Queen Liliuokalani | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

March 5, 2025 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)

February 18, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

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.)

October 6, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“… no one could have been nearer to instant death …”

Then-Princess Liliʻuokalani was on a tour around Oʻahu. “I was accompanied by my sister, the Princess Likelike, who had with her the little child-princess Kaʻiulani, and that infant’s governess, Miss Barnes; Mr. JH Boyd was of the number of our attendants.”

“After a generous lunch at Waimanalo, on the estate of Mr. Cummins, we left for Maunawili, the country-place of Mr. and Mrs. Boyd”. (On a prior trip to that house, Liliʻuokalani was inspired to write ‘Aloha ʻOe;’ when leaving, she witnessed a particularly affectionate farewell between a gentleman and a young.)

This trip, on October 6, 1881, was different.

“We were descending the steep side of a hill, (in some unaccountable manner the reins of one of the horses became entangled in the bit of another) and the result was that the driver had no longer control of the animals.”

“Consequently the carriage came down the hill with such velocity that I was thrown violently out, and landed between two rocks; but fortunately there was a bit of marshy ground where I struck.”

“(T)he vehicle was overturned, falling upon the Princess who had been previously thrown out and furthermore, the royal lady was precipitated down a steep embankment a distance of about 50 yards. When the rest of the party joined the suffering lady, she was speechless for some length of time.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 8, 1881)

“Certainly no one could have been nearer to instant death.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“At first it was thought my back was broken by my fall; for when I endeavored to rise after recovering from the first shock, it was impossible to do so, nor could I change in any way my position until assisted by my followers”.

“Even then, when depending upon their strength of arm as they tried to raise me, the least exertion or motion gave me the greatest pain.”

“It was a matter of immediate wonder that my life had been spared.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“This had been witnessed from the homestead of our hosts; and Mr. Cummins, arriving on the scene almost immediately, sent for a stretcher, which was sent at once from the residence of Mrs. Boyd. On this I was placed, and the litter raised upon the shoulders of four men; thus was I carried all the way to Waimanalo.”

“Mr. Cummins, having preceded the sad procession, met us at the foot of the hill with a wagon.” (Liliʻuokalani) “Cummings, who was aware that the steamer Waimanalo, then anchored about four miles distant, was about to start for Honolulu. He dispatched a messenger to delay her.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 8, 1881)

“When all had been made ready, the word was given to proceed, and the procession started. To me it was a solemn moment, one which can never be forgotten, (the throngs of people watched in) respectful silence broken only by their smothered sobs or subdued weeping, and with it all the steady, measured tread of the soldiers who were drawing the wagon on which I had been laid by my devoted friends.”

“(U)nder the kind care of Mr. Cummins and Mrs. Kaae, the wagon was driven to the wharf, where the little steamer Waimanalo, belonging to Mr. Cummins, awaited me. All that tenderest care and kindest heart could suggest was done to make me comfortable by my kind hosts; and the cavalcade of retainers, with which I had come out so gayly, followed in demure silence.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“My return, thus to my people and my family from the very border of death left an impression upon me which is too sacred for any description.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“My physician, Dr. Webb … made a careful examination of my condition, and was relieved to find that the injuries to my back were no more serious than a very severe wrench and strain.”

“At the end of three weeks I was not yet able to raise myself, or even sit up in my bed; so finally it was the opinion of my medical advisers that I should make a great effort and persevere in spite of the pain, lest I should become bedridden.”

“These instructions were followed out with a result which proved the wisdom of the course recommended; for I was soon able to ride about in my buggy, still weak, but improving slowly.”

“But the process of recovery was very gradual, and only successful by the most constant care and great patience of my attendants. These were divided into watches of three hours each, and three persons were always at my bedside.”

“To one of these was assigned the duty of waving the kahili … to another that of using the fan for my comfort, both of these being women; while to the third, a male attendant, belonged the duty of doing any necessary errands, and of making my female attendants comfortable in whatever way their needs might require.”

“Whenever I was lifted, or even turned, it was done by the strong yet tender hands of six men, three on each side. Had these been nurses trained by years of experience to manage the sick they could not have proceeded with more skill and gentleness; so quietly and gradually was my position changed that I could scarcely perceive the movements, which were such as to give me the least pain.”

“All classes of adherents had been represented in the watchers about my bedside. … Most of these gentlemen were accompanied by their wives as assistants in their kind offices. Princess Ruth and my sister, the Princess Likelike, were daily visitors.” (Liliʻuokalani) The image shows then-Princess Liliʻuokalani.

Crown_Princess_Liliuokalani-1870s-1880s

September 24, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Washington Place

Captain John Dominis was an Italian-American ship captain and merchant from New York who had been trading in the Pacific since the 1820s.

In the 1840s, he purchased property on Beretania Street. There, he started to build a home for his family, Mary Lambert Dominis (his wife) and John Owen Dominis (his son.)

The original central portion, built in 1844-1847, was designed and executed in Greek Revival Style, with supplies ordered from Boston.

Captain Dominis reportedly embarked on several trading voyages while the house was being built, using the profits to pay off accumulated debts and resume operations (it’s not clear how many trips were required to build the new home.)

It is a two-story structure with partial basement. Various additions and alterations have occurred over the years. Cellar walls and foundations are of coral stone; Walls are coral stone (approximately 2½-feet thick) faced with cement to simulate stone work. The second floor is wood frame.

In 1847, on a voyage to the China Sea, Captain Dominis was lost at sea.

The grounds were said to have been planted “by Mrs. Captain Dominis as the first private garden in Honolulu, carefully watered until the yard was a handsome, cool retreat.” By 1848 the garden was sufficiently interesting for a visitor to ask for a list of the plants in the yard.

Mary Dominis then rented out the spare bedroom to American Commissioner Anthony Ten Eyck. Impressed with the white manor and grand columns out front, Ten Eyck said it reminded him of Mount Vernon, George Washington’s mansion and that it should be named “Washington Place.” He wrote a letter to RC Wyllie stating such.

King Kamehameha III, who concurred, Proclaimed as ‘Official Notice,’ “It has pleased His Majesty the King to approve of the name of Washington Place given this day by the Commissioner of the United States, to the House and Premises of Mrs. Dominis and to command that they retain that name in all time coming.” (February 22, 1848)

In 1862, John Owen Dominis married Lydia Kamakaʻeha (also known as Lydia Kamakaʻeha Pākī.) Lydia Dominis described Washington Place “as comfortable in its appointments as it is inviting in its aspect.”

Mary Dominis died on April 25, 1889, and the premises went to her son, John Owen Dominis, Governor of Oʻahu.

Lydia was eventually titled Princess and later Queen Liliʻuokalani, in 1891. John Owen died shortly after becoming Prince consort (making Liliʻuokalani the second widow of the mansion.) Title then passed to Queen Liliʻuokalani.

Liliʻuokalani continued to occupy Washington Place until her death on November 11, 1917.

Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, one of the heirs to the estate of Queen Liliʻuokalani, suggested that the Territory acquire Washington Place as the Executive Mansion. The Legislature appropriated funds for the purchase, and in May, 1921, the property was acquired by the Territory.

In 1922, major additions were made. These included the glassed-in lanai, the porte-cochere and the rear one-story wing with Dining Room and Kitchen. Family bedrooms were added to the second-story of this wing, later.

Washington Place became the official home of the Governor of Hawaiʻi when it was formally opened on April 21, 1922, by Governor Wallace Rider Farrington.

In 1954, the large Covered Terrace was constructed and in 1959, the second-story TV room was built above the glassed-in lanai. An elevator and the metal fire escape were added in 1963.

The Beretania Street and Miller Street sides and a portion of the rear line are enclosed with a wrought iron fence set on a concrete base.

The original tract, as owned by the Dominis family and Queen Liliʻuokalani, comprised about 1.46 acres. The Territory of Hawaiʻi acquired additional property on Miller Street, making a total of about 3.1 acres.

Across the street from the State Capitol on Beretania Street, Washington Place was the executive mansion for the territorial governors from 1918 to 1959, and, after Hawaiʻi became the 50th state, the state governor’s mansion, from 1959 to 2002.

Washington Place remains the official residence of the governor however, a new house, built on the property in 2002, is now the personal residence of the Governor of Hawai‘i. (governor-hawaii-gov)

July 29, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Puʻu ʻOhau

Fishers generally refer to it as ‘Red Hill;’ its volcanic cinder, partially collapsed and exposed on the seaward side, gives it an easy name. It’s not just a marker; fishers troll offshore with great success.

Nearshore is a marine fisheries management area; you can catch fish for personal consumption, but there is no aquarium fish collection permitted.

The hill is actually named Puʻu ʻOhau (hill of dew) and is the most conspicuous coastal landmark on the low coastal cliffs between Keauhou Bay (to the north) and Kealakekua (on the south;) it marks the boundary between North and South Kona.

Although the entire landform may be the “puʻu,” according to McCoy … the archaeological evidence tends to indicate that the area was used for general habitation purposes and was not reserved for only burial or other ritual uses that might be considered exclusionary.

This archaeological evidence suggests that there may have been a land use distinction between the flat bench and the steeper slopes of the puʻu although they are part of the same landform.

The matter of a burial on the puʻu helps us remember some others.

With the construction and extension of the Ane Keohokālole Highway from Palani road to Hina Lani, many in West Hawaii (although they generally reference the road as “Ane K”) are becoming more familiar with the name Keohokālole.

Analeʻa, Ane or Annie Keohokālole was a Hawaiian chiefess; she was born at Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi in 1816. Through her father, she was descended from Kameʻeiamoku and Keaweaheulu, two of the four Kona Uncles that supported Kamehameha I.

Her first marriage was to John Adams Kuakini; they had no children. Kuakini (brother of Ka’ahumanu) was an important adviser to Kamehameha I in the early stages of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i.

When the Kingdom’s central government moved to Lāhainā in 1820, Kuakini’s influence expanded on Hawaiʻi Island, with his appointment as the Royal Governor of Hawaiʻi Island, serving from 1820 until his death in 1844.

During his tenure, Kuakini built some of the historical sites that dominate Kailua today. The Great Wall of Kuakini, probably a major enhancement of an earlier wall, was one of these.

The Great Wall of Kuakini extends in a north-south direction for approximately 6 miles from Kailua to near Keauhou, and is generally 4 to 6-feet high and 4-feet wide;’ the Great Wall of Kuakini separated the coastal lands from the inland pasture lands.

Speculation has ranged from military/defense to the confinement of grazing animals; however, most seem to agree it served as a cattle wall, keeping the troublesome cattle from wandering through the fields and houses of Kailua.

Kuakini also built Huliheʻe Palace; it was completed in 1838, a year after the completion of Mokuʻaikaua Church (Lit., section won (during) war,) the first stone church on the Island of Hawaiʻi.

In 1833, Analeʻa married Caesar Kapaʻakea, a chief of lesser rank and her first cousin. Caesar’s father, Kamanawa II was no ‘ordinary’ ranking chief; he was the grandson of Kameʻeiamoku, one of the ‘royal twins.’

He was named after his famous grand uncle, the other royal twin. (The twins are on Hawaiʻi’s Royal Coat of Arms; Kameʻeiamoku is on the right holding a kahili and Kamanawa on the left holding a spear.)

Caesar’s father has one other notable distinction; he was found guilty of poisoning his wife (Caesar’s mother) and was the first to be hanged for murder under the newly formed constitution and penal laws (1840.)

OK, back to Caesar and Analeʻa – they had several children. Most notable were a son, who on February 13, 1874 became King Kalākaua, and a daughter, who on January 29, 1891 became Queen Liliʻuokalani – the Kalākaua Dynasty that ruled Hawaiʻi from 1874 to 1893.

Oh, the burial at Puʻu ʻOhau? Ane Keohokālole’s mother, Kamaeokalani (Kamae) is buried at its top.

When I was at DLNR, the matter of dealing with the burial came up within the first few days of my term (in 2003.) Back in 1999, members of the ʻOhana Keohokālole requested that protective measures be put in place on the puʻu.

The matter was on the Hawaiʻi Island Burial Council’s agenda; the family’s suggested means of protection is the construction of a six (6) foot rock wall around Puʻu ʻOhau. I had several conversations with family members, it was decided to order the wall to be placed where they recommended, on the 120-foot contour.