Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands - The Royal Women of Hawai'i - Part 2 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: by Darlen6 E. Kelley December 2, 2006 http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Hawai'i Keepers of the Culture The Royal Women of Hawai'i- part 2 Powerful Wives and Ali'i ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ RUTH KE'ELIKOLANI ( c. 1826 - 1883 ) None of the royal women were as enigmatic as Ruth Ke'elikolani. More than six feet tall and weighing over 400 pounds, she combined the authority of imposing dimensions, with a lineage of high ali'i rank and an imperial personality that intimidated all but the handful she deemed worthy of trust and aloha. Dressed in Victorian finery and builder of an extra Victorian Mansion, she remained Hawaiian in language, habits, temperment, and belief. Born in the royal compound of Pokukaina, Honolulu, in 1826, Ruth was the great-granddaughter of Kamehameha I by his granddaughter, Pauahi, and Mataio Kekuanao'a. When her mother died in childbirth, the newborn infant was placed under the care of Ka'ahumanu, who provided a traditional ali'i role model that would influece her entire life. Unfortunately, Ka'ahumanu died when Ruth was only six. Later, when her father, Mataio Kekuanao'a , married Kina'u, Ruth was accepted as a part of the family, raised as sister to their four children, including the future kings Alexander Liholiho and Lot Kapu'aiwa. Ruth was only fifteen when she married for the first time, to Leleiohoku, son of Kamehameha's chief advisor Kalanimoku. The first of her two children died in infancy when Ruth was only sixteen. Six years later, in 1848, Ruth lost her husband to a measles epidemic, when he was only twenty seven and she was twenty two. Her second son, William Pitt Kina'u, died just short of his seventeenth birthday, when Ruth was only thirty three. In 1856, Ruth married the strong willed part Hawaiian Isaac Young Davis, grandson and name sake of the Welsh mate captured and recruited as an advisor to Kamehameha I. The marriage was stromy and, after a little more than a year, Ruth left, but not before giving birth to a son. In keeping with Hawaiian tradition, Ruth offered the child to hanai, or adoption, to Bernice Pauahi. The child died six months later. With hope that defied fate, Ruth next adopted the younger son of Kapa'akea and Keohokalole. Renaming him Leleiohoku in honor of her long dead husband, she made him beneficiary to her inherited wealth of the Kamehamehas. Handsome and cultured, Leleiohoku would also be named heir apparent to the Hawaiian throne when his older brother, David Kalakaua, was elected king in 1814. Had he come to the throne, the immense land wealth of the Kamehamehas would have been reconciled with a ruling king, with fiscal and spiritual implications for the monarchy and Hawaiian independence. Once again death intervened. On April 9,1877, Leleiohoku died of pneumonia while at 'Iolani Palace. In August 9, 1881, lava had been flowing down the flanks of Mauna Loa for more than six months and a river of moltn rock sixty miles long was approaching Hilo. Prayers to the Christian god had failed to stop the flow. Ruth. heir to ancient beliefs and confident that her mana remained strong, decided to play an intermediary's role, traveling by steamer from O'ahu to the island of Hawai'i. Making her way up country, accompanied by a small retinue, she stood poised in imposing silhouette against a night sky lit by the lava's red-orange glow. With prayers, chants, and offerings, she confronted Pele, speaking to the goddess both as a supplicant and ali'i. Telling her retainers to prepare a bed for her not far from the front of the flow,she spent the night alone in Pele's fiery domain. A letter from one of her party set the scene; " Early the next morning all of us went to the lava flow and we couldn't believe our eyes. The flow had stopped right there. Suddenly our feeling toward the Princess changed. We were one and all awed. When the Princess returned to Honolulu, a tremendous crowd greeted her at the dock. The streets were jammed. It didn't take long for the story to flash around the islands." Her mana and prestige enhanced. Ruth committed her money and time to building a Victorian mansion in the style and scale of the new ' Iolani Palace.just completed by Kalakaua. The house called Keouahale, was completed in 1883, with Ruth spending several nights there following a grand opening that was a gala event. Within days of the festivities she becae ill and decided that it was time to return to the island of Hawai'i. Once there she took to her bed, her condition rapidly deteriorating.In a traditional thatch roof hale on the grounds of Hulihe'e Palace. Ruth Ke'elikolani, ali'i of old Hawai'i, joined her ancestors at the age of fifty seven. ++++++++++++++ EMMA NAEA ROOKE (c. 1836 -1885 ). Through her mother's line, Emma Naea was the great-granddaughter of Keli'imaika'i, full brother to Kamehameha. She was also a granddaughter of John Young, the British seaman who had joined Kamehameha's court in the late 1790's, becoming an ali'i and one of the king's most trusted advisors. Adopted by her maternal aunt, Grace Kama'iku'i Young Rooke, and groomed with European Victorian standards. Emma was very much an Anglo-Polynesian hybrid, sophisticated, self possessed, well educated and dignified. Her formal education began at the Chief's Children's School, a boarding school created at royal request by Amos Starr and Julette Montague Cooke, stalwart members of the eighth American Mission to Hawai'i, arriving in Honolulu in 1837. two generations of highborn ali'i attended the school, among them five future monarchs. Their education was Wesern in style and content. introduced with a mix of goodwill and missionary severity that contrasted with the emotional spontaneity of their ali'i students. While some rebelled, others like Emma eagerly took to learning. At the age of twenty, Emma entered into an initially happy marriage with Kamehameha IV, then twenty two. Two years later she gave birth to a son, Albert Kauikeaouli, Ka Haku o Hawai'i, or the Prince of Hawai'i, as he wuld become to be titled. The only royal Kamehameha of his generation, he provided the dynasty with an heir and the nation with hope for the future. The child's name had been carefully chosen. Kauikeouli honored his grand uncle, Kamehameha III. Albert referred to Queen Victoria's prince consort, with the British royals agreeing to serve as godmother and godfather to the new prince. The link between the two royal families dated to 1849, when the teenager Alexander Liholiho and his brother paid a visit to England, accompanied by Gerrit Judd. After their marriage, it was Emma who maintained correspondance with the British queen, meeting her some years later, when she traveled to London to seek Victoria's support in founding an Anglican cathedral in Honolulu. Links to Britain were more than politically correct. By blood part British and raised in the home of her British uncle, Emma was thoroughly an Anglophile. Victoria's blessing barely reached the four year old prince in time. When her representative arrived in August 1862, Ka Haku o Hawai'i was dangerously ill. A quickly improvised ceremony was held. Within days he died. " The death of no other person could have been so severe a blow to the king and his people." the newspaper reported prophetically. Little more than a year later, Kamehameha IV would also be dead, leaving Emma to grieve, a widow at twenty seven. Emma remained in the background during much of the reign of Kamehameha V, dedicating her time to establishing a hospital to save lives of her fast dwindling people. Then, in 1872, Kamehameha died without naming an heir, although Emma would later claim he had offered her the throne. Elections were held to select a new monarch and a new dynasty. Emma, Ruth Kel'elikolani, William Lunalilo and David Kalakua were the four ali'i under consideration. Lunalilo and Kalakaua were the favored choices, tradition working against the possibility of placing a reigning queen on the Hawaiian throne. Lunalilo's selcetion by the Legislative Assembly proved short lived. when he died little more than one year after his election as king, Emma was once again considered for the vacant throne. This time Emma and Kalakaua were the main contenders, each actively pursuing the throne. Partisans for each side edged toward violence, for the campaign became a referendum about Native Hawaiian power and sovereignty of the kingdom. Emma representing those who claimed that there had been enough accomodation with resident foreigners. Rallying under the banner " Hawai'i for the Hawaiians " they saw Kalakaua as dangerously prone to surrendering Hawai'i autonomy. Male, and of high chiefly rank, Kalakaua gained a sustantial victory over Emma in the balloting in the Legislative Assembly. Emma's partisans reacted violently, several hundred rioting and attacking the electors. At Kalakaua's request, American and British troops aboard warships anchored in Honolulu Harbor, were brought ashore to restore order, setting a precedent that would later prove ominous. Somewhat begrudgingly, Emma acknowledged Kalakaua's victory, although the threat of a coup on behalf of the dowager queen added an elemate of instability to the first years of Kalakaua's reign. While she would not again enter the political arena, she maintained a finger on the political pulse of the islands. Emma and Kalakaua were eventually reconciled, but a letter to the British Resident Commissioner, James Wodehouse reveals her continuing dissatisfaction with the course of events undre Kalakuana's rule: " The sudden and bold uncovering of America's long cherished wish ... to possess these Islands ... has caused me great, great grief and anxiety ... I consider that America is now our open enemy ... and that as we have friends in England and France, America cannot carry out her hig handed policy... The Native Hawaiians are one with me in the love of our country, and determined not to let Hawai'i become a part of the United States of America... I repeat a question once put to you confidentially by a relative of mine from the Throne, Kamehameha V, whether, in case of emergency, England would take these Islands should we give ourselves up to her? " The British reponse was an unequivocal no, adding substance to fears of America's emerging predominance. Despite such concerns, Emma remained apolitical for the remaining years of her life, dedicating her time to charitable and religious works. On April 25, 1885, Dowager Queen Emma aged forty-nine died, correctly anticipating the political turmoil that would soon overwhelm the monarchy. ++++++++++++++++ KAPI'OLANI ( c. 1834 -1899 ) The grandaughter of Kaumuali'i, the last king of Kaua'i, Kapi'olani was neice and namesake of the newly converted chiefess who had defied Pele in 1824, when she had stood on the crater rim of Kilauea volcano and declared the greatness of Johovah, not Pele. Born in Hilo, Kapi'olani was married and a widow by the time she was twenty six. Three years later, in 1863, she married again, in a love match to David Kalakua. A loyal and caring couple, although of substantially different temperaments. Kalakua often sought her advice when he became king. A romantic at heart, Kalakaua honored Kapi'olani throughout their marriage, donating the Crown Lands between Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach as a public park named in her honor in 1877. In 1883, she shared his coronation ceremonies, being crowned as queen by Kalakaua himself. While Kapi'olani did not play an overt political role as queen, she represented the kingdom effectively on several important occasions. Accompanied by her sister-in-law, Lili'uokalani, in June 1887 she attended Queen Victoria's golden jubilee in London. As reigning queen, Kapi'olani was accorded full royal honors throughout her visit and was well hosted and received. Prior to visiting London, Kapi'loni stopped at Washington, D.C. to speak with President Grover Cleveland. Later, following the overflow of the monarchy, when annexationist fervor was building in the United States, Cleveland would support Hawaiian independence, in part due to the favorable impact of Kapi'olani's visit. She and Kalakaua, like many other ali'i of their generation, remained childless. Fearful for her people's survival, they worked together founding the Kapi'olani Maternity Hospital and the Home for Leper Girls. Following Kalakaua's death in 1891, Dower Queen Kapi'olani largely withdrew from public life. She died in 1899, six years after Lili'oukalani had been deposed and several months short of the official annexation of Hawai'i +++++++++++++++ BERNICE PAUAHI (c. 1831 -1884 ) Although born only twelve years after the collapse of the ancient kapu and Polynesian belief, Bernice Pauahi was very much a creation of the Victorian era, during which she cme of age. her father was the ali'i Abner Paki. Through her mother, Konia, she was the great granddaughter of Kamehameha I. Well-respected for her high status, she was also well liked by her fellow ali'i, her people, and the world of foreigners with whom she comfortably socialized. By inclination she was too private a person to take on the prerogatives that her mana allowed her. When her cousin Kamehameha V chose her as his successor in 1872, she declined the offer. Her refusal brought to an end the Kamehameha dynasty. It was a crucial decision that utimately affected the future course of Hawaiian history in a number of ways. Having inherited the bulk of the Kamehameha lands when Ruth Ke'elikolani died in 1883, had she been Hawai'i's queen, she would have had the resources to pursue royal initiatives with less threat of legislative interferece. Her inheritence amounted to almost one ninth of Hawai'i's land and she would have reconciled the wealth of the Kamehamehas with the autority of the throne. As a student at the Chief's Children's School, Pauahi absorbed a sense of missionary propriety that remained with her throughout her life. She is described as a woman of sophistication and depth, another nineteenth century Anglo-Hawaiian hybrid ali'i: " Representative of the most powerful line of chiefs of olden times, Mrs. Bishop was also an exponent of the best in the foreign mode of life. retaining a natural pride of ancestry and an interest in the welfare of her own race, she also so perfectly assimilated the spirit of Anglo-American culture forming a link between old and new, between Native and foreign. A woman of high linage, she was a logical match for the highest born ali'i of her generation. Courted by many, she betrothed to Lot Kamehameha in 1848. Before the marriage, Pauahi chose instead to marry American born Charles Reed Bishop. One of the first of the nineteenth century royals to wed a non Hawaiian, her marriage started the elopement to Kaua'i and was marked by deep affection and loyalty, although it unfortunately brougt them no children. Unlike most Americans who had settled in the islands, Bishop, who had arrived in 1846, became a naturalized citizen three years later. Establishing himself as a financier with the founding of Bishop Bank in 1858, he left much of a substantial fortune to fund the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, which opened to the public in 1891. Bishop's commitment to Hawai'i had become obvious much earlier. Both he and his wife would serve theHawaiian government. On October 16, 1884, Bernice Pauahi Bishop died, leaving her vast estate to benefit the Hawaiian people through the founding of the Kamehameha Schools. Committed to the well being of her people, she remained aloof from the social and political storms buffeting the kingdom she refused to lead. her passing was a milestone, for she possessed the ancestral mana of the highest ali'i. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Continued in Part 3.