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May 19, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

James Makee

James Makee was born at Woburn, MA, November 24, 1812. He married Catherine McNiven in New York in 1836.  He first arrived in Hawai‘i in 1843, in command of the sperm whaler Maine, having been compelled to put into this port for medical assistance.  (PCA, Sep 20, 1879)

While the Maine lay in the roadstead off Lahaina, Maui, it was learned that her master, Captain James Makee, had been attacked by the ship’s cook, brutally cut with a hatchet or cleaver, and left for dead.

This unfortunate incident, however, resulted in Captain Makee abandoning his seafaring career and he became interested in Hawai‘i and decided to locate in Honolulu, sending for Mrs. Makee, then living in Massachusetts.

Makee, then only thirty-one years of age and founder of the Makee family in Hawai‘i, remained in the islands to become a distinguished pioneer builder, first as a merchant in the whaling industry and later as a rancher and sugar planter.

As a trader in Honolulu, Captain Makee met with success in his first venture and formed the firm of Jones and Makee, ship chandlers, the partnership later becoming Makee, Anthon & Co. The company did a flourishing business and in 1850 Makee, Anthon & Co. were agents for some fifty out of seventy whaling ships in port on October 18 of that year.

The following year marked the first entry of Honolulu men into the whaling industry as ship owners, when Captain Makee, with a group of other local merchants as minority shareholders, acquired the “Chariot” and sent her into the Artic in April, 1851.

With the expansion of business in Honolulu, Captain Makee in 1853 financed the erection of the Makee & Anthon block on Queen Street, the first three-story brick building in Honolulu, materials for which were imported from Boston.

“Something New in Honolulu. A fine new Fire-Proof Store, three stories high, erecting at the corner of Kaahumanu and Queen streets, by Capt. Makee, built of brick, with a granite front, is something new in Honolulu, and consequently excites considerable attention.”

“No granite has before been used in the erection of buildings, at the islands, although fence and gate posts, and a few door-steps, have been imported from China, of a quality, however, far inferior to the Massachusetts granite now used by Capt. Makee, in the construction of his Store. This block will be of the most substantial character, and an ornament to the city.” (Polynesian, April 1, 1854)

Then, a second ship, the bark “Black Warrior,” was acquired by Makee & Anthon, and operated as a whaler for three years.

On January 23, 1856, “Kapena Ki” (Captain James Makee) purchased at auction Torbert’s plantation on Maui. He sold his Nuʻuanu residence and moved to Maui and raised his family on what he called ‘Rose Ranch’ after his wife Catherine’s favorite flower.

The extensive estate had some limited facilities for raising and milling sugar cane and was developed both as a cattle ranch and sugar plantation by Captain Makee.

He took a deep interest in the upbuilding of the property and was one of the first to import thoroughbred stock on a large scale. He also engaged in dairying and in 1858 began planting sugar cane, rehabilitating the abandoned Torbert enterprise.

Makee was one of the first to import, on a large scale, purebred stock. He also went in for dairying and his “sweet butter” found a fine market. In 1858 he began the rehabilitation of Torbert’s cane and the crop of 1861 was marketed in Honolulu.

He solved the area’s major problem – water. “Makee has built a wooden house and deep reservoir on the side of the house. The troubles of the men and women are now ended by this work, they are now truly well supplied with water. This land, in ancient times, was a barren open place, a rocky, scorched land, where water could not be gotten.”

“The water of this land in times before, was from the stumps of the banana trees (pūmaiʻa), and from the leaves of the kākonakona grass; but now there is water where moss can grow. The problem is resolved.” Nupepa Kuokoa, Iulai 7, 1866, [Maly, translator])

“Makee’s Plantation or Rose Ranch, as it is more generally termed by the proprietor and his friends, is situated on the south eastern part of the Island of Maui, in the district of Honuaula. … The estate contains about 6,500 acres, 1,200 of which are capable of producing cane.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 19, 1861 [Maly])

(From Torbert, then the decades of ownership by Makee, then Dowsett, Raymond and Baldwin, in 1963, the property was acquired by the Erdman family. The property is now known as ʻUlupalakua Ranch and it remains a cattle ranch.)

The sugar crop of 1861 was marketed in Honolulu and by 1862 the plantation had been greatly improved, according to the accounts of Rev. S. C. Damon, who visited Ulupalakua in that year.

During the Civil War Captain Makee won wide attention by a patriotic gift of two consignments of molasses, of one hundred barrels each, which he sent to San Francisco to be sold for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission at Washington, DC.

Later, a shipment of sugar and island produce was sent by Parker N. Makee, a son, as an additional contribution to the Union cause.

Throughout his residence at “Rose Ranch,” Ulupalakua, Captain Makee was noted for his hospitality, visitors from all parts of the world being entertained there.

On July 18, 1871, Colonel Zephaniah Swift Spalding married Makee’s first born daughter, Wilhelmina Harris Makee at McKee’s Rose Ranch in Ulupalakua, Maui.  In that same year, Makee’s eldest son, Parker, took over management of the West Maui Sugar Association.

In 1876, Captain Makee and Spalding purchased Ernest Krull’s cattle ranch in Kapa‘a, Kauai, intending to start a sugar plantation and mill.  After a brief stay in San Francisco (1875-1878) Spalding returned to the Islands, living on Kauai, where Makee was already operating the Makee Sugar Company and mill at Kapa‘a.

King Kalākaua and others formed a hui (partnership) to raise cane.  About the first of August, 1877, members of Hui Kawaihau moved to Kauai.  Makee had an agreement to grind their cane.

In 1876, Kapi‘olani Park was initially touted to create “a tract of land in the vicinity of Honolulu as a place of public resort,” where “agricultural and stock exhibitions, and healthful exercise, recreations and amusements” could occur, its literal purpose was far from it.

On the dedication day in 1876, King Kalākaua and James Makee (Kapiʻolani Park Association’s first president) stressed the public space, which they said was needed for a modern city to be civilized, to allow “families, children, and quiet people” to find “refreshment and recreation” in the “kindly influences of nature,” and to be a “place of innocent refreshment.”

However, when Kapiʻolani Park was first conceived, the motivation wasn’t about creating a public place.   Kapiʻolani Park began as a development project, run by the Kapiʻolani Park Association.

The association was founded with a two-fold purpose: (1) building residences for its stockholders along the ocean at Waikiki and on the slopes of Diamond Head and (2) laying out a first-class horse-racing track as a focal point of this new suburb.  They named the large island in the Park’s waterways after James Makee.

Appointed a commissioner to aid in the development of the resources of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1877, Captain Makee in that year launched a breakwater project at Makena, Maui, developing a harbor to facilitate the shipment of sugar.

Captain Makee also owned the Waihee Plantation, Maui, of which his son, Parker, was manager. His interests in the Ulupalakua ranch were divided to members of his family in Jan., 1878.

Upon his death in Honolulu, September 16, 1879, Captain Makee was survived by his widow and eight children, Charles and Parker N Makee, Mrs ZS Spalding, Mrs MLW Kitchen, Mrs D Noonan, Mrs George Herbert, Mrs ED Tenney and Mrs FP Hastings. (lots of information here is from Orr.)

© 2023 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: Prominent People, Economy Tagged With: James Makee, Ulupalakua, Kawaihau, Zephaniah Swift Spalding, Rose Ranch

December 21, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Poʻo Kanaka

Traditional translations of poʻo kanaka suggest it means “human head;” however, in this case, it has a regional translation and is used to describe a flower, the pansy (folks thought the flower looked like a man’s head.)

It was also the name given to a man’s home.

He is said to have been the first to introduce the pansy flower in Hawaiʻi and he planted pansies around his house.  (Kimura)

Puapoʻo-kanaka (“The flower-that-looks-like-a-man”) eventually became the favorite of Waimea cowboys, who wore entire leis of pansies strung round their flopping vaquero hats.  (Korn)

The house stood within a level clearing at a spot called Puʻukapu, along the trail leading to the more upland forested area up Mauna Kea known as Manaiole, what we call Mānā, today.

The house, built in the 1830s, was made of rubble-and-mortar construction.  Rocks were formed into walls and plastered over with putty lime mortar (the lime obtained from ground coral.)  Rubble ruins remain of the house site, today.

The home was described as an Irish stone cottage.

It’s not clear what the man’s real name was – some suggest it was initially William Wallace.  An Irishman, he came to Hawaiʻi aboard a whaling ship that landed at Kawaihae (about 1834.)  He left the ship and went up the hill to Waimea, where he settled – there, he took the name Jack Purdy.  (Kimura)

Some suggest Purdy, along with fellow Waimea resident John Palmer Parker, can be considered the first cowboys in Hawaiʻi.  They started out as bullock hunters, selling their salt beef, hides and tallow.

In the early-1830s, trade in sandalwood slowed down as island forests became depleted.  At about the same time, whaling ships hunting in the north Pacific began wintering in Hawaiian waters.

Ships provisioning in Hawaiʻi ports provided a market for salt beef, in addition to hides and tallow.  With the economic push of providing provisions to the whaling fleets, ranching became a commercial enterprise that grew in the islands.

Parker took a more business-like approach and took advantage of the opportunities of the day and established the Parker Ranch in the fledgling livestock industry.  Purdy was a rowdy, living the rugged life, typical of his peers in the early American West.  (Bergin)

A real or tall tale of his exploits (written in 1857) tells how Jack Purdy, mighty bullock hunter and expert guide, together with his employer and hunting companion, Mr. Julius Brenchley, succeeded without firearms – in fact not even equipped with their usual lassos – in capturing a ferocious wild bull and in killing the beast when he failed to extricate himself from a mudhole; and then celebrated their victory with a deserved steak dinner fresh off the carcass.  (Korn)

In 1832, Purdy married into Hawaiian royal lineage when he took Keawe-maʻu-hili (daughter to Kewae-a-heulu and Kaʻakau) as his bride.  Several of his children from that and his second marriage were respected cowboys.   (Bergin)

His grandson, Ikua Purdy, made headlines and national fame, when he won the World’s Steer Roping Championship in Cheyenne, Wyoming – roping, throwing and tying the steer in 56 seconds (on a borrowed horse.)  Ikua had worked at Parker Ranch, he later moved to Maui to ʻUlupalakua Ranch (he died there in 1945.)

Jack Purdy (William Wallace Jack Harry Hale Purdy) died on June 22, 1886, at the age of 86; he is buried near his home, Poʻo Kanaka.

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Hawaiian Traditions Tagged With: Poo Kanaka, Jack Purdy, Hawaii, Waimea, Parker Ranch, Kohala, South Kohala, John Parker, Ulupalakua

November 26, 2021 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Haleakalā

On the morning of November 26, 1778, Captain James Cook awoke to the sight of the northern coast of Maui. “Next morning there lay the land, the island of Maui, with its ‘elevated saddle hill’ – the extinct 10,000 foot volcano Haleakala …”

“… rising to its summit above the clouds, and descending gently towards the deep ravines and falling waters of that steep rocky coast, where the trade wind hurled other waters into perpetual surf.” This was the first documented sighting of the island. (Fredericksen)

Haleakalā was thought to have been known to the ancient Hawaiians by any one of five names: “Haleakalā,” “Haleokalā,” “Heleakalā,” “Aheleakalā” and “Halekalā.” (Hawaiʻi National Park Superintendent Monthly Report, December 1939)

Historian Abraham Fornander wrote that “Haleakalā” was a misnomer and that the ancient name for the crater was “Aheleakalā,” which meant “rays of the sun,” and…th[o]se which the demigod Māui snared and broke off to retard the sun in its daily course so that his mother might be able to dry her kapas. Fornander further noted that Lemuel KN Papa, Jr., insisted that the correct name was Alehelā “on account of Māui’s snaring the rays of the sun.” (Fredericksen)

“Of course Haleakalā is the sacred home of our Sun, and the ancient Path to Calling the Sum as depicted in its ancient name: Ala Hea Ka La. Why is this critical to our survival?”

“The Sun’s energy is the source of all life, and governs our most basic rhythm of day and night. Ancient cultures have venerated its being, and we as a human race follow its course without thought and are insignificant in respect of its power.”

“However, our Native Hawaiian Culture praises its existence, until this very day the sun is praised for its cycle.” (Maxwell, Fredericksen)

Haleakalā is best known in stories related of the demi-god Māui; he is best known for his tricks and supernatural powers. In Hawaiʻi, he is best known for snaring the sun, lifting the sky, discovering the secrets of fire, fishing up the islands and so forth. (Fredericksen)

In addition to Māui, Haleakalā stories recall Pele who fled the Big Island and while in exile, Pele stopped for a brief time on Maui, where she dug a pit with her pāoa (divining rod) and started a fire. Haleakala is such a huge pit that she found it difficult to keep the fire going to keep warm.

Sometime later the two sisters (Pele and Namakaeha) engaged in a fierce battle, and Pele was weakened – her body torn to pieces and scattered along the coast into huge mounds of broken lava at the base of Haleakalā, on the east side, near Hāna. This place is now known as “Na Iwi o Pele”—the bones of Pele. (Fornander)

Another deity connected with Haleakala is Poliʻahu—the snow goddess and another rival of Pele. Her younger sister is Lilinoe – goddess of the mists. She is sometimes referred to as the goddess of Haleakalā. She was able to check the eruptions that could break forth in old cinder cones on the floor of the crater. Her presence is noted in heavy mists that shroud the mountain. (Fredericksen)

The slopes of Haleakalā had originally been covered with forests but had been logged out for sandalwood for the China Trade (1788–1838), then for koa, ʻōhia and other indigenous trees for uses ranging from railroad ties to firewood.

The lands were then utilized to grow sugar cane and vegetable crops, or were left as pastureland and served as the locations of a number of small plantation or ranch settlements. (NPS)

“Platforms related to traditional Hawaiian ceremony [were] predominantly found along the crater floor and at high promontory locations. Caves [were] often found on the crater rim.”

“Temporary shelters built against rock outcrops or boulders [were] found scattered along the crater rim and within the crater, but [were] concentrated on the leeward sides of cinder cones such as Pakaoa‘o. Cairns or ahu [were] scattered over Haleakalā.” (Hammatt, NPS)

The first visit to Haleakalā by non-Hawaiians occurred in August 1828 when missionaries Lorrin Andrews and Jonathan Green, along with Dr. Gerrit P. Judd, physician, visited the crater.

They were followed by a US Navy expedition led by Commander Charles Wilkes in 1841, and later, others. Significant public interest was generated by written accounts of these visits that determined that Haleakalā would eventually become a destination for tourism. (NPS)

Homesteading on the slopes of Haleakalā as well as other public lands in Hawai`i had been encouraged by the Territorial Government in 1910. This prompted a “rush for homesteads,” applications which were filed and adjudicated by a land court in Honolulu, including one petition by an unidentified applicant who attempted to acquire the entire “floor of Haleakalā Crater” (Maui News, 8 August 1910) (NPS)

The largest tracts were held by ranches, among them: Grove Ranch (Kaonoulu Ranch), owned by the Baldwins and later sold to Senator Harold W. Rice; Kaupo Ranch, owned by Dwight Baldwin; Ulupalakua Ranch, owned by J.I. Dowsett and then J.H. Raymond, then was purchased by the Baldwins; and Haleakalā Ranch, owned by Harry A. and Frank F. Baldwin and managed by S.A. Baldwin. (NPS)

Until 1935, the primary means of getting to Haleakalā was on horseback, and this continued to be the case for the first three decades of the twentieth century. As late as 1932, the Inter-Island Steamship Company and the Maui Chamber arranged trips on horseback to Haleakalā Crater. (NPS)

Thomas Vint described the trip by horseback that he made in 1930: “The trip is now made from the town of Wailuk[u] which contains the principle hotel on the island of Maui that caters to tourist travel …The combined auto and horse back trip to the 10,000-foot summit may be made from noon to noon from Wailuku, spending the night at the top.”

“Trips into the crater are made from the rim rest house as a base.” Vint concluded that “another rest house at the far end of the crater is needed. To see the crater properly, one should camp overnight, making a two-day trip from the present rest house.” (NPS)

Haleakalā Road (now known as Haleakalā Highway) was finally completed on November 29, 1935, and the number of visitors increased substantially, reaching 16,300 within a year. In 1938, the numbers decreased slightly to 14,156 because of a maritime and shipping strike, but continued to rise in the following years until reaching 29,935 in 1940. (NPS)

The increase in visitors was “greatly in excess of expectations…compared with the few hundreds who visited the crater before construction of the Haleakalā [R]oad (Hawaii National Park Superintendent Annual Report 1935, NPS)

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began in 1937, succeeding the Emergency Conservation Work agency, which started in 1933. In 1939, the CCC became part of the Federal Security Agency. It was eliminated in 1943. (UH Mānoa)

From April 1934 until May 13, 1941, the CCC operated a “side camp” in the Haleakalā Section of the Hawaiʻi National Park; CCC participants were housed in tents and moved to where the work areas were. (NPS)

Major park improvements through the CCC program on Haleakalā included the construction of the approximately 11-mile Haleakalā Road, Haleakalā Observation Station, two Comfort Stations (public toilets) and the Checking Station and Office at the park entrance. Several trail projects were completed within the Park. (NPS)

On August 1, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the country’s 13th national park into existence – Hawaiʻi National Park. At first, the park consisted of only the summits of Kīlauea and Mauna Loa on Hawaiʻi and Haleakalā on Maui.

Eventually, Kilauea Caldera was added to the park, followed by the forests of Mauna Loa, the Kaʻū Desert, the rain forest of Olaʻa, and the Kalapana archaeological area of the Puna/Kaʻū Historic District.

On, July 1, 1961, Hawaiʻi National Park’s units were separated and re-designated as Haleakalā National Park and Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: General, Place Names Tagged With: Ulupalakua, Civilian Conservation Corps, CCC, Kaupo Gap, Hawaii, Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Gerrit Judd, Haleakala National Park, Kaupo

March 24, 2020 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Rose Ranch

The ahupuaʻa of Honuaʻula is primarily on Maui, but it also includes the entire island of Kahoʻolawe. Located in the “rain shadow” of Maui’s Haleakalā, a “cloud bridge” connects Kahoʻolawe to the slopes of Haleakalā. Nineteenth century forestry reports mentioned a “dense forest” at the top of Kahoʻolawe.

On Maui, the upper areas were in Sandalwood and Koa forests. Prior to European contact, early Hawaiians farmed sweet potatoes, dry land taro and harvested wood, birds and pigs from these forested areas.

The areas below the west and south slopes of Haleakalā (Kula, Honua‘ula, Kahikinui and Kaupo) in old Hawaiian times were typically planted in sweet potato. The leeward flanks of Haleakalā were not as favorable for dry or upland taro. However, some upland taro was grown, up to an altitude of 3,000 feet.

Modern agriculture began on the slopes of Haleakalā in 1845 when Linton L. Torbert, an active member of the Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society, farmed potatoes and corn, primarily to supply island merchant ships and California’s ’gold rush’ era. He later planted sugar. (The 2,300-acres had first been leased from King Kamehameha III in 1841.)

On January 23, 1856, “Kapena Ki” (Captain James Makee) purchased at auction Torbert’s plantation. He sold his Nuʻuanu residence. (He was active in Oʻahu business and, later, was the Kapiʻolani Park Association’s first president (they even named the large island in the Park’s waterways after him.))

But with the purchase, Makee moved to Maui and raised his family on what he called ‘Rose Ranch’ after his wife Catherine’s favorite flower.

For three decades (1856-1886), the former whaling captain farmed sugar, cattle and other crops. This early entrepreneur even planted cotton to take advantage of the Union blockade of southern ports during the Civil War.

Makee was one of the first to import, on a large scale, purebred stock. He also went in for dairying and his “sweet butter” found a fine market. In 1858 he began the rehabilitation of Torbert’s cane and the crop of 1861 was marketed in Honolulu.

He solved the area’s major problem – water. “Makee has built a wooden house and deep reservoir on the side of the house. The troubles of the men and women are now ended by this work, they are now truly well supplied with water. This land, in ancient times, was a barren open place, a rocky, scorched land, where water could not be gotten.”

“The water of this land in times before, was from the stumps of the banana trees (pūmaiʻa), and from the leaves of the kākonakona grass; but now there is water where moss can grow. The problem is resolved.” Nupepa Kuokoa, Iulai 7, 1866, [Maly, translator])

“Makee’s Plantation or Rose Ranch, as it is more generally termed by the proprietor and his friends, is situated on the south eastern part of the Island of Maui, in the district of Honuaula. … The estate contains about 6,500 acres, 1,200 of which are capable of producing cane.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 19, 1861 [Maly])

The estate grew to be famous for its beauty, hospitality, and agricultural productivity. Catherine Makee’s gardens were the pride of the household with their profusion of roses, flowers, rare plants and shrubs. Visitors today can still admire Catherine’s circular garden beds with their flowering bounty, tended year-round.

“For one arriving by the steamer and dumped on the beach or the rocks at the landing, it is a difficult task to comprehend that above the barren waste he looks upon, there is a beautiful and busy scene…awaiting him.”

“Not until he surmounts the last hill and the panorama of cultivated fields, busy works, and easy dwelling, lying before him, does he realize it; and not until he has viewed it from Prospect Hill [Pu‘u Ka‘eo], can he fully appreciate the value of the picture…” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 19, 1861 [Maly])

“The nature of this land is like that of a rose garden filled with blossoms. The beautiful home of J. Makee, Esq., has no equal. … The things grown there are like nothing else seen, there are beautiful flowers, and trees of all kinds.”

“The road passes through the gardens, and to the large reservoir within the arboretum, it looks like a pond. When he finished showing us around the gardens, he took us to meet his lady (his wife), the one about whom visitors say, ‘She is the queen of the rose garden.’” (Kuokoa, November 14th, 1868 [Maly])

Rose Ranch was also famous over the years for its hospitality. Newspaper accounts from that time period describe unforgettable parties at which guests danced until the wee hours, lauding the “generous hospitality of the worthy host and hostess” [Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 14, 1866].

In 1874, King Kalākaua brought Queen Kapiʻolani to the ranch, and was so enthralled that he became a frequent visitor.

“The main entrance to the grounds surrounding the mansion, was surmounted with an illumination bearing the words – “Welcome to the King,” in red letters, bordered with sprays of pine-leaves. …”

“A neat but roomy cottage was set apart for the use of their Majesties, and here the party remained in the enjoyment of the liveral hospitality of Capt. Makee. In the interim, a large feast in the native style was spread under the shade of the noble trees near the mansion”. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, April 1874)

From Torbert, then the decades of ownership by Makee, then Dowsett, Raymond and Baldwin, in 1963, the property was acquired by the Erdman family.

The property is now known as ʻUlupalakua Ranch and it remains a cattle ranch with 5,000-head of cattle, as well as a winery, a country store and grill, and horseback riding and clay shooting.

Today, ʻUlupalakua Ranch operates approximately 18,000 acres, 16,000 acres of fee simple land and 2,000 acres leased from the State of Hawaiʻi and private individuals.

In 2009, two-thirds of ʻUlupalakua Ranch was placed under a conservation easement assuring that over 11,000-acres will forever remain as agricultural lands. The land extends from coastline property a mile south of Makena to the 6,000-foot elevation, up to the boundary of Polipoli State Park.

The easement allows flexibility to pursue a variety of agricultural options, such as growing lumber, exotic vegetables and fruits and pursuing more renewable energy sources. Maui’s Winery is on the property, too.

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© 2020 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Rose Ranch, Ulupalakua, On the Slopes of Haleakala, Maui-Enoch_Wood_Perry_Jr- 1865
Rose Ranch, Ulupalakua, On the Slopes of Haleakala, Maui, 1865
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The Old Tasting Room, Tedeschi Winery, Ulupalakua Ranch, Maui
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Filed Under: Economy, Place Names, Prominent People Tagged With: Rose Ranch, Hawaii, Maui, James Makee, Honuaula, Ulupalakua

October 30, 2016 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

John Joseph Halstead

John Joseph Halstead was born on October 30, 1808 in a notable New York City family of the early Colonial days. His father had intended him for a physician, but young Halstead was unable to overcome his natural repugnance to handling cadavers.

He gave up his medical studies and went to sea in a whaler. Returning from his first whaling voyage he fell in love, but chose to go on another whaling voyage before marrying.

A whaling voyage in those days took all of three years, and on his return he found his betrothed betrayed him for another man. Halstead left New York for a voyage to the “off-shore whaling grounds” in the South Pacific Ocean off the South American coast.

In the year 1840 John Joseph Halstead sailed to Hawaii on a whaling ship bringing with him from New York carpentry and cabinet-makings skills. He set up a shop in Lāhainā.

With his Germanic influence in making furniture in the Empire style Halstead seems to have worked exclusively with koa, a wood native to Hawai‘i.

In many of his large pieces he mixed light and dark wood for dramatic effect. Few of these objects survive today. This is mainly due to devastating attacks by termites which are extremely active and destructive in the Hawaiian Islands. (Martin)

It was said to be the first man to put up a frame house in Lāhainā. He married ‘Uwaikikilani, a granddaughter of Isaac Davis (who helped Kamehameha in his conquest.)

He and his family moved over to Kalepolepo, along the Kihei shoreline, and shortly thereafter built a new house for himself. (Wilcox)

It was a large Pennsylvania Dutch style house made entirely of koa, built next to the south wall of Ko‘ie‘ie Loko I‘a (fishpond) (also called Kalepolepo Fishpond.)

Halstead’s three story house/store was nicknamed the ‘Koa House.’ With the mullet-filled fishpond, the Koa House became a popular retreat for Hawaiian royalty such as Kamehameha III, IV, V and Lunalilo. (Starr)

He opened a trading station on the lower floor. Whalers came ashore to buy fresh produce that was brought in by the farmers via the Kalepolepo Road.

The western trading interests at Kalepolepo between 1850 and 1860 were focused on the whaling and maritime trading industries, and co-existed with the continued traditional activities that focused on fishing and maintaining the ponds.

He promoted the Irish potato industry in Kula, which even then was a thriving industry for provisioning whale ships in their seasonal voyages after whales.

During the Irish potato boom of those days any native farmer with an acre or two of potatoes would sell his crop, and as soon as he received payment in fifty-dollar gold pieces he would hurry off to the nearest store to buy a silk dress for his wife or a broadcloth suit for himself.

Kula produce was also shipped out by Halstead to California during the gold rush era. During this period, Hobron’s interisland schooner, Maria, made regular stops (about every 10 days) at Kalepolepo, on its route between Honolulu, Lāhainā, Makee’s Landing (Makena) and Kawaihae.

During the 1850s Kalepolepo was not so barren looking a place. Coconut trees and kou trees grew beside pools of clear water, along the banks of which grew the taro and the ape (a giant plant which grows nowhere else on earth to-day), and was the scene of the labors of David Malo. (Wilcox)

From the 1840s to 1860s a small whaling station was maintained at Kalepolepo. During the winter and spring months schools of whales would come to stay or calf in the quiet waters of Ma‘alaea Bay.

Whale boats manned by native crews officered by experienced whalers would go out to battle with the big mammals, and if successful would return towing the carcass in to be cut up and tried for oil.

Once, a big whale came in close ashore on a Sunday. The temptation proved too much for the whalers, and Halstead himself went out, harpooned the whale – in defiance of the strict Sunday laws.

Halstead was summoned to court. His bail was fixed at $25, which was paid (the whale fetched thousands of dollars in oil and whalebone.)

In 1876, Halstead closed his store and moved to ʻUlupalakua, where he died eleven years later, May 3, 1887. (Wilcox) (NPS) (Lots of information here is from NPS and Wilcox.)

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John Joseph Halstead-Koa House-Paradise of the Pacific-1921
John Joseph Halstead-Koa House-Paradise of the Pacific-1921
Uwaikikilani Halstead-Stanley-Hassrick-1849
Uwaikikilani Halstead-Stanley-Hassrick-1849
Uwaikikilani Halstead-Stanley-Hassrick
Uwaikikilani Halstead-Stanley-Hassrick
Koieie-Fishpond-NPS
Koieie-Fishpond-NPS
Koieie_Fishpond-NPS
Koieie_Fishpond-NPS
Kihei Coastline-Kalepolepo-Pepalis
Kihei Coastline-Kalepolepo-Pepalis
John Joseph Halstead-gravestone
John Joseph Halstead-gravestone

Filed Under: Prominent People, Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks, Economy Tagged With: John Joseph Halstead, Koa House, Kalepolepo Fishpond, Uwaikikilani, Hawaii, Isaac Davis, Lahaina, Kihei, Ulupalakua

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