Charles Reed Bishop

December 4, 2023 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.

February 1, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Raising the United States Flag

A Command from Captain Wiltse to Lieutenant Commander Swinburne; USS Boston, Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, February 1, 1893 …

“Sir: You will take possession of the Government building, and the American flag will be hoisted over it at 9 am. Very respectfully, GC Wiltse, Captain US Navy, Commanding USS Boston.”

The following is a summary of a report prepared by Lieut. Commander Swinburne in preparation and response to that order and the events that followed (as recorded in the Report of the Committee of Foreign Relations, United States Senate, 1894.)

In accordance with that order, the battalion of the Boston landed at Brewers Wharf, in the city of Honolulu, at 5 pm January 16.

The following summarizes the forces that landed: Company A, Artillery, 40 men; Company B, Infantry, 35 men; Company C, Infantry, 34 men; Company D, Marines, 30 men; Color guard, 4 men; hospital corps, 1 apothecary, 4 stretchermen; signalmen, 2; music, 3. Total, 153 men, 11 officers.

Each man carried the regulation knapsack, with blanket and change of clothing, haversack with mess gear and ration of hard bread, and filled canteen. Those armed with Lee rifle wore the double webbing belt carrying 60 cartridges in the loops and 20 in magazines. The marines were fitted out with the same belts, but the loops only were filled.

The ammunition boxes of the Gatling gun contained four filled Accle’s Feeds and 1,380 extra rounds of .45 caliber in pasteboard boxes. The ammunition boxes of the 37 mm contained 64 cartridges, common shell. Reserve ammunition in 37 mm. caisson was as follows: After compartments, 112 37 mm. cartridges, common shell; forward compartment 1,600 caliber .45 cartridges in pasteboard boxes; top or center compartment, four filled Accle’s Feeds, and 800 .38 caliber revolver cartridges.

After the battalion was formed, they marched first to the United States consulate, where Lieut. Draper, with his company, was detached with orders to proceed to the legation and leave half his command in charge of the orderly sergeant, returning with the remainder to the United States consulate, himself, and remain there as a guard until further orders.

The remainder of the battalion then marched down King Street. In passing the palace the battalion, in column of companies, gave a marching salute, trumpeters sounding four ruffles in honor of the royal standard, which was flying there.

On arriving at the residence of Mr. JB Atherton, an American, the command was halted, and permission having been obtained, was marched into the grounds, arms stacked and ranks broken. About 8 in the evening the battalion marched to Arion Hall and camped there.

During the night the men were kept ready for an instant’s call, but there were no disturbances of any kind.

At reveille the next morning, 17th, the camp routine was published and has been strictly carried out in all its details. Latrines were built in the yard and every sanitary precaution taken.

At 2:30 pm, a civilian, armed, reported that a policeman had been shot while attempting to stop a wagonload of ammunition which was being conveyed to the old armory where the civilian forces enrolled by the committee of safety were then assembling, and that a large crowd was collecting on Merchant Street.

The battalion was immediately assembled under arms in the yard in rear of the building to await developments. Until nearly 6 o’clock, the men leading the citizens’ movement had assumed charge of the Government building without opposition of any kind; the civilian companies under arms had marched in and established a line of sentries about the Government building.

The Boston’s battalion was kept in rear of the camp, at their company parades, with arms stacked. About 1 pm, they were notified that a Provisional Government, of which Mr. SB Dole was presiding officer, was in complete possession. A letter from the United States minister recognized it as the de facto government of the Hawaiian Islands, and the battalion was to consider it as such.

During the night, again, officers and men were kept ready for a moment’s call, but the city was perfectly quiet.

During the day of the 18th the royal standard was hauled down over the palace, and the household troops disbanded, by order of the Provisional Government, except a small guard of honor, who accompanied the ex-Queen to her residence on Beretania street.

On January 19 new quarters were provided for the battalion at the unoccupied house on King street, the property of Mr. CR Bishop. Having thoroughly policed the old camp, the battalion moved into the new quarters at 1:30 pm. Daily routine followed.

In accordance with verbal orders given the evening of January 31, the battalion was paraded on the morning of February 1, at 8:30, in front of the quarters – ‘A’ Company as artillery with Gatling and 37 men; the rest as infantry in light marching order.

As the line was formed, a written order, dated February 1, was given; in obedience to those orders the battalion marched to the Government building, where we were received by the civilian troops, who presented arms as they entered. President Dole and all members of the ministry and advisory council were also present.

According to the order, Col. Sofer, Commander in Chief of the Provisional Government forces, at once turned over the custody of the building to Lieut. Commander Swinburne.

A proclamation from Minister Stevens establishing a protectorate over the Hawaiian Islands in the name of the United States, pending negotiations with the Hawaiian Commissioners at Washington, was read.

At 9 am, the United States ensign was hoisted over the building, the battalion and civilian forces presenting arms. The Hawaiian flag, hoisted on the pole in the grounds, received the same salute.

The civilian forces of the Provisional Government were then withdrawn and the custody of the building turned over to Lieut. Draper with his company of 25 marines, which were withdrawn from the United States consulate for the purpose, the guard at the United States legation being continued but reduced to 5 men. The blue jacket companies of the battalion then returned to their quarters.

August 22, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Bishop Moves to California

“[T]he Man of Peace leaves institutions founded and endowed for promoting Education, Science, Charity and Good Morals, – his memory blessed by generations that he never knew.”

He never mentioned “any particular guide or mentor who took the place of parents in his early years. His faithfulness to the work in hand, whatever it might be, seems to have been innate, and in no way corrupted by unfit companions.”

We should remember “the good that he did in a long life on the Hawaiian Islands, for it was not long before the natural desire came to him to know more than the rural region of his birth offered, and the good sense of proper companionship that had befriended in early life continued when he left his native shores to seek a fortune in what was then called the ‘Northwest’”.

“The hand of God seems visible in the direction of that voyage, for provisions gave out and the ship put in to Honolulu for supplies. Perhaps with exception of the missionaries no ship ever brought greater help to these islands than these two young men [Charles R Bishop and William L Lee] were, all unconsciously, bringing in their unexpected visit in search of food.”

“While his interest in education so valuable to the country in later days took him often to the Royal School for Chiefs, then in the charge of Mr and Mrs Cooke, wise selection of companions picked out the Princess Pauahi, who soon showed an equal inclination to the interesting young haole.”

Bishop and Pauahi “were privately married in the school parlor, and [Pauahi’s father] Abner Paki in his wrath disowned his beloved Bernice and took Liliuokalani in her place; …”

“… but the father-love was stronger than his anger, and after a year’s estrangement all was forgiven and the young couple came back to Paki’s home, “Haleakala”, which soon became the greatest centre of hospitality in Honolulu.”

“In this quiet way began the united life that was to give so much to Honolulu and the whole kingdom, not merely in money, but in far greater measure in good influences among both natives of the soil and the foreigners who settled here and those who merely pass through on their way to other lands.” (Brigham in Thrum 1916)

“Next to her royal lineage, no other aspect of Pauahi’s life was as important to her fulfillment as a woman … as her marriage to Charles Reed Bishop. He brought her the love and esteem she needed as a woman and the organizational and financial acumen she needed to ensure the successful founding of her estate.”

“It was Thursday, October 16, 1884. The rains had been falling since early morning. Pauahi was unconscious and Charles was at her side. In a heavy downpour the rains reached a crescendo just about the time Pauahi died. It was twelve minutes after noon.” (Kanahele)

“After 34 years of marriage, Pauahi died … Bishop was co-executor of her will and one of five trustees she selected to manage her estate.”

“Bishop and his royal wife never had children of their own, but their love for Hawaii’s people and Hawaiian children were of high priority. Bishop set in motion the process that resulted in the establishment of the Kamehameha Schools in 1887.” (Dela Cruz)

“Because Pauahi’s estate was basically land rich and cash poor, Bishop contributed his own funds for the construction of several of the schools’ initial buildings on the original Kalihi campus …”

“… the Preparatory Department facilities (1888), Bishop Hall (1891) and Bernice Pauahi Bishop Memorial Chapel (1897). In addition, he founded and endowed the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in 1889 as an enduring memorial to his wife.” (KSBE)

Bishop noted, “‘Being interested in her plans and wishes and because of her very generous gifts to me … I decided to carry out her wishes regarding the schools and promised to do something toward a museum of Hawaiian and other Polynesian objects”.

“‘[I]n order to accomplish something quickly without sacrifice or embarrassment of her estate, I soon reconveyed to her estate the life interests given by her will and added a considerable amount of my own property on Oahu, Hawaii and Molokai.’ (C.R. Bishop letter to Samuel Damon, 1911)” (KSBE)

“In 1889, again with his own funds, Bishop established a museum in his wife’s honor. The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum was built to house the princess’s personal collections, ranging from chiefly possessions to Polynesian curios. Today, it is the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History and houses more than 24 million catalogued objects.” (Dela Cruz)

“During the 1880s, Bishop visited San Francisco frequently, staying at the Occidental Hotel. In 1894, he made it his residence”. (Dela Cruz)

“[W]hile approving annexation as the only way of protecting the group from Oriental capture, he thought it wiser to remove to San Francisco where he had important interests, and he never revisited his island home.” (Brigham)

“It has been mentioned that Mr. Bishop was a trustee of Oahu College [Punahou School], and as his interest was strongly educational it was there that some of his larger public gifts were made; besides endowments there were the Scientific Building, Pauahi Hall, and the CR Bishop Building for the preparatory classes, permanent monuments.” (Brigham)

“During his years in San Francisco, many visitors traveling to and from Hawaii would visit with him at his apartment; many of them sought his advice. From California, he also remained active in all of his philanthropic affairs in Hawaii. He created a Charles R Bishop Trust to provide direction for his charities and philanthropies.”

“Then, in 1906, the devastating San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed many of Bishop’s possessions, including all of his wife’s correspondence, pictures and personal papers. Following the disaster, he moved to Berkeley, where he died on June 7, 1915. He was 93 years old.”

“When news of his death reached Hawaii, flags were lowered to half-staff. A grieving Queen Liliuokalani was quoted in the Pacific Advertiser stating: “In common with those who have known Mr. Bishop for a lifetime, I feel the news of his death most keenly, and can truly say that his loss to Hawaii and the Hawaiians is irreparable.”

“Bishop’s ashes were returned to Hawaii where memorial services were held at Kawaiahao Church. The chants of Kamehameha were performed in his honor, and a royal ceremony was observed for the first time in nearly 100 years for a Caucasian man connected with the Kamehameha dynasty.”

“The only other white man to lay in state in such fashion was John Young, Kamehameha the Great’s trusted friend and adviser. Bishop was laid to rest with his wife at the royal mausoleum, at the tomb of the Kamehameha’s.” (Dela Cruz)

August 10, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Two Early Museums in Hawaiʻi

The display of objects of interest had an earlier history in post-contact Hawai‘i. In 1833, Seaman’s chaplain, Rev. John Diell, began displaying artifacts in the basement of the Seaman’s Bethel (church) in Honolulu, attracting the occasional interested visitor.

Diell enlarged his collection in 1837, seeking to preserve the objects of what he saw as a dying race. He named his new “museum” The Sandwich Islands Institute. It opened with among other odd curiosities, a large black bear and snow shoes.

(These were owned by the late David Douglas, who discovered the Douglas fir tree. He had left them at the home of the Reverend Diell shortly before being killed in a cattle trap near Hilo on July 12, 1834.)

After a short time, the museum at the Bethel closed; relics of its brief existence may have found their way into Bishop Museum and the Hawaiʻi Public Library.

In later decades, the Hawaiian Kingdom government came to recognize the value that a museum might offer as a site of cultural preservation and national voice.

On July 29, 1872, King Lot Kapuāiwa (Kamehameha V) signed into law an “Act to establish a National Museum.”

The Hawaiian National Museum opened in 1875, during the reign of King David Kalākaua, as a small collection with a meager budget. It was housed in an upper room of Ali‘iolani Hale, the government building.

As Kalākaua began to focus his attention on nationalistic projects he would increase the museum’s budget ten-fold and name Emma Nakuina, the museum’s first native curator, as head of the institution.

However, in 1887, the newly imposed “Bayonet Constitution” greatly curtailed the king’s power and slashed funding for the National Museum. Discussions soon began concerning a possible transfer of the government collection to Charles Bishop’s proposed museum.

Charles Reed Bishop founded the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in 1889 in honor of his deceased wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop (1831-1884.)

Pauahi, as a member of the royal family and mo‘opuna kuakahi (great granddaughter) of Kamehameha I, had inherited many treasured objects, including the collection of her cousin, Princess Ruth Ke‘elikōlanii (1826-1883). The preservation and display of these objects had been a desire of both of these chiefly women.

When a third high ranking chiefess, the former queen, Emma Rooke (1836-1885), passed only a year after Pauahi her significant artifacts joined the others, forming the foundational collection of the proposed new museum.

Construction of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum began in 1889 in Kalihi-Pālama on the grounds of the campus of the Kamehameha School for Boys. The museum opened to the public in 1892, and later added Polynesian Hall in 1894, and the “Victorian masterpiece” named Hawaiian Hall in 1903.

In January of 1891, word arrived by ship of the death of King Kalākaua. Museum Director William T. Brigham, reportedly anxious over what might become of the national collection, collected and transferred many of the artifacts to the newly founded museum now under his direction.

On June 22 of that same year the museum opened to the public with a mission to “preserve and display the cultural and historic relics of the Kamehameha family that Princess Pauahi had acquired.” The nation’s new sovereign, Queen Lili‘uokalani, was the first guest.

After a 3-year facelift, the museum’s 3-floor, Hawaiian Hall was reopened. The first floor is the realm of Kai Ākea (which represents the Hawaiian gods, legends, beliefs and the world of pre-contact Hawai‘i.) The second floor, Wao Kanaka, represents the realm where people live and work; focusing on the importance of the land and nature in daily life. The third floor, Wao Lani, is the realm inhabited by the gods; here, visitors learn about the aliʻi and key moments in Hawaiian history.

Then, the Pacific Hall, a gallery of two floors representing the peoples of Pacific cultures across Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia, was renovated, restored and reopened. (The inspiration and much of the information here is from Bishop Museum.)

July 19, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Born January 25, 1822 in Glens Falls, New York, Charles Reed Bishop was an orphan at an early age and went to live with his grandparents on their 120-acre farm learning to care for sheep, cattle and horses and repairing wagons, buggies and stage coaches. Academically, he only attended the 7th and 8th grades at Glens Falls Academy, his only years of formal schooling.

After leaving school, he becomes a clerk for Nelson J. Warren, the largest business in Warrensburgh, New York. He learned bartering, bookkeeping, taking inventory, maintenance and janitorial duties. Bishop became an expert in barter, and ran the post office, lumber yard and farm. He becomes a capable businessman.

By January 1846, Bishop was ready to broaden his horizons. He and a friend, William Little Lee, planned to travel to the Oregon territory, Lee to practice law and Bishop to survey land. They sailed aboard the ‘Henry’ from Newburyport, Massachusetts, around Cape Horn on the way to Oregon.

The vessel made a stop in Honolulu on October 12, 1846; both decided to stay. (Lee later became the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.)

Bishop soon found work, first at Ladd and Company, a mercantile and trading establishment, then at the US Consulate in Honolulu. In 1849, Bishop signed an oath to “support the Constitution and Laws of the Hawaiian Islands” and was appointed collector of customs for the kingdom.

Bishop met Bernice Pauahi while she was still a student at the Chiefs’ Children’s School (they probably met during the early half of 1847,) and despite the opposition of Pauahi’s parents who wanted her to marry Lot Kapuāiwa (later, Kamehameha V,) Bishop courted and married Pauahi in 1850. (His letters that mention Pauahi reveal a deep respect and affection for his wife and suggest she was a major source of his happiness throughout their 34-year marriage.)

Their home, Haleakala, became the “greatest centre of hospitality in Honolulu.” They graciously hosted royalty, visiting dignitaries, friends and neighbors as well as engaged in civic activities such as organizing aid to the sick and destitute and providing clothing for the poor.

Bishop was primarily a banker (he has been referred to as “Hawaiʻi’s First Banker.”) An astute financial businessman, he became one of the wealthiest men in the kingdom from banking, agriculture, real estate and other investments.

However, his industrious nature and good counsel in many fields were also highly valued by Hawaiian and foreign residents alike. He was made a lifetime member of the House of Nobles and appointed to the Privy Council. He served Kings Kamehameha IV, Kamehameha V, Lunalilo and Kalākaua in a variety of positions such as: foreign minister; president of the board of education; and chairman of the legislative finance committee.

Bishop believed in the transforming power of education and supported a number of schools: Punahou, Mills Institute (now known as Mid–Pacific Institute), St Andrews Priory and Sacred Hearts Academy. He not only contributed money to his causes, he provided sound advice and financial expertise.

He even sent presents of food or clothing to schools like Kawaiahaʻo Seminary at Christmas, “It is my wish that Mr. Raupp should send them plenty of mutton…also that they should have two turkeys or some ducks, some oranges and cakes…”

Next to her royal lineage, no other aspect of Pauahi’s life was as important to her fulfillment as a woman – and as the founder of the Kamehameha Schools – as her marriage to Charles Reed Bishop. He brought her the love and esteem she needed as a woman and the organizational and financial acumen she needed to ensure the successful founding of her estate. (Kanahele)

Soon after Pauahi’s death in 1884 he wrote: “I know you all loved her, for nobody could know her at all well and not love her. For myself I will only say that I am trying to bear my loss and my loneliness as reasonably as I can looking forward hopefully to the time when I shall find my loved one again.”

Immediately after Pauahi’s death, Bishop, as one of first five trustees she selected to manage her estate and co-executor of her will, set in motion the process that resulted in the establishment of the Kamehameha Schools in 1887. (The other initial trustees were Charles Montague, Samuel Mills Damon, Charles McEwen Hyde and William Owen Smith.)

Because Pauahi’s estate was basically land rich and cash poor, Bishop contributed his own funds for the construction of several of the schools’ initial buildings on the original Kalihi campus: the Preparatory Department facilities (1888,) Bishop Hall (1891) and Bernice Pauahi Bishop Memorial Chapel (1897.)

Bishop is best known for his generous contributions to his wife’s legacy, the Kamehameha Schools (when he died, he left most of his estate to hers,) and the founding of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum (1889.)

In a letter to Samuel Damon, 1911, he noted, “Being interested in her plans…I decided to carry out her wishes regarding the schools and promised to do something toward a museum of Hawaiian and other Polynesian objects…in order to accomplish something quickly … I soon reconveyed to her estate the life interests given by her will and added a considerable amount of my own property…”

In 1894, Bishop left Hawai`i to make a new life in San Francisco, California. Until he died, he continued, through correspondence with the schools’ trustees, to guide the fiscal and educational policy-making of the institution in directions that reinforced Pauahi’s vision of a perpetual educational institution that would assist scholars to become “good and industrious men and women.” (Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s Will, 1883)

In 1895, Bishop established the Charles Reed Bishop Trust. The beneficiaries of the Trust consist of 8-designated entities: Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Maunaʻala, Central Union Church, Kaumakapili Church, Kawaiahaʻo Church, Kamehameha Schools, Mid-Pacific Institute (his original beneficiaries, Kawaiahaʻo Female Seminary and Mills Institute merged in 1907 to form Mid-Pac) and Lunalilo Trust.

By the time Pauahi died in 1884, Maunaʻala, the Royal Mausoleum in Nuʻuanu was crowded with caskets. Bishop built an underground vault for Pauahi and members of the Kamehameha dynasty.

Charles Reed Bishop died June 7, 1915; his remains rest beside his wife in the Kamehameha Tomb. A separate monument to Charles Reed Bishop was built at Maunaʻala in 1916. (Lots of information here is from KSBE.)