Sanford Ballard Dole | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 29, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Territorial Governors

“(T)he executive power of the government of the Territory of Hawaii shall be vested in a governor, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States, and shall hold office for four years and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified, unless sooner removed by the President.”

“He shall be not less than thirty-five years of age; shall be a citizen of the Territory of Hawaii; shall be commander in chief of the militia thereof; may grant pardons or reprieves for offenses against the laws of the said Territory and reprieves for offenses against the laws of the United States until the decision of the President is made known thereon.” (The Government of Hawaii, April 30, 1900)

The Territory of Hawaiʻi was organized on June 14, 1900, remaining a territory for 59 years. Twelve people served as territorial governor, each appointed by the President of the US.

1. Sanford Ballard Dole (1900-1903)
Sanford Ballard Dole (April 23, 1844 – June 9, 1926) was born in Honolulu to Protestant Christian missionaries from Maine. His father was Daniel Dole principal at Punahou School and mother was Emily Hoyt Ballard (his mother died from complications within a few days of his birth.)

The monarchy ended on January 17, 1893; Dole was named president of the Provisional Government of Hawaiʻi. The Provisional Government held a constitutional convention and on July 4, 1894, established the Republic of Hawaii. Dole would serve as the first and only president from 1894 to 1898.

President William McKinley appointed Dole to become the first territorial governor after US annexation of Hawaiʻi, and the Hawaiian Organic Act organized its government. Dole assumed the office on June 14, 1900 but resigned November 23, 1903 to accept an appointment by Theodore Roosevelt as judge for the US District Court

2. George Robert Carter (1903-1907)
George Robert Carter (December 28, 1866 – February 11, 1933) was born in Honolulu. His mother was Sybil Augusta Judd, daughter of Gerrit P Judd, and his father was businessman Henry Alpheus Peirce Carter.

Carter was educated at Fort Street School in Honolulu (now McKinley High School,) Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts and Yale University. He married Helen Strong, daughter of Eastman Kodak president Henry A Strong April 19, 1892; they had four children.

In 1895 Carter returned to Hawaiʻi to become the cashier of C. Brewer & Co., where his father had been a senior partner from 1862 to 1874. From 1898 to 1902, he helped organize and manage the Hawaiian Trust Company, and was managing director of the Hawaiian Fertilizer Company. In addition, he served as a director for Bank of Hawaii, C. Brewer and Alexander & Baldwin

President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him Secretary of the Territory in 1902, and then Territorial Governor in 1903. In 1905, during Carter’s administration, the current system of county governments was created; Counties Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Hawaii and Kalawao took effect on January 1, 1906. Oahu County later became the City and County of Honolulu in 1909.

3. Walter Francis Frear (1907-1913)
Walter Francis Frear (October 29, 1863 – January 2, 1948) was born in Grass Valley, California. His father, Reverend Walter Frear, came to the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi as a missionary, and then lived in California. His mother was Frances Elmira Foster.

The family returned to Honolulu in 1870, where his father was pastor of the Fort Street Church until 1881. He graduated from Punahou School in 1881, Yale with a B.A. in 1885, and Yale law school in 1890. On August 1, 1893 he married Mary Emma Dillingham, the daughter of Benjamin Dillingham; they had two daughters.

Frear was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt on August 15, 1907. Frear Hall, a dormitory building built in the 1950s on the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus, was named after Governor Frear’s wife Mary Dillingham Frear, a member of the University’s Board of Regents from 1920–1943 (the structure was demolished in 2006 and replaced in 2008 by new dorm facility also called Frear Hall.

4. Lucius Eugene Pinkham (1913-1918)
Lucius Eugene Pinkham (September 19, 1850 – November 2, 1922) was born in Chicopee, Massachusetts. He attended public schools in Boston and Hartford, Connecticut. Although he intended to attend Yale, a horse-riding accident prevented him from walking for several years and he never attended college.

Pinkham arrived in Hawaii in 1892 to build a coal handling plant for Oahu Railway and Land Company, and then went to California in 1894. From 1898 to 1903 he was manager of Pacific Hardware, another family business of Benjamin Dillingham.

On April 13, 1904, Pinkham was appointed President of the territorial Board of Health. While President of the Board of Health, he developed the idea of dredging the marshlands of Waikīkī via a two-mile long drainage canal. Pinkham was appointed governor by President Woodrow Wilson on November 29, 1913. The construction of what would become the Ala Wai Canal and the drainage of the Waikiki are considered to be his most enduring legacies.

5. Charles James McCarthy (1918-1921)
Charles James McCarthy (August 4, 1861 – November 26, 1929) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Charles McCarthy and Joana (McCarthy) McCarthy. McCarthy moved with his parents to San Francisco, California in 1866.

He was a member of the House of Nobles in 1890, supporter of Liliuokalani and ironically a captain in the pro-annexation Honolulu Rifles. He also was a territorial senator 1907-12 and treasurer 1912-14.

He was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to serve as Governor. He was the first governor to advocate statehood for Hawaiʻi.

He was later given a job as Washington representative of the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce, and later general manager of Hawaiian Dredging Co during which he worked on the Waikiki Reclamation project which resulted in the construction of the Ala Wai Canal.

6. Wallace Rider Farrington (1921-1929)
Wallace Rider Farrington (May 3, 1871 – October 6, 1933) was born in Orono, Penobscot County, Maine. An avid traveler, he came to the Islands and was persuaded to stay to become the editor of the Honolulu Advertiser; he left the Advertiser and became editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Interested in local politics, he was elected Mayor of Honolulu.

President Warren Harding appointed Farrington as Governor. Wallace Rider Farrington High School in Kalihi is named for him; they adopted ‘The Governors’ as its nickname and mascot.

7. Lawrence McCully Judd (1929-1934)
Lawrence McCully Judd (March 20, 1887 – October 4, 1968) was born in Honolulu, grandson of Gerrit P Judd (an early American Missionary and cabinet minister to King Kamehameha III.)

Herbert Hoover appointed Judd. Judd was devoted to the Hansen’s Disease-afflicted residents of Kalaupapa on the island of Molokai and as Governor; he overhauled the system of governance there. He later became Kalaupapa’s resident superintendent.

A source of controversy during his tenure, Judd commuted the sentence of Grace Hubbard Fortescue, convicted in the territorial courts of manslaughter in the death of a local man, Joseph Kahahawai in the ‘Massie Affair.’

8. Joseph Boyd Poindexter (1934-1942)
Joseph Boyd Poindexter (April 14, 1869 – December 3, 1951) was born in Canyon City, Oregon to Thomas W and Margaret Pipkin Poindexter.

He was admitted to the Montana Bar in 1892, and served as County Attorney of Beaverhead County, Montana from 1897 to 1903. He later served as a district judge in Montana from 1909 to 1915, and as Attorney General of Montana from 1915 to 1917.

President Woodrow Wilson appointed Poindexter as Judge on the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii; President Franklin D Roosevelt appointed Poindexter governor of Hawaii.

In the immediate aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Poindexter placed the territory under martial law and allowed the US military to form a military government. The military government would continue until 1943.

9. Ingram Macklin Stainback (1942-1951)
Ingram Macklin Stainback (May 12, 1883 – April 12, 1961) was born in Somerville, Tennessee, he received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago.

He came to Hawaii shortly after graduation and was appointed by Governor Pinkham as Territorial Attorney General. He resigned in 1917 to join the Army and rose to the rank of major. When WWI ended he returned to private practice in Hawaii.

He was appointed to the office by President Franklin D Roosevelt. Stainback was essentially powerless for the first two years of his term since martial law was in effect.

On September 26, 1951, he was appointed by President Harry S Truman as an associate judge to the Hawaii Supreme Court. Stainback argued for Commonwealth status similar to Puerto Rico instead of statehood, arguing that Hawaii would benefit from the federal tax exemption.

10. Oren Ethelbirt Long (1951-1953)
Oren Ethelbirt Long (March 4, 1889 – May 6, 1965) was born in Altoona, Kansas and attended Johnson Bible College in Knoxville, Tennessee, the University of Michigan, and Columbia University in New York City.

He first came to Hawaii in 1917 as a social worker in Hilo. He then held various educational positions in the public school system, eventually serving as a superintendent from 1933 to 1946.

He was appointed Governor of the Territory of Hawaii by President Harry Truman. Long later served in the Hawaii Territorial Senate from 1956-1959. On July 28, 1959 he was elected to one of the two Senate seats from the newly formed State of Hawaii, and took office on August 21, 1959. The other Senator elected was Hiram Fong.

11. Samuel Wilder King (1953-1957)
Samuel Wilder King (December 17, 1886 – March 24, 1959) was born in Honolulu to father James A King, a ship’s master for Samuel Gardner Wilder, and later politician in the Republic of Hawaii. His mother was Charlotte Holmes Davis.

A devout Roman Catholic, King attended Saint Louis School. Upon graduating, King went on to study at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He entered the US Navy as a commissioned officer where he served from 1910 to 1924.

King served in the United States House of Representatives as a delegate from the Territory of Hawaii. President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed King to the governorship, the first of native Hawaiian descent to rise to the highest office in the territory.

12. William Francis Quinn (1957-1959)
William Francis Quinn (July 13, 1919 – August 28, 2006) was born in Rochester, New York. His family moved to St. Louis, Missouri during his youth, where he attended prep school at St. Louis University High School and college at St. Louis University, graduating in 1940.

Quinn entered Harvard Law School, but only finished after his stint in the military. He graduated cum laude in 1947. He served in Hawaii in naval intelligence during World War II. Upon his discharge from service, he settled permanently in Honolulu.

Originally appointed to the office by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1959, he defeated challenger John A Burns to win the new state’s first gubernatorial election.

September 2, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

$25,000 Annuity

“In an interview, ex-Queen Liliuokalani said of the proposed treaty between the United States and Hawaii: ‘Fifteen hundred people are giving away my country.’”

“‘The people of my country do not want to be annexed to the United States. Nor do the people of the United States wants annexation. It is the work of 1,500 people, mostly Americans, who have settled in Hawaii. Of this number those who are not native born Americans are of American parentage.’”

“‘None of my people want the island annexed. The population of the islands is 109,000. Of this number 40,000 are native Hawaiians. The rest are Americans, Germans, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, English and a small proportion from other countries. The 1,500 Americans who are responsible for what was done to-day are running the affairs of the islands.’”

“‘There is no provision made in this treaty for me. In the Harrison treaty I was allowed $20,000 a year, but that treaty never went into effect. I have never received one dollar from the United States.’”

“‘No one looked after my interests in the preparation of this treaty. Yet my people, who form so large a part of the population of the islands, would want justice done me.’” (Los Angeles Herald, June 18, 1897)

Then, a couple American newspapermen (Charles L MacArthur, a former New York state senator and then editor of the local newspaper in Troy NY and William Shaw Bowen, a journalist with the New York World newspaper) independently supported an effort to arrange a $25,000 annuity to Liliʻuokalani.

In responding to questions noted in the Morgan Report, MacArthur stated, “I went to Mr. Dole. I had trouble in my own mind as to whether the Queen had not some personal rights in the crown lands, for the reason that the treasury department had never asked her to make a return on the income …”

“… which was about $75,000 a year, from these lands and which she had received, and as the treasury had never asked her for a return I thought she had an individual right in the lands.”

“I said to the people, ‘She has individual rights, and you have not asked her to make a return to the treasury of what she has received and what she did not receive.’ The President explained it all to me, the grounds of it. “

“When Mr. Neuman indicated that they were willing – I had made the suggestion and others had – that they ought to buy her out, pay her a definite sum, $25,000 or some other sum per year for her rights.”

“Her rights had been shattered, but I thought they ought to pay for them, and so I went, in accordance with Mr. Neuman’s suggestion, or by his consent, to see President Dole.”

“Mr. Neuman said he wanted to talk with President Dole about this matter, but he had not been there officially, and he could not go there publicly to his official place. I talked with Mr. Dole, and Mr Dole said he could not officially do anything without consulting his executive committee …”

“… but he said he would be very happy to meet Mr. Neuman and see what they wanted – see if they could come to any terms about this thing by which the Queen would abdicate and surrender her rights.”

“Mr. Neuman and his daughter called, nominally for the daughter to see Mrs. Dole, so that it could not get out, if they made a call, they could say it was merely a social call, not an official call.”

“Of course, I do not know what their conversation was; but Mr. Neuman, acting on that, called on the Queen. Mr. Dole and Mr. Neuman both impressed on me the importance of not having this thing get out, or the whole thing would go up in smoke. Mr. Neuman said he could bring this thing about if he could keep it from the Queen’s retainers – her people.”

“He said, ‘That is the difficulty about this thing.’ This matter went on for three or four days. Mr. Neuman saw the Queen and she agreed not to say anything about it, so Mr. Neuman tells me, and I got it from other sources there which I think are reliable. They came to some sort of understanding; I do not know what it was.”

“They went so far as to say this woman would not live over three or four years; that she had some heart trouble; and if they gave her $25,000 a year it would not be for a long time. … Mr. Neuman said she assented to it, if she could satisfy one or two of her people.”

Bowen noted in testimony in the Morgan Report, “One day while dining with Paul Neuman I said: ‘I think it would be a good thing if the Queen could be pensioned by the Provisional Government; it would make matters harmonious, relieve business, and make matters much simpler.’”

“I also said that I was aware that certain gentlemen in Washington were opposed to pensioning the Queen; that certain Senators raised that objection to the treaty that was brought from the islands because it recognized the principle of the right of a queen to a pension.”

“There was one Senator, especially, from the South, who said, without discussing the treaty, that that was objectionable to him; that his people would object to it. I said, “If there is no annexation it is a serious question; if there is, the Queen should be taken care of.”

“Neuman agreed with me. He was a strong friend of the Queen, disinterested and devoted. But he said it could not be done. I told him that I had become acquainted with the members of the Provisional Government who were high in authority, and I thought I would try to have it done.”

“Mr. Dole said he would not make any propositions himself and asked me what I thought the pension ought to be. On the spur of the moment, not having considered the matter, I said I thought the Queen ought to get a very handsome pension out of the crown lands.”

“I asked if there was any question about raising the money, and he said none whatever. He finally asked me to name the figures. He had the idea that the figures had been suggested. I said, ‘You ought to give $20,000 a year to furnish her followers with poi. That is the native dish.’ Mr. Dole said he would consider that question.”

“The result was that Mr. Dole told Mr. Neuman that if the Queen would make such a proposition to him it would receive respectful attention and intimated that he thought it would be accepted. Mr. Seaman saw the Queen and told me that he thought it would be done; that the more he thought of it the more convinced he was that it would be better all around.”

“In the meantime he (Blount) had been to the Queen, to Mr. Dole, and had done what he could to prevent the carrying out of the plan. Mr. Neuman had an interview with the Queen.”

“She told him that she would do nothing more in the matter, and asked him to give back her power of attorney, and he tore it up in her presence. This was the 22d, that he tore up his power of attorney.”

“On the 21st instant Mr. Claus Spreckels called to see me. He said that he suspected there was an effort at negotiation between the Queen and the Provisional Government, and that he had urged the Queen to withdraw her power of attorney from Paul Neumann.”

“How much or how little Mr. Spreckels knows about this matter I am unable to say, as I do not know how to estimate him, never having met him before. He promised to see me again before the mail leaves for the United States on next Wednesday, and give me such information as he could acquire in the meantime.”

“I have no doubt whatever that if Mr. Blount had not prevented, and secondarily Mr. Claus Speckels, the agent for the sugar trust, that plan would have been carried out. I have no doubt of it in my own mind.” (Bowen; Morgan Report)

“Thus Blount intervened to scuttle negotiations between the Queen and President Dole that were strongly on track toward a mutually agreeable settlement whereby the Queen would give up all claims to the throne in return for an annuity.” (MorganReport)

Liliuokalani_in_1917

December 7, 2021 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

1st Big Ships into Pearl Harbor

Over the years, the face of Pearl Harbor has changed dramatically. When the first Westerner, British seafarer Captain James Cook, came to the islands in 1778, a coral reef barred the entrance of the place known as Wai Momi, making it unsuitable as a port for deep-draft shipping. At that time, nearby Honolulu Harbor was an infinitely more hospitable destination.

It wasn’t until 1826 that the US Navy had its first contact with the Hawaiian Islands, when the schooner USS Dolphin sailed into port. After that, it took more than 13 years for the Navy to begin to recognize the potential of Pearl Harbor.

During a routine survey of the area in 1840, an enterprising naval officer determined that the deep inner harbor could be accessed by completely removing the obstructing reef.

Despite gaining exclusive rights to Pearl Harbor in 1887, the US did not make any attempt to take advantage of their claim on this strategic estuary until well after the turn of the century.

It wasn’t until the capture of Manila during the Spanish-American War, when the US needed to establish a permanent way station in the Pacific to maintain control of the Philippines.

Then, for the first time, the American government began to understand the strategic importance of O‘ahu. Annexation soon followed, but even then, little was done to fortify the area or capitalize on the vast potential of Pearl Harbor.

Finally, beginning in 1902, the entry channel was dredged, deepened, and widened to clear an opening at the entrance of the Harbor. Congress did not officially create a naval base at Pearl Harbor until 1908. (NPS)

“Cutting the channel through the reef that has for so many years closed Pearl Harbor to navigation, is a task so quietly and withal so speedily done, that half the people of Honolulu have come to think of the great work in that section of the island as a part of the day’s routine.”

“What effect this new harbor will have on the future events of the world no one can exactly forecast. But we do know that this harbor will be a pivotal point about which great incidents of the world’s history will revolve.”

“Pearl Harbor will be the assembling place for great fleets of warships. Let us hope that never during the present century will these fleets be called upon to go forth to battle, but whether they do or not, may they at all times be the barrier of protection for an ever-increasing American influence and an ever-expanding American commerce carried in American merchant ships.” (Evening Bulletin, December 14, 1911)

“Upon the completion of the dredging operations of Pearl Harbor bar, December 14, 1911, an official entry into the lochs was made by Rear Admiral Thomas in the flagship California, Captain Harlow, and the occasion of joyful recognition of the important event, the end of a great work.” (Thrum, 1912)

On board the California on December 14, 1911 was the first and last President of the Republic of Hawaii Sanford Dole, and Queen Lili‘uokalani the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii. (Neuman)

“The Queen is delighted over the prospect of a trip on the flagship and is looking forward with deep interest to seeing the waterway really open to the navigation of big ships of war, for it was during the reign of her brother, King Kalākaua, that the cession of Pearl Harbor to the United States was made by treaty.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 13, 1911; Van Dyke)

“Queen Lili‘uokalani, accompanied by, Colonel ʻIaukea, Mrs ʻIaukea and Mr and Mrs ED Tenney, arrived shortly after 9 o’clock. Her Majesty looked well and seemed to take an eager interest in the proceedings. She was met at the head of the gangway by Admiral Thomas, who graciously took the aged hand and assisted her on to the deck of the warship.”

“The queen was led to a seat, and then the officers of the man-of-war and the guests were presented to her. The queen chatted of the trip about to be taken and contrasted it with some she had made to Pearl Harbor many years ago.” (Hawaiian Star, December 14, 1911)

Also along for the ride was Sun Fo, eldest son of Sun Yat-Sen – who eventually lead the revolution in China which ended two-thousand years of imperial rule. Sun Yat-Sen would be elected the first President of the Republic of China two weeks later on December 29. (Neuman)

The USS California transited the channel entrance to Pearl Harbor and effectively opened the historic port to the world. The ship that took center stage on that morning should not be confused with the battleship California, or BB-44, which found herself on Battleship Row in 1941.

This California was an armored-cruiser weighing in at about 14,000 tons and laden with eight, six and three-inch guns. Her entrance into Pearl Harbor was historic because she was the first large warship to enter the harbor following extensive dredging of the channel. (Neuman)

From the early days of the 20th century, it was clear that Japan was taking her place as a world power. This shift led the US to move a significant portion of her naval forces to the Pacific. Pearl Harbor was a focal point of the transition, becoming the home port for much of the Pacific Fleet.

And so the pieces of this historic puzzle came together. In a matter of time, the very action taken to protect America from this potential threat would be the thing that made her vulnerable to it.

Throughout its history, Pearl Harbor has been revered as a place of great value. In the beginning, it physically yielded sustenance for the Hawaiian people. Later, it empowered America to conquer her enemies. (NPS)

Japan’s method of declaring war on the US was a four-wave air attack on installations in Hawaiʻi on the morning of December 7, 1941. It was executed in what amounted to five phases.

Phase I: Combined torpedo and dive bomber attack lasting from 7:55 am to 8:25 am; Phase II: Lull in attacks lasting from 8:25 am to 8:40 am; Phase III: Horizontal bomber attacks between 8:45 am to 9:15 am; Phase IV: Dive bomber attacks between 9:15 am and 9:45 am and Phase V: General attack. Raid completed at 9:45. (Maj Gen Green)

USS-California-Pearl Harbor-Dec 14, 1911

Queen Liliuokalani seated in the front row-ceremony of 1st major ship to enter Pearl Harbor-1911

Pearl Harbor-PP-66-4-003-00001

Pearl Harbor Dredging-PP-66-4-015-00001

Pearl Harbor-Luke Field-Ford Island-PP-66-5-016-00001-1924

California at anchor Pearl Harbor-Dec 14, 1911

Pearl Harbor-PP-66-5-005-00001-1920s

Pearl Harbor-PP-66-4-004-00001-1911

USS California – Pearl Harbor-Dec 14, 1911

USS California being escorted into Pearl Harbor-Dec 15, 1911

February 2, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

YMCA

The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was founded in London, England, on June 6, 1844, in response to unhealthy social conditions arising in the big cities at the end of the Industrial Revolution (roughly 1750 to 1850).

Growth of the railroads and centralization of commerce and industry brought many rural young men who needed jobs into cities like London. They worked 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week.

George Williams came to London 20 years later as a sales assistant in a draper’s shop, a forerunner of today’s department store. He and a group of fellow drapers organized the first YMCA to substitute Bible study and prayer for life on the streets.

The YMCA idea, which began among evangelicals, was unusual because it crossed the rigid lines that separated all the different churches and social classes in England in those days.

This openness was a trait that would lead eventually to including in YMCAs all men, women and children, regardless of race, religion or nationality. Also, its target of meeting social need in the community was dear from the start. (YMCA)

By 1851 there were 24 Ys in Great Britain, with a combined membership of 2,700. That same year the Y arrived in North America: It was established in Montreal on November 25, and in Boston on December 29. (YMCA)

“One of the most interesting foreign YMCA’s of this period was that of Honolulu formed … by ten young Americans, (including) the Association’s first president, Sanford B. Dole”. (Hopkins)

“In Spring 1869 in Honolulu, three friends met at Peter Cushman Jones’s home and decided to form the Young Men’s Christian Association of Honolulu.”

“In the first year, many community leaders joined the YMCA Honolulu, including Sanford B. Dole, Theo H. Davies, and Samuel M. Damon.” (UH)

“The ‘Young Men’s Christian Association,’ of Honolulu, appears to have started in to do a good work. They have fitted up the room up-stairs in the Sailors’ Home building, in neat and convenient style.”

“A card in a prominent place, informs us that ‘This room is free to all; it is supported by the voluntary contributions of the Citizens of Honolulu, and Is under the management of the Young Men’s Christian Association. Visitors are requested not to smoke in the room, and not to take away newspapers or magazines.’”

“There, we have given our young men, who appear to be in earnest in their desire to improve themselves and brother men, this notice, and only hope that their enterprise will prove a success.” (Hawaiian Gazette, September 29, 1869)

“(I)n 1876 a Chinese YMCA was organized for the immigrants of that period. It did a notable work.” (Hopkins)

During the first twelve years, YMCA Honolulu operated with no building or paid employee. Then, a building was built, and the first paid secretary started working. (UH)

On February 4, 1882, the Privy Council addressed, “A petition by Henry Waterhouse and others for a Charter of Incorporation for the Young Men’ s Christian Association of Honolulu … On motion of Mr. Castle, it was voted that the Privy Council recommend that the Charter be granted.” (Privy Council, February 4, 1882)

Later that year, the foundation for a building generally referred to as ‘YMCA Hall’ was laid on a lot the purchased the year before at Hotel and Alakea streets in downtown Honolulu (makai of Hotel and Ewa of Alakea). (Papacostas)

“During the next decade, work for Japanese was inaugurated; the program for native Hawaiians was also kept separate from that for Americans.”

“A secretary of the Honolulu Association was recruited in 1885 by H. J. McCoy, the aggressive San Francisco secretary, who visited the Islands in that year.” (Hopkins)

“From 1887 to 1922, Hawaii newspapers ran the ‘YMCA Notes,’ which reported the local YMCA news, including club meetings and events (e.g. preparing for boy summer camp). The content would usually fit in one to two columns and appear in a middle page of the newspaper.” (UH)

“In the mid-1890s the Honolulu YMCA published a paper, held religious services at the barracks, admitted women to membership—two of whom carried on the boys’ work program—and reported a YMCA among the lepers of Molokai.”

“This unusual Association was a remarkable example of what occurred when the YMCA idea was carried to a foreign shore by American emigrants.” (Hopkins)

Today, the YMCA of Honolulu is one of the largest non-profit organizations in the state. Every year, more than 100,000 individuals are served in a variety of programs.

YMCA programs and services are open to children, teens, women and men of all ages, faiths and backgrounds. In all programs, the core values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility are promoted.

Programs and services center around three areas of focus: Youth Development, Healthy Living and Social Responsibility.

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YMCA Building

YMCA Hall

November 6, 2017 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

Elizabeth Jessamine Kauikeolani Low

Elizabeth Jessamine Kauikeolani Low “was named Clorinda by (her) father, as a nickname, way back when (she) was about six years old. (They) were living on a ranch, (she) loved horses, and had a very bad temper.”

“(Her father) read a book in which a child the same age had the same characteristics and was called Clorinda. So he called (her) Clorinda and it seems to be the one name that stuck all through (her) life”. (Lucas; Watumull)

She was born in Honolulu on August 9, 1895. Her father was Ebenezer Parker (Rawhide Ben) Low – he was married to Elizabeth Pu‘uki Napoleon (“really Napoli. … Became known as Napoleon later.”)

“(Her mother) was always known as Lizzie Low. (Her) mother’s people were not well known to us because she was hanaied by Judge and Mrs. Sanford B. Dole when she was about twelve years of age [circa 1879].”

“Judge Dole was a teacher at Kawaiaha‘o Sunday School and had in his class a little girl of about six whose name was Lizzie Napoleon. And he became very attached to this little girl so when she got a little older, he asked her mother if she wouldn’t allow her to live with them.”

“She didn’t want to go at first but she did finally become attached to both Judge and Mrs. Dole and lived there until she was married.” (Lucas; Watumull)

“(Her) father was known as Rawhide Ben because ever since he was knee high to a grasshopper, I guess, he loved the ranch life. And he was brought up as a member of the family in Mana and Kamuela with the rest of them.” (Lucas; Watumull)

She married Charles Williams (Charlie) Lucas on July 19, 1924; they had one child Laura Lucas (who later married Myron Bennett (Pinky) Thompson.) (His unusual nickname came from his mother. So convinced that she was pregnant with a girl, she decorated the baby’s room completely in pink and purchased pink clothes. Ever since, her son was known as ‘Pinky.’ (Gordon))

Family ties go back to Alexander Adams and John Palmer Parker. Captain Alexander Adams arrived in the Islands in 1811 on the American trading ship the ‘Albatross’ from Boston.

He became an intimate friend and confidential advisor to King Kamehameha I, who entrusted to him the command of the king’s sandalwood fleet. Lucas, a fourth-generation descendant of the John Palmer Parker family, was a notable community leader.

During most of her adult life, Clorinda Lucas devoted her time and attention to child welfare and the problems of Hawaiian people through the Liliuokalani Trust, the Department of Public Welfare and the Department of Public Instruction.

For three years following her graduation from Smith College (BA degree) in 1917, she Lucas worked in New York City for the national board of the YWCA in the Division of Education for Foreign-born Women. She was the first Hawaiian to have professional social work education. (NASW)

“I was with the Department of Public Welfare, we called it in those days. When I first came back from the New York School [of Social Work] in 1937, my first job was director of the Oahu Department of Public Welfare.”

“And I was there until we reorganized and then we had a social work division and a child welfare division and I don’t know, we had a real change tied in with the Social Security Act. And then I was director of the social work division.”

“And then from there I went into the Department of Education and headed the Division of Pupil Guidance and I was there for seventeen years, then retired in 1960.”

Lucas led the Humane Society. She notes, “My first social work job was with the Humane Society when they took care of children. I was there, I guess, about three or four years and then I went to the New York School [of Social Work] and got my training and then came back to the Department of Public Welfare.” (Lucas; Watumull)

Lucas’ daughter, Laura Thompson later became executive director. “(W)e’ve been tied up with animals just about all our lives and of course I’m very happy to know that Laura’s interested in animals too.” (Lucas; Watumull)

But of all the community projects she worked on and worked for that had been the most gratifying and most satisfying, was “of course my connection with the Liliuokalani Trust (she was Chair of the Board of Trustees) has pretty much circumscribed what is important for me to consider for Hawaiians and that has to do with the orphan and destitute children of Hawaiian blood.” (Lucas; Watumull)

“(Lili‘uokalani’s) Will said to build an orphanage and the orphanage was to be made of fireproof materials and it was to have the name Liliuokalani, no cross or steeple. These were all in her Will. But they just didn’t have enough money to do that.”

“Well, in the meantime it was obvious that children should not be brought up in orphanages, especially babies that have lost their parents. So then they went to court, when there was enough money to do something with it, went to court and got permission from the court to at least take care of the children in a little different way”

“Instead of building an orphanage, to find homes where they could have fairly close relationship with just one or two people instead of many. So this was allowed, with the understanding that the trustees would always have in the back of their minds that someday they would have to build an institution of some sort.” (Lucas; Watumull)

“So, since then, we have worked on this foster care program or adoption program, anything so that you put children with families where they can become an integral part of them.”

“And I would say probably that’s been the most satisfying experience for me. That to see this thing grow from a rather limited concept, which was the thing to do at the time she died, to what you could do today.”

“And I will say that the thing that to me is the most satisfying is we have done some very innovative things and with this trust money.” (Lucas; Watumull)

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Clorinda Lucas