Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ka‘anapali Out Station

The American Protestant mission to the Islands had 19 Mission Stations with a mother mission station church (located in a larger population centers); in addition, ‘āpana (out station or branch) churches, each under the missionaries’ mother church.

As an example, by 1846, downtown Honolulu’s Kawaiaha‘o Church had established a series of at least 12 branch churches or ‘āpana, from Kalihi to Waikiki and well up into the valleys …

At Waikiki (sometimes called the Kalawina Church (or Calvinist or Congregational Church) – site was just mauka of the Moana Hotel), Kalihi, ‘A‘ala, Palama, Nuʻuanu, Mānoa (in the vicinity of the Manoa Valley Theatre), Kakaʻako (Puaikalani), Pauoa, Makiki, Pālolo, Kaimuki, and Moʻiliʻili (called Kamo‘ili‘ili, which is now the present site of the Mother Rice Preschool on King Street).

‘Āpana churches and Out Stations were in other areas; in 1841, Ephraim Clark reported, “An out station at Kaanapali has been maintained for 8 or 10 years. Since my residence at Lahainaluna, the principal care of this station has devolved on me. [Ephraim Clark].” (Ephraim Clark, Report of the Out Station at Kaanapali, May 1841)

“Ka‘anapali [also called Pōhaku-Kāʻana-pali and Kāʻanapali-pōhaku – lit. Kāʻana cliff] is the name of an ancient kalana [place name for sections of the island] that was obliterated by the Hawaiian Legislature in 1859 by combining its lands in a new Lahaina district.” [In 1859, Lāhaina and Kā‘anapali were merged to form the current Lahaina district. (Hawaiian Place Names)]

“The [Kā‘anapali] name was preserved by American Factors, Ltd, the developer of the Ka‘anapali resort complex. The outstanding geographical feature in the resort area is Pu’u Keka‘a, “the rumbling hill,” a volcanic cinder and spatter cone. Pu’u Keka‘a is most commonly known to local residents as Black Rock, a reference to the color of the cone.” (Clark)

“A good meeting house has been finished & dedicated during [1837]. It is 78 feet by 30 inside, built of dobies [adobe – mud bricks], with a good ti leaf roof, glass windows, pulpit, &c. The expenses defrayed by the people themselves.” (1837, Annual Report from Lahaina-1832-1847, Dwight Baldwin)

They built “a dobie house for the teacher with a room for the temporary accommodations of the missionary who supplies the pulpit. These have all been built by the people with the exception of the doors & windows of the dwelling house.”  (Ephraim Clark, Report of the Out Station at Kaanapali, May 1841)

“Preaching has been maintained by Mr. Clark at Kaanapali during the year. He has also conducted a Bible class at the same place. A Sab. school has been taught by a graduate from the High School. The usual congregation has been about 500.”

“There has been no special attention to religion during the year. There are 14 chh [church] members at this station connected with the chh at Lahaina. One chh member has been under discipline with manifest [benefit] to himself & others.”

“A good school of children has been kept here by the graduate from the High School. He has also several other schools under his superintendance. His influence has been highly salutary in various ways. He has recently united with the chh at Lahainaluna.”

Kā’anapali was not the only Lahaina out station, “A native member of the chh has gone once each fortnight, during most of the year, on the Sab., to [Olowalu], 6 miles distant, where a congregation has met of about 200, & where a good meeting house of dobies has been finished & dedicated during the past year.”

“A dobie school house has since been built [at Kaanapali], & a dobie house for the teacher with a room for the temporary accommodations of the missionary who supplies the pulpit. These have all been built by the people with the exception of the doors & windows of the dwelling house.” (Ephraim Clark, Report of the Out Station at Kaanapali, May 1841)

“Until [1841] most of the church members residing at Kaanapali have been connected with the church at Lahaina. During the past year, it has been thought best to form a church in this place … There were also obvious advantages in having a church connected with the station.”

“A church was formed consisting of 16 members, 15 from the Lahaina church & 1 from Lahainaluna.” (Ephraim Clark, Report of the Out Station at Kaanapali, May 1841)

“The people have contributed something on the first [M]onday of the month, principally in work, which has been turned towards the support of the teacher, building dwelling houses &c. Children baptised 42. Marriages, since June 1st, 26.”

“Kaanapali embraces 10 or 12 miles of coast & containing 1341 inhabitants by the last census. In this district, there are 6 schools. These have been examined 3 times during the year. At the last examination there were 274 children present. A few were reported as absent.”

“Some impulse has been given to the schools by the new laws, but there is still much room for improvement. A small grant is needed from the Mission in aid of schools.” (Ephraim Clark, Report of the Out Station at Kaanapali, May 1841)

“This out Station is on the North West part of Maui, about 8 miles from Lahaina. It contains about 1500 inhabitants. The district is not well supplied with water except in the rainy season. Kalo, therefore, is not abundant, & the people are generally poor.”

“A church was organized here [in 1841] of 16 members which has since been increased to 88. Preaching, a Bible class & sabbath schools, church meetings &c have been sustained here during the year. Catholics have as yet made no inroads upon the district.”

“There are six schools in this district, the oversight of which has involved considerable time & care. Most of the children attend school. The schools have been examined three times during the year. “ (Ephraim Clark, report of labors at Kaanapali 1842)

“My labors among that people have been confined almost entirely to the sabbath owing to my duties in this Sem’y [Lahainaluna] during the week. I have, however, occasionally visited the different villages, & during this period have conversed several times with about 300 inquires.”

“During the first 10 months of this period, a theological student of this sem’y labored on Saturday in the different settlements & on the Sabbath preached at Honokohau, the last but one of the largest villages in the district.”

“The schools in the district are not flourishing. The cause is in the want of well qualified teachers. The inadequate pay, & even the failure of that for the portions of the year, have contributed to make even the poor teachers more inefficient & delinquent.”

“On the whole the year has been a prosperous one for the church. The attendance on pubic worship has been good, while the cases of discipline have been few.”

“They have rethatched their meeting house, while the church members at Honolulu have built & furnished a thatched house for my accommodations when I go among them & are now getting timbers for a roof to the stone meeting house whose walls have been up for 4 or 5 yrs past.”

“Perhaps the whole district of Kaanapali numbers 1200 people, stretched along the coast 8 miles in length & 2 or 3 in breadth. … We have reason to bless God & take courage.” (Timothy Hunt to Chamberlain, Sep 9, 1847)

“There are six schools in this district, the oversight of which has involved considerable time & care. Most of the children attend school. The schools have been examined three times during the year.”  (Ephraim Clark, report of labors at Kaanapali 1842)

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Lusitana Society

On September 30, 1878, a pioneer band of 180 Portuguese landed in Honolulu.  The Portuguese entered Hawaiian society in large numbers between 1878 and 1913, predominantly, although not exclusively, to join the sugar plantation workforce. (Bastos)

“About 65 per cent of the Portuguese, who formed the bulk of the assisted Caucasian immigrants, were women and children, as against 19 per cent of the Japanese.”

“Therefore at a time when it cost but $87.75 to bring a Japanese laborer to the islands, it cost $266.15 to bring a Portuguese, including the passage of the nonproducing members of his family.” (Report of the Commissioner of Labor, 1902)

“In the long run the discrepancy in cost was not so great, because the Portuguese settled in the country and raised up children there, so that they and their families were a permanent increment to the working population”.

“The Portuguese are largely employed in the semi-skilled occupations of the plantation … These people are an exceedingly hopeful element of the population. They are both industrious and frugal, and their vices are not of a sort to injure their efficiency as workers.”  (Report of the Commissioner of Labor, 1902)

Few returned to the Portuguese islands, and to the disappointment of the planters, very few renewed their contracts. (Portuguese Historical Museum)

On O‘ahu, they followed the classic pattern: when their contracts expired, they moved to town, concentrating in the Punchbowl and Pauoa districts. (Jardine)

“Around the base of Punchbowl is to be found a colony of Portuguese, who naturally draw together in this strange land, and there they distinguish themselves by the neatness of their dwellings, the growth of pretty (if common) flowers, and a general air of thrift is lacking on the part of many of their neighbors.” (PCA, Sep 23, 1884)

Here, street names commemorate famous Portuguese people and the areas from which they came: Lusitana, Funchal, Lisbon and Azores; Alencastre, Madeira, Morreira and Magellan; Correa, Enos and Osorio. (Jardin)

Lusitana Street was named for the Lusitana Society (sometimes referred to as Lusitania Society), although two with that name existed: the Sociedade Lusitana Beneficente de Hawaii, and the União Lusitana Hawaiiana, founded in 1882 and 1892, respectively. (Bastos)  (Lusitania is the ancient name of West Hispania, and now a poetic name for Portugal. (Hawaiian Dictionary))

“Like most other immigrant groups with little or no access to established sources of capital, the Portuguese fostered accumulation of savings among their number.”

“But the Portuguese Benevolent Society was formed in order to be able to help individuals hit by adversity – invalids, widows, and orphans, for example.” (Correa & Knowlton)

“The remarkable financial results achieved by our Portuguese immigrants grow more apparent still in their Benevolent Societies, of which there are four in Honolulu – the Lusitana (1,900 members), the San Antonio (2,100 m), the Patria (125 m) and the San Martino (200 m), to which must be added the Camoes Court of Foresters, with two societies in Hilo.” (Thrum)

“Of all these, the ‘Lusitana’ is the only one which possesses a complete financial statement from its incipiency; it was created in 1882, especially to help the newly-arrived plantation laborers, and has been, for the greater part of its existence, sustained nearly exclusively by such laborers from savings out of their meager wages”.

“Moreover, the ‘Lusitana’ owns its own premises, has $53,000 safely invested, thereby helping members in mortgages, and it keeps an emergency fund of about $9,000.” (Thrum)

“This shows on the part of the members of this Association a very laudable spirit of providing for the future, as well as a pride to prevent themselves from becoming helpless objects of charity during sickness or accidents, which might well be imitated by other nationalities in this Territory.”  (Thrum)

“It is no small accomplishment for a few thousand imported plantation laborers, mostly driven to Hawaii by distress in their own country and arriving in a nearly indigent condition …”

“… to have insured themselves and their families against the worst economic consequences of illness and death, and to have accumulated so large an amount of collective funds during the two or three decades that they have been settled in the Territory.” (Report of the Commissioner of Labor in Hawaii, Sep, 1906)

The Lusitana Society building was at the intersection of Alapai and Lunalilo. It was later used as a dance hall and academy, and as the home of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The site was later run over by the H1 freeway.

The Portuguese population all over Hawai‘i declined significantly in the early 1900s. Partially due to the Gold Rush in California and the 1906 San Francisco fire, many moved to California to help rebuild or to find their fortune. (NPS)

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Fight for Parker Ranch

Within a few years after John Palmer Parker arrived in the Islands from Massachusetts in 1809 (he was then age 19), he had established a relationship with King Kamehameha I and received exclusive permission to hunt the wild cattle roving the countryside.  (Paniolo Preservation Society)

Back then, carcasses were carried down the mountain slopes on the backs of Hawaiians. At a nearby port, the skins were turned over to King Kamehameha’s advisor. Hides were used in trading and the meat supplied the King’s ships. Later the whalers took on meat, tallow and hides. (Purdue Agriculturalist)

John Palmer Parker married Kipikane, the granddaughter of King Kamehameha. They had two sons, John II and Ebenezer, and a daughter, Mary Ann Kaulalani Parker. (Tracy)

John’s first property was in a remote area on the slopes of Mauna Kea, where he built a home that reminded him of the New England neighborhood where he grew up. Mana Hale (House of the Spirit) became a two-story Cape Cod “salt box” house, with a steep slate roof and plain white walls, small windows and a dormer.

It was almost completely made of koa wood: the narrow “ship style” staircase, three bedrooms, sitting rooms and great room, floors to ceilings, including much of the furniture. (Paniolo Preservation Society)

Kipikane had a dowery of 640 acres, and John bought 1,000 more acres the following year for 75 cents per acre; he continued to buy more land. (Tracy)

When John died in 1868, he willed half of the Parker property each to son John II and grandson Samuel Parker (son of Ebenezer – Ebenezer died in 1855). In 1879, John II purchased the “Hawaiian Victorian” mansion, Puuopelu. Originally built in 1862 by Englishman Charles Notley, Puuopelu became the heart of Parker Ranch.   (Paniolo Preservation Society)

John II adopted Samuel’s son John III to be heir of his half of the Ranch; John III married Elizabeth Jane Lanakila Dowsett but died shortly after his daughter, Annie Thelma Kahilu‘onāpua‘api‘ilani Parker, was born and his half of the estate was put in trust for their daughter, Thelma. (Tracy)

“[F]ollowing the death of JP Parker II in 1891, there was growing tension between Samuel Parker, estate trustees, and JP Parker III. The latter Parker died in 1894”. (Maly)

“On October 14, 1895, AW wed Elizabeth Hartwell, daughter of Judge and Mrs AS Hartwell, at the home of the bride’s parents in Honolulu. This marriage produced four children: Alfred ‘Hartwell,’ Edith ‘Edie’ Millicent (later Mrs H Ernest Podmore), Dorothy, who died at age sixteen, and Barbara Juliette.” (Bergin)

“While he maintained a law office in Honolulu, it became increasingly evident that AW yearned to be a rancher. On December 20, 1897, he wrote to Louis Von Tempsky, a prominent Maui landholder and rancher: ‘You may not be aware that I have contemplated becoming a ranchman myself.’”

“On January 28, 1898, AW realized his dream by leading a group of business partners in the purchase of Molokai Ranch. The group was incorporated as the American Sugar Company, with an interest in continuing ranching in part while building a sugar plantation.” (Bergin)

Elizabeth sought out and hired Honolulu attorney and former judge Alfred Wellington “AW” Carter to manage the Ranch on Thelma’s behalf. (Paniolo Preservation Society)

“On September 25, 1899, AW Carter was appointed guardian and trustee of Thelma Parker … In accepting the appointment as guardian and trustee, AW relinquished several opportunities that other men would have found difficult to abandon …”

“… a lucrative law career in the burgeoning city of Honolulu, president of Charles R. Bishop Trust, an executive career with Bishop Bank, deputy attorney general, judge of the First Circuit Court, and trusteeship of Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s estate.” (Bergin)

“When AW assumed the reins of the ranch, the combined total of fee simple land owned by Thelma K Parker and her natural grandfather Sam Parker amounted to only some 34,000 acres, with large parcels under lease.”

“AW was immediately concerned that if neighboring ranchers acquired those leases, it would be necessary to dispose of a large part of the cowherd. In the short span of a dozen or so years, the fee simple holdings of Parker Ranch grew to 314,000 acres. Strategic government leases also were acquired.”  (Bergin)

By 1902, Sam Parker, his cousin Eben Low, and backers, set in motion plans to take over the ranch and remove AW Carter from the role as trustee. Their first action was to contest Carter’s trusteeship of Annie Thelma K Parker. (Maly)

In 1903, “Sam approached AW with an offer to be bought out of his one-half interest of the entire ranch. The next day, AW offered him $600,000, and Sam left to think it over.”  (Bergin)

“There were several things in the air that caused AW to believe that Sam was mounting a hostile takeover of the entire ranch instead of accepting his $600,000 offer.” (Bergin)

“Things got so heated between Samuel Parker and AW Carter, that a take over was attempted, and on June 7th, 1904, Eben Low, JA Magoon, and J Lightfoot stormed Carter’s office, with Low apparently brandishing his pistols. Things were heated, but no shots were fired.”  (Maly)

On July 27, 1904, John S (Jack) Low filed a petition asking for the removal of Alfred W Carter, as guardian of the estate of Annie T. K. Parker. (Carter v. Gear, 197 U.S. 348 (1905), US Supreme Court)  “A consortium made up of Sam Parker, Eben Low, Alfred Magoon, and Fred Wunderberg, who had Sam’s power of attorney, was behind this scheme.” (Bergin)

“The case was decided on November 3, 1905 in favor of AW Carter as trustee; and the case regarding partition of assets was decided in September 1906, thus bringing an end to more than five years of disagreements and litigation.” (Maly)

In 1906, Sam Parker sold his interest to Thelma Parker’s trust, and she became to the sole heir to the Parker Ranch. Thelma Parker married Henry Gaillard Smart when she was eighteen and had one child, Richard Smart, who survived her (a daughter died young).

In 1913, Richard Palmer Smart was born to Thelma and Henry. In 1914, both Thelma and Henry Smart died before Richard was two years old. Richard Smart, [the] last remaining heir to the Parker Dynasty, took over Ranch operations from Hartwell Carter, son of AW Carter during the middle of the 20th century. (South Kohala CDP)

Richard Smart died in 1992. In his will, Smart bequeathed most of Parker Ranch’s assets to the Parker Ranch Trust Foundation. The Parker Ranch Trust Foundation’s mission is to …

“Provide perpetual support for designated beneficiaries engaged in healthcare, education, and charitable support through the sound management of Trust assets while remaining mindful of the needs of the Kamuela community and its unique quality of life.”

Smart designated five beneficiaries: North Hawai‘i Community Hospital, Lucy Henriques Medical Center, Parker School Trust Corporation, Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy, and the Richard Smart Fund of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation. (South Kohala CDP)

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Waiʻanapanapa

Popoalaea (ball of red clay,) a chiefess of rank in Hana district on Maui during the rule of Kamohoali‘i, is won as a reward of victory in strength-testing games by the chief Kakea (Kaakae, Makea) and he makes their home close to the crater above Kaupo at a place called Koae-kea because there the koae birds flock (or at the village of Hono-ka-lani.)

He is jealous, especially of her fondness for her younger brother. (Beckwith)

Kakae (also the name of their great-grandfather, but could have been a namesake) was more than twenty years older than Popoalaea and as time went on he grew more jealous and suspicious of her and threatened her constantly until she began to fear for her life.

Her brother, Piʻilaui, who was of a gentle nature, decided to move near her to keep her company and they would wander through the woods in search of plants and herbs for his house. They were happy in their affection for each other and forgot the jealousy of Kakae.

Then Kakae, angered by this affection of the brother and sister, threatened to kill Popoalaea.

Fearing for her life, she and her faithful companion, Manona … fled … traveling by the underground passage (for the great mountain (Haleakala) is honeycombed with caves and caverns, and lava tubes leading to the ocean.)

At last they reached the sea, the beach of Papaloa (?Pailoa.) There, where the waters have washed the rocks for centuries were to be found wild caves and deep places where only the sunbeams play and here the women thought to hide in safety.

In one of the caves they found refuge…. Kakae, searching for his wife, came to the village of Honokalaui where he heard strange tales from the fisher folk of spirits wandering on the shore at night. …

The wife hid in a cave, but the shadow of the kahili waved by the attendant betrayed their hiding place, and Kaʻakea killed them both. On the night of Ku, the water in the pool is said to run red. (Pukui)

From that day to this the caves in that region have been called Waiʻanapanapa (water flashing rainbow hues, glistening water) – for the death of Popoalaea it is said the place sparkled with rainbow stones which the gods in their pity sent … (Reportedly, as told by Emma Kalelookalani Omstead and printed in the Paradise of the Pacific.)

Today, on the night of Ku, god of justice, the water in the pool runs red. At some time each morning prismatic colors (anapa) such as are sacred to divine chiefs play over the waters of this pool as proof of her innocence.

The water of the pool makes even a dark skin look white when immersed in it. (Beckwith)

A State Park was established at Waiʻanapanapa, with campground and trails.

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Pohaku O Kauai

On every island there existed a prominent bluff pointing westward, bearing the name: “leap of the spirit” (leina-a-ka-uhane). The name marked the jumping-off place where the soul of the dead was believed to depart beyond the land of the living.

Kaʻena or Kaʻena Point (‘the heat’) is the westernmost tip of land on the island of Oʻahu. The point can be reached on foot from both the East (via Oʻahu’s North Shore / Mokuleʻia) and Southeast (via Waiʻanae Coast;) you cannot drive around the point.

Two stories tell of Pohaku O Kauai, here.

The first speaks of the demigod Maui; in many of the accounts Maui is a mischievous trickster, stealing the secret of fire and helping his mother to dry kapa by lassoing the sun to slow its progression across the sky. (Bishop Museum)

The most audacious terrestrial undertaking of Maui was his attempt to rearrange the islands of the group and assemble them into one solid mass. He went to Kaʻena Point and cast his magical hook, Mana-ia-ka-lani, far out into the ocean that it might engage itself In the foundations of Kauai.

When he felt that it had taken a good hold, he gave a mighty tug at the line. A huge boulder, the Pohaku o Kauai, fell at his feet.

This failure to move the whole mass of the island argues no engineering miscalculation on Maui’s part. It was due to the underhand working of spiritual forces. Had Maui been more politic, more observant of spiritual etiquette, more diplomatic in his dealings with the heavenly powers, his ambitious plans would, no doubt, have met with better success. (Emerson)

The second story of Pohaku O Kauai is written by Westervelt: A long time ago there lived on Kauai a man of wonderful power, Hau-pu. When he was born, the signs of a demi-god were over the house of his birth.

Lightning flashed through the skies, and thunder reverberated – signs of the birth or death or some very unusual occurrence in the life of a chief.

Mighty floods of rain fell and poured in torrents down the mountain-sides, carrying the red soil into the valleys in such quantities that the rapids and the waterfalls became the color of blood, and the natives called this a blood-rain.

Then a beautiful rainbow formed over the house in which the young chief was born. This rainbow was thought to come from the miraculous powers of the new-born child shining out from him instead of from the sunlight around him.

Hau-pu while a child was very powerful, and after he grew up was widely known as a great warrior. He would attack and defeat armies of his enemies without aid from any person. His spear was like a mighty weapon, sometimes piercing a host of enemies, and sometimes putting aside all opposition when he thrust it into the ranks of his opponents.

If he had thrown his spear and if fighting with his bare hands did not vanquish his foes, he would leap to the hillside, tear up a great tree, and with it sweep away all before him as if he were wielding a huge broom. He was known and feared throughout all the Hawaiian Islands.

One night he lay sleeping on the side of a mountain which faced the neighboring island of Oʻahu. When clouds were on the face of the sea, these islands were hidden from each other; but when they lifted, the rugged valleys of the mountains on one island could be clearly seen from the other.

This night the strong man stirred in his sleep. Indistinct noises seemed to surround his house. He turned over and dropped off into slumber again.

Soon he was aroused a second time, and he was awake enough to hear shouts of men far, far away. Louder rose the noise mixed with the roar of the great surf waves, so he realized that it came from the sea, and he then forced himself to rise and he looked out toward Oʻahu.

He blindly rushed out to the edge of a high precipice which overlooked the channel. Evidently many boats and many people were out in the sea below.

He laughed, and stooped down and tore a huge rock from its place. This he swung back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, until he gave it great impetus which added to his own miraculous power sent it far out over the sea. Like a great cloud it rose in the heavens and, as if blown by swift winds, sped on its way.

Over on the shores of Oahu a chief whose name was Kaʻena had called his people out for a night’s fishing. Canoes large and small came from all along the coast. Torches without number had been made and placed in the canoes.

Nets had been set in the best places. Fish of all kinds were to be aroused and frightened into the nets. Flashing lights, splashing paddles, and clamor from hundreds of voices resounded all around the nets.

Gradually the canoes came nearer and nearer the centre. The shouting increased. Great joy ruled the tumult which drowned the roar of the waves.

Suddenly something like a bird as large as a mountain seemed to be above, and then with a mighty sound like the roar of winds it descended upon them.

Smashed and submerged were the canoes when the huge boulder thrown by Hau-pu hurled itself upon them.

The chief Kaʻena and his canoe were in the centre of this terrible mass of wreckage, and he and many of his people lost their lives.

The waves swept sand upon the shore until in time a long point of land was formed. The remaining followers of the dead chief named this cape “Kaʻena.”

The rock thrown by Hau-pu embedded itself in the depths of the ocean, but its head rose far above the water, even when raging storms dashed turbulent waves against it. To this death-dealing rock the natives gave the name Pohaku O Kauai (“Rock of Kauai.”) (Westervelt) The image shows Kaʻena Point.

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