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November 10, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Queen’s Quilt

Kalākaua was succeeded by his sister, Liliʻuokalani, who was proclaimed Queen on January 29, 1891. Her experience as Princess Regent during King Kalākaua’s nine-month journey around the world in 1881 and her visit to the United States in 1887 with Queen Kapiʻolani helped prepare her for her new role as Queen of Hawaiʻi.

Queen Liliʻuokalani was determined to strengthen the political power of the Hawaiian monarchy and, at the request of her people, to limit suffrage to subjects of the kingdom.

Her attempt to promulgate a new constitution galvanized opposition forces into the Committee of Safety, which was composed of Hawaiʻi-born citizens of American parents, naturalized citizens and foreign nationals; they later organized the establishment of a provisional government.

On January 17, 1893, Queen Lili`uokalani yielded her authority in a letter delivered to Sanford B Dole, “…Now to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss of life, I do this under protest …”

“… and impelled by said force yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representatives and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the Constitutional Sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.”

“Weary with waiting, impatient under the wrongs they were suffering, preparations were undoubtedly made amongst some in sympathy with the monarchy to overthrow the oligarchy.”  (Queen Liliʻuokalani)

In 1895, an abortive attempt by Hawaiian royalists to restore Queen Liliʻuokalani to power resulted in the Queen’s arrest. She signed a document of abdication that relinquished all her future claims to the throne. Following this, she endured a public trial before a military tribunal in her former throne room.

Convicted of having knowledge of a royalist plot, “at two o’clock on the afternoon of the 27th of February I was again called into court, and sentence passed upon me. It was the extreme penalty for “misprision of treason,” – a fine of $5,000, and imprisonment at hard labor for five years.”  (Liliʻuokalani)

The sentence was commuted to imprisonment in an upstairs apartment in ʻIolani Palace.

“I was informed that I could bring Mrs. Clark with me if I wished, so she went for my hand-bag; and followed by her, I entered the carriage of the deputy marshal, and was driven through the crowd that by this time had accumulated at the gates of my residence at Washington Place. …”

“That first night of my imprisonment was the longest night I have ever passed in my life; it seemed as though the dawn of day would never come. I found in my bag a small Book of Common Prayer according to the ritual of the Episcopal Church. It was a great comfort to me, and before retiring to rest Mrs. Clark and I spent a few minutes in the devotions appropriate to the evening. …” (Lili‘uokalani)

“Outside of the rooms occupied by myself and my companion there were guards stationed by day and by night, whose duty it was to pace backward and forward through the hall, before my door, and up and down the front veranda. The sound of their never-ceasing footsteps as they tramped on their beat fell incessantly on my ears.”

“One officer was in charge, and two soldiers were always detailed to watch our rooms. I could not but be reminded every instant that I was a prisoner, and did not fail to realize my position.”

“My companion could not have slept at all that night: her sighs were audible to me without cessation; so I told her the morning following that, as her husband was in prison, it was her duty to return to her children. …”

“[I]n conference it was agreed between us that Mrs. Clark could return home, and that Mrs. Wilson should remain as my attendant; that Mr. Wilson would be the person to inform the government of any request to be made by me, and that any business transactions might be made through him.”  (Lili‘uokalani)

Queen Liliʻuokalani’s “prison” room is on the makai-Diamond Head second-floor corner of ʻIolani Palace.  If you visit the Palace today, the area where the Queen was held is clearly noted by its white covered-over window.

Contrary to urban legend, the Palace windows were not frosted and painted over to block the Queen’s ability to see out and others to see her inside.

In 1887, the Palace’s second story windows were opaque glass.  When the Palace was attacked in 1889 during the initial Wilcox Rebellion, many of the Place windows were broken.  When repairs were made (through 1890,) these windows were replaced with frosted glass.

There are apparently no photographs of the Queen’s room during her imprisonment.  She describes the apartment as, “a large, airy, uncarpeted room with a single bed in one corner. The other furniture consisted of one sofa, a small square table …”

“… one single common chair, an iron safe, a bureau, a chiffonier (storage for odds and ends,) and a cupboard, intended for eatables … There was, adjoining the principal apartment, a bath-room, and also a corner room and a little boudoir …”  (Queen Liliʻuokalani)

During her imprisonment, the Queen was denied any visitors other than one lady in waiting (Mrs. Eveline Wilson.) She began each day with her daily devotions followed by reading, quilting, crochet-work or music composition.

“Though I was still not allowed to have newspapers or general literature to read, writing-paper and lead-pencils were not denied; and I was thereby able to write music, after drawing for myself the lines of the staff.”  (Liliʻuokalani)

The Palace has a quilt the Queen made; the center square of Liliʻuokalani’s quilt includes the embroidered words “Imprisoned at Iolani Palace … We began the quilt there …”

“Surrounding the Kalakaua coat of arms and framed by pairs of crossed Hawaiian flags, the center block outlines the sequence of events that changed the course of Hawaiian history …”

“… including the stitched date the Provisional Government was put in place, when Lili’uokalani was forced to step down, and the date of the aborted Wilcox revolution that precipitated the queen’s arrest.” (Star-Bulletin)

Embroidered dates indicate the quilt was completed after Liliʻuokalani’s release on September 6, 1895. “Held captive and sequestered in a small room at the Iolani Palace for a period of eight months, Hawaii’s last monarch and a small group of devoted attendants set about documenting the imprisonment.”

“The preservation of their cultural heritage and the unconditional show of support for one another during times of adversity are qualities attributed to Hawaiian women throughout history. … the Queen’s Quilt symbolized the resolution of a few women who were bound and determined to preserve a record of their Queen’s cultural heritage on behalf of all the Islands native inhabitants.” (Dwyer)

She spent 8 months in this room.  After her release from ʻIolani Palace, the Queen remained under house arrest for five months at her private home, Washington Place. For another eight months she was forbidden to leave Oʻahu before all restrictions were lifted.  Liliʻuokalani died of a stroke on November 11, 1917 in Honolulu at the age of 79.

The Queen’s Quilt is displayed in the very room where Queen Liliʻuokalani was imprisoned in 1895. It was here she and her companions would begin to create one of the most unusual forms of historic documentation in Hawaiian history. (Native Books)

© 2024 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance Tagged With: Liliuokalani, Overthrow, Eveline Wilson, Quilt, Monsarrat assisted in conferring the Mark Master’s degree on King Kalakaua at Iolani Palace. Monsarrat married Carrie Capitola Tuttle in Honolulu, Queen's Quilt

May 20, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Lady in Waiting

Captain Henry Blanchard, master of the brig Thaddeus (that brought the Pioneer Company of missionaries to the Islands in 1820,) married a Molokai chiefess named Koloa. They had a daughter, Harriet, born in 1831.

Harriet married an itinerant English actor, John Townsend, whose dramatic company performed in Honolulu. He gave up acting and invested in a sugar plantation (that went bankrupt.) Then he disappeared, leaving Harriet with their two children Eveline (Kittie) and George.

Eveline Melita Townsend joined Kawaiahaʻo Church, where she sang in the church choir, led by then-Princess (later-Queen) Liliʻuokalani. Liliʻuokalani must have been charmed by her exuberant and fatherless choir member, for Eveline became a protégé of the princess and later an intimate friend. (Krauss)

“(Kittie) professed a great fondness and love for me, and with two other young ladies, Lizzie Kapoli and Sophie Sheldon, had made my home theirs. Bright young girls, with happy hearts, and free from care and trouble, they made that part of my life a most delightful epoch to me.”

“It was then that Mr (Charles Burnett (CB)) Wilson first sought the hand of pretty little Kittie Townsend. Thus we had known Mr Wilson quite well as a young man when he was courting his wife.”

“My husband and myself had warmly favored his suit; and, with his wife, he naturally became a retainer of the household, and from time to time they took up their residence with us.” (Liliʻuokalani)

The Wilsons had a son, Johnny. CB Wilson was appointed Marshal of the Kingdom.

“One evening, shortly after Mr and Mrs Wilson had moved into the bungalow, he presented himself at the Blue Room of the palace, and then first mentioned the idea that a new constitution should be promulgated. … About two days’ after this suggestion I received a call from Mr. Samuel Nowlein, who alluded to the same matter.”

“On the sixteenth day of January. 1895. Deputy Marshal Arthur Brown and Captain Robert Waipa Parker were seen coming up the walk which leads from Beretania Street to my residence.”

“Mrs Wilson told me that they were approaching. I directed her to show them into the parlor, where I soon joined them. Mr. Brown informed me that he had come to serve a warrant for my arrest; he would not permit me to take the paper which he held, nor to examine its contents.”

“(W)e arrived at the gates of ʻIolani Palace, the residence of the Hawaiian sovereigns. We drove up to the front steps, and I remember noticing that troops of soldiers were scattered all over the yard.”

“(I)n conference it was agreed between us … that Mrs Wilson should remain as my attendant; that Mr. Wilson would be the person to inform the government of any request to be made by me, and that any business transactions might be made through him.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“During the imprisonment here of Liliuokalani in 1895 Mrs Wilson was chosen by the ex-Queen as best friend and the relations between them were of the closest and most confidential nature. In the old court days here Mrs. Wilson was prominent both on account of her own position as a lady in waiting and her husband’s official rank.” Hawaiian Gazette, May 24, 1898)

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

Paoakalani written by Liliuokalani, performed by Kuuipo Kumukahi:

In 1897, Johnny Wilson and fellow Stanford student Louis Whitehouse won the bid to expand and construct a ‘carriage road’ over the Pali. Ground was broken on May 26, 1897 and the road was opened for carriages on January 19, 1898.

(When the current Pali Highway and its tunnels opened (1959,) the original roadway up and over the Pali was closed and is now used by hikers.)

Then, “It was a painful thing for our hearts to hear that the uncompassionate hand of death reached out and took the precious breath of life from the body of Mrs Evalaina Willison (Wilson,) the wife of Mr CB Willison (Wilson,) in the early morning of this Saturday, after she began to waste away of sickness for just a few short days.”

“She was a well-known woman here in town, and elsewhere on the island, and she was the attendant of Queen Liliuokalani while she was on the throne until her overthrow.”

“There were many, many friends who visited to see her for the last time, and then dust returned to dust, for that is where it came from. She leaves behind a husband, child and family who grieve for her from this side of the grave. (Aloha Aina, May 28, 1898)

Later, her son Johnny Wilson got involved with politics and is credited as being the most important Democrat in the first half of 20th-century Hawaiʻi; his name is used with Jack Burns in the party movement. He was in a meeting on April 30, 1900 that organized the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi and served as Honolulu Mayor.

Initially known as the ‘Kalihi Tunnel’ (and often called the Likelike Tunnels,) the Wilson Tunnels are named in honor of John H Wilson. (1998 brought the completion of H-3 (and the Tetsuo Harano Tunnels – named after a longtime state highways administrator.))

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© 2016 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Lyman C Newell, Queen's lady-in-waiting, Queen Liliuokalani, Adam H Dickey & Mrs SK Kea-PP-98-13-007
Lyman C Newell, Queen’s lady-in-waiting, Queen Liliuokalani, Adam H Dickey & Mrs SK Kea-PP-98-13-007

Filed Under: Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Prominent People Tagged With: Hawaii, Liliuokalani, Queen Liliuokalani, Pali, Wilson Tunnel, Johnny Wilson, Lady In Waiting, Eveline Wilson

Images of Old Hawaiʻi

People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

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