Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Paul Neumann

“Mrs. Dominis in a few words stated that she desired to surrender all her claims to the throne, and offered her formal abdication to President Dole in the shape of a document drawn up by Judge AS Hartwell, who was consulted by Mr. Wilson, Mr. Parker and Mr. Neumann about the matter and acted as advising counsel for them”.

“Attorney Neumann then read aloud the formal abdication. Her ex-Majesty also read the document aloud from beginning to end and then signed both the document and the oath of allegiance to the republic, while Notary Stanley affixed his jurat.  Mr. Neumann returned the document to the ex-Queen”.  (The Morning Call, February 7, 1895)

Paul Rudolph Neumann, lawyer, diplomat, and bon vivant (a person having cultivated, refined and sociable tastes especially with respect to food and drink,) was born in Prussia in December 1839.

He came to the United States when he was fifteen, locating in California, where he became a naturalized citizen. He was admitted to the practice of law in 1864 and served in the California legislature as a senator three terms.

Interactions with Neumann were typically enlivened by his bubbling wit; while a competent lawyer, he was known far more widely for his love of fun and his wit and bon vivant. Wherever he went, he left behind a trail of his kindly humor and was as full of frolic as a schoolboy.

While in California, Neumann broke his leg; while it was mending, he broke it again.  It had to be amputated; he “stumped around on a cork substitute, of which he was ever ready to make fun.” He and another amputee, C Mitchell Grant, would joke with an impromptu peg-leg waltz. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 22, 1901)

Neumann married Elise Dinklage of California on June 25, 1870; they had six children: Paul Jr, Edouard, Anita Alejandra, Inez Sophie, Eva and Lillie Leonora.  (Neumann was born of Jewish parents and was reared as a Jew. His wife was not a Jewess and his children were not reared in the Jewish faith.  (The New Era))

As a lawyer, the partner of Harry Eickhoff, he had a good practice and did not hesitate to match wits with any member of the bar. Often he upset a learned argument with a quick sally, and people followed him into court in the expectation of hearing him turn a point and raise a laugh. But beyond his humor he could be logically forceful and had quite a turn of eloquence.

As an after-dinner speaker he was particularly ready, and was often selected to preside as toastmaster when an evening of lively fun was expected. Even when he went into politics he could not keep down his love of a joke, and he lost some votes among people who feared he never would be serious enough for a lawmaker.  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 22, 1901)

In the fall of 1882 he was the Republican candidate for representative in Congress from the San Francisco district; he was denounced by the San Francisco Chronicle as a ‘sugar-coated candidate’ and a tool of the Claus Spreckels interests.  He lost.

In the fall of 1883, Neumann made a short visit to Honolulu. It was reported that he had been offered an appointment as Attorney General but had declined it. A month later, he returned to Honolulu and within a few days was admitted to the Hawaiian bar.  On December 14 he was appointed Attorney General.  (Kuykendall)

In public service, he was Attorney General under King Kalākaua (1883–1886) and Queen Liliʻuokalani (1892,) became a member of the House of Nobles, and later became Liliʻuokalani’s personal attorney until his death.  In 1884 he went to Mexico as special Hawaiian Envoy; later (1896,) he was Envoy Extraordinary of the Republic of Hawaiʻi to Guatemala.

“Paul Neumann … told me stories of the old monarchy and the good old early days.  Neumann was a character, one of the early figures in modern Hawaiian history, and a very patriotic man. Crabbed and crusty to the stranger, he unbent most charmingly to any one he liked. Story followed story …” (Beringer; Overland Monthly, 1909)

When the Hawaiʻi Bar Association was formed, Neumann was unanimously elected as its first President.  (Independent, June 29, 1899)

He was a close friend and poker-playing companion of the King. As Attorney General and legislator, friendly adviser and personal attorney, Neumann gave faithful service to King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani.  (Kuykendall)

Neumann was also a great friend and companion of Robert Louis Stevenson; Stevenson was a welcomed and privileged guest at the Neumann’s residence while in Honolulu. (Johnstone)

At the time of the overthrow, Neumann went to Washington as the representative of Queen Liliʻuokalani, to oppose the first treaty of annexation and to secure her restoration.

He successfully kept Hawaiʻi from becoming a Territory of the United States under President Grover Cleveland by carrying a personal letter from the Queen explaining the takeover – Cleveland interceded with Senate Democrats to stop action on the treaty.  (Denson)  That changed in 1898 when McKinley took office.

Neumann also successfully negotiated a pension for the Queen ($20,000 annually during her life) and Princess Kaʻiulani (a lump sum of $150,000.)

Following the conspiracy of 1895, Neumann was counsel for the ex-Queen and for the more prominent of the royalist defendants in the trials for treason before the military court.  (Hawaiian Star, July 2, 1901)

Paul Neumann died July 2, 1901.  His widow, several years later, met with a tragic ending.  “She was known to her many friends as an unusually self-reliant woman.  Of recent years her sorrows have been many.”

“Her husband died, seven year ago. Two years ago one of her sons, an ensign in the United States Navy was killed on board the battleship Missouri in a turret explosion.  Her mother died about a year ago.”

“She never ceased to grieve, say her friends, over the death of her son.” … (She reportedly jumped overboard and drowned while travelling via ship from Mazatlán to San Francisco.)  (San Francisco Call, September 8, 1908)

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Liliʻuokalani Protestant Church

The queen was fond of the congregation – which once numbered in the thousands, according to church records – and donated hymnals, cut-glass chandeliers and a seven-dial, universal-calendar clock. The church was renamed for Liliʻuokalani in 1975.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves, let’s step back.

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863) (the “Missionary Period”,) about 184-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in the Hawaiian Islands.

The Prudential Committee of the ABCFM gave the following instructions to these missionaries: “Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. … Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high.”

“You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization.”  (The Friend)  Reverend John S Emerson and his new bride Ursula Sophia Newell Emerson were part of the Fifth Company of missionaries.

Emerson was born December 28, 1800 in Chester, New Hampshire; he descended from a branch of the Emerson family emigrating from England and settling in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1652. Emerson left home at the age of 15 and started his studies preparing for college, and subsequently graduated from Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1826.

After graduating, like so many of the Alumni of American colleges, he became a teacher before entering upon his theological studies. These were pursued for three years at Andover, where he graduated in 1830.  He anticipated becoming a missionary in India, but, yielded to a special call from the Sandwich Islands.

He married Ursula on October 25, 1831 in the old parsonage of Nelson, among the New Hampshire hills, where her father, Rev. Gad Newell, was the pastor from 1794 to 1859.  They left for the Islands a month after their wedding (November 20, 1831) and spent almost six months on board ship – arriving in the Islands May 17, 1832.

“Very soon after his arrival the ‘general meeting’ of the Mission assigned Mr and Mrs Emerson, to the station of Waialua, on Oʻahu.”  (The Friend, April 1867) Waialua stretched along the coast for 30-miles with a population of 8,000.  They sailed from Honolulu on a small schooner to get there.

On July 24, 1832 they formed the Congregational Church at Waialua, Oahu’s second oldest Hawaiian church.  The first facility (first of four) was a hale pili (thatched house,) dedicated on September 25, 1832 (it was situated at what is today the site of Haleʻiwa Joe’s on the corner of Kamehameha Highway and Haleʻiwa Road.)

“From the commencement of his labors at Waialua, he endeavored to interest his people in the diligent reading and study of the Bible. He had so arranged the reading of the Bible, that his people were accustomed to read the entire Bible through once in about three years.”

“In the daily morning prayer-meeting which has been kept up for many years, at the church, and which he usually attended, he would read and comment on the chapters for the day. We recollect, some months ago to have asked an old Hawaiian, belonging to the Waialua church, how many times he had read the Bible through. His reply was “eiwa” (nine!)”  (The Friend, April 1867)

The government selected a spot for a second church to replace the first one.  An adobe building, about 100-feet by about 50-feet was built around 1840-1841 on what is now the cemetery area of the present church property.

Emerson served the Church until 1842 when he took a position as professor at the Lahainaluna Seminary on Maui, and also served as pastor of the Church at Kāʻanapali.   He published five volumes of elementary works, three of them in the Hawaiian language, and, while at Lahainaluna, was joint author, with Rev. Artemas Bishop, of an “English Hawaiian Dictionary,” based on Webster’s abridgment (Lahainaluna, 1845.)  He later returned to Waialua and served the congregation until 1846.

Service to the people was equally shared by Ursula.  “We are also much impressed by the well-drawn character of Ursula Newell Emerson, whose lovable personality, together with her bountiful, untiring hospitality, is a treasured memory in Hawaiʻi. She nobly rounded out the work of her husband”.  (The Friend, October 1928)

A third church was built of wood in 1890 on the present location and it was this building that Queen Liliʻuokalani worshipped in when she stayed at her beach home along the banks of the Anahulu River.

“Our famous clock was donated to the church by Queen Liliʻuokalani on January 1, 1892. The clock is 32 inches in diameter, with seven functions and hands, one (of) which made one revolution every 16 years!”

“The uniqueness of this one-of-a-kind clock, is that the numerals on the clock dial telling the time were replaced with the letters of L-I-L-I-U-O-K-A-L-A-N-I, the queen’s name.”  (Church Moderator Kuulei Kaio, Star-Bulletin)

The present church building was built after the wooden one was declared unsafe.  In 1960, the fourth (and present) church made of cement was started.  This new building was dedicated on June 11, 1961.  (Later renovations were completed in 1985.)

Theodore Alameda Vierra was the architect for the present church.  He was born on the Big Island in 1902 to an Azorean born Portuguese father and Hawaiian-Scottish mother. He graduated from Kamehameha Schools as president of his class in 1919, graduated from college in San Francisco and later won a scholarship to Harvard University School of Architecture. Vierra was the first native Hawaiian to be admitted to the American Institute of Architecture. (HHF)

The weather vane at the top of the church steeple is in the form of an ʻIwa bird (frigate) in full flight with a fish in its mouth.  Haleʻiwa was the name of the seminary that the Emersons established in the area and the village was eventually named Haleʻiwa (house of the ʻIwa bird.)

ʻIwa is also the name of a slender leafed fern and there are 2 of these leaves at base of the vane.  The religious connotation is brought together with the fish in its mouth.  “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.  The Kingdom of Heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea gathered many kinds.”  (Lots of information here from the Church website.)

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Gift from the Duke of Edinburgh

“In the year 1869 the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred of England, arrived in the harbor of Honolulu [on July 21], being in command of Her Britannic Majesty’s ship-of-war Galatea.” (Lili‘uokalani)

Prince Alfred, the fourth child and second son of Queen Victoria and Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the Prince Consort, was born at Windsor Castle and was second in the line of succession behind his elder brother, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales.

Alfred was christened by the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Howley, at the Private Chapel in Windsor Castle on 6 September 1844. He was given the names Alfred Ernest Albert, although was always known to the family as “Affie”.

Alfred expressed a wish to join the navy and in accordance with this he passed the entrance examination in August 1858, and was appointed as midshipman in HMS Euryalus at the age of fourteen.

He remained in the navy and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on February 24. 1863, serving under Count Gleichen on HMS Racoon, and captain on February 23, 1866, being then appointed to the command of the frigate HMS Galatea.

On May 24, 1866, Alfred was created Duke of Edinburgh and Earl of Ulster and Earl of Kent by his mother Queen Victoria.  (English Monarchs)

“As soon as the king [Kalakaua] learned of the duke’s presence he made special preparations for his reception; and for his better accommodation on shore he assigned for his use the residence of the late Kekuanaoa, who died in November of the preceding year.”

“My own mother having died about three months prior to the arrival of the Galatea, I was not taking part in any festivities, being in retirement from society. But this was considered an exceptional occasion, and the king signified his wish to me that I would not fail to do it honor.”

“So at his specific request I gave a grand luau at my Waikiki residence, to which were invited all those connected with the government, indeed, all the first families of the city, whether of native or foreign birth. …” (Lili‘uokalani)

A “large number of Hawaiians men, women and children amounting to some thousands, visited HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, each bringing a present, in accordance with an ancient custom among the people called hookupu.”

“Many of the presents were of value, while others were only valuable as showing the good feeling of the donors towards His Majesty’s Guest.” (Hawaiian Gazette. August 4, 1869)

“Major JH Wodehouse, so long the ambassador of Great Britain at Honolulu, had just arrived with Mrs. Wodehouse; and they were of the invited guests, the prince specially inviting them to drive out to my house with him. I suppose the feast would be styled a breakfast in other lands, for it was to begin at eleven o’clock in the forenoon.”

“The sailor-prince mounted the driver’s box of the carriage, and taking the reins from that official, showed himself an expert in the management of horses. … Kalama, widow of Kamehameha III, drove out to Waikiki in her own carriage of state”.  (Liliʻuokalani)

“The drivers of these carriages wore the royal feather shoulder-capes, and the footmen were also clad in like royal fashion. It was considered one of the grandest occasions in the history of those days, and all passed off as becoming the high birth and commanding position of our visitor.”

“The guests were received with every mark of courtesy by my husband and myself, as well as by His Majesty Kamehameha V, who was one of the first arrivals.”

“When the prince entered, he was met by two very pretty Hawaiian ladies, who advanced and, according to the custom of our country, decorated him with leis or long pliable wreaths of flowers suspended from the neck.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“As Mrs. Bush, considered one of the most beautiful women in the Hawaiian Islands, advanced, and proceeded to tie the Bowery garland about the neck of the prince, he seemed perhaps a bit confused at the novel custom …”

“… but, submitting with the easy grace of a gentleman, he appeared to be excessively pleased with the flowers and with the expression of friendly welcome conveyed to him by the act.”

“Balls, picnics, and parties followed this day of enjoyment; and the prince gave an entertainment in return at his own house, which was attended by my husband and myself, and by most of the distinguished persons in the city.” (Lili‘uokalani)

“The day of departure for the Galatea arrived; and the prince called on me to express the pleasure he had taken during his visit, and the regrets he felt at leaving us.”

“On this occasion he presented me with an armlet emblematic of his profession; it was of solid gold, a massively wrought chain made after the pattern of a ship’s cable, with anchor as a pendant.” (Lili‘uokalani)

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Keaweaheulu

After a struggle of more than ten years, in 1791, Kamehameha succeeded in securing control over that island of Hawaiʻi (and later, the entire Hawaiian Islands chain.)

In getting there, he appointed Keʻeaumoku, Keaweaheulu, Kameʻeiamoku and Kamanawa to be his secret advisors (hoa kuka malu) and counselors (hoaʻahaʻolelo) in ruling the island. They alone were consulted about what would be for the good or the ill of the country.  (Kamakau)

Keaweaheulu Kaluaʻapana was a Hawaiian high chief and maternal great-grandfather of King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani. He was among Kamehameha I’s council of chiefs and was one of the “Kona Uncles.”  His father was the High Chief Heulu. He belonged to the ʻI, Mahikukulu and the Mahiʻololi families.  (Kamakau)

Late in 1790, Kamehameha sent an emissary to the famous kahuna (priest) Kapoukahi, to determine how Kamehameha could conquer all of the island of Hawaiʻi.  Kapoukahi prophesized that war would end if Kamehameha constructed a heiau dedicated to the war god Kū at Puʻukoholā.  (This was at about the same time that George Washington was serving as the US’s first president (1790.))

With Puʻukohola was completed in 1791, but, pending its formal consecration, Keaweaheulu and Kamanawa were dispatched to Kaʻū under a flag of truce, to invite Keōua to visit Kamehameha, with the view of arranging terms of peace.  (Kalākaua)

Kamehameha gave the order: “Go to Keōua Kuʻahuʻula and tell him that great is my desire to make friends (ike.) You are the best one to bear the message, for you are related to his mother, and he will heed your words sooner than anything I could say to him.”  (Pratt)

By the time Keōua’s canoes arrived at Kawaihae, it was clear that Keōua expected Kamehameha’s warriors would try to kill him and all his supporters travelling with him in his canoe (“the wind clouds are gathering in the heavens for a storm.”

Just as Keōua was stepping from the canoe onto the beach at Kawaihae, Keʻeaumoku and other chiefs of Kamehameha’s forces attacked and killed Keōua.

With Keōua dead, and his supporters captured or slain, Kamehameha became King of Hawaiʻi Island, an event that according to prophecy eventually led to the conquest and consolidation of the islands under the rule of Kamehameha I.

Keaweaheulu was at Kaʻawaloa at the time of Cook’s death; he assisted Kamehameha in his battles with Kiwalaʻo and Keōua on Hawaiʻi; he was at ʻIao in the Battle of Kepaniwai; he was at Molokaʻi when Kalola died and her granddaughter, Keōpūolani (Queen mother to Liholiho and Kauikeaouli) was given to Kamehameha.

Following the victories, Kamehameha made his Kona Uncles his governors (kuhina) and gave them large tracts of land from Hawaiʻi to Oʻahu in payment for their services; Kamehameha himself had no power to recover these lands. Keaweaheulu estates were the lands of Kapalilua, Kaʻawaloa and Kealakekua (South Kona.) (Kamakau)

Keaweaheulu was married to Ululani, one of the most renowned women of her day, being a chiefess of the Maui line and the outstanding poet of her generation.  She bore him two children who were to become equally famous.

They were Naihe, an accomplished Orator and athlete of Kona, and Keohohiwa.  It was through Keohohiwa that another legacy was founded in the Islands.

“My great-grandfather, Keawe-a-Heulu, the founder of the dynasty of the Kamehamehas, and Keōua (nui,) father of Kamehameha I, were own cousins (he was also brother of Mrs. Bishop’s ancestress, Hakau), and my great-grandaunt was the celebrated Queen Kapiʻolani, one of the first converts to Christianity.”  (Liliʻuokalani)

“(Kapiʻolani) plucked the sacred berries from the borders of the volcano, descended to the boiling lava, and there, while singing Christian hymns, threw them into the lake of fire. This was the act which broke forever the power of Pele, the fire-goddess, over the hearts of her people.”  (Liliʻuokalani)

Since King Lunalilo did not nominate his successor, on his death an election of his successor was made by the legislature – Kalākaua became King by a count of 39 – 6 (over Queen Emma.)

“The contest for the succession which resulted in the elevation of my family – the Keawe-a-Heulu line – to royal honors is of course a matter of history.”  (Liliʻuokalani)

“The direct line of the “Kamehamehas” having become extinct, it was succeeded by the “Keawe-a-Heulu” line, its founder having been first cousin to the father of Kamehameha I.”  (Liliʻuokalani)

Kalākaua reigned from February 12, 1874 to January 20, 1891; his sister, Liliʻuokalani, reigned from January 29, 1891 to January 17, 1893.

Later, following the death of Liliʻuokalani, some lamented:
“Auwe, auwe, ua make kuu Aliʻi. Aole e hoi hou mai.”
(Alas, alas, dead is my chief. And no more will return.)

“Auwe, auwe, ua make kuu Aliʻi.”
(Alas, alas, gone is our chief, and now is the name no more.) (Hart)

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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)

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