Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

August Dreier

“Every country is proud of its self-made men, and the Hawaiian Islands today furnish several examples of what can be done by a man of indomitable will and steadfastness of purpose, when these desirable attributes are backed up by sound business judgment and a determination to succeed in his undertakings.”

“Perhaps no more striking example of this class of citizen could be recognized in the islands than Mr. August Dreier …. From boyhood he learned the greatest lesson of life — self-dependence …”

“… and although he has encountered obstacles which would have discouraged an ordinary man he has by sheer force of character risen above all disappointments and his ultimate triumph only reflects the more credit upon himself.”

“In the world of today but very little credit is given the man who inherits a fortune and who is surrounded by the best of legal and commercial talent which combine to keep the inheritance intact.”

“It is to the man who starts out with nothing but his brains and a good name and who, by the use of them, builds up a fortune and a place of honor and respect in his community, that the world gives credit. Such a man is August Dreier ….”   (Logan, 1907)

“He is a native of the province of Hanover, Germany, and was born in 1841 at Gronau. When he was but 13 years of age he was apprenticed to learn the trade of machinist, and after serving his full time, during which he mastered the trade in all its details, he secured a certificate of ability as a machinist and engineer.”

“He at once entered into his trade, and for seven years was employed in several of the large cities in Germany. His ability was soon recognized, and in 1866 he entered into a contract with Hoffschlaeger & Co of Honolulu to erect a cotton mill at Waialua Falls, Kauai.”

“He at once started for the islands, but in the meantime the project had been abandoned” (Logan), “the combination of a cool temperature with rain and red dust proved too much for successful cotton growing, but many wild bushes of it are still found in Kapaia valley.” (Damon)

“[O]n his arrival here he found himself in a strange land, without friends, and to make matters worse he could not speak the English language.”

“For the ordinary young man the situation would have been desperate, but not so with Mr. Dreier. He had been accustomed to depending on his own efforts, and he soon secured a situation on the Lihue plantation as engineer, and for the next six years he worked hard and faithfully in this position.”

“A part of this time he also worked as sugar boiler and did other work around the plantation. By so doing he acquired a thorough knowledge of sugar growing and extracting, and the knowledge so acquired has stood him in good stead ever since.”

“At the end of six years he had acquired a good knowledge of English and Hawaiian and had also saved about $3,000 from his earnings. Being of an ambitious temperament he decided to engage in the business of sugar planting on his own account, and in partnership with a Mr. A. Conrad went to Koloa and purchased the lease of a tract of land.”

“His thorough knowledge of the business made the venture a paying one from the start, and after three years he bought his partner out. In 1876 he bought a half interest in the leasehold of what is now the Eleele plantation.”

“The ground was covered with rocks and all of his friends tried to persuade him not to embark in this enterprise, but Mr. Dreier knew what he was doing, and he was thoroughly familiar with the character of the soil and other advantages the place had to offer.”

“Here is the strong point in his character. Had he accepted the advice of his friends he would probably to-day occupy a mediocre position in the islands instead of being one of the leaders.”

“His self-reliance came to the front and he developed one of the finest plantations in the islands.”  (Logan)  Dreier added Hawai‘i’s first electric locomotive on a 4-mile plantation railway; it was rated to haul ten 3.5-ton cars up a 4.5% grade. (Kauai Trains)

“Mr. Dreier put $20,000 into the Eleele venture, forming a partnership with Mrs McBryde, who owned the land. Twenty years afterward, when it was reorganized by BF Dillingham as McBryde Plantation, Mr Dreier sold out for half a million dollars.”  (Damon)

“In 1876 Mr. Dreier married Miss Emma Titcomb and she has since presided over his house. They have five children; Emil, Adele Puanani, Juanita, now deceased, August and Edward.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Dreier and his family are very popular in society. He is recognized as a forceful man and withal one with kind heart, and his sterling qualities have endeared him to all who know him.”

“He is charitable and delights in doing things which will give pleasure to others, and in his magnificent home a gracious hospitality is always extended. The islands are proud of Mr. Dreier and he numbers his friends by the hundreds.”

“No man is more thought of nor more deservedly popular and he certainly deserves extended recognition in the history of the islands. Mr. Dreier was a member of the upper house of the legislature in the last period of the monarchy.”  (Logan, 1907)

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First Japanese Mormon

Missionary work has been a central concern of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (whose members are commonly known as Latter-day Saints or Mormons – the latter name derives from the Book of Mormon, the Church’s key scriptural text).

The first “foreign” mission attempted was into Ontario, Canada. From 1832 on, individuals or groups of missionaries opened the British Mission, the next foreign mission attempted by the church.

From its small beginnings, the British Mission became the most successful foreign mission of the church in the nineteenth century. As early as 1844, Mormon missionaries were working among the Polynesians in Tahiti and surrounding islands

In the summer of 1850, in California, elder Charles C Rich called together more elders to establish a mission in the Sandwich Islands (Hawai‘i).  They arrived December 12, 1850.  Later, more came.

In 1901, Japan was opened as the twentieth foreign mission, while the older missions continued to grow. (BYU Library) But Japanese joined the Mormon faith well before the formal mission to Japan.

Frequent contacts between the Japanese and the Mormons prior to the opening of the mission in Japan in 1901 are well documented. Following the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, Ogden, Utah, became an important railroad junction, where just about every Japanese traveler stopped on his way to much of the US and Europe. (Takagi)

Some of the Japanese people so contacted affiliated themselves with the Mormons well before 1901; however, Japanese immigrants to Hawai‘i seem to be the first Japanese Mormons.

Several have suggested that Tomizo Katsunuma (1863–1950) and Tokujiro Sato (ca. 1851–1919) were the first Japanese Mormons.

In 1860, King Kamehameha IV met with the first delegation of Japanese people to visit the Hawaiian Islands. During this visit the king proposed a friendship treaty with Japan. This action, along with the rise of the sugar industry and the surrender of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan, led to the first Japanese contract laborers being recruited to come to the Hawaiian Islands.

This unauthorized recruitment and shipment of laborers, known as the gannenmono (“first year men”,) marked the beginning of Japanese labor migration overseas.  (JANM) This predated the government-sponsored Kanyaku Imin, Japanese immigrants arranged following the visit of King Kalakaua to Japan in 1881.

The exact number of people who immigrated in 1868 has varied (about 150 to Hawai‘i); an American businessman, Eugene M Van Reed sent them to work on sugar plantations (and another 40 to Guam).

A reported 51 men remained on O‘ahu, 71 were sent to Maui, 7 to Lanai, and 22 to Kauai (five women and an infant were also aboard). The sugar plantations and different individuals contracted them. (Hughes, Ke Ola) Tokujiro Sato was one of them.  

Tokujiro, also known in Hawaii as Tokujiro Sato, Toko, Toku, or Sasaki, has a claim to being the first Japanese Mormon convert.  E Wesley Smith, President of the Hawaiian Mission noted (in the November 1919 issue of the Improvement Era):

“During my recent visit, through the different conferences on the Islands of Maui and Hawaii, I had the privilege of meeting the first Japanese convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who is now living at Kukuihaele, Hawaii. We held an interesting meeting in his home and spent the night there.”

“Becoming interested in Brother Toko, I learned that he was born in Tokio, Japan, in the year 1849. At the age of seventeen he worked his way to Hawaii, arriving here in 1866. In 1879 he married a Hawaiian by the name of Kalala, and they have happily passed their ruby anniversary. He joined the Church in 1892, and has been and is still a faithful member.”

“He related to me many interesting incidents that took place here many years ago, among which was the Walter Murray Gibson trouble, and how he witnessed Gibson’s unlawful rise to power, and his dishonorable failure. An interesting sketch of the life and adventures of Walter M. Gibson, by Andrew Jenson, Assistant Historian of the Church, is found in Volume 4 of the Improvement Era.”

“Brother Toko is now seventy years of age, hale and hearty, and able to work six days a week raising Kalo (a Hawaiian vegetable used in making poi) for the market. In this way he earns an honest living. He has a large family of bright children.” (Smith, October 22, 1919)

Several have noted that there are some inconsistencies in Smith’s report, including some dating, but it does confirm that in Kukuihaele on the island of Hawaii there was a Japanese man who claimed to have arrived in Hawaii long before the government-supervised program of emigration began in 1885.

It likewise notes that there were Japanese whom a Church leader regarded as belonging to the Church, the man having been baptized before the opening of Mormon missionary work in Japan in 1901.  (Takagi)

Some descendants suggest Tokujiro was a samurai; that is not confirmed.  However, reportedly, he did have a samurai sword that was later presented to his employer, Samuel Parker. The sword apparently hung in the Mana Museum for some years before it was closed. (Hughes, Ke Ola)

Others note, that by the time he left home at the age of sixteen or seventeen, Tokujiro may well have already been an accomplished tatami maker in his own right. Family oral history has it that he was skilled in carpentry and helped build houses in the Waipio Valley on the northeastern coast of the island of Hawaii.

With the enactment in Japan of the Household Register Law in 1871, it may have been around this time that Tokujiro took the surname Sato.

Initially, when he arrived in Hawaii, he chose to be called Toku or Toko. Shortening of Japanese names to adapt to the Hawaiian manner of speech was an extremely common practice in those days. When the time came to pick a surname, he could have easily adopted the name chosen by his family in Tokyo.  (Takagi)

Sometime after arriving on the island of Hawai‘i, Tokujiro married Kalala Keliihananui Kamekona, a Hawaiian with mixed Irish and Chinese lineage. According to family sources, Kalala Keliihananui Kamekona was the daughter of Kamekona (from the Waipio Valley) and Kaiahua (from the neighboring Waimanu Valley).

Tokujiro had become fluent in the Hawaiian language so that sometimes he was asked by a court of law to act as an interpreter.  Such an assignment was not unusual for the gannenmono who stayed in the Hawaiian islands, because, with very few or even no other Japanese around, they had to assimilate into the Hawaiian community.

A story is told of Sentaro Kawashima, a young Japanese immigrant, who was taught by Tokujiro to speak Hawaiian and English, farm taro, and make poi and okolehao (homemade alcoholic spirit).  (Takagi)

The Tokujiro Sato family was far from being the typical Mormon family of contemporary America. Their religious understanding and practice were constrained both by the cultural settings of the day and by the different expectations that the Church had of its members.

The descendants remember Kalala as fond of drinking okolehao and as being “cranky” most of the time, possibly because of her drinking habit.

In his later years, perhaps with the increasing population of Japanese, Tokujiro came to emphasize his Japanese identity. Although he exclusively spoke Hawaiian to his children, he spoke Japanese to some of the grandchildren as they developed proficiency in that language. (Takagi)

Tokujiro died in his home shortly after his meeting with E Wesley Smith in 1919, and after a funeral held presumably at a Latter-day Saint chapel, he was buried in a cemetery located on the Pacific shore. His grave no longer exists because it was washed away in a tidal wave.

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David Malo

David Malo, one of the early native Hawaiian scholars, was the son of Aoao and his wife Heone, and was born in Keauhou, North Kona Hawai‘i; his father had been soldier in the army of Kamehameha I.

The exact year of his birth is not known, but it was about 1793, around the time of Vancouver’s second visit to the islands.

During his early life Malo was connected with the high chief Kuakini (Governor Adams,) who was a brother of Queen Ka‘ahumanu.

In 1823, Malo moved to Lāhainā, Maui where he learned to read and write. Malo soon converted to Christianity and was given the baptismal name of David.

In 1831, he entered Lahainaluna High School (at about the age of 38;) the school opened with twenty-five students, under the leadership of Reverend Lorrin Andrews – he graduated in the class of 1835.  

From about 1835, he started writing notes on the Hawaiian religion and cultural history, along with other members of the school and instructor Sheldon Dibble.

Malo came to be regarded as the great authority and repository of Hawaiian lore and was in great demand as a story-teller of the old-time traditions, mele, and genealogies, and as a master in arrangements of the hula.

The law which first established a national school system was the “Statute for the Regulation of Schools” which was enacted on October 15, 1840, and was reenacted, with some important amendments, on May 21, 1841.

Malo was appointed as the general school agent for Maui; he was then voted to be in charge of all the general school agents, therefore becoming the first superintendent of schools of the Hawaiian kingdom (where he served at least until the middle of 1845.

He was described as “tall and of spare frame, active, energetic, a good man of business, eloquent of speech, independent in his utterances.”

“He was of a type of mind inclined to be jealous and quick to resent any seeming slight in the way of disparagement or injustice that might be shown to his people or nation, and was one who held tenaciously to the doctrine of national integrity and independence.”

After being ordained to the Christian ministry, he settled down in the seaside village of Kalepolepo on East Maui where he remained until his death in October 1853.

His book, Hawaiian antiquities (Moolelo Hawaii – 1898,) addressed the genealogies, traditions and beliefs of the people of Hawai‘i.

In the “Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition,” Admiral Wilkes (1840,) commenting on books about Hawai‘i, said, “(s)ome of them are by native authors.  Of these I cannot pass at least one without naming him.”

“This is David Malo, who is highly esteemed by all who know him, and who lends the missionaries his aid, in mind as well as example, in ameliorating the condition of his people and checking licentiousness.”

“At the same time he sets an example of industry, by farming with his own hands, and manufactures from his own sugar cane an excellent molasses.”

In the introduction to his book, the trustees of Bishop Museum acknowledge they “are rendering an important service to all Polynesian scholars.”

They also suggest the book “form(s) a valuable contribution not only to Hawaiian archaeology, but also to Polynesian ethnology in general.”

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David Manuia

Abner Paki “appears in the genealogy of the Chiefs of this Nation, from ancient times, and he is a high Chief of this land descended from Haloa, that being the one father of the children living in this world, and the father of our people.”

“Part of his genealogy is taken from the High Chiefs of the land, and he is part of Kamehameha’s, and he is part of Kiwalao’s, and he is a hereditary chief of a single line from ancient times; and he was a father who rescued from trouble his people of this nation from Hawaii to Kauai.”  (Nupepa Kuakoa, Elele E, 6/16/1855, p. 20

He was “the last of the family of old high chiefs. … His father’s name was Kalanihelemaiiluna, and his mother’s Kahooheiheipahu. He was born [at Kainalu] on the island Molokai, in the year ‘Ualakaa,’ [“that being when Kamehameha was farming at Ualakaa” [Round Top above Manoa Valley], Nupepa Kuakoa, Ka Elele E, Buke 10, Aoao 20. Iune 16, 1855].

“He was an intimate friend of the King [Kamehameha III], and was a person of considerable weight and importance in the affairs of the nation. He held during his life, some high offices of trust and honor; being at different times, one of the judges of the Supreme Court, acting Governor, Privy Councillor, member of the House of Nobles, and Chamberlain to the King.”

“The most prominent feature in his character was firmness; where he took a stand, he was immovable. On the death of Kamehameha III, he prophesied that he should survive his Royal master but a few months, though he was in usual health at the time.”

Kamehameha III died December 15, 1854; Paki died June 13, 1855.  Paki’s “wife Konia, (also a high chief,) who survived him two years, she dying in 1857.” (Bennett, 1871)

Paki and Konia were the parents of Bernice Pauahi Paki Pākī (born December 19, 1831).  “Paki and Kona must have been a striking contrast. Pali was 6 feet 4 inched in height.  He had massive arms and legs, a handsome body and the lithness of a good athlete.  Konia was short, had a quick, intelligent face ad was frankly fat. She was noted for her sweet disposition.”

“Kalani [princess] Pauahi, the little high chiefess, did not remain long with her mother Konia. She was adopted Hawaiian style by the High Chiefess Kīna‘u. … Kīna‘u … had three sons – Moses, Lot and Alexander Liholiho. She yearned for a daughter, so she took the child of Konia out of her own mother’s arms and reared her for 8 years.” (Clarice Taylor)

High Chief Caesar Kapaʻakea and his wife High Chiefess Analeʻa Keohokālole had several children, including future King David Kalakaua (born (November 16, 1836)) and Lydia Liliʻu Kamakaʻeha (future Queen Lili‘uokalani) (born September 2, 1838).

As was the custom, Liliʻu was hānai (adopted) to the Pākīs, who reared her with their birth daughter, Pauahi. The Pauahi and Lili‘u developed a close, loving relationship.

As Lili‘uokalani noted, “When I was taken from my own parents and adopted by Paki and Konia, or about two months thereafter, a child was born to Kīna‘u. That little babe was the Princess Victoria [born November 1, 1838], two of whose brothers became sovereigns of the Hawaiian people [Kamehameha IV and V].”

“While the infant was at its mother’s breast, Kīna‘u always preferred to take me into her arms to nurse, and would hand her own child to the woman attendant who was there for that purpose.”

“I knew no other father or mother than my foster-parents, no other sister than Bernice. I used to climb up on the knees of Paki, put my arms around his neck, kiss him, and he caressed me as a father would his child …”

“… while on the contrary, when I met my own parents, it was with perhaps more of interest, yet always with the demeanor I would have shown to any strangers who noticed me.”

“My own father and mother had other children, ten in all, the most of them being adopted into other chiefs’ families; and although I knew that these were my own brothers and sisters, yet we met throughout my younger life as though we had not known our common parentage. This was, and indeed is, in accordance with Hawaiian customs.”  (Lili‘uokalani)

But there seems to be another child associated with Paki.

A portion of the program for the Dedication of Paki Hall at Kamehameha School for Boys (1960) noted, “While a young man living in Kohala, Paki married Ka-iwi and to them was born David Manuia.”

“Manuia’s granddaughter, Laika, was the mother of Jonah Kumalae, known to kamaainas as the editor of the Hawaiian newspaper Ke Alakai o Hawaii.”

“Mr. Kumalae’s grandson, Richard Among, who was graduated from The School for Boys in the class of 1951, is the only known descendant of High Chief Paki to have attended The Kamehameha Schools. [Richard Awong was in attendance and was introduced at the dedication event.]”

“Richard and other progeny of Paki living in Honolulu observe the tradition of chiefly modesty, and few people are aware of their illustrious ancestry.”

“After the death of his wife in Kohala, Paki married Laura Kana-holo Konia, granddaughter of Kamehameha the Great and daughter of the Conqueror’s first-born son, Ka-o-lei-o-ku.”

“Bernice Pauahi, daughter of Paki and Konia and beloved benefactress of The Kamehameha Schools, was a chiefess of the highest rank.” (Program narrative at dedication of Paki Hall at Kamehameha School for Boys, Nov 4, 1960)

However, if you do the math, Paki was “the last of the family of old high chiefs. … He was born on the island Molokai, in the year ‘Ualakaa’ [“that being when Kamehameha was farming at Ualakaa”, Nupepa Kuakoa, Ka Elele E, Buke 10, Aoao 20. Iune 16, 1855].”  (Bennett, 1871)

Kamehameha was farming sweet potatoes at Ualakaa between 1808 and 1812 0 so Paki would have been born sometime in that range.

The challenge is Clarice Taylor says David Manuia “was born in 1810 at Puakawau, North Kohala”.  This reference is likely from an obituary statement in the newspaper by Mrs LK Keliaa, the daughter of Manuia, who gave that birth year.

Keliaa stated, “He was born in Piiakawau, North Kohala, Hawaii, in AD 1810, born to Paki k. and Kaiwi w., five of them, three males, two females, but he was taken away by the his children died and only one was left alive, until he found this M.H. 1889, and at 2 o’clock in the morning on Friday the 11th of this month, his life was called by the Almighty, and he took it away.”

“In M. H. 1836. He entered the Lahainaluna College, and for several years, he graduated with the approval of his teachers, and returned to his native land, and after a while, he found public offices from the government, that is, Teacher, Headmaster, Tax Officer, Police Officer, Judge, and a Marriage License Officer.”

“His job, however, continued as the school principal, until he left Hawaii in March 1870 for Honolulu, Oahu, where he stayed until his death.”

“He is married to a woman, and they have one child, DM. Puna Manuia, and the woman died, and a long time later, he remarried the woman, they lived and had one more child and in AD 1853, the second woman died, and He remained celibate until he passed away.”

“D. Manuia is one of the oldest brothers of the Kohala, and was also a church leader of that place until he moved to Oahu, and in that Christian position he lived, and he is also one of the strong support of the works of the Lord in Kawaiahao which is being held by the father Rev HH Parker, and it was nothing to him for long periods under the works of the Lord.”

“He was 79 years old in this world … was a kind man, and he was a welcomer to the guests who visited his home, until his death.” (Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Bishop Museum Archives)

So, it is a mystery how Paki (apparently born in the year ‘Ualakaa’, 1808-1812) could be the father of Manuia (apparently born 1810), but there are definitive statements made by Kamehameha Schools, Clarice Taylor and the obituary that he is.

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Charles Titcomb

Charles Titcomb was a practical Yankee of considerable ability (born in Boston, July 24, 1803), a watchmaker by trade, who had reached the Hawaiian Islands as a sailor on the bark Lyra that was wrecked in the ‘false passage’ (apparently around Maui) in 1830.  (Damon and PCA March 31, 1883) He lived/worked at various places on Kauai.

Koloa

He initially settled at Koloa, Kauai.  At the time, “Clusters of native dwellings are scattered on the plain, but the principal village is situated a mile from the beach, at a short distance from the missionary buildings.”

“Fields of sugar cane, taro, yams, and other vegetables, bespeak a more than usual attention to agriculture. The population of Koloa, which is about three thousand, is increasing rapidly by emigrations from other districts. But the principal attractions here are the estates of Messrs. Ladd & Co. and Messrs. Peck & Titcomb, American gentlemen.”

“From Ladd and Company Messrs. Peck and Titcomb subleased about 400 acres on which, from 1836 to 1840, they conducted careful experiments in raising cotton, coffee and silk.”

“Their mulberry trees throve so that one of the little hills on their land was soon called Mauna Kilika, or Silika, as it still is on old maps. …  Beset by one difficulty after another, such as drought, blight and failure of the silkworm eggs to hatch even when taken in bottles to the mountain tops for a lower temperature, silk culture was abandoned about 1840.”

“Mr. Titcomb then transferred his equipment across the island to Hanalei to begin similar attempts there. And sugar thus remained the one active commercial enterprise in Koloa.” (Damon)

Hanalei

“In the course of time other white settlers were attracted to the fertile and well-watered region of Hanalei and Waioli, among whom the first to undertake a business venture systematically was this same Charles Titcomb of Koloa.”

“While his interests were frankly commercial, and it was of course essential that his silk worms should be fed on Sunday, as on every other day, it is not true, as has sometimes been alleged, that the missionaries of Hanalei attempted to thwart his industrial efforts.”

“The refutation of this charge is made on the indisputable authority of Mr. G. N. Wilcox, who grew up in one of the two mission homes at Waioli and knows the history of Kauai as it is known to no other living person today.”

The missionaries at Hanalei, as at Koloa, rejoiced that Hawaiians had now some means of profitable labor by which they could free themselves from the restrictions of the konohiki, or overlord. And while the missionaries regretted that a certain amount of labor was necessary on the Sabbath, it came to be regarded as an inevitable accompaniment of economic change.”

“And when on, or even perhaps before, the blighting of his mulberry trees at Koloa, Mr. Titcomb started cuttings in the Hanalei river bottom, a prodigiously rapid growth was the result, even also as ratoons.”

“Mr. Jarves states that Mr. Titcomb had obtained his lease of Hanalei river lands from the king as early as 1838. A fairly good quality and quantity of silk was soon produced, the Hawaiian women proving skilful in the art of reeling the delicate threads from the tiny cocoons, and the first export was made in 1844, but profits were too slow to warrant the necessary outlay of capital.”

“Securing berries from the Kona fields of Messrs. Hall and Cummings, Mr. Titcomb gradually replaced his mulberry orchards with coffee plants, and thus opened direct competition with his immediate neighbors.”

“Another commercial venture, somewhat farther afield, was made by Mr. Wundenberg in company with Messrs. Titcomb and Widemann late in 1848, when the three gentlemen left their families on Kauai and proceeded to join the gold rush to California. The net result seems to have been chiefly in the realm of experience, for it was not long before all three had returned to their former agricultural pursuits. …”

“In 1853 [Robert Wyllie] bought the Crown lands at Hanalei which were leased by the Rhodes Coffee Plantation, and two years later Captain Rhodes sold out his financial interest in it to Mr. Wyllie.”

“After the visit of the royal personages at Hanalei in 1860, Mr. Titcomb’s plantation became known as Emmasville and Mr. Wyllie’s as Princeville Plantation, in honor of the event. And Princeville is the name which persists to this day as the title of the estate.”

“In 1862 the Princeville plantation, following Mr. Titcomb’s lead, was converted from coffee to sugar and the face of the river valley took on a materially different aspect. Mr. Wyllie added the two ahupuaas, land divisions, of Kalihikai and Kalihiwai, to his Princeville estate, and sent to Glasgow for his sugar mill.” (Damon)

“Foremost in enterprise, Mr. Titcomb was the prime mover in introducing the Tahitian variety of cane, which for so many years was the backbone of the industry.”

“The whaling captain entrusted with the importation of this new cane chanced to make port at Lahaina, whence the samples were distributed throughout the islands. Hence the name, Lahaina cane, for that staple variety which was in reality from Tahiti.”

“[T]he coffee plantation of Mr. Titcomb at Hanalei was reported, just before the drought, as in excellent order and always a model of good management and thrift.” (Damon)

Coffee was grown successfully at Hanalei during the 1840s and 1850s until a blight caused by aphids wiped out over 100,000 coffee trees.  (Soboleski, TGI)

“In 1852 Irish potatoes constituted the largest export from the islands to California, but two years later the Hawaiian planters ‘were eating potatoes from California of better quality and less price.’”

“By the process of the survival of the fittest, sugar was becoming Hawaii’s staple product. Yet even that finally proved unsuited to the cool, wet climate of Hanalei.”

“Mr. Titcomb, in the lead as usual, sold the Emmasville Plantation of over seven hundred acres to Mr. Wyllie in 1863 and moved to Kilauea, further to the eastward on the Kauai shore. Here he bought the Kilauea land grant from the king and established himself in cattle ranching.”  (Damon)

Kilauea

“He built himself a house, which until very recently was used as the Kilauea plantation hospital; and when Mr. Widemann came to Hanalei in 1864, Mr. Titcomb secured his herd of cattle from Grove Farm.”

“Capt. Dudoit and Mr. Titcomb of Hanalei also met with considerable success at Kilauea, but the former moved his family to Honolulu in 1862.”

“These two gentlemen had become discouraged with the struggles in sugar at Princeville and were attempting the somewhat drier climate to the eastward.”

“In 1877, when Titcomb sold his Kilauea ranch to English Capt. John Ross and Edward Adams for the purpose of growing sugar cane, Kilauea Sugar Plantation was founded, with Titcomb staying on to build the plantation’s first sugar mill.” (Damon)  Kilauea Plantation closed in 1971. (Soboleski, TGI)

“Having primitive works, his whole product was for many years put into syrup, during which time ‘Titcomb’s Golden Syrup’ was the choice article of our  groceries. … Titcomb was an industrious, law-abiding citizen; a neighbor to be desired, and an affectionate husband and father.” (Daily Honolulu Press, March 24, 1883)

Titcomb married Kanikele Kamalenui in 1841; they were the parents of at least 3 sons and 5 daughters.  Kanikele died January 16, 1881; Charles died March 21, 1883.

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