly favored his suit; and, with his wife, he naturally became a retainer of the household, and from time to time they took up their residence with us.”  (Liliʻuokalani)

During her imprisonment, Queen Liliʻuokalani was denied any visitors other than one lady in waiting (Mrs. Eveline Wilson – Johnny’s mother.)  Johnny would bring newspapers hidden in flowers from the Queen’s garden; reportedly, Liliʻuokalani’s famous song Kuʻu Pua I Paoakalani (written while imprisoned,) was dedicated to him (it speaks of the flowers at her Waikiki home, Paoakalani.)

Johnny Wilson brought his wife Jennie Kini Kapahu to Pelekunu to live in 1902. The entry in Johnny’s diary for Tuesday, April 8, 1902, reads, “Arrived Pelekunu & occupied Koehana’s house”   According to Bob Krauss, Kini was “one of Hawai‘i’s premier hula dancers” and not used to country life; the Hawaiians in the valley wondered how long Kini would stick it out.

In the beginning Johnny and Kini lived at the shore, but sometime after the 1903 tsunami Johnny built Kini a house farther back in the valley.  Later, Johnny bought Kini a piano, the only one in Pelekunu.  (Krauss)

Kini did stick it out for quite a while. She helped teach the children in Pelekunu and ran their taro operation while Johnny was away. Eventually, however, Kini did leave the valley; in the summer of 1914, Kini finally got tired of the rain. She staged a one-woman mutiny and moved to a drier place on Molokai at Kamalō, where Johnny had a cattle ranch.

Wilson tried to aid the small native Hawaiian farmers by arranging for a steamer schedule to remote taro- and rice-producing areas.   When his plans for a commercial line fell through Wilson convinced the federal administration to place a post office in Pelekunu, guaranteeing regular steamer visits to deliver the mail. (Cook)

However, when his wife left (she was postmistress,) no one filled the post and the post office closed.  The steamships tried to keep regular schedules to Pelekunu to support the valley’s residents.  However, they were not regular enough and eventually others abandoned Pelekunu valley, deeming it as too isolated to remain viable in a cash economy. (Cook)

(Johnny Wilson served three times as mayor of Honolulu: from 1920 to 1927, 1929 to 1931 and from 1946 to 1954.)

In 1986, The Nature Conservancy purchased nearly 5,800-acres of Pelekunu Valley from Molokai Ranch to create a preserve to protect its natural and cultural resources.  (It contains nearly all the native Hawaiian aquatic fish, crustacean and mollusk species; in addition, 27-rare plant, 5-endemic forest bird and 2-endemic land snail species have been reported in the area.)  (TNC)

The Pelekunu Preserve is managed in partnership with the State Department of Land & Natural Resources through the Natural Area Partnership Program; due to its remote, rugged location, Pelekunu Preserve is not open to the public.

Pelekunu Preserve is bordered by four other managed natural resource areas: state-owned Pu‘u Ali‘i and Oloku‘i Natural Reserve Areas (NARs), Kalaupapa National Historic Park and the Conservancy’s Kamakou Preserve.

It is a part of the East Molokai Watershed Partnership (EMoWP); (a public-private partnership that protects more than 30,000 acres of contiguous ecosystems that range from sea level to 4,970 feet in elevation.)

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Tom Moffatt

Thomas Ervin Moffatt was born on December 30, 1930 in Detroit, Michigan.  “I didn’t like the city, and I had relatives who lived outside of Detroit, so in my eighth grade, my folks let me work for this cousin of ours who had a mink ranch in a little town called Waterloo, Michigan. So I spent my eighth grade in this little town, in a one-room schoolhouse.”

After eight grade he “returned to Detroit to go to school.”  But as Moffatt describes, “And again, I wasn’t too happy. I got a job washing dishes in a restaurant called Curly’s. And the people who owned it had a farm about forty miles outside of Detroit. And they took me out there one day, and I fell in love with it.”

“And so they needed somebody to work on the farm, so I talked to my folks, and they let me go into high school working on the farm.” At South Lyon High School, he “played football and basketball there, and … [got  a scholarship] to play football for a very famous coach [George Allen] [and] played tackle.”

Not getting a clear answer to his questions about “If I get hurt in football, will my scholarship still be in effect? I couldn’t get a definite answer. So I decided to go to work for a while in a factory and earn enough money to go to college.” (Moffatt, PBS)

“One day, I’m in the corner drugstore in South Lyon, on my way to the tube company to work, and it was a steel mill. And I found this little book about colleges in the United States. The last page was University of Puerto Rico, and University of Hawaii. So I wanted to travel and go to school, and I got interested in University of Hawaii, and that’s how I ended up in Honolulu.”

“I wanted to be a lawyer. And in my first year, I had a speech teacher who said, You have a nice voice, you should get in the radio guild. … So I joined the radio guild, and got interested in being a radio announcer. So the end of my first year, I auditioned for KGU, and didn’t make it as a junior announcer.”

“I went back to school. And I’d go home every night and read the newspaper aloud, and talk, and read stories. Nobody was around, I’d just read every night aloud. So anyway, come the following June, I went back to KGU and got a job. I really got into it. I became a staff announcer at KGU. This was before disc jockeys really.”

“I remember being nervous the first time the microphone opened, and I had to say, This is KGU in Honolulu, high atop the Advertiser Building.”  (Moffatt, PBS)

Shortly thereafter, he was drafted into the Army and “reported to Schofield for sixteen weeks of basic training. This was during the Korean War, and we were all being shipped off to Korea. So just when we concluded our basic training, this tough old sergeant called me in and said, Look, he said, you don’t want to go off to this war.”

“He just kinda said, Hey, you got a talent, and they need a radio announcer at Armed Forces Radio at Tripler Hospital. I’ll lend you my car. He gave me the keys, and I drove to Tripler Hospital. And since I’d had some training in commercial radio, they grabbed me up right away. So I spent the next two years defending my country at Tripler Hospital.”

“I stayed there for the rest of my Army career. And then I went back to KGU. And I started at KIKI also, so I was working at three radio stations, really. I’d do my … Army duty at Tripler and worked my eight hours, and then I’d work in the other stations. So I began my disc jockey career, really, at KIKI. It was kind of fun.” (Moffatt, PBS)

There were no music videos, no iTunes, it was just you and a disc jockey, the faceless voice spinning the hottest hits from artists like the Beatles, Elvis Presley, and Paul Revere & the Raiders. (PBS Hawaii)

“All of a sudden, I started listening to this music, and getting requests for a guy with a funny name. Elvis Presley. And I started playing his music. And that’s where it exploded. All of a sudden, every kid on the island was listening, and I was the only one playing in the islands, really, I was the only one playing rock and roll.” (Moffatt, PBS)

In 1957, Moffatt was approached by entrepreneurs Ralph Yempuku and Earl Finch with a deal too good to pass up. “They were looking to bring in some performers and wanted me to be their adviser.”

“They said if the show makes money, I’d make money; if it doesn’t make money, I wouldn’t lose anything. And I didn’t have to put up any money. That’s how I learned the business.” (Moffatt, Hawaii Business)

Moffat’s name is synonymous with entertainment in Hawai‘i. Tom Moffatt Productions produced live concerts, sporting events, ice shows, fundraisers, hotel and corporate parties and international attractions.

Though he will forever be known as the man who brought Elvis to Hawai‘i, it is his promotion of the state of Hawai‘i that has distinguished him from his peers. His productions have helped to put the state on the global map as a legitimate international entertainment venue, bringing superstars such as Michael Jackson, Elton John and the Rolling Stones.

In addition to his work in promoting Hawai‘i to the world, Moffatt has also been a dedicated supporter of local entertainers. From the Brothers Cazimero May Day concerts to the Brown Bags to Stardom talent contest, Moffatt has helped to nurture and promote homegrown talent. (UH)

When Hawai‘i became the 50th state in 1959, Honolulu’s fourth-oldest radio station, KHON, became KPOI. A crew of young broadcast vets known as the ‘Poi Boys’ came on and played the Top 40 hits mixed in with outrageous fun and games. The Poi Boys included ‘Uncle’ Tom Moffatt, Bob ‘The Beard’ Lowrie, ‘Jumpin’’ George West, Sam Sanford and ‘Whodaguy’ Ron Jacobs.

Moffatt received a Na Hoku Hanohano lifetime achievement award in 2002, was named by Honolulu magazine as among the 100 most influential people in Honolulu in 2005, was nominated to the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2009, and in 2014, the city proclaimed a “Tom Moffatt Day” in honor of the 50-year anniversary of his first show at the Blaisdell Center. (HNN)  “Uncle Tom” died December 12, 2016.

© 2023 Ho‘okuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Interconnections With The Holts

When you talk about the Holts coming to the islands, you can’t help but notice that, when you mention their family, you end up listing a lot of other notable Island families.

It starts with Robert William Holt, son of Christopher and Elizabeth Holt; he was born June 14, 1800, in Liverpool, Lancashire, England. (Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerk Project)

Like many other English families of that time, the Holts had relatives living in Massachusetts in America. Holt left home as a young man to seek his fortune in America. He probably arrived in Boston about 1800. (Taylor)

“He was a younger son, so he moved from Liverpool to Boston. Went to work for a firm called Owen Jones.” (John Dominis Holt IV)  Holt was probably employed by the shipping firm with whom Captain John Dominis was associated. Holt grew close to Captain Dominis and began making trips with him into the Pacific during the later part of the 1820s. (Taylor)

“He must have lived with the Joneses. I don’t know that, but he married one of the Jones’ daughters”, Ann Maria Stanwood Jones, in October 1829. (John Dominis Holt IV and Clarice Taylor)

Ann was born in 1811 to Owen and Elizabeth Lambert Jones. Ann was the sixth of eight known children.  Robert and Ann established a home in Boston.

“[T]he Jones’ daughter that [Robert] married was the younger sister of [Mary Jones – who married] John Dominis, the first Mrs. Dominis. Mrs. Captain Dominis. Mary. They were sisters.” (John Dominis Holt IV)

Captain Dominis “was a sea-captain, who had originally come to Honolulu on Cape Horn voyages, and had been interested in trade both in China and in California. The ancestors of Captain Dominis were from Italy; but Mrs. Dominis was an American, born at Boston, and was a descendant of one of the early English settlers.” (Liliuokalani)

While in Boston. Captain John Dominis and Mary Jones Dominis had two daughters. Unfortunately, both girls died; “Two marble headstones in the burial plot of Christopher Yates at Vale Cemetery bear the name of Dominis. They are for the daughters of Captain and Mrs. Dominis”. (Schenectady Gazette, August 27, 1932)

Captain Dominis was master of the brig Joseph Peabody which was stocked with trade materials in Boston, sent around the Horn to Hawaii for trading, then to the Pacific Northwest coast of America and eventually across the Pacific to Canton, China and home by way of Cape Hope. Such a voyage required an average of three years. (Taylor)

“Large profits were made by the owners on such voyages. The master of the brig and often members of the crew also profited with a share according to their rank and responsibilities.”

“It may be that Robert William Holt was a clerk or supercargo [a representative of the ship’s owner on board a merchant ship, responsible for overseeing the cargo and its sale] who assisted Captain Dominis with the trading.”  (Taylor)

As for the Dominis family, “John Owen Dominis was born in Schenectady, New York on March 10, 1832.” (Iolani Palace) Captain Dominis decided to settle in Honolulu and brought his wife, Mary, and their son, Owen, with him on his trip into the Pacific.

They landed in Honolulu on April 23, 1837 and planned a home on land which the Captain had purchased from an English merchant, Henry Skinner.  (Taylor) “The house known as Washington Place was built by Captain Dominis for a family residence.” (Liliuokalani)

“I was engaged to [John Owen] Dominis for about two years and it was our intention to be married on the second day of September, 1862. … our wedding was delayed at the request of the king, Kamehameha IV, to the sixteenth of that month; Rev. Dr. Damon, father of Mr. S. M. Damon, at present the leading banker of the Islands, being the officiating clergyman.” (Lili‘uokalani)

“It was celebrated at the residence of Mr and Mrs Bishop, in the house which had been erected by my father, Paki, and which, known as the Arlington Hotel, is still one of the most beautiful and central of the mansions in Honolulu. To it came all the high chiefs then living there, also the foreign residents; in fact, all the best society of the city.”

“[John Owen Dominis] was really an only child, although there had been two daughters older; but while he was an infant they both died in the United States”. (Liliuokalani)

While in Boston, Robert William Holt and Ann had two girls. Unfortunately, Robert’s wife, Ann, died August 15, 1832; the girls remained in the East with members of the Jones family for a few years.

As a single father of two young girls under the age of two, Holt left his daughters in the guardianship of his sister-in-law Mary (Jones) Dominis, who was the wife of Captain John Dominis. Within a year of his first wife’s death, Robert William Holt migrated to the Islands (in about 1833). (Taylor)

“William Robert Holt did not have to look far when he found a second wife for himself after settling in Hawaii. He married Wati Robinson, a young woman growing up in the James Robinson household.”

Wati Robinson was part Tahitian (Wati is a Tahitian name). She is believed to have been the daughter of a part Tahitian sea captain.  Wati Robinson Holt, wife of the Robert William Holt was called Kalani-ma-ma, an endearing term by her children and grandchildren.

“Wati was the stepdaughter of Mr. [James] Robinson. She came into his family when Mr. Robinson married about 1825 for the first time.  Wati was then about 12 years old. She was Mrs. Robinson’s child by a previous marriage, having been born in 1815, just five years before Mr. Robinson stopped in Honolulu.”

“Wati became Mr. Robinson’s adopted child and took the name Robinson, her mother had two children by Mr. Robinson. They were James J. Robinson, born in 1826, and Charlotte C. Robinson, born about 1828. The first Mrs. Robinson died shortly afterwards and Mr. Robinson married Rebecca Prever in 1843 by whom he had a large family.”  (Taylor)

James and Rebecca Robinson had eight children: Mark, Mary (married Thomas Foster), Victoria (married Curtis Ward), Bathsheba (married Samuel Allen), Matilda (married WE Foster), Annie (married Albert Jaeger), Lucy (married Thomas McWayne) and John.

James Robinson was just 22 when he came to the Islands; he came from London, his birthplace, arriving here in 1820, before the first missionaries (while rounding Cape Horn his ship passed the “Thaddeus,” which was bringing the first missionaries from New England.)

He was carpenter on the whaling ship “Hermes.”  In 1822, sailing from Honolulu for Japan the Hermes was wrecked on the reef of Holoikauaua (what is now referred to as Pearl and Hermes.)  This seeming disaster turned into a new industry for Honolulu and proved to be the foundation of his subsequent business and of his fortune.

The combined crews (totaling 57) made it safely to one of the small islands and were castaway for months with what meager provisions they could salvage.  He and the crew built a small schooner (the Deliverance) from the wreckage and the survivors of the wreck sailed back to Honolulu to remain permanently.

After his arrival, Robinson was befriended by Kamehameha II and John Young.  He and a ship-mate, Robert Lawrence (a cooper (barrel maker,)) sold the Deliverance for $2,000 and found employment in repairing schooners owned by the king and chiefs and, in 1827, established Honolulu’s and Hawaii’s first shipyard at Pākākā, or “the Point,” on land obtained from Kalanimoku.

The shipyard was a busy place; Robinson supervised the actual work of the shipyard and trained Hawaiian helpers. Mr. Lawrence attended to the family cooking and personal affairs of the employees.

James Robinson found himself so burdened with overseeing the actual work of the shipyard that he did not have time to look after the business affairs of the firm. His acquaintance Robert William Holt led to his offer to Mr. Holt to join the firm as a business manager. Mr. Holt joined the firm about 1835.

Holt joined the Robinson and Lawrence families then living in the Pākākā shipyard.  RW Holt showed his insight in business and began to make investments for the firm. The businessman of that day was a wholesaler, retailer, banker, and money changer.

The Kingdom of Hawaii had no coinage, so business was done with Spanish reals, English pounds, American dollars and sometimes French coins. Money could be made or lost in exchanging these coins.

An American whaler would come into port after spending a year at sea. The captain needed coins to pay off his crew, he needed coins to purchase supplies and he needed repairs to his ship.

Robinson, Lawrence and Holt would advance the captain the coins he needed at a price. In return the captain would give the firm a bill of exchange payable by his shipping firm in Boston or New York. Robinson, Lawrence and Holt would have to send the bill of exchange by the next ship going to New England.

Money was also to be made on bills of exchange in Honolulu. When other contractors in Honolulu were short on coins, the firm would buy bills of exchange at a 15 per cent discount. If the Kingdom of Hawaii needed money, the firm would loan it at 10 or 20 per cent interest.  (Taylor)

“Robert Holt made a fortune in the whaling industry. He was a shipbuilder and he was involved in shipping. He was from the famous Liverpool family of Holts who are still England’s leading shipping people.” (John Dominis Holt IV)

During the lifetime of the shipyard partnership, RW Holt, James Robinson and Robert Lawrence had invested much of their earnings in lands and Honolulu property. Outright purchases had been made after the Mahele of 1846.

Among the lands were three large tracts in rural Oahu which Mr. Holt had evidently secured with the idea of developing them into ranches for his sons.

One of the tracts was the unique inland Ahupua’a of Wahiawa belonging to the Princess Victoria Kamamalu. Mr. Holt developed the Wahiawa lands as a cattle ranch, ran sheep, goats and horses on the place and built the first ranch house. Another large tract was the ahupua‘a of Mākaha.

This brings in a new name, William Arnold Aldrich – with interconnections into several of the families noted.  A Boston Yankee, Aldrich married the daughter of Robert William Holt.  WA Aldrich was born in 1824 into a Boston family and left home when news of the discovery of gold in California reached the East.

After accumulating a little money, he took a sailing ship for Hawaii and became a boarder at Washington Place, the home of the widow Mrs. Captain John Dominis (RW Holt’s sister-in-law).

Aldrich may have had a letter of introduction to Charles R. Bishop, a young New Yorker recently wed to the Princess Bernice Pauahi. Aldrich and Bishop struck up a lifelong friendship. They pooled their resources and went into the mercantile business. Eventually, merchandising led to financing new business ventures.

In 1853 the two formed Aldrich & Bishop, gave up merchandising and devoted their attention to financing. Eventually Aldrich and Bishop started the first bank in Honolulu.

Aldrich found two attractive young women in Mrs. Dominis’s household. They were the daughters of Robert William Holt by his Bostonian wife.

Mrs. Dominis was rearing the girls as ladies. Mrs. Dominis made it very plain that their father RW Holt was welcome to visit the girls at her home, but she did not approve of the girls visiting their father at Pākākā Point.

Aldrich fell in love with one of them, Elizabeth Holt. His love for the girl was encouraged by Mrs Dominis and by the girl’s father RW Holt.  Mr. Aldrich and Elizabeth Holt were married December 25, 1854 at Washington Place.

As Holt aged, Aldrich was appointed guardian of Mr. Holt’s affairs.  (In a hearing related to this, Robinson and Lawrence told the judge that RW Holt was now so old and infirm that he was unable to take care of his affairs as a partner in the shipyard firm.) (Taylor)

The guardianship lasted only a short time; Robert William Holt died July 6, 1862.  Holt felt it his duty to protect his children by leaving a will, which like English wills would provide the children with an income without enabling them to touch the principal. Aldrich was the first administrator of the Holt estate. 

Mr. Holt first provided his wife with an income of $800 a year. The income was to be drawn from the revenues of the estate.  His daughter, Elizabeth, Mrs. William Aldrich, was to have one quarter of his estate, no strings attached.

Each of the three sons were named in the will. Each was given one fourth the income of the estate during his life and the children of each son were to inherit a share of their father’s revenue. The estate was not to be divided at the death of each son, except to set aside portions for the son’s children.

When Mr. Holt died, the partners Robinson and Lawrence took the Honolulu lands as their share and gave the Holt estate the rural Oahu lands. (Taylor)

Mr. Aldrich did well for the Holt Estate. The revenues were never so high in any of the following years.  When the Aldrich’s left the Islands to live in the Bay area about 1869, the estate suffered from the loss of Mr. Aldrich’s astute financial ability.

As you look through the names of descendants of Robert William Holt, you will find that children of subsequent generations carry many of the names of people whose paths crossed with Holt. These help us remember Holts’ connections with others in the Islands.

© 2023 Ho‘okuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Trail of the Whispering Giants

Peter Wolf Toth (rhymes with ‘oath’) was born in 1947 (one of eleven children) into poor circumstances in the newly formed Republic of Hungary.  His early years were marked by injustice and violence.

During the 1956 uprising, the Hungarian borders were open, briefly (before the Soviet tanks rolled in), and the Toth family took the opportunity to flee. After two years of being shuttled from refugee camp to refugee camp, Toth and his family eventually immigrated to the United States, and settled in Akron, Ohio. (Quahog)

As Toth grew up in his new country, he developed a deep interest in native North American culture and history. He saw in their story a parallel to the violent repression he had experienced in Hungary.

Although he studied art briefly at the University of Akron, and learned a lot from watching his father (also an artist), Toth considers himself to be self-taught.

In 1971 at age 24, Toth carved a statue of a native American (locally dubbed “the scarfaced Indian”) into a sandstone cliff in La Jolla, California – the first of what he referred to his ‘long Trail of the Whispering Giants.’

In Peter Wolf Toth’s words, “my monuments are made to remind people of the contributions of the Indians of this country. Statues to honor the plight of the Native Peoples of North America.”

“I study the indigenous people of that state, that province, or even that country or island, and once I have a good visual image of who they are … that’s how I come up with these statues. I even try to intertwine the spirit of the tree and the spirit of the (native).” (Toth, Johnson City Press)

“The purpose of my work is to honor the (Native American) people, to honor all people facing injustice.” (Toth)

“Peter Wolf Toth had just dropped out of college and was traveling around the country when he found himself in La Jolla, where his brother has resided for decades.”

“Seeing a ‘haunted face’ in the stone set him on a lifelong mission to honor legendary Native Americans and the plight of occupied indigenous nations. Today, his Trail of Whispering Giants includes 74 sculptures, all of which he carved by hand.” (San Diego Reader)

“Toth is an artist in many senses of the word. … First, he was a painter. Then, he etched his first sculpture into a cliffside in California in 1972.”

“He returned to his home in Ohio in search of another cliff to place his second statue. While he didn’t find any cliffs, he came across a dead elm tree, and from then incorporated wood carving into his repertoire as a sculptor. For his Native American pieces, he strives to use wood native to the area in which he creates each piece.” (Johnson City Press)

Traveling the United States in his ‘Ghost Ship’ (a modified Dodge maxi-van), he spent summers in the north and winters in the south, stopping wherever local officials would allow or invite him to carve one of his ‘Whispering Giants.’

“From Alaska to Florida he has sculpted giant memorials to native Americans. Forty-nine states have welcomed him so far. One state has not. Hawaii.”

“‘I’ve committed myself to honoring the native peoples of this country,’ says Toth who fled Hungary in 1956, and found a home in what he believes is the greatest country in the world.”

“In appreciation, Toth, 37, has devoted the past 17 years to chiseling whole trees into gargantuan 20-ton likenesses which he calls ’Whispering Giants.’”

“These colossal achievements, for which Toth accepts no money, have been featured on all three television networks and in The New York Times.”

“‘Not that it matters, but some of my statues have been valued at up to $100,000 – which is the least of the meaning here,’ says Toth, who lives on the money he earns from the sale of less intimidating icons and books. ‘My biggest obstacle has usually been getting the log.’” (Honolulu Advertiser, Jan 1, 1988)


Later that year, “The Church of Hawaii Nei invited Toth to carve the giant statue on its property at 59-254 Kamehameha Highway in Sunset Beach. … Weyerhaeuser Paper Co donated a huge redwood tree trunk for the statue. …[T]he statue is named Maui Pohaku Loa, after ‘the demigod Maui … from the beginning of time to the end of time.’”

During Toth’s sculpturing, “A city building inspector … happened to drive by there Friday and stopped his car to see what was on the roadside. He got out his tape and measured the statue’s two parts; the face is 16 feet long and the pedestal 4 feet.”

“Based on his measurements and description of the statue, the city Department of Land Utilization determined yesterday that no permit was necessary to erect it.” (It was considered a work of art and not a structure.) (Star Bulletin, May 11, 1988) The Hawai‘i sculpture is no longer standing near Sunset Beach.

What is now dubbed the Trail of the Whispering Giants, a collection of Toth’s sculptures, ranging in height from 20 to 40 feet, and are between 8 and 10 feet in diameter.  There was at least one in each of the 50 US states, as well as in Ontario and Manitoba, Canada, and one in Hungary. (Wright)

Because the statues are made from wood (each is carved from a single log and is hand-chiseled (no power tools)), many have been damaged by storms, rot, termites, and winds. He has replaced several of them.  The Hawai‘i statue is no longer displayed and the property that it was on has sold. (Lot of information here is from quahog, memorialogy and postcardhistory.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Barbara Hall

“Born in Honolulu the son of a whaler, [Alfred Wellington] AW Carter graduated summa cum laude from Yale law school, became a judge, and distinguished himself in various positions in island commerce and government.”

“The ‘big thing’ in his business life – running Parker Ranch – started in 1899 when, at the age of 32, he was named as guardian of young Thelma Kahiluonapuaapiilani Parker. He was to guide Parker Ranch for nearly half a century and do more to advance it than anyone but old Parker himself.” (Paniolo Hall of Fame)

“A man of great humility and spirit, he ever disclaimed that he alone made the Parker Ranch one of the most important meat-producing units of the world, although this was often said of him.”

“Mr. Carter gave the major credit for building this mighty enterprise to the teamwork of the Hawaiian cowboys; to the advice of practical ranchmen who had learned by experience; and to the reasoning of research in the ways of life from germs to genetics.”

“Some thought him a martinet because he demanded that instructions be followed to the letter, but he took the blame himself for errors of judgment, this personally humble and humane servant of the law and leader among his fellows.”

“An unusual man, this Hawaii’s native son, creator of great wealth for others.  A somewhat austere man because of his almost puritanical adherence to right and justice, the warmth of his friendships will be a treasured remembrance always.” (Honolulu Advertiser, April 29, 1949)

In 1915, “Barbara Hall is built at a cost of $6,954.02 by Parker Ranch as a place of rest and relaxation for ranch employees and is named in honor of the daughter of then Parker Ranch Manager, AW Carter.” (Parker School)  (Barbara Juliette Carter was born June 25, 1901.)

“The courthouse was [used for social activities] … in the meantime we had built this Barbara Hall … That was built for social activities. And then, that [courthouse] building there was used by the police department and for court cases.”

“It was just a big hall and a back room and upstairs for movie projector. We used to have silent pictures those days. Once in a while, we had silent pictures (shown for ranch) families.”

“It was mostly (used) for ranch affairs, ranch functions. When we grew up, we’re not able to throw a party or have a big function like we do now. Everybody just goes out and have a big Iu‘au or for a wedding or baptism. Those days, we didn’t have such a thing. So the hall was strictly used for ranch functions. (It was not opened to the community.)”

“That’s where they had the Christmas-tree program and the big lu’au and silent movies. And meetings would be held, as long it’s ranch-associated, like Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, you know, that are sponsored by the ranch. They would have first use of that facility. Otherwise, there was no other place to hold a meeting, except to go (to) the schools.” (Elizabeth Kimura, Oral History)

“In addition to R&R for Parker Ranch employees, Barbara Hall serves as a community hall for social gatherings, flower shows, community plays, fashion shows, club activities, baby clinics, dance classes, and other community events.”

“Parker Ranch hosts an annual Christmas party and New Year’s Eve luau inviting all residents of Waimea to Barbara Hall.” (Parker School)

“[When] they had a lū‘au there and it took about a week to prepare things for the lū‘au. Because they’d go down to ‘Anaeho‘omalu to get coconuts. They’d go up in the mountain to pick maile and pick fern, to decorate the tables and whatnot.”

“And then cut firewood for the imu, and I guess there probably were twenty-five, thirty people involved in preparing this lū‘au. And every employee on the ranch and a lot of outsiders, non-ranch people, were invited to the lū‘au.”

“The tables were all decorated beautifully with palapalai and ginger and they put the food on the table and they keep the door closed. And when Mr. Carter came up they’d open the door and he would be the first one to go in and sit down, and everybody else would follow in.” (Rally Greenwell, Oral History)

“[D]uring the war … That’s when the marines took over and they added on to the old Barbara Hall and made extensions more for gathering place. The boys would go there and play cards and have bingo games. Recreation …”

In 1943, “Barbara Hall [became] a United Service Organizations (USO) facility for more than 55,000 United States Marines and Navy personnel (two waves of roughly 25,000 soldiers over a two-year period) who train at Camp Tarawa on Parker Ranch during World War II. In two weeks, Waimea’s population explodes from approximately 400 to 25,000 people.” (Parker School)

Barbara Hall at main side Camp Tarawa in Waimea was the busiest and most popular USO on the Island. It was the site of dances with live music played by famous orchestras, entertainment by big-name stars and other recreational activities. (Greguras)

“Our local people used to join in with [the military]. And then they built the (movie) theater right next door to the hall. The military did that. … We used to call it Kahilu Theatre. … Everybody came and watched movies.”

“In fact, the war did a lot of good for Waimea. They brought in the theater, and brought in electricity, that’s a big help. … And after the military left, (the theater was operated by a private individual).”

“It was renamed after Richard’s [Richard Smart’s] mother. Richard’s mother, Kahilu [taken from the first three syllables of her Hawaiian name-Thelma Kahiluonapuaapi’ilani Parker Smart]. It was named Kahilu Hall.” (Elizabeth Kimura, Oral History)

On September 3, 1976, Parker School began; 58 students (grades 9 – 12) were enrolled in the side downstairs portion of Kahilu Hall. Richard Smart loaned the space for the first five classrooms, including a science lab and library-study hall. Parker School continues to use the former Barbara Hall on its campus.

“And then, Richard [Smart] built a new town hall in honor of his mother. Kahilu Town Hall and the Kahilu Theatre.” (Elizabeth Kimura, Oral History)

Alfred Hartwell Carter, commonly known as Hartwell, was the only son of Alfred Wellington Carter and Edith Hartwell Carter. He became Parker Ranch manager in 1937 upon the retirement of his father, AW Carter.

In 1949, Carter Sr. passed away leaving his son with complete responsibility for management of the huge Parker Ranch. Hartwell retired on December 31, 1959, after nearly 23 years of service. (Paniolo Hall of Fame)

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