Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Niuhelewai

The ahupua‘a of Kapālama has two streams, the Kapālama and the Niuhelewai (“coconut going (in) water”). They merge and extend through the central fertile area also called Niuhelewai. This area drained into a pond called Kūwili II.

John Papa ‘Ī‘ī described the appearance of the trail (around the year 1810) from Nuʻuanu to Moanalua through Kapālama: “When the trail reached a certain bridge, it began going along the banks of taro patches, up to the other side of Kapālama, to the plain of Kaiwiʻula …”

While somewhat general, the ‘Ī‘ī account supports that of von Kotzebue in relating an abundance of lo‘i where the main trail crossed Nuʻuanu Stream, a relatively uncultivated plain as the trail traversed Kapālama and Kaiwi‘ula, and then more lo‘i on Kalihi Stream (Cultural Surveys)

“(O)n the south and west, spread the plain of Honolulu, having its fish-ponds and salt making pools along the sea-shore, the village and fort between u and the harbor, and the valley stretching a few miles north into the interior, which presented its scattered habitation and numerous beds of kalo in its various stages of growth …”

“Through this valley, several streams descending from the mountains in the interior, wind their way, some six or seven miles watering and overflowing by means of numerous artificial canal the bottom of kalo patches, and then, by one mouth, fall into the peaceful harbor.” (Hiram Bingham)

Haumea, the goddess of childbirth, had a home at Niuhelewai in Kapālama; Haumea, sometimes identified with Papa, or the Earth mother, was a female akua that with ‘great source of female fertility.’ She married Wākea and later married Hāloa, her husband’s son by his own daughter Hoʻohokukalani. She is considered the mother of Pele and of Pele’s siblings

In chants she is called Haumea ‘of mysterious forms, of eightfold forms, of four hundred thousand forms.’ One of her commonly known forms, however, is the breadfruit tree. There is no single word haumea in Hawaiian, but hau can mean “a ruler” and mea can mean “reddish (like red earth). (King)

Niuhelewai was the location for a famous battle between Kahekili’s forces and the O‘ahu ruling chief Kahahana.

At the time of Captain Cook’s arrival (1778,) the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and (4) Kauaʻi and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

Kahahana was high-born and royally-connected. His father was Elani, one of the highest nobles in the ʻEwa district on Oʻahu, a descendant of the ancient chiefs of Līhuʻe. While still a child, Kahahana was sent to Maui to live with Kahekili. (Fornander)

Then, Oʻahu chiefs selected Kahahana to be their leader (this was the second island chief to be elected to rule Oʻahu; the first was Māʻilikūkahi, who was his ancestor.)

Kahahana left Maui and ruled Oʻahu. When war broke out between Kalaniʻōpuʻu of Hawaiʻi Island and Kahekili in 1779, Kahahana had come to the aid of Kahekili. Later, things soured.

“At that time Kahekili was plotting for the downfall of Kahahana and the seizure of Oʻahu and Molokaʻi, and the queen of Kauaʻi was disposed to assist him in these enterprises.” (Kalākaua)

In the beginning of 1783, Kahekili sought to add Oʻahu under his control. Kahekili invaded Oʻahu and Kahahana, landing at Waikīkī and dividing his forces in three columns (Kahekili’s forces marched from Waikīkī by Pūowaina (Punchbowl,) Pauoa and Kapena to battle Kahahana and his warriors.)

Kahahana’s army was routed, and he and his wife fled to the mountains. For nearly two years or more they wandered over the mountains, secretly aided, fed and clothed by his supporters, who commiserated the misfortunes of their former king. Kahahana was later killed.

Some of the remaining Oʻahu chiefs sought revenge and devised a wide-spread conspiracy against Kahekili and the Maui chiefs. The plan was to kill the Maui chiefs on the same night in the different districts.

However, before they could carry out their plan, Kalanikūpule found out their intentions and informed his father, Kahekili. Messengers were sent to warn the other chiefs, who overcame the conspirators and killed them. (Apparently the messenger to warn the chiefs in Waialua was too late and the Maui chiefs there were killed.)

Gathering his forces together, Kahekili overran the districts of Kona and ʻEwa, and a war of extermination ensued. This event was called Kapoluku – “the night of slaughter.” (Newell)

Men, women, and children were massacred; all the Oahu chiefs were killed and the chiefesses tortured. (Kamakau) The waters of the Niuhelewai stream were turned back, the stream being dammed by the corpses. (Fornander)

Kalaikoa, one of the Maui chiefs, scraped and cleaned the bones of the slain and built a house for himself entirely from the skeletons of the slaughtered situated at Lapakea in Moanalua. The skulls of slain Oʻahu chiefs adorned the doorways of the house. The house was called “Kauwalua.” (Lots of information here is from Fornander, Kamakau and Cultural Surveys.)

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Niuhelewai-Fish_Ponds_at_Honoruru,_Oahu,_by_John_Murray,_after_Robert_Dampier-(WC)-1836

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Kamehameha Schools

Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani inherited all of the substantial landholdings of the Kamehameha dynasty from her brother, Lot Kapuāiwa; she became the largest landowner in the islands.

At her death, 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)

Bernice Pauahi was the birth daughter of Abner Pākī and his wife Laura Kōnia (Pauahi was the great-granddaughter and direct royal descendant of Kamehameha the Great.)

She was reared with her parent’s hānai child, Lydia Liliʻu Kamakaʻeha (birth daughter of High Chiefess Analeʻa Keohokālole and High Chief Caesar Kaluaiku Kapaʻakea, who later became Queen Liliʻuokalani.) The two girls developed a close, loving relationship. They attended the Chief’s Children’s School, a boarding school, together, and were known for their studious demeanor.

Pauahi’s will formed and funded the Kamehameha Schools; “Thirteenth.  I give, devise and bequeath all of the rest, residue and remainder of my estate real and personal, wherever situated unto the trustees below named, their heirs and assigns forever, to hold upon the following trusts, namely: 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.”  (KSBE)

Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s will (Clause 13) states her desire that her trustees “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”.

She directed “that the teachers of said schools shall forever be persons of the Protestant religion, but I do not intend that the choice should be restricted to persons of any particular sect of Protestants.”

On November 4, 1887, three years after her death, the Kamehameha School for Boys, originally established as an all-boys school on the grounds of the current Bishop Museum, opened with 37 students and four teachers.  A year later the Preparatory Department, for boys 6 to 12 years of age, opened in adjacent facilities.

In 1894 the Kamehameha School for Girls opened on its own campus nearby.  Between 1930 and 1955, all three schools moved to its present location – Kapālama Heights – less than a mile mauka of the old Bishop Museum campus. In 1965 the boy’s and girl’s campuses became co-ed and the curriculum was increasingly geared to college preparation.

Prior to 1897, Kamehameha students attended Sunday services at Kaumakapili Church, then located about a mile from campus at the corner of Nuʻuanu and King Streets. It took about 20 minutes to cover the distance on foot – with the boys wearing their heavy West Point-style uniforms designed for “long lasting quality, not comfort.”

On December 19, 1897, a new campus chapel dedication took place on the sixty-sixth anniversary of Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s birth. KS scholars, teachers, administrators and community representatives filled the whole building.

Reverend William Brewster Oleson (1851–1915), former principal of the Hilo boarding school (founded by David Belden Lyman in 1836,) helped organize the schools on a similar model.

At the first Founder’s Day ceremony in December, 1889, Charles Reed Bishop, Pauahi’s husband and a member of Kamehameha’s first Board of Trustees, elaborated on her intentions.

“Bernice Pauahi Bishop, by founding the Kamehameha Schools, intended to establish institutions which should be of lasting benefit to her country…The founder of these schools was a true Hawaiian. She knew the advantages of education and well directed industry. Industrious and skillful herself, she respected those qualities in others.”  (KSBE)

“The hope that there would come a turning point, when, through enlightenment, the adoption of regular habits and Christian ways of living, the natives would not only hold their numbers, but would increase again …”

“And so, in order that her own people might have the opportunity for fitting themselves for such competition, and be able to hold their own in a manly and friendly way, without asking any favors which they were not likely to receive, these schools were provided for, in which Hawaiians have the preference, and which she hoped they would value and take the advantages of as fully as possible.” (KSBE)

In 1996 two new campuses were established on the neighbor islands of Maui and Hawai‘i, and they now serve students in grades K-12.  Kamehameha subsidizes a significant portion of the cost to educate every student.

In addition to three campuses, Kamehameha operates a number of preschool sites enrolling children statewide; and serves thousands more students through community outreach and scholarship programs, and collaborations with educational and community organizations.  (Lots of info and images from KSBE.)

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“Reclamation” Projects – Early-1900s

“Whenever in the opinion of the Board of Health any tract or parcel of land situated in the District of Honolulu, Island of Oahu, shall be deleterious to the public health in consequence of being low …”

“… and at times covered or partly covered by water, or of being situated between high and low water mark, or of being improperly drained, or incapable by reasonable expenditure of effectual drainage or for other reason in an unsanitary or dangerous condition…”

“… it shall be the duty of the Board of Health to report such fact to the Superintendent of Public Works together with a brief recommendation of the operation deemed advisable to improve such land.”  (So stated Section 1025, Revised Laws of the Territory of Hawaiʻi, in 1906.)

That year, Board of Health President, LE Pinkham, stated in a report “for the Making of Honolulu as Beautiful and Unique in Character, as nature has Endowed it in Scenery, Climate and Location:”

“Nature, situation and human circumstance fix world-wide prominence and importance on certain strategic points in commerce, navigation and defense. Human events have moved slowly, but are becoming intensely accelerated, and it would seem Honolulu is now beginning to fulfil her destiny.”

Likewise, laws in place gave the Superintendent of Public Works the right to make Improvements to property which had been condemned as insanitary by the Board of Health.

Also in 1906, the US War Department acquired more than 70-acres in the Kālia portion of Waikīkī for the establishment of a military reservation to be called Fort DeRussy.  Back then, nearly 85% of present Waikīkī was in wetland.

The Army started filling in the fishponds and wetland that covered most of the Fort site – pumping fill from the ocean continuously for nearly a year in order to build up an area on which permanent structures could be built.

Thus, the Army began the transformation of Waikīkī from wetlands to solid ground and it served as a model that others followed.

Back then, much of the makai lands from Honolulu to and including Waikīkī were characterized with lowland marshes, wetlands, coral reef flats and farming of fishponds along with some limited wetland kalo (taro) taro agriculture (and later rice.)

However, they were also characterized as, “stretched useless, unsightly, offensive swamps, perpetually breeding mosquitoes and always a menace to public health and welfare”.

The Territory saw the opportunity to drain and fill the land that “was valueless” to be “available for the growth of the business district of the city” and attain “a valuation greatly in excess of the cost of the filling and draining.”

Likewise, in areas such as Kakaʻako there were practical issues to contend with.   “Calmly wading around in muddy water up to waist, on Tuesday after noon last, a Kakaako housekeeper was busying herself hanging out the family washing to dry. Her clothes basket she towed after her on a raft.”

“None of the neighbors marveled at the strange sight for when it was wash-day at their places they had to do the same. Tied up at the front gates of many of the houses in the block were rafts, upon which the more particular members of the families ferried themselves back and forth from house to street”.  (Hawaiian Gazette, April 3, 1908)

This set into motion a number of reclamation and sanitation projects in Kakaʻako, Honolulu, Waikīkī, Lāhaina, Hilo and others.

The first efforts were concentrated at Kakaʻako – it was then more generally referred to as “Kewalo.”  The Kewalo Reclamation District included the area bounded by South Street, King Street, Ward Avenue and Ala Moana Boulevard.

This area already had a practical demonstration of dredging and filling.  In 1907, the US Army Fort Armstrong was built on fill over Kaʻākaukukui reef to protect the adjoining Honolulu Harbor.

“The plan practically takes in all the land from King street to the sea, and it will be the first step in a general reclamation scheme for the low lying lands of the city.”  (Hawaiian Star, October 24, 1911)

Kapālama Reclamation Project included approximately 60-acres of land between King Street and the main line of Oʻahu Railway and Land Company.  In addition, approximately 11-acres of land were filled from dredge material between Piers 16 and 17.

In 1925, the “practically worthless swamp lands” were converted “into property selling as high as $30,000.00 per acre.”

During this project, Sand Island and Quarantine Island were joined to the Kalihi Kai peninsula. In 1925 and 1926, a channel was dug from the Kalihi Channel into Kapālama Basin creating a true island out of “Sand Island.”

The Waikīkī Reclamation District was identified as the approximate 800-acres from King and McCully Streets to Kapahulu Street, near Campbell Avenue down to Kapiʻolani Park and Kalākaua Avenue on the makai side.  (1921-1928)

The dredge material not only filled in the Waikīkī wetlands, it was also used to fill in the McKinley High School site.

The initial planning called for the extension of the Ala Wai Canal past its present terminus and excavate along Makee Island in Kapiʻolani Park, connecting the Canal with the ocean on the Lēʻahi side of the project.  However, funds ran short and this extension was contemplated “at some later date, when funds are made available”; however, that never happened.

Eleven-and-a-half acres of Lāhaina “swamp land” (near the National Guard Armory,) drainage canals and storm sewers were part of the Lāhaina Reclamation District.  (1916-1917) Mokuhinia Pond was filled with coral rubble dredged from Lāhaina Harbor.

By Executive Order of the Territory of Hawaiʻi in 1918, the newly-filled pond was turned over to the County of Maui for use as Maluʻuluʻolele Park.

In Hilo, the Waiolama Reclamation Project included the draining and filling of approximately 40-acres in the area between the Hilo Railway tract, Wailoa River, and Baker and Front Streets.  It included diversion of the Alenaio Stream.  (1914-1919)

Generally, the consensus was the reclamation projects were successful in addressing the health concerns; in addition, they made economic sense.

As an example, in Waikīkī, before reclamation assessed values for property were at about $500 per acre and the same property reclaimed at ten cents a foot, making a total cost of $4,350 per acre.  The selling price after reclamation, $6,500 to $7,000 per acre, showed the financial benefit of the reclamation efforts.

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by Peter T Young 2 Comments

John Neddles Anthony Chu Chu Gilman

A Cherokee Indian, John Neddles Anthony Chu Chu Gilman was born on August 1, 1777.  (Chu Chu is a Cherokee name, not Chinese.)   Some suggest he came from Natchez, Louisiana, or possibly Oklahoma.  He arrived in the Hawaiian Islands about 1817. (“The Polynesian” Oct. 19, 1852.)

In the islands he was called Kuene, but also went by the names John Neddles and John Neddles Gilman (he’ll go by Neddles, here.)

He first married Louisa Piʻilani Poʻokui in March, 1820; they had four children.  He was married a second time to Harriet Kapu Kewahaea of Kaʻawaloa, Hawaiʻi; they had four sons and one daughter.

Neddles had an adopted daughter, Louisa Chu Chu Gilman (November 13, 1828-November 30, 1909.)  She married twice to Chung Hung (or Ahung,) and later Arthur Peter Brickwood.

Here’s a little side-story on one of the weddings.  This is how Stephen Reynolds described his friend Ahung’s wedding: “April 19, 1843—Fine morn … Lord George Paulette (Paulet) and French Frere called on Ahung—took a piece of cake and glass of wine and went away. …”

“Evening Ahung was married to Miss Louisa Neddles by Richard Armstrong …  French & American Consuls, E & H Grimes … and many others present. Came at 1/2 before 8 o’clock. Dancing at 1/4 past 8 til 11 … when everyone left apparently well pleased. … April 26, 1843—Went over to Hungtai’s to lunch many people in who were at the wedding.”  (HHS)

Around that time, Paulet, representing the British Crown, overstepped his authority and seized the government buildings in Honolulu and forced King Kamehameha III to cede the Hawaiian kingdom to Great Britain.  Paulet raised the British flag and issued a proclamation formally annexing Hawaii to the British Crown.  This event became known as the Paulet Affair.

Queen Victoria, on learning these activities, immediately sent Rear Admiral Richard Thomas to the islands to restore sovereignty.  The day began early that Monday, July 31, 1843, with soldiers and the public gathering at what we now refer to as Thomas Square.

After five-months of occupation, the Hawaiian Kingdom was restored and Adm. Thomas ordered the Union Jack removed and replaced with the Hawaiian kingdom flag.  That day was known as Ka La Hoʻihoʻi Ea (Sovereignty Restoration Day.)

Back to Neddles.

He apparently performed services for the early Hawaiian monarchy and was rewarded with some property in Pālama/Kapālama on Oʻahu.

Because of its proximity to Honolulu and its rich lands, Kapālama was frequently distributed by the king to foreign business partners, as well as to lesser chiefs.  (HH&F)

Testimony before the Land Commission noted, “Claimant received this land from the present King in 1833 and confirmed in 1835 by Kaikioewa, then Guardian of the King and he has ever since held it without dispute unto the present. The land originally belonged to the King and that of Kaʻaione which is outside of it.”

Most of these houses in the area were hale pili (grass huts, common at that time;) however Neddles had a wood-frame house on his land.  He also had kalo land with several patches on his property.

Upon his return from a voyage to the Spanish Main in 1847, he discovered that “squatters” had settled on parcels of land belonging to him.

A notice in the newspaper he made in 1848 informed the public that he opened a Butcher’s Shop – (Choice pieces for family use were selling for 5-cents per pound.)  He owned the schooner SS Honolulu (a newspaper announcement he made in 1851 notes the ship simply as “SS”) and was engaged in shipping produce and cattle between island ports.

He published a notice in The Polynesian, March 15, 1851 – “Caution – All persons are forbidden to trespass upon the land of the undersigned, at Waikakalaua.  Horses of cattle found trespassing after that date, will be proceeded against according to the law.”

Records indicate that on April 5, 1850, Neddles became a naturalized citizen of the kingdom.

John Neddles Anthony Chu Chu Gilman died at the age of 75 on October 18, 1852. (Amos S Cooke was Administrator of the estate – Cooke and his wife were missionaries who had been appointed by King Kamehameha III to teach the next generation of the highest ranking chiefs’ children at the Chiefs’ Children’s School (Royal School.))

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George Washington Houghtailing

George Washington Houghtailing (April 7, 1817 – September 2, 1887,) a Dutchman from the Hudson-Mohawk Valley in New York, came to Hawai‘i around 1845.

He married a Hawaiian woman in 1850, and ran the Bay Horse Saloon on Bethel and Hotel Street in Honolulu.  (Cultural Surveys)

His first wife died after their daughter Sara was born (Sara married Jerome Feary.) Houghtailing remarried (Elizabeth Thompson) and had ten more children (5-boys and 5-girls,) nine of whom lived to adulthood.

During the Māhele, he was given several kuleana, later consolidated into a 15-acre tract along a road later named after him, Houghtailing Road. The family home was between School and Vineyard Streets.

“On the premises there was a large pond which had a natural spring and which also fed the lower land where we had taro patches and cultivated the other truck gardening on the land. The land was quite open.”

“We had a couple of bay horses and raised chickens and pigs for family consumption. There was a large open area fronting Houghtailing Road which was used as a park for the neighborhood kids.”  (Houghtailing Jr; Cultural Surveys)

Mr. Houghtailing located the ponds, taro fields, and rice patches from School Street to Liliha Street; other taro patches were in the area “between Pālama Street and Liliha Street, below School Street down to what in now Vineyard Street”.

The rice ponds and taro patches, usually operated by the Chinese, were cultivated up to the 1920s, when many were filled in for the development of residential subdivisions.

The Japanese took over some of the land as truck farms, and the Japanese also gradually took over the small stores once operated by the Chinese.  Additionally, the development of one of the first subdivision, the McInerny Tract was developed around 1918-1920.

“The upper part of McInerny Tract used to be planted with pineapple. The other part was more grazing and open area where guavas and other natural types of fruits, like mangoes, grew. … The sugarcane fields in the Pālama area, ran all the way up to what would be now the Dole (cannery) parking lot … extended above what is now Vineyard Street.”

“The management of that plantation at that time was the Honolulu Plantation, where the mill was located in Aiea. … Cane growing in the Kapālama area phased out about the late ‘20s. I think.”

“The phasing out program took place because lands were being purchased by the federal government to expand military reservations, including Hickam Field.” (Houghtailing Jr; Cultural Surveys)

Back to the Bay Horse … “On Sunday the 17th inst. Geo. Houghtailing an employee of the Bay Horse Saloon was arrested for selling liquor on that date and placed under bonds. At the same time James Gibbs was arrested for selling liquor without a license at the same time and place, and also placed under bonds to appear on the following Monday.”  (Hawaiʻi Holomua, June 27, 1894)

The warrants were later seen as defective and “After the close of the prosecution the defense moved for their discharge, and the court discharged Mr. Houghtailing as there was no evidence against him, and after viewing the premises did charge  Mr. Gibbs on the grounds that there was no evidence to hold him guilty of the offence charged.”  (Hawaiʻi Holomua, June 27, 1894)

At the end of World War II, the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu saw the need for a second Catholic School on Oʻahu. The new school was named after Saint Damien de Veuster.

The Congregation of Christian Brothers, students, and parents volunteered to turn the land, which included 4-acres of taro patches and a good deal of uneven swampland into a school campus, because the company that started the construction on Damien went bankrupt.

Damien Memorial School is now situated on what was part of the Houghtailing homestead in Kapālama.

Regarding the name, the theory is that all Houghtailings and various spellings in the United States are descended from Conrad Mathias Houghtaling who emigrated from the Netherlands around 1650.

Reportedly, the correct pronunciation for Houghtailing Street (named for the family,) is Ho-tailing (Hough as in dough, not as in cough.)  (Midweek)  (Lots of information here from Houghtailing message boards, as well as Cultural Surveys.)

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