Kawaiahao Church | Page 2 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

May 13, 2023 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Punahou – It Had More Than One Campus

Kapunahou, the site of the present Punahou School campus, was given to Kameʻeiamoku by Kamehameha, after the Battle of Nuʻuanu. The land transferred to his son Hoapili, who resided there from 1804 to 1811. Hoapili passed the property to his daughter Kuini Liliha.

Sworn testimony before the Land Commission in 1849, and that body’s ultimate decision, noted that the “land was given by Governor Boki about the year 1829 to Hiram Bingham for the use of the Sandwich Islands Mission.”

The decision was made over the objection from Liliha; however Hoapili confirmed the gift. It was considered to be a gift from Kaʻahumanu, Kuhina Nui or Queen Regent at that time.

In Hiram Bingham’s time, the main part of the Kapunahou property was planted with sugarcane by his wife Sybil, with the aid of the female church-members.

Bingham’s idea was to make Kapunahou the parsonage, and to support his family from the profits of this cane field, selling the cane to the sugar mills, one of which was in Honolulu.

The other mill was in Mānoa Valley, owned by an Englishman; but he also made rum, and Queen Kaʻahumanu’s consistent hostility to rum caused his failure, and also the failure of sugar-cane culture at Punahou. (Punahou Catalogue, 1866)

Founded in 1841, Punahou School (originally called Oʻahu College) was built at Kapunahou to provide a quality education for the children of Congregational missionaries, allowing them to stay in Hawaiʻi with their families, instead of being sent away to school. The first class had 15 students.

The land area of Kapunahou was significantly larger than the present school campus size.

While many see Punahou today as the college preparatory school in lower Mānoa, over the years, the school, though based at Kapunahou, also had campuses and activities elsewhere.

All students who entered the Boarding department were required to take part in the manual labor of the institution, under the direction of the faculty, not to exceed an average of two hours for each day. (Punahou Catalogue, 1899)

“We had a dairy, the Punahou dairy, over on the other side of Rocky Hill. That was all pasture. We had beautiful, delicious milk, all the milk you wanted. The cows roamed from there clear over to the stone wall on Manoa hill. There were a few gates and those gates caused me trouble because the bulls wanted to get out or some boys would leave a bar down … Occasionally, just often enough to keep me alert, there would be a bull wandering around across the road and down the hill onto Alexander Field or just where I wanted to go.” (Shaw, Punahou)

By vote of the trustees, the standard of the school was raised, and the course of study included a thorough drill in elementary algebra, Latin, colloquial and written French, and a careful study of the poems of Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, Holmes, Bryant and Emerson. There is also regular instruction in freehand drawing and vocal music through the year. Lectures were given with experiments, designed to serve as an introduction to the study of physical science. A brief course in physiology and hygiene was given by the president of the College. (Punahou Catalogue, 1899)

In 1881, at the fortieth anniversary celebration of the school, a public appeal was made to provide for a professorship of natural science and of new buildings. President William L Jones in his speech expressed the need for Punahou to meet the changing times.

He said: “The missionaries when they landed here were all cultivated gentlemen, trained in the colleges of the United States, and they were unwilling that their children would suffer from their self exile into this country. … A change has been coming over the aims of college education lately; people desire less Latin and Greek and more Natural Science, more Astronomy, more Chemistry, more modern language … We have to teach Chemistry without laboratory, Astronomy without a telescope, Natural History only from books. More men and machinery is what we want.” (Soong)

The appeal was so successful that the trustees moved to purchase the Reverend Richard Armstrong premises at the head of Richards Street (at 91 Beretania Street adjoining Washington Place) from the Roman Catholic mission for the Punahou Preparatory School (the property had previously been used by the growing St Louis High school.)

On September 19, 1883, the Punahou Preparatory School was opened for the full term at the Armstrong Home … Three of the trustees were present at the opening exercises, together with many parents of the pupils, of whom there were 85 present, with a prospect of a larger attendance … It is the design of the trustees to have no pupils at Punahou proper, except such as are qualified to proceed with the regular academic course. (The Friend, October 4, 1883)

By the 1898-1899 school year, there were 247 students in grades 1-8 in the Punahou Preparatory School campus downtown. Later, in 1902, the Preparatory School was moved to the Kapunahou campus, where it occupied Charles R Bishop Hall.

Near the turn of the last century, the Punahou Board of Trustees decided to subdivide some of the land above Rocky Hill – they called their subdivision “College Hills;” at that time the trolley service was extended into Mānoa, which increased interest in this area.

The College Hills subdivision, the largest subdivision of the time (nearly 100 acres of land separated into parcels of from 10,000- to 20,000-square feet,) opened above Punahou and became a major residential area.

Then, in January 1925, Punahou bought the Honolulu Military Academy property – it had about 90-acres of land and a half-dozen buildings on the back side of Diamond Head. (The Honolulu Military Academy was originally founded by Col LG Blackman, in 1911.)

It served as the “Punahou Farm” to carry on the school’s work and courses in agriculture. “We were picked up and taken to the Punahou Farm School, which was also the boarding school for boys. The girls boarded at Castle Hall on campus.” (Kneubuhl, Punahou) The farm school was in Kaimuki between 18th and 22nd Avenues.

In addition to offices and living quarters, the Farm School supplied Punahou with most of its food supplies. The compound included a big pasture for milk cows, a large vegetable garden, pigs, chickens, beehives, and sorghum and alfalfa fields that provided feed for the cows. Hired hands who tended the farm pasteurized the milk in a small dairy, bottled the honey and crated the eggs. (Kneubuhl, Punahou)

The Punahou dairy herd was cared for by the students as part of their course of studies – the boys boarded there. However, disciplinary troubles, enrollment concerns (not enough boys signing up for agricultural classes) and financial deficits led to its closure in 1929.

By the mid-1930s, the property was generally idle except for some faculty housing. In 1939, Punahou sold the property to the government as a site for a public school (it’s now the site of Kaimuki Middle School.)

In addition to these, there belonged in former times, as an appurtenance to the land known as Kapunahou, a valuable tract of salt-ponds, on the sea-side to the eastward of Honolulu Harbor, called Kukuluāeʻo, and including an area of seventy-seven acres (this was just mauka of what is now Kewalo Basin.) (Punahou Catalogue, 1866)

It’s not clear how/when the makai land “detached” from the other Punahou School pieces, but it did and was given to the ABCFM (for the pastor of Kawaiaha‘o Church.)

December 4, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Church of the Ali‘i

One of the earliest names for the church at Kawaiaha‘o was the King’s Chapel. Kawaiahaʻo Church was commissioned by Queen Kaʻahumanu during the reigns of Kamehameha II and Kamehameha III.

The current building replaced previous thatched churches and was designed by Rev. Hiram Bingham. The church was constructed between 1836 and 1842 of 14,000 slabs of coral rock quarried from an offshore reef on the southern coast of Oʻahu. (Kawaiaha‘o)

Perhaps the greatest occasion of all occurred on June 5, 1825 when ten Hawaiians made “a full declaration of their desire to be numbered among the disciples of Christ.”

These were Kalanimōku, Ka‘ahumanu, Kapule, Kapi‘olani, Keali‘iahonui, Kalakua, Namahana (or Opi‘ia,) Kaiu, La‘anui and Richard Kala‘aia‘ulu (who had arrived from the Cornwall School in 1823.)

A probation period of six months was set for these candidates. (Damon)

By the time a newly constructed thatched church was nearly finished, “Sabbath Decr. 4th. This has been a day of uncommon interest; and the transactions of it form an era in the Sandwich Island Church.”

“Eight persons who have for more than six months stood as candidates for admission and who have given as satisfactory evidence of personal piety as the nature of their circumstances will admit, came forward & united themselves to our number …”

“… and entered into a solemn covenant to walk in all the ordinances of the Gospel; and subscribed with their own hands unto the Lord, binding themselves by the most solemn engagements to be his forever.”

“Seven of the candidates received baptism – Karaimoku having been baptized a number of years ago by a French Chaplain, only brought forward his little son, which it was a pleasing sight to witness in the arms of his father to be presented for Christian baptism – He received the name of Joseph Leleohoku.”

“Ka‘ahumanu was baptised by the Christian name of Elizabeth. – Opi‘ia by that of Lydia; Tapule Deborah; Keri‘iahonui – Aaron; La‘ahui – Gideon; Kaiu – Simeon. Kara‘aiaulu – Richard.” (Levi Chamberlain Journal)

The Kawaiaha’o Church register lists the names of those who, beginning on December 4, 1825, took their vows, and were baptized. Their signatures are on the church charter.

These were not just any Hawaiians, they represented the high chiefs at the time. They were the Ali‘i Founders of Kawaiaha‘o.

Kalanimōkū was a trusted and loyal advisor to Kamehameha I, Liholiho (Kamehameha II) and Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III.) “Kalanimōku was prime minister of the king, and the most powerful executive man in the nation.” (Lucy Thurston) (Kalanimōku died February 7, 1827 at Kamakahonu, at Kailua-Kona.)

Kaʻahumanu, the favorite wife of Kamehameha I, was one of the most powerful people in the Islands at the time of the arrival of the missionaries. There were those who were higher by birth, and there were those who were higher by title, but there was probably none who held greater influence. (Ka‘ahumanu died June 5, 1832 at her home, Puka‘oma‘omao in Mānoa.)

Namahana (or Opi‘ia or Pi‘ia) was Ka‘ahumanu’s sister and former wife of Kamehameha I. When the missionaries first arrived in the Islands, they stopped at Kawaiahae. Namahana boarded the Thaddeus and sailed with them to Kailua-Kona. (She died in 1829.)

“Laʻanui was the paramount chief of the Waialua division from 1828 to his death in 1849, as well as the particular ‘lord’ (hakuʻāina) of Kawailoa, the district (ahupuaʻa) corresponding to the Anahulu River valley.” (Kirch) Laʻanui and Namahana (Piʻia) were one of the first couples to be married by Hiram Bingham. (La‘anui died September 12, 1849.)

Kauai Chiefess Kapule was wife of Kauai’s King Kaumualiʻi. Kaumuali‘i died May 26, 1824; she then married Kaʻiu, Kaumualiʻi’s half-brother. When Humehume’s (Kaumualiʻi’s son) men arrived at the Russian Fort to try and reinstate the Kingdom of Kauaʻi, Kapule fought against them. She was the most prominent person of rank to remain on Kauai after the rebellion. (Joesting) (She died on August 26, 1853.)

Ka‘iu was a devout Christian; he joined a delegation to the Marquesas Islands to determine the possibilities for missionary expansion there. (Joesting) (Ka‘iu died on September 11, 1835.)

Keali‘iahonui was a son of Kaumuali‘i; he first married Kapule, but then Ka‘ahumanu took him as husband, but when she became a Christian, she gave up Keali‘iahonui to conform with her new religious beliefs. Keali‘iahonui later married Kekauōnohi. (He died June 23, 1849.)

“Kalākua, (was daughter of Keʻeaumoku, a chief from Hawaiʻi Island and) a widow of Kamehameha (joined Namahana in boarding the Thaddeus at Kawaihae when the missionaries first arrived.) (On board, she) asked (the missionary women) to make a gown for her in fashion like their own.” (Bingham) “(She) was told that it was the Lord’s day, and that they would make it tomorrow.” (April 2, 1820, Thaddeus Journal) (Kalākua died January 16, 1842.)

Kala‘aia‘ulu had been in American and was a student at the Foreign Mission School at Cornwall Connecticut. He came back to the Islands with the Second Company of missionaries, arriving on April 27, 1823. Back in the Islands, he served as an assistant teacher and interpreter.

The image shows a portion of the page of Hiram Bingham’s Baptismal Book (written by Bingham on December 4, 1825,) noting these names, the first members of Kawaiaha‘o Church: Kalanimōku, Ka‘ahumanu, Namahana, La‘anui, Keali‘iahonui, Kapule, Kaiu and Kala‘aia‘ulu (from Kawaiaha‘o Church)

Hiram Bingham Baptismal Book-Noting Dec 4, 1825

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kawaiahao_church_honolulu_in_1857

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Kawaiahao_Church_at_Honolulu_illustration-Bingham

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Kawaiahao interior

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Kaahumanu Commemorative plaque

October 30, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kawaiaha‘o Church

Prior to the missionaries arriving in the islands, the flat plain just south of the village of Honolulu was a barren, windswept dust bowl – little more than a desert. However, in the midst of this sun-parched land there was an oasis, a spring whose waters were reserved exclusively for the land’s high chiefs and chiefesses.

One such noble who frequented this pool was the chiefess Ha‘o. Eventually these waters, and the surrounding land, came to be known as Ka Wai a Ha‘o – the freshwater pool of Ha‘o.

In 1820, the first missionaries arrived in Hawai‘i, and found themselves well-accepted by royalty as well as the general populace. They were granted land at Kawaiaha‘o for the purpose of establishing their residence and church.

The missionaries, less the group left on the Big Island, landed at Honolulu on April 19, 1820. Four days later, Hiram Bingham, the leader of the group, preached the first formal Protestant sermon in the islands. Initial services were in thatched structures. Later, a more permanent church was built.

The church, constructed between 1836 and 1842, was in the New England style of the Hawaiian missionary and has been restored and altered several times since first erected. The “Kauikeaouli clock,” donated by King Kamehameha III in 1850, still tolls the hours to this day.

Revered as the Protestant “mother church” and often called “the Westminster Abbey of Hawai‘i” this structure is an outgrowth of the original Mission Church founded in Boston and is the first foreign church on O‘ahu (1820).

Within its walls the kingdom’s royalty prayed, sang hymns, were married, christened their children and finally laid in state. As the state church, it was the scene of many celebrated events associated with the Hawaiian Kingdom – inaugurations, funerals, weddings, thanksgiving ceremonies.

The “Stone Church,” as it came to be known, is in fact not built of stone, but of giant slabs of coral hewn from ocean reefs. These slabs had to be quarried from under water; each weighed more than 1,000 pounds. Natives dove 10 to 20 feet to hand-chisel these pieces from the reef, then raised them to the surface, loaded some 14,000 of the slabs into canoes and ferried them to shore.

Following five years of construction, The Stone Church was ready for dedication ceremonies on July 21, 1842. The grounds of Kawaiaha‘o overflowed with 4,000 to 5,000 faithful worshippers. King Kamehameha III, who contributed generously to the fund to build the church, attended the service.

Kawaiaha‘o Church was designed and founded by its first pastor, Hiram Bingham, my great-great-great grandfather. Hiram left the islands on August 3, 1840 and never saw the completed church. Kawaiaha‘o Church is listed on the state and national registers of historic sites.

Fast forward to 1925 … the church building was completely reconstructed from 1925-27, when all structural wood was replaced with reinforced concrete and steel and interior redesigned. (The original interior of the church did not have the concrete you see today, it was wood.)

All interior wood was termite infested. All wood was removed leaving only the coral walls standing and the building was rebuilt from the basement up. The auditorium was restored to its full length, the galleries were widened and extended.

Concrete pillars provided an aisle effect within. The reconstruction attempted to return the building to its original New England simplicity.

The pulpit, with furniture made from salvaged ohia slabs and kauila logs, was designed with wide steps leading up to it and a simple cross on the wall behind.

The original arched windows on either side of the pulpit and the crescent opening above the cross were retained. New, insect-proof redwood seats were installed, and the old royal pews were closed to visitors.

The roof was covered with imported slates, put on with copper nails. The outer walls were spray-coated with a cement plaster to preserve the coral blocks from damage by birds pecking at them.

Inside, a new organ, funded in part by C. Brewer and Co. to commemorate their 100th anniversary, replaced the 1901 instrument.

To complete the new setting, the grounds were replanted – little had been done since Lunalilo’s time, except in 1899 when A. S. Cleghorn pulled down the high wall, dug an artesian well, planted a lawn, and set out the line of royal palms mauka of the building as memorial to his daughter, Princess Kaiulani.

A fountain pool was built with some coral block to commemorate the old spring at King and South Streets which had given the land, and the church, its name: Ka wai a Hao – the water of Hao.

August 25, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lunalilo’s Crown

William Charles Lunalilo was born on January 31, 1835 in an area known as Pohukaina to High Chiefess Miriam ‘Auhea Kekauluohi (Kuhina Nui, or Premier of the Hawaiian Kingdom and niece of Kamehameha I) and High Chief Charles Kanaʻina.

Lunalilo’s grandparents were Kalaʻimamahu (half-brother of Kamehameha I) and Kalākua (sister to Kaʻahumanu). His great grandfather was Keouakupupailaninui (father of Kamehameha I).

He was declared eligible to succeed by the royal decree of King Kamehameha III and was educated at the Chief’s Children’s School, and at age four became one of its first students.

He was known as a scholar, a poet and a student with amazing memory for detail. From a very young age, he loved to write, with favorite subjects in school being literature and music.

Kamehameha V had not named a successor to the throne before he died on December 11, 1872. Lunalilo wanted his people to choose their next ruler in a democratic manner and requested a plebiscite to be held on New Year’s Day following the death of Kamehameha V.

He therefore noted, “Whereas, it is desirable that the wishes of the Hawaiian people be consulted as to a successor to the Throne, therefore, notwithstanding that according to the law of inheritance, I am the rightful heir to the Throne, in order to preserve peace, harmony and good order, I desire to submit the decision of my claim to the voice of the people.” (Lunalilo, December 16, 1872)

Kalākaua chose to run against Lunalilo. The majority of people on every island chose William Charles Lunalilo as King. At noon on January 8, 1873, the Legislature met, as required by law, in the Courthouse to cast their official ballots of election of the next King. Lunalilo received all thirty-seven votes.

The coronation of Lunalilo took place at Kawaiahaʻo Church in a simple ceremony on January 9, 1873. Unfortunately, he was to reign for just over a year, succumbing to pulmonary tuberculosis on February 3, 1874.

Upon his passing, the Royal Mausoleum was the temporary resting place for Lunalilo. By birthright, his remains could have remained there with the other Aliʻi, however, his desire was to be among his people, and in 1875 his remains were moved to their permanent resting place in a tomb built for him and his father, Kanaʻina, on the grounds of Kawaiahaʻo Church.

Then, terrible news hit the papers, “Advices from Key West, Fla., today told of the arrest at the naval station there of two bluejackets, Albert Gerbode and Paul Payne, charged with having broken into the Lunalilo mausoleum and stolen the skull of a Hawaiian king, a silver shield and a silver crown.” (The Evening Leader, Tartonn Springs, Florida, April 22, 1918)

In follow-up reporting, we learn that, “All that remains intact of the historic crown of King Lunalilo, which was stolen last autumn from the tomb in the Kawaiahao churchyard, is a silver leaf, part of the name plate and the silver ornament which rested on the top of the crown. The rest has been melted down into a single bar of silver.”

“Deputy Sheriff JW Asch returned this morning from Key West, Florida, where he went to recover the crown. His story of the chase, which finally ended in the arrest of Albert Gerbode and Paul Payne, electricians in the submarine flotilla which was stationed at Pearl Harbor, and the recovery of the stolen property, throws much new light on the robbery.”

“Sheriff Asch says that both Gerbode anil Payne absolutely deny taking any of the skulls and bones from the tomb, as was reported at the time of the robbery.”

“He says that both the naval authorities and himself are inclined to believe the two men in this respect, which would make it appear that others entered the tomb and stole the bones.”

“The skull which the two men had was made by themselves of plaster of Paris.”

“According to the confession of Gerbode and Payne, Sheriff Asch says plain robbery was the motive for the theft. They had heard that Hawaiian chiefs were buried with all their jewelry and expected to make a big haul.”

“In the confession the men said that they did not use instruments to enter the tomb, but simply yanked off the padlock, which they said, was so old and worn that it took but little effort to break.”

“The crown was kept intact until the submarine had reached Key West where it was melted down.”

“Another strange feature of the theft was that the two electricians made no attempt to hide the crown and a large number of the crew knew of its existence on board. For this reason, when charged with the robbery, neither Gerbode nor Payne attempted to deny anything but made a full confession.”

“Gerbode and Payne are to be tried by the naval authorities at Key West. They will not be returned to Honolulu as was first reported.”

“It will be possible to some extent to reproduce the original crown from the silver, as the naval authorities made Gerbode and Payne draw pictures and diagrams of the crown with a full description of its appearance. That Sheriff Asch brought back with him.”

“The silver has been sent by registered mail and will probably arrive on the next steamer from San Francisco. – Star-Bulletin.” (Maui News, May 31, 1918)

August 12, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

John Harvey Coney

John Harvey Coney was born in June 1820 in Litchfield, NY. He came to Hawaiʻi after participating in the 1848 Mexican-American War. He married Laura Amoy Kekuakapuokalani Ena (she was 17) on November 27, 1860.

John, supposedly through his wife’s family’s connections with King Kamehameha IV, was soon appointed Sheriff of Hilo, where Laura’s ancestral lands were located. (Williams)

“I stopped 3 days with Hon. Mr. (Coney), Deputy Marshal of the Kingdom, at Hilo, Hawaii, last week, & by a funny circumstance, he knew everybody that ever I knew in Hannibal & Palmyra. We used to sit up all night talking, & then sleep all day. He lives like a Prince.” (Twain)

The Coneys lived in a long grass thatched house on the mauka (toward the mountain) side of the courthouse lot, and later built a pretentious residence which is now (1922) the County Building….” (Williams)

Coney was “a tall handsome man, who carried himself like a soldier,” he was “titular executive head of government next to the Governess of Hawaiʻi and Lieut. Governor”. (Sanderson)

Besides being Sheriff (and later postmaster,) Coney got into a variety of business interests. An April 22, 1868 Hawaiian Gazette notes, “Wharf at Hilo. The landing of passengers and goods at the Harbor of Hilo has been facilitated by the building of a short wharf from the rocky point at the west end of the beach. It has been made by the enterprise of Mr Coney and Mr Hitchcock”.

“The wharf just built is well timbered and fastened, and carries six feet of water. Its strength was tested by the great, earthquake wave of Thursday, and by a loaded scow washing upon it, and it proved equal to the strain. Wharfage, hereafter, will be one of the charges on schooners running to Hilo.” (Hawaiian Gazette, April 22, 1868)

Wife Laura was of royal descent. She was the daughter of Chinese merchant John Lawai Ena and Hawaiian chiefess Kaikilanialiiwahineopuna (a descendent of the Kamehameha line and the last high chiefess of the Puna district of the island of Hawaiʻi.) She was described as “an exceptionally fine woman of high character, gracious manner, generous instincts and kind disposition….” (Williams)

The Coneys had six children: Clarissa (Clara) Piilani Amoy Coney (lady-in-waiting to the household of Queen Kapiʻolani;) Mary Ululani Monroe Coney; John Harvey Haalalea Coney (High Sheriff on Kauaʻi, later Territorial Representative and Senator;) Elizabeth (Lizzy) Likelike Kekaekapuokulani Coney (lady in waiting to Princess Miriam Likelike Cleghorn at Coronation of Kalākaua;) Eleanor (Kaikilani) Coney (travelling companion to Queen Liliʻuokalani across US) and William Hawks Hulilaukea Coney (co-Founder with Wallace Rider Farrington of Evening Bulletin, predecessor of the Honolulu Star Bulletin.)

Laura taught her children not to speak of their aliʻi blood, to forget about high chiefs and chiefesses, and to make their own way in the world because the days of chiefs and chiefesses were gone.

A daughter-in-law once noted, “I remember a time when the king (Kalākaua) was calling on Mother Coney. He was busy at the time collecting the genealogies of the nobility and the mele (songs, chants) of the Hawaiians.”

“He said to Mother Coney, ‘Tell me, Mrs. Coney, who were your ancestors, I know that you belong to the Kamehameha line.’ ‘Adam and Eve were my ancestors,’ she replied.” (Williams)

After about 18-years in Hilo, the Coneys moved to Honolulu; their home (which they called ‘ Halelelea,’ that they translated to ‘Pleasant House’) was just mauka of ʻIolani Palace (on the mauka-Diamond Head corner of Richards and Hotel Streets.) It was often the setting for many of the city’s “brilliant entertainments” during the Kalākaua monarchy. (Williams)

In the Māhele of 1848, the property had been grant to High Chiefess Miriam Ke‘ahikuni Kekauōnohi, a granddaughter of Kamehameha I and a wife of Kamehameha II. Upon her death on June 2, 1851, all her property was passed on to her second husband, High Chief Levi Haʻalelea.

Levi Haʻalelea’s second wife was Amoe Ululani Ena Haʻalelea, sister of Laura Ena Coney. When Levi Haʻalelea died in 1864, his second wife transferred ownership of the land to her sister’s husband John Coney.

In 1889, the Coney’s home, Halelelea, played a minor role during the Wilcox rebellion to restore the rights of the monarchy, two years after the Bayonet Constitution of 1887 left King Kalākaua a mere ﬁgurehead.

The insurgents were hunkered down in a bungalow across a narrow lane from the Coney House. The plan was to throw dynamite at the bungalow.

“No attack was expected from that quarter, and there was nothing to disturb the bomb thrower. (Hay Wodehouse) stood for a moment with a bomb in his hand as though he were in the box waiting for a batsman. He had to throw over a house to reach the bungalow, which he could not see.”

“The first bomb went sailing over the wall, made a down curve and struck the side of the bungalow about a foot from the roof … The bomb had reached them and hurt a number of the insurgents. “

Wodehouse “coolly picked out another bomb. Then he took a step back, made a half turn and sent it whizzing. It landed on the roof … He threw one more bomb and Wilcox came out and surrendered.” (The Sporting Life, October 16, 1889)

Another property that had been granted to Kekauōnohi and subsequently conveyed to Coney at the same time as their home was approximately 41,000-acres of land at Honouliuli. In 1877, Coney sold that land to James Campbell, who soon started Honouliuli Ranch. After drilling Hawaiʻi’s first artesian well (1879,) by 1890 the Ewa Plantation Company was established.

John Harvey Coney died in Honolulu on October 9, 1880, at the age of 60. Laura Ena Coney died in Honolulu on February 24, 1929, at the age of 85.

In a funeral recitation for Laura given by the Reverend Akaiko Akana, pastor of Kawaiahaʻo Church, on February 24, 1929, Laura was referred to as “one of the old and prominent kamaʻāinas who has helped to build Hawaii, not only by her personal effort, but through her influence on her husband, children and influencial associates and acquaintances throughout these islands.” (Williams)

There are two marble plaques in Kawaiahaʻo Church commemorating members of the Coney family, both above the mauka royal pew. Donated by her daughters Kaikilani and Elizabeth, one reads: In Memory of Laura Kekuakapuokalani Coney 1844—1929 Always a devoted member of Kawaiahaʻo Church, she often said, “Ka wahi e nele ai, e haʻawi” Where need is, there give.

The other plaque reads: “In Memory of Levi Haʻalelea 1828-1864 His wife Ululani A. A. Haʻalelea 1824-1904 and Richard Haʻalilio 1808—1844.” (I have been told this plaque is incorrect – Levi Haʻalelea was born in 1822; the last name listed should be Timothy Haʻalilio.)

The image shows John Harvey Coney. In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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