Pākī Sisters

High Chief Abner Pākī and his wife High Chiefess Laura Kōnia (Kamehameha III’s niece) had one child, a daughter, Bernice Pauahi Pākī (born December 19, 1831.)

High Chief Caesar Kapaʻakea and his wife High Chiefess Analeʻa Keohokālole had three children, a daughter was Lydia Liliʻu Kamakaʻeha (born September 2, 1838.)

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

“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, two of whose brothers became sovereigns of the Hawaiian people.”

“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)

They lived on the property called Haleʻākala, in the house that Pākī built on King Street.  It was the ‘Pink House,’ made from coral (the house was name ʻAikupika (Egypt.))  It later became the Arlington Hotel.

The two-story coral house was built by Pākī himself, from the original grass hut complex of the same name at the same site; he financed the construction through the sale of Mākaha Valley (ʻAikupika would later become the primary residence of his daughter Bernice Pauahi and her husband.)

The girls attended the Chief’s Children’s School, a boarding school, and were known for their studious demeanor.

Founded in 1839 during the reign of King Kamehameha III, the original Chief’s Children’s School was in the area where the ʻIolani barracks now stand. Mr. and Mrs. Amos Cooke, missionaries from New England, were commissioned to teach the 16 royal children (others who joined the Pākī sisters were Lot Kapuāiwa (later Kamehameha V), Queen Emma, King William Lunalilo and Liliʻu’s brother, David (later King Kalākaua.)

In 1846 the school’s name was officially changed to Royal School; attendance was restricted to descendants of the royal line and heirs of the chiefs. In 1850, a second school was built on the site of the present Royal School; it was opened to the general public in 1851.

These two women left lasting legacies in Hawaiʻi.

In 1850, Pauahi was married to Mr. Charles Reed Bishop of New York, who started the bank that is now known as First Hawaiian Bank.

When her cousin, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani, died,  Keʻelikōlani’s will stated that she “give and bequeath forever to my beloved younger sister (cousin), Bernice Pauahi Bishop, all of my property, the real property and personal property from Hawaiʻi to Kauaʻi, all of said property to be hers.” (about 353,000 acres)  (Keʻelikōlani had previously inherited all of the substantial landholdings of the Kamehameha dynasty from her brother, Lot Kapuāiwa (King Kamehameha V.))

Bernice Pauahi died childless on October 16, 1884.  She foresaw the need to educate her people and in her will she left her large estate of the Kamehameha lands in a trust “to erect and maintain in the Hawaiian Islands two schools, each for boarding and day scholars, one for boys and one for girls, to be known as, and called the Kamehameha Schools.”

She further stated, “I desire my trustees to provide first and chiefly a good education in the common English branches, and also instruction in morals and in such useful knowledge as may tend to make good and industrious men and women”.

On September 16, 1862, Liliʻu married John O. Dominis. Dominis’ father, a ship’s captain, had built a New England style home, named Washington Place, for his family.  They lived with his widowed mother.  The home became the official residence of Hawai‘i’s Governor and today serves as a museum.

On February 12, 1874, nine days after the passing of King Lunalilo, an election was held between the repeat candidate David Kalākaua (her brother) and Queen Emma – widow of King Kamehameha IV.  Kalākaua won.

At noon of the tenth day of April, 1877, the booming of the cannon was heard which announced that King Kalākaua had named Liliʻuokalani heir apparent to the throne of Hawaiʻi. (Liliʻu’s brother changed her name when he named her Crown Princess, calling her Liliʻuokalani.)

King Kalākaua died on January 20, 1891; because he and his wife Queen Kapiʻolani did not have any children, his sister, Liliʻuokalani succeeded him to the Hawaiian throne.  Queen Liliʻuokalani was Hawaiʻi’s last monarch.

In 1909, Queen Liliʻuokalani executed a Deed of Trust that established the legal and financial foundation of an institution dedicated to the welfare of orphaned and destitute children of Hawaiʻi – Queen Liliʻuokalani Trust.

Her Deed of Trust states that “all the property of the Trust Estate, both principal and income … shall be used by the Trustees for the benefit of orphan and other destitute children in the Hawaiian Islands, the preference given to Hawaiian children of pure or part-aboriginal blood.”

The trust owns approximately 6,200-acres of Hawaiʻi real estate, the vast majority of which is located on the Island of Hawaiʻi.  92% is agriculture/conservation land, with the remaining land zoned for residential, commercial and industrial use.

The trust owns approximately 16-acres of Waikīkī real estate and another 8-acres of commercial and residential real estate on other parts of Oʻahu.

An interesting side note relates to the role and relationship Pauahi and Liliʻuokalani had with William Owen Smith, the son of American Protestant missionaries.

During the revolutionary period, Smith was one of the thirteen members of the Committee of Safety that overthrew the rule of Queen Liliʻuokalani (January 17, 1893) and established the Provisional Government and served on its executive council.

When not filling public office, Smith had been engaged in private law practice – Smith and his firm wrote the will for Princess Pauahi Bishop that created the Bishop Estate.

Pauahi recommended to Queen Liliʻuokalani that he write her will for the Liliʻuokalani Trust (which he did.) As a result, Liliʻuokalani and Smith became lifelong friends; he defended her in court, winning the suit brought against her by Prince Jonah Kūhiō.

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