Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands - Kamehameha l (Part 12) The US GenWeb Archives provide genealogical and historical data to the general public without fee or charge of any kind. It is intended that this material not be used in a commercial manner. All submissions become part of the permanent collection. Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands " Keepers of the Culture " A study in time of the Hawaiian Islands Kamehameha l and stories told by the ancients -- part 12 Accounts told of; John Young Isaac Davis by Darlene E. Kelley November 16, 2000 http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ As told by the ancients --- Part 12. In the archives building in Honolulu is preserved the diary of John Young. On the cover is written in plain rounded figures the date, 1801. The diary is called a log book. It is certainly not a log book. It was not written at sea nor does it give the log of any ship, although John Young's experience as a sailor is seen throughout the pages. Between the lines one can read the story of the years as John Young lived them in his mind. While keeping his accounts, scanning the ocean for incoming sails, watching the ships far out to sea, wondering from whence they came and whither they were bound, he was, it would seem, sometimes homesick. " Sunday-- thick and foggy with small rains and the winds from the N.W. and heavy surf." " Clear, light winds from N.W., but no surf on the reef. No fish." No fish was important iem; fishing was the main industry of the people. An added item tells that John Young was sending his canoes to Maui, since there was no fishing at home. By this time, John Young had a business of his own. He manufactured canoes. " Moderate and cloudy. The first time this month of March that we have had the wind from the natural quarter." Many other items are mentioned in this diary and is worth its investigation including a few pen sketches drawn in idle moments-- a drawing of a horse standing under a tree, and a house with two windows and a door. Memories of perhaps of home may have prompted these pictures, since there were no horses and no houses with windows and chimmeys in the Islands at the time he made these entries. It was pointed out that he was not a missionary, but he neverless did some thinking about religion. His family background possibly had a religious trend, since his parents named their sons John, Peter, and James. He took time on Sunday to copy into his diary the prayer of St. Chrysostom. The little diary reflects but a portion of some of the more quiet hours of his life in Hawaii-- hours when he listened to the wind, when he watched the flashing surf as it turned white the long dark reef, when the distant mountain peaks may have seemed to shut him in. He may have grown weary of the bright blue sea, and, as he watched the strange ships sailing by on the edge of the horizon, he may have longed for darker oceans and the friends of other days; '" He lives every longing Who dwells by the sea." About 1805, Kamehameha sent for his niece, the daughter of his favorite brother, and she became the second wife of John Young. This marriage brought him increased recognition and prestige. The Hawaiian people were very pleased. John Young was now a member of the Royal family. He had cast his lot with Kamehameha. The King appointed him governor of the island of Hawaii, and lfe took o a new meaning. It was at Kawaihae on the island of Hawaii that John established his home. A community grew up around him which he called " The Young Settlement, " and which was often a refuge for the missionary, the scientist, and the traveler. Four children were born to John Young's second marriage -- Fannie, Grace, John Jr., and Jane. To Fannie, when grown and married, was born a daughter, Emma. Emma, granddaughter of John Young, when she herself grew up, became one of the most beloved queens in the Kamehameha dynasty. The home life of the Youngs was conducted on a European basis. Writers tell that Mrs. Young always dressed in Oriental silks, and that her dresses were made in foreign style. The daughters were given the most careful training.They, as well, as John Young's granddaughter, Emma, attended school for young chiefs which was conducted by the missionaries. At the time of Kamehameha's death, when all restrictions were abolished for several days and the community was seething with the strange debauchery of an uncivilized people, John Young protected his family from even seeing what was taking place. One of the children incidentally remarked that, as a matter of course, they would attend the funeral rites of the King. To which their father was quick to reply. " If any of my children do attend, they will never again cross the threshold of my house." He nailed up every avenue to his dwelling and sat with his native wife and his children without the light of the sun during those days of riot Mrs. Lucy Thurston, in her story of her life as a missionary in Hawaii, in speaking of John Young, says; " He had long been a rare example in that degenerate age, of buliding a hedge about his family and standing in the gap thereof. When occasion offere, he spoke with energy and decision, giving no uncertain sound, well understood by his children and by strangers. By marriage, by deeds and by counsel, he had justly risen to the eminence of a peer with the chiefs of the nation. Saxon blood flowed in his veins. He was Mr. Young, the noble grandfather of our most noble Queen Emma." It was great grief to John Young when his old friend. Isaac Davis, died after having been poisoned by jealous chiefs in 1810. He at once took Isaac Davis' children into his home and brought them up with his own sons and daughters. His son, James, married a daughter of Isaac Davis. In John Young's will, he left his property to be divided beween his own children and the children of Isaac Davis. At the end of the will, John Young speaks of his friends, the Hawaiians; " May that great being, who rules the nations of the earth continue you in peace and happiness with each other and all mankind and happiness in the world to come." In a speech delivered by his Excellency, J. H. Kapena, Minister of Foreign Relations, on the occasion of the laying of the Cornerstone of The Royal Palace, Honolulu, in 1879, His excellancy says; " Here in the premises of Pokukaina was erected the tomb of the departed chiefs and at the entrance of the sacred place was placed the body of John Young, one of Kamehameha's intimate friends. In order that the spot may not be forgotten where a tomb once stood, King Kalakaua has caused a mound to be raised there, crowned with ferns and flowers in memory of those who slept beeath it. Doubtless the memory is yet green of that never to be forgotten night when the remains of the departed chiefs were removed to the Royal Mausoleum in Nuuanu Valley. Perhaps the world had never witnessed a procession more weird and solemn than that which conveyed the bodies of the chiefs through the streets, accompanied on each side by thousands of people until the mausoleum was reached, the entire scene and procession lighted by large kukui torches, while surrounding darkness brought in striking relief the coffins on their biers. Truly we cannot forget the wierdness, the solemnity and the affecting scene afforded by that strange midnight procession." At the Royal Mausoleum, on a flat, grey stone which covers his grave, is the following inscription: " Beneath this stone are deposited the remains of John Young [ of Lancashire, England ] the friend and companion in arms of KAMEHAMEHA who departed this life December 17th, 1835, in the 93rd year of his age and the 46th of his residence on the SANDWICH ISLANDS" One can hear the softly dropping waters of Kapena Falls in the near background. The dark mountains which edge Nuuanu Valley and the old trees stand guard. Close by is the little stone chapel, and just beyond are the Royal Tombs of the Kings of old Hawaii. In this sacred spot sleeps John Young, the sailor lad from Liverpool.