Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Piʻikoi

Born on March 26, 1871, Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Piʻikoi (grandson of Kaua‘i King Kaumuali‘i and the cousin of King Kalākaua and Queen Lili‘uokalani) was prince of the reigning House of Kalākaua.

After the rule of the House of Kamehameha ended with the death of King Kamehameha V in 1872, and King Liholiho died in 1874, the House of Kalākaua ascended to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

He became an orphan after his father died in 1880 and mother in 1884. Prince Kūhiō was adopted by King David Kalākaua’s wife, Queen Kapi‘olani, who was his maternal aunt.

He attended the Royal School and Punahou; studied four years in St. Matthew’s College, California; was a student at the Royal Agricultural College in England and graduated from a business college in England.

Historical accounts say that Kūhiō was tagged with the nickname “Prince Cupid” by a French teacher when he was very young because of his chubby stature and good-natured personality.

He witnessed the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893, took the side of the monarchy, was found guilty of treason for plotting a counter-revolutionary attempt and made a political prisoner.

Prince Kūhiō, eligible royal heir to the Hawaiian throne, Delegate to Congress for ten consecutive terms and tireless worker for native Hawaiian rights, was born along the Poʻipū coast at Kukui‘ula and grew up in Kōloa on Kaua‘i.

Kūhiō was often called Ke Ali‘i Maka‘āinana (Prince of the People) and is well known for his efforts to preserve and strengthen the Hawaiian people.

In politics, he was a Republican. He launched a campaign to establish local government at the County level; this led to the County Act in 1905. Under the Act, the islands were divided into five separate Counties.

Prince Kūhiō restored the Royal Order of Kamehameha I and established the Hawaiian Civic Club.

The Order of Kamehameha I was established on April 11, 1865 by King Kamehameha V (Lot Kapuāiwa) to honor the legacy of his grandfather, the unifier of these islands, Kamehameha the Great.

The Order was reorganized by Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaole in 1902. Today, the organization continues to guard, maintain and preserve the rituals and the memory of the ruling Chiefs of Hawai‘i.

Hawaiian Civic Clubs were organized in 1918 and were formed to provide scholarship aid for the education of Hawaiian students; preserve and promote the Hawaiian heritage, traditions, language and culture; improve the conditions of the Hawaiian people and community at large; and perpetuate the values that dignify all human life.

In 1919 he also introduced the first bill asking that Hawai‘i become a state.

While a delegate of Congress, he spearheaded the effort in the passage of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act that provides lands for native Hawaiians.

He was concerned about the diminishing number of Hawaiians and their seeming inability to adapt to urban living. It was his dream to have Hawaiians return to the land and encourage them to be self-sufficient farmers, ranchers and homesteaders.

Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Piʻikoi died on January 7, 1922 of heart disease. He was given the last state funeral for an Ali‘i; he is buried at Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum.

Prince Kūhiō Day is an official holiday in the State of Hawaiʻi. It is celebrated annually on March 26, to mark the birth of Prince Kūhiō.

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Kaʻawaloa

Kealakekua translates as ‘pathway of the gods’ and is one of the most significant historic and cultural places in Hawaiʻi.

Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park is comprised of portions of the Kealakekua and Kaʻawaloa ahupuaʻa, which surround Kealakekua Bay. From Kaʻawaloa south to Palemano Point, the bay measures about one and one-half miles in length and about one mile in width.

“The Sandy beech forms the West side, behind which is a grove of Coco nut trees & a pond of indifferent water; on the N side of this beach lies a Village, & the Well we waterd at, which is close to the Sea & under the high hill.”

“At the other end of the beach is the Morai, or Oheekeeow (heiau of Hikiau.) A field of Taboo’d ground seperates the Morai from a Village to the s, or rather a continued range of Stragling houses in that direction.” (King; Maly)

Kealakekua was selected by the aliʻi as one of the seven royal centers of Kona in the 1700s, because of its sheltered bay and abundance of natural resources.

Kaʻawaloa, meaning ‘ the distant ʻawa plant’, is a flat, fan-shaped lava peninsula near sea level, which rises gradually to the edge of the 600-ft Pali Kapu O Keoua. These forty acres of land define the northwest side of Kealakekua Bay.

Historically, Kaʻawaloa was the royal burial grounds of Hawaiʻi’s rulers and their families, including Kalaniopuʻu, the ruling chief in power when Captain Cook sailed into Kealakekua Bay.

The British ships, Discovery and Resolution, under the command of Captain James Cook, sailed into Kealakekua Bay on January 17, 1779; Cook was killed at Kaʻawaloa on February 14, 1779.

In their journals, Cook’s crew recorded four “villages” of about 80 houses each along the shoreline around Kealakekua Bay. Settlements lined the bay in the pre-contact period, as do the small residential communities of Nāpōʻopoʻo and Keʻei, today.

“The Towns of the Natives are built along the Sea side. At Cari’ca’coo’ah (Kealakekua) Bay there were three, one (Kealakekua-Nāpoʻopoʻo) on the SE-tern side of the Bay which was very large extending near two miles along the shore, another (Kaʻawaloa) upon the NWtern side which was not so large, and a small Village (Palemano) in the cod or bottom of the Bay.”

“At the back of the villages upon the Brow of the Hill are their plantations of Plantains, Potatoes, Tarrow, Sugar Canes &c, each mans particular property is fenced in with a stone wall; they have a method of making the Sugar Cane grow about the walls so that the stones are not conspicuous at any distance, but the whole has the appearance of fine green fences.” (Clerke; Maly)

“Kaʻawaloa, at the landing-place on the north side of Kealakekua bay, however conveniently accessible to the people of the district, who live much along the shores, was cramped and rocky, being composed almost exclusively of lava.”

“It was hot, dry, and barren, affording neither brook nor well, nor spring of fresh water, nor field, nor garden-spot for plantation, though a few cocoanut trees, so neighborly to the sea, find nourishment there.” (Bingham; Maly)

As the west learned of Hawaiʻi, this area became known as one of the first major shipping and provisioning port for ships involved in exploration, whaling and trans-Pacific trade.

About 40-years after Cook’s visit, the missionaries arrived and established one of the earliest mission stations in Hawai‘i at Kaʻawaloa in 1824.

Access was improved to Kaʻawaloa and Nāpoʻopoʻo with the development of cart roads to transport goods from the bay to upland communities.

By the 1850s, traditional fishing and farming were giving way to ranching and coffee. Cattle were herded down the roads to wharfs at Nāpoʻopoʻo and Kaʻawaloa where they were loaded onto ships in the bay.

Nāpoʻopoʻo Light was established in 1908 at Kaʻawaloa on the north side of Kealakekua Bay (but apparently named for Nāpoʻopoʻo Landing on the south side of the bay.) The 22-foot light tower was built in 1922.

Several families remained at Kaʻawaloa until World War II, but most of the activity had shifted to Nāpoʻopoʻo by that time.

In 1969 the state set aside the entire bay as a marine life conservation district (MLCD.) The MLCD is inshore of a straight line between Kaʻawaloa point and the north end of Nāpōʻopoʻo Beach Park. The cove fronting the Captain Cook Monument is a popular snorkeling area.

On December 12, 1973 the Kaʻawaloa area was designated as the Kealakekua Bay Historical District (a District w/multiple sites) and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The obelisk monument commemorating Captain Cook was constructed in 1874, near the spot where Cook died. (Contrary to urban legend, the monument site is not owned by the British Government; ownership is in the name of the British Consul General (the individual) – a representative would check in with DLNR, from time to time.)

While at DLNR, we issued a curator agreement to Hale Mua – The Royal Order of King Kamehameha I to help protect the sites under DLNR’s jurisdiction and to help provide public access.

The photo captures the awa ceremony we participated in to commemorate the signing of the Curator Agreement. (It was a moving experience; I was proud and honored to be there.  Yes, that is me, all by myself (representing the State,) and the descendent families, members of the Order and others on the other side.)

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George Herman Huddy

William Henry Harrison Huddy immigrated from Rhode Island and became a citizen of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i in 1850; he married Kahea, a Hawaiian from the island of Kauai.  Their son, George Herman Huddy – the youngest of a large family, was born in Honolulu in 1869; as a young man he lived on Kauai and was educated in Honolulu.

After distinguishing himself as a student in high school, he sought more education and professional training and moved to San Francisco and apprenticed himself to a dentist in that city.

After little more than a year, he qualified for entrance to the College of Dentistry at the University of California Medical School. After three years of study and internship, he became the first Hawaiian to earn a full Degree in Dental Surgery from a Dental School in the US.

After graduation he returned to Hawai‘i and went into practice for himself as a dental surgeon.  In February 1903, Dr George Huddy was appointed by the Governor as a Representative to the Hawai‘i Territorial Legislature from Kauai. (Dr Huddy, continued to be elected as a Territorial Representative, first from Kauai and later from Hilo, until his retirement from that office in 1917.)

On April 25, 1903, the legislature of the territory of Hawaii, at the instigation of the dental society, enacted a law to regulate the practice of dental surgery.  This statute gives the dental society a recognized standing, as the members of the state dental board are appointed by the governor upon recommendation of this society.  Huddy was an initial member.  (History of Dental Surgery, Koch)

On May 13, 1903, Huddy and his good friend, Prince Kūhio, helped reestablish the Order of Kamehameha I (originally organized in 1867 by Kamehameha V).

Kūhiō chose Huddy to preside at this initial session as a charter member where a constitution was written and adopted, and officers elected; Kūhiō was elected as the President.

“Credit for the founding of this order, which dates from May, 1903, or a little more than ten years after the close of the monarchy and a little less than five years after annexation to the United States, belongs to Dr George H Huddy, who has served the territory faithfully and well as a representative in the legislature, first from Kauai and then from Hawaiʻi”

“Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, delegate to congress, was the first aliʻi ʻaimoku, or sovereign head of the revived order.” (Star-Bulletin; June 10, 1913)

In 1905, the Order of Kamehameha brought solemnity to the holiday (Kamehameha Day) by draping a lei on the statue of Kamehameha in front of Aliʻiolani Hale and standing watch throughout the day.  (Stillman)

On July 16, 1907, they petitioned for a Charter for the Hawaiʻi Chapter No. 1, Order of Kamehameha.  “… the object for which the same is organized is as follows, 1. To inculcate the cardinal principles of Friendship, Charity and Benevolence; to provide for Sick and Funeral Benefits …”

“… to aid the widows and orphans; and to improve the social and moral conditions of its members.”  (Hawaii Chapter No. 1, Order of Kamehameha; Petition for Charter, July 16, 1907) (An announcement in the Hawaiian Star, shortly after, noted similar language for the Māmalahoa Chapter. No. 2)

In March 1915, “Mrs. Henrietta E Sullivan of Honolulu nei [the daughter of John Hassinger, the long time and well-known Chief Clerk for the Interior Ministry, during the Monarchy and into the Territorial times] and Representative George H Huddy of Hilo became one in the bond of marriage”.

“For the first time in the history of the legislature of Hawaii nei, wed were the Honorable Dr George H. Huddy in the covenant of marriage with Mrs. Henrietta E Sullivan, in the throne room [of Iolani Palace].”

“The one who bound the couple tightly together in the three-stranded cord of matrimony was Father Steven of the Catholic faith, and while the newlyweds were surrounded by their many friends, the priest spoke the words which made the two one, and it is only death that will part them.”

“After the marriage took place, hands were shook with aloha with congratulations from their friends, with prayers that they live their lives in happiness.” (Kuokoa, 03-12-1915)  Theirs is the only wedding ever to take place in the Throne Room of the Palace.

Dr Huddy continued in his dental surgery practice in Honolulu until in 1922 (at the untimely death of his wife, June 20, 1922).  On September 1, 1922, Huddy signed on with the Territorial Board of Health as the Resident Dentist at Kalaupapa, serving alongside Dr Goodhue.

“In December, 1922, Dr George Huddy, a dentist employed by the board of health, began work at the [Kalihi] hospital and spent five months attending to the dental needs of the patients.”

“The employment of this officer meets a very pressing need of the patients, as the teeth of many of the inmates were in bad condition and required the services of a competent dentist. Already a beneficial effect from this work can be noted.”

“I wish to record my unqualified approval of the inauguration of dental service for the patients and to acknowledge the full and free cooperation of the dental officer with the medical officers at Kalihi Hospital.”

“The dentist [Huddy] employed by the board of health for Kalihi Hospital and Kalaupapa settlement has given a great amount of relief to the patients.”  (Report of the Governor to Dept of Interior, 1923)

For the next 8 years, Huddy worked full time for the Board of Health. During these years he rotated between living at Kalaupapa for 2 – 3 months at a time and then back to Honolulu where he served as Dentist at the Old Prison and at the Leper Intake Hospital in Kalihi.

Huddy remarried in 1926 to a resident of Hawai‘i with German origins.  On June 30, 1929, Dr Huddy retired from the Board of Health, having worked himself into ill health and left for Europe for a two year ‘cure’ in Germany.

Returning in early 1932 in somewhat restored health, he reopened his dental surgeon offices in the Boston Building on Fort Street and practiced there until leaving for Germany again in late-1935.

This latter trip turned fatal, and Huddy died in Bremen, Germany. (His ashes were brought back to Hawai‘i and interred in Hilo at Homelani Cemetery.)  (Lots of information here is from Tatibouet.)

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Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Piʻikoi

Prince Kūhiō was born in Kōloa on the island of Kauai on March 26, 1871. His father, Kahalepouli, was a high chief and the son of Kaumualiʻi, the last King of Kauai; his mother was Princess Kinoiki Kekaulike, sister of Queen Kapiʻolani (wife of King Kalākaua.) He had two brothers, David Kawananakoa and Edward Keliʻiahonui.

Orphaned after his father died in 1880 and mother in 1884, Prince Kūhiō was adopted by King David Kalākaua’s wife, Queen Kapi‘olani, who was his maternal aunt.

His early education was at the Royal School and Punahou. He studied four years at St. Mathews College of California. Later, he was a student at the Royal Agricultural College in England, finishing his formal education in a business college there.

Upon the assumption of the Kalākaua dynasty to the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom, a proclamation ending the Kamehameha Dynasty also declared Kūhiō a royal prince. King David Kalākaua, also Kūhiō’s uncle, then appointed him to a seat in the royal Cabinet administering the Department of the Interior. (Prince Kuhio Hawaiian Civic Club)

The overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and establishment of the Republic of Hawaiʻi brought about abrupt changes. Kūhiō was then about 21 years of age.

Two-years later, there was a counter-revolution attempting to reinstate Liliʻuokalani as Queen. Prince Kūhiō took part in the revolution. He was arrested and sentenced to imprisonment for a year. While he was in prison he became engaged to Elizabeth Kahanu Kaʻauwai and, after his release, married her on October 8, 1896.

In 1900, Robert Wilcox (an Independent) defeated Republican Samuel Parker and Democrat Prince David Kawānanakoa (Kūhiō’s older brother) as Hawaiʻi’s first delegate to Congress Wilcox ran for re-election, but Prince Kūhiō (a Republican) defeated him and served as Hawaiʻi’s delegate from 1903 until his death in 1922.

“Prince Kalanianaʻole was a prince indeed – a prince of good fellows and a man among men; a man of sterling sincerity and strong convictions – he always stood for what he deemed right-yielding to no weakness, and manly always.” (Congressional Record, 1923) Prince Kūhiō restored the Royal Order of Kamehameha I and established the Hawaiian Civic Club.

The Order of Kamehameha I was established on April 11, 1865 by King Kamehameha V (Lot Kapuāiwa) to honor the legacy of his grandfather, the unifier of the islands, Kamehameha the Great. The Order was reorganized by Prince Kūhiō in 1902.

The Hawaiian Civic Clubs were organized in 1918 and were formed to provide scholarship aid for the education of Hawaiian students; preserve and promote the Hawaiian heritage, traditions, language and culture; improve the conditions of the Hawaiian people and community at large; and perpetuate the values that dignify all human life.

Kūhiō was often called Ke Ali‘i Maka‘āinana (Prince of the People) and is well known for his efforts to preserve and strengthen the Hawaiian people.

“A pure-blooded Hawaiian, a member of a diminishing race, it was natural and greatly to his credit that he devoted much serious thought and energy to their rehabilitation – it was a work of love on his part.”

“He saw the tendency of his people to flock to the larger cities where their life in crowded tenements, learning the vices of the white man, was leading to racial extinction, and he devoted himself to getting them back to the land.” (Congressional Record)

“His efforts in this line culminated in the passage in 1921 by this Congress of the Hawaiian Homes Commission act, a measure to provide homesteads for native Hawaiians for an indefinite term at a nominal rental and for government loans to the settlers.”

“The Prince was made one of the commissioners and took great interest in the practical carrying out of his dream.” (Congressional Record)

“Kuhio on February 11 introduced a resolution in congress providing for statehood for Hawaiʻi under qualifications to be fixed by congress, and giving Hawaii half of the federal revenues derived from here for territory’s public works for a period of 20 years.” (Maui News, February 28, 1919)

This first bill in Congress calling for Hawaiʻi statehood didn’t pass. (After several other related bills by others, Hawaiʻi achieved statehood on August 21, 1959.)

“Prince Kalanianaole was an unusual man. There was much of the magnetic about him. He possessed a kindliness and a courtliness that instinctively attracted people to him and made him a most welcome guest at every gathering.”

“While his was the philosophy of optimism and he always looked with confidence toward the future, still it seemed to me that there was ever present the element of pathos in his fine character.” (Congressional Record)

“At Pualeilanl through the night of vigil, while the Prince was sitting in his armchair, himself knowing that death could not long be barred from entrance to his chamber, he sat with his face toward the open door facing Kalākaua Avenue …”

“… his lessening vision drinking in deeply of the green verdure across the way in what was formerly the great acres of his aunt the Queen Dowager Kapiʻolani, in whose home he had spent so many happy days of his boyhood and young manhood.”

“Sitting by his side was Princess Kalanianaʻole. She held his hand closely. The Prince smiled often as his eyes met those of his sweetheart Princess and he appeared to be hoping that her last view of him would be a memory of him still smiling.” (Congressional Record, 1923)

Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Piʻikoi died on January 7, 1922 of heart disease. He was given the last state funeral for an Ali‘i; he is buried at Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum.

The territorial Legislature passed a resolution in 1949, establishing March 26 as a territorial holiday in honor of Prince Kūhiō; Prince Kūhiō Day continues as an official holiday in the State of Hawaiʻi. It is celebrated annually on March 26, to mark the birth of Prince Kūhiō.

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Kamehameha V Cottage

Prince Lot Kapuāiwa, who later became Kamehameha V, owned a cottage in an area now known as Moanalua Gardens next to a kalo patch, a fishpond and Chinese Hall.  Moanalua Gardens is a 24-acre privately-owned public park in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The cottage, built during the 1850s, is a single-story wooden structure laid out in Hawaiian style with a Victorian motif.

The building is comprised of three separate units: a cooking and eating unit; a living and sleeping unit; and an entertaining pavilion (this third unit is a post-Kamehameha V addition). The units are all attached to each other by a series of roofed lanai.

The exterior wall of the center building is made of clapboard whereas that of the dining and kitchen hall is made of board and batten.

The exterior trim is of Victorian Gingerbread (the cresting), accenting each of the different roof styles of the units (gable, simple shed, hip, and domelike roofs). The single unifying factor of the roof in the overall building is the consistent use of wooden shingles.

The original cottage (the center unit) was very simple with minimal ornamentation. The revival of hula performances may have had some influence on the construction as the original cottage had a lanai that completely surrounded the building where hula could have been performed for invited guests.

In 1856, Prince Lot built the kitchen and dining unit as a separate building using tongue-and-groove material with vertical molded battens over the joints.

Lot Kapuāiwa, four years older than his brother Kamehameha IV, ascended to the throne at his brother’s death in 1863.  Like his brother, he ruled for nine years (1863 to 1872.)

In 1864, when it appeared that a new constitution could not be agreed upon, he declared that the Constitution of 1852 be replaced by one he had written himself.

Kamehameha V (Lot) founded the Royal Order of Kamehameha I on April 11, 1865, in commemoration of his grandfather Kamehameha the Great.

The stated purpose of the order was “to cultivate and develop, among our subjects, the feelings of honor and loyalty to our dynasty and its institutions and … to confer honorary distinctions upon such of our subjects and foreigners as have rendered,  or may hereafter render to our dynasty and people, important services.”

Known as “the bachelor king,” Lot Kamehameha did not name a successor, which led to the invoking of the constitutional provision for electing kings of Hawai`i.

Under the Kingdom’s 1864 constitution, if the king did not appoint a successor, a new king would be elected by the legislature from the eligible Hawaiian royals still alive. William Charles Lunalilo and David Kalākaua were the candidates; Lunalilo was the more popular of the two.

The property was transferred to Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last of the Kamehameha line.  She willed (in 1884) the ahupua‘a (land division) of Moanalua to Samuel Mills Damon.

In the 1900s, Damon renovated the cottage and used it as a residence.  In 1961, lattice work around the building was added, and around 1972-1973, a new shingled roof was installed.

The building has been situated at three different Moanalua sites since its original construction. It was moved to its present location in 1960.