Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Jacques Étienne Victor Arago

Jacques Arago  (March 6, 1790 –  November 27, 1855) was a French writer, artist and explorer.
 
He joined Louis de Freycinet on his 1817 voyage around the world aboard the ship Uranie.
 
In his book, ‘Narrative of a Voyage Round the World,’ he writes:
 
“I made the Tour of the World, but not as a seaman: the vessel carried me, and I wandered with it.”
 
“On board the Uranie, I traversed the Indian Seas; visited the South Sea Archipelago; and after doubling Cape Horn, and spending three years in dangers and fatigues, saluted the Atlantic as an old friend, and re-visited the beloved coasts of ancient Europe.”
 
“During our long voyage I became acquainted with numerous tribes; hunted with the Brasilian and the Guanche; danced with the negroes of Africa; and slept under the hut of the Sandwich islander.”
 
“I have seen much, and observed much.  I visited some little known islands at which our ship did not anchor.”
 
“I availed myself of the length of our different rendezvous to make excursions into the interior of countries yet uncivilized, which were always amusing, and sometimes dangerous; but which enabled me to collect a variety of observations on the manners, arts, customs, and habits of the different nations which inhabited them.”
 

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

John Young

It’s hard to tell the story of John Young without including Isaac Davis. They arrived in Hawai‘i at the same time (on different boats) and they served Kamehameha I as co-advisors.

John Young, a boatswain on the British fur trading vessel, Eleanora, was stranded on the Island of Hawai‘i in 1790. Kamehameha brought Young to Kawaihae, where he was building the massive Pu’ukoholā Heiau.

For the next several years, John Young, and another British sailor, Isaac Davis, went on to assist Kamehameha in his unification of the Hawaiian Islands.

Because of his knowledge of European warfare, Young is said to have trained Kamehameha and his men in the use of muskets and cannons. In addition, both Young and Davis fought alongside Kamehameha in his many battles.

With these powerful new weapons and associated war strategy, Kamehameha eventually brought all of the Hawaiian Islands under his rule.

Young was instrumental in building fortifications throughout the Islands, which included the conversion of Mailekini Heiau (below Pu‘ukoholā Heiau) into a fort, which he armed with as many as 21 ship cannons.

Because of his common practice of yelling “All Hands!” during battle and training, the Hawaiians came to know Young by the name Olohana, a Hawaiian use of this English phrase.

Young also served as a negotiator for the king, securing various trade and political agreements with many of the foreigners that visited the Islands.

When Captain George Vancouver visited Hawai‘i Island in 1793, he observed that both Young and Davis “are in his [Kamehameha’s] most perfect confidence, attend him in all his excursions of business or pleasure, or expeditions of war or enterprise; and are in the habit of daily experiencing from him the greatest respect, and the highest degree of esteem and regard.”

Because of his knowledge of European warfare, Young is said to have trained Kamehameha and his men in the use of muskets and cannons. In addition, both Young and Davis fought alongside Kamehameha in his many battles.

With these powerful new weapons and associated war strategy, Kamehameha eventually brought all of the Hawaiian Islands under his rule.

Kamehameha appointed John Young as Governor of Kamehameha’s home island, Hawai‘i Island, and gave him a seat next to himself in the ruling council of chiefs.

He was married twice. His descendants were also prominent in Hawaiian history. The most prominent of his descendants was his granddaughter, Queen Emma.

In 1819, Young was one of the few present at the death of Kamehameha I. He then actively assisted Kamehameha II (Liholiho) in retaining his authority over the various factions that arose at his succession to the throne.

Young was also present for the ending of the kapu system in 1819 and, a few months later, advised the new king to allow the first Protestant missionaries to settle in the Islands

Of the missionaries, on November 27, 1826, he stated, “Whereas, it has been represented by many persons, that the labours of the missionaries in these Islands are attended with evil and disadvantage to the people, I hereby most cheerfully give my testimony to the contrary.”

“I am fully convinced that the good which is accomplishing, and already effected, is not little. The great and radical change already made for the better, in the manners and customs of this people, has far surpassed my most sanguine expectations.”

“During the forty years that I have resided here, I have known thousands of defenceless human beings cruelly massacred in their exterminating wars. I have seen multitudes of my fellow beings offered in sacrifice to their idol gods.”

“I have seen this large island, once filled with inhabitants, dwindle down to its present numbers through wars and disease, and I am persuaded that nothing but Christianity can preserve them from total extinction.”

“I rejoice that true religion is taking the place of superstition and idolatry, that good morals are superseding the reign of crime, and that a code of Christian laws is about to take the place of tyranny and oppression.”

“These things are what I have long wished for, but have never seen till now. I thank God, that in my old age I see them; and humbly trust I feel them too.” (John Young; Ellis)

Both Davis and Young lived out their lives in the Islands. When Davis died in 1810, Young adopted the Davis children. Although Young had died by the time of the Great Māhele land division, his property was awarded to his wife and children, including the children of Isaac Davis.

Finally, in 1835, at the age of 93, John Young, statesman, high chief, friend and advisor to Kamehameha the Great, died at his daughter’s home on O‘ahu.

His service to Kamehameha was considered to be so great that Young’s heirs did not have to pay commutation for their māhele awards.

John Young and his granddaughter Queen Emma are buried at Mauna ‘Ala (the Royal Mausoleum on O‘ahu,) the final resting place of the high chiefs and royalty of the Kamehameha and Kalākaua dynasties.

© 2024 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Paul Emmert Artist/Traveler

Born near Bern, Switzerland, in 1826, Paul Emmert (1826‒1867) immigrated to the United States at the age of 19, landing first in New York and then heading west with the discovery of gold in California.

In 1853, he became one of the many artist-travelers to come to Hawai‘i to satisfy the thriving market for images of the islands’ dramatic topography and singular culture.

In Honolulu, he opened a print shop, where he made prints after his own drawings of local landmarks. Eventually, he moved to Kailua-Kona and farmed the sugar plantation where he lived out the remainder of his life.

In his 14 years in Hawai‘i, Emmert made drawings of the mountains, coastlines, vegetation, and geophysical phenomena in and around O‘ahu, Maui and the Island of Hawai‘i.

While Emmert was in Honolulu he made a series of sketches of Honolulu, one from the harbor and five from the bell-deck of the Catholic Cathedral.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, located at the north end of Fort Street (and Beretania) in downtown Honolulu, is said to be the oldest Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States and one of the oldest existing buildings in the downtown area.

The Cathedral stands on land which was given to the Catholic missionaries by King Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli) when the mission was established in 1827.

Here is a summary of the images in the six sketches of Honolulu:

No. 1. View of Honolulu from the Harbor (1854)

Center image is view looking mauka at Honolulu Harbor from the water.
Smaller images, circling the center image, include various buildings: (clockwise from top left) the Royal School, Custom House, interior of the Fort, market house, charity school, stone church, “Bethel” (Bethel Church?), armory, court house, palace of King Kamehameha III, Honolulu House, the steamer Akamai, the native church and the Catholic church.

No. 2. View of Honolulu from the Catholic Church (1854)

Central image is view looking toward Diamond Head.
Smaller images, circling the center image, include various residences and consulates: (clockwise from top left) John Yung; Mr. Angel, U.S. Consul; General Miller, H.B.M. Consul General; Mr. Perrin, French Consul; Prince Alexander and Lot; Mr. Armstrong; L. Anthon, Danish Consul; U.S. Consulate; King’s summer house; Mr. Hackfield, Swedish Consul; Mr. Montgomery; Mr. Gregg, U.S. Commissioner; Mr. Wyllie; Mr. Davis, Peruvian Consul; Mr. Hall; Mr. Reynolds, Bremen Consul.

No. 3. View of Honolulu from the Catholic Church (1854)

Center image is view looking toward Kakaʻako.
Smaller images, circling the center image, include various businesses and buildings: (clockwise from top left) Dentist, MacFarlane Hotel, National Hotel & Billiard Saloon, French Hotel, F. Spencer, Lafrenz & Fisher Cabinet Makers, Tailoring by Chas. Nicholson, Stuart & Rahe Cabinetmakers and Turners, Dr. Lathrop Drug Store, Hudsons Bay Company, Globe Hotel, Chas. Vincent, Reynolds, French Store, Ruggles and H Hackfeld & Co.

No. 4. View of Honolulu from the Catholic Church (1854)

Center image is view looking makai toward Honolulu Harbor.
Smaller images, circling the center image, include various businesses and buildings: (clockwise from top left) T. Spencer Ship Chandler, Rice & Co., Makee & Anthon’s Building, C. Brewer, DN Flitner Watch Maker, Dr Hoffman – Spalding, Honolulu Iron Works, H Sea – R Coady, Holt & Heuck, Melchers & Co., Mitchell & Fales – Wells Fargo & Co., BF Snow, Porter & Ogden, Allen & Co., Polynesian Office and Hawaiian Steam Navigation Office.

No. 5. View of Honolulu from the Catholic Church (1854)

Center image is view looking toward Central Oʻahu.
Smaller images, circling the center image, include various residences: (clockwise from top left) Boullion, Dubois, Capt. Snow, Cartwright, Spencer, Spalding, Ford, Capt. Crab, Sea, Newcomb, Bungalow, Dr. Wood, Sommner, Macfarlane, Porter & Ogden and Dowsett.

No. 6. View of Honolulu from the Catholic Church (1854)

Center image is view looking mauka toward Nuʻuanu Valley.
Smaller images, circling the center image, include various residences: (clockwise from top left) Dr, Lathrop, Paki, Washington Place, John Ji, Judge Andrews, Bishop, Capt. Luce, Rev. Damon, Dr. Hildebrand, Dr. Judd, Capt. Makee, Bates, Nuʻuanu Valley Waterfall, Wood, Wood and Ladd.
© 2022 Ho‘okuleana LLC

by Peter T Young 4 Comments

O‘ahu Railway and Land Company (OR&L)

The story of Hawaii’s “Big Five” companies (Alexander & Baldwin, Amfac (American Factors), Castle & Cooke, C. Brewer & Co. and Theo. H Davies & Co.) dominates the state’s economic history.
 
Their common trait: they were founded in agriculture – sugar and pineapple.
 
Another Hawai‘i family and company, Dillingham, started business in the late-1800s; although not a “Big Five,” deserves some attention.
 
It’s beginning, in part, is traced to O‘ahu Railway and Land Company.  They didn’t necessarily produce agriculture, but they played a critical role in agricultural operations.
 
Benjamin Franklin (Frank) Dillingham formed OR&L (a narrow gauge rail,) whose economic being was founded on the belief that O‘ahu would soon host a major sugar industry.
 
In 1885, Dillingham embarked on a land development project west of Honolulu and, like his continental counterparts, realized that this venture would not succeed without improved transportation to the area.  He also figured that a railroad needed to carry freight, as well, in order to be profitable.
 
The drilling of the first artesian well on the Ewa Plain by James Campbell in 1879 presented Dillingham another opportunity.  He obtained 50-year leases beginning in 1887 from Campbell in Ewa.
 
In 1888, the legislature gave Dillingham an exclusive franchise “for construction and operation on the Island of O‘ahu a steam railroad … for the carriage of passengers and freight.”
 
Ultimately OR&L sublet land, partnered on several sugar operations and/or hauled cane from Ewa Plantation Company, Honolulu Sugar Company in ‘Aiea, O‘ahu Sugar in Waipahu, Waianae Sugar Company, Waialua Agriculture Company and Kahuku Plantation Company, as well as pineapples for Dole.
 
Likewise, OR&L hauled various stages in the pineapple harvesting/production, including the canning components, fresh pineapple to the cannery, ending up hauling the cased products to the docks.
 
By 1895 the rail line reached Waianae.  It then rounded Kaena Point to Mokuleia, eventually extending to Kahuku.  Another line was constructed through central O‘ahu to Wahiawa.
 
Passenger travel was an add-on opportunity that not only included train rides, they also operated a bus system.  However, the hauling for the agricultural ventures was the most lucrative.
 
They even included a “Kodak Camera Train” (associated with the Hula Show) for Sunday trips to Haleiwa for picture-taking.  During the war years, they served the military.
 
Just like the rail programs on the continent, the railroad owned and operated the Haleiwa Hotel and offered city folks a North Shore destination with beaches, boating, golf, tennis and hunting.
 
In addition, OR&L (using another of its “land” components,) got into land development.  It developed Hawai‘i’s first planned suburban development and held a contest, through the newspaper, to name this new city.
 
The winner selected was “Pearl City” (the public also named the main street, Lehua.)
 
The railway owned 2,200-acres in fee simple in the peninsula.  First they laid-out and constructed the improvements, then invited the public on a free ride to see the new residential community.
 
The marketing went so well; ultimately, lots were auctioned off to the highest bidder.
 
Multiple factors affected the ultimate demise of the rail operations: sugar/pineapple production fizzled in the islands; more and more people were getting automobiles for travel; a 1946 tsunami damaged tracks and the war’s end stopped military travel.
 
The last ride on OR&L’s train operations was on December 31, 1947, ending 58-years of steam locomotives hauling all kinds of people, freight and other around O‘ahu.
 
The Dillinghams were out of transportation, but were active in development, construction and dredging.
 
My father served as manager of the land department of OR&L (1952-1961.)  When OR&L and Hawaiian Dredging and Construction Company merged to form the Dillingham Corporation, he was manager and vice president at Dillingham until 1968.  As a kid, I remember going down to the old OR&L facility in Iwilei.
 
 

by Peter T Young 8 Comments

The end of … “You’ve got mail!”

These Posts will continue (at least for a while) … the excerpts and full posts are and will continue to be at: www.ImagesOfOldHawaii.com.

However, the subscriptions and email notifications through MailChimp will end, soon.  This will not necessarily be a weaning process, more like cold turkey.

In the past, I have been charged varying amounts from MailChimp to send the email notification of the daily posts.  Prior to when I stopped (after 8 ½-years of posting), I paid between $20 and $40 per month.  That was fine.

When I recently restarted, the fee from MailChimp was a little over $50 per month.  Again, doable.

However, the challenge with my present subscription with MailChimp is that it covers 30,000 emails per month.  If I exceed that, it is an additional $10 per every additional 300 emails.

I have almost email 1,500 subscribers (and its growing daily); for a 30-day month, that is 45,000 emails per month.

For the past few weeks I have been reaching out to MailChimp trying to get something like my prior subscription rate – based on the number of subscribers, not the total number of emails.

To allow for more emails per month, the next level of service from MailChimp costs almost $300 per month. 

I do not have a reasonable resolution.

At one time, I considered monetizing these posts.  However, over the years it became clear to me that the goal was never about making money, it was about learning about the place that I live and sharing what I learn.

So, I am not going to charge – that is counter-productive and flies in the face of the whole intent.  I am also not going to ask for ‘donations’ – that is the same thing (so don’t send any money).

I concluded that I need to cancel the email subscription component of this process and cancel my relationship with MailChimp.

Nothing else really changes.

The excerpts and full posts are at: www.ImagesOfOldHawaii.com.  New posts are programed for publication at 12:01 am (HST) each day.

If you want to keep seeing daily historical posts from me, you will need to change your habit and go to that website (and not rely on the email reminder).

In addition, excerpts and links to the full posts are on:

The auto-posting to these other sites is not fail-safe.  Just this morning, both Facebook and LinkedIn did not get the message.  So, I manually posted there.

Again, if you really want to see these, the most assured way to get the latest is going to www.ImagesOfOldHawaii.com.

If you are not used to going directly to www.ImagesOfOldHawaii.com, it is really simple:

  • Once you click the link, you will get to the home page.  The three most recent posts are there – on the left is today’s post, the middle is yesterday’s and the right has the post from day before.
  • Every day, the new post will fill the left position and the others will shift to the right.
  • The site has the ability to look at prior posts – go to “Archive” – and from there you see older posts and/or you can do a word search, depending on what you want to look for.

Over the years, I have seen that the Facebook algorithms support those that engage in the posts.

If you occasionally Like, Comment or otherwise engage, you are more likely to see future posts.  Those that simply read and move on have been known to have future posts not show up in their feed.

I am sorry about dropping this email service; I hope you understand.

Thanks,

Peter.

PS.  Again, if you want to continue to read the daily posts, I encourage you to go directly to www.ImagesOfOldHawaii.com (after 12:01 am (HST) each day for the latest post).