Statewide County HI Archives News.....Queen Lili'uokalani and Her Hanai (adopted ) Children. July 8, 2008 ************************************************ 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: Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 July 11, 2008, 1:49 am Keepers Of The Culture, A Study In Time Of The Hawaiian Islands July 8, 2008 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374. July 8, 2008 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Hawai'i Keepers of the Culture A Study in time, of the Hawai'ian Islands. Queen Lili'uokalani and Her Hanai (adopted ) Children. by Darlene E. Kelley ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Queen Lili'uokalani and her Adopted Hanai Children. -- " Lydia " Kaonohiponiponiokalani Aholo. By 1878, Lili'uokalani had reached 40 years old, and she had no child born to her. John Owen Dominis, her husband had appointed Luther Aholo, as his private secretary for his new Maui post. Luther Aholo, a native Hawai'ian, was declared at his appointment and at his death a man of outstanding abilities. At Lahaina, Maui, Lili'uokalani and John visited the Aholos, and in their royal party, was Abraham Fornander. Fornander at this time was actng Governor of Maui, as Dominis, the Governor, was seldom there, and Fornander played his role as protector, friend, and advisor to Old Hawai'i. While walking on the beach, Lili'uokalani confided to her old friend and menter, Fornander, her distress. He brought to her attention that Mrs. Ahola was pregnant, and in the old " hanai " system, it would be only natural for Lili'uokalani to ask for the child, and for Keahi Aholo, to give her the child. Lili'oukalani assessed the situation practically. Keahi was Luther Aholo's second wife; there were three other children by his first wife, and two others had been born to Keahi, one who died in 1868, now ten years later another child was expected. Would Keahi be willing to part with this child ? Lili'oukalani thought that she might. However, Lili'uokalani, the ever-torn woman between Hawai'ian and haole ways, spoke to John, against her better judgement, and as expected, he was extremely annoyed and strictly forbde such a ridiculous idea. Had he not continued his argument with " What would Mother Dominis say ?'' he might have won. The brother and sister closed ranks, as they on ocassion did, and David Kalakaua gave not only his consent, but his blessing to the "old Hawai'ian hanai." Lili'uokalani was so completely overjoyed at the thought of having a child,she failed completely to realize what this action could later mean to her and the child. The arrangements were made, but then, David Kalakaua became "nervous again" and decided to send Lili'uokalani to the United States, " for her health." She was accompanied by a royal party,tat included William Allen, an annexationist and not a strong supporter of Kalakaua. It is possible that Kalakaua wanted Allen out of the country also. The controversal Charles B. Wilson and his wife , Kitty Townsend Wilson, accompanied the party of Lili'uokalani and her husband, John Owen Dominis. There was a hint of conspiracy between Kalakaua and Dominis in getting Lili'uokalani's mind off hanai, for Kalakaua, ever fickle, had changed his mind. He undoubtedly feared a problem of succession. When Lili'uokalani returned to Honolulu, she learned that Mrs.Aholo had died eight days after the birth of her child --- a girl. In Hawai'ian fashion the child had been taken by her maternal grandparents, Loe and Kawahena. Lili'uokalani departed immediately for Lahaina, and there, despite the protests of John and without the knowledge of Mrs. Dominis, she went to the grass structure of Loe and Kawahena and laid claim to her hanai child. The grandparents had, by unspoken tradition, become hanai to the baby, so Lili'uokalani without further thought instituted another Hawai'ian custom; she immediately included Loe and Kawahena in her retinue, and together with the infant, they returned to Honolulu to become her retainers -- her family. Lilli'uokalani named her hanai child after herself; " Lydia, " and gve her the Hawai'ian name Kaonohiponiponiokalani, But she remained true to the 1860 law that the child's last name should be that of the father -- Aholo. Lydia Aholo was to live until 1979 age 101 and never married ++++++++++++++++++++++ John Aimoku Dominis John Owen Dominis, the husband of Lili'uokalani, was what Dr. Trouseau later termed in the Blount Report, " an irregular husband ........ and had 'afairs' but never a regular mistress." Dr. Trouseau was probably correct. He was the family physician of the Kalakauas and the Dominises; he played cards, drank, and had his "evenings out"with the King and John Dominis. He certainly knew John enough to know, he was not the type of man to be committed to one woman; indeed if h wished extra-marital relationships, there was safety in numbers -- or so he may have been mistakenly believed. Trouseau, despite his companonshipwth John, had a strong liking for Lili'uokalani. He preferred to protect her. In the later Blount report he stated; " She lved him ( Dominis ) an suffered great unhapiness by his inconsistencies. I tried to spare her much." He therefore attempted to keep John's "irregularities " from her until the later part of 1882. In November of 1882, Dr. Trouseau had the unpleasant duty of telling Lili'uokalani that John Owen Dominis was about to have an illegitimate child born to a young half-Hawai'ian woman, once intimately connected with the American historian Hale. She was even known in some quarters as " Mrs Haley " ( the pronounciation of Hale in Hawai'ian was Haley.) Dowager Queen Emma wrote a friend that she was " ...............one of Mrs. Dominis' girls .....or you may know her as Mrs. Dominis -- for so she is in truth." This young woman was a retainer of Lili'uokalani's; a part of her " family";she was also, however, officially married to a young Hawai'ian by the name of John Lamiki Aimoku. Her hanai mother was a close friend of Lili'uokalani -- Mary Purdy, a relative of Sam Parker. Her name appears varyingly in later newspapers as Mary Purdy Pahau, Mary Hale Purdy Pahau. Liliu's first reaction was to claim the child as hers and John's -- establishing a lineal descent to the throne, although this would have been illegal. Only John, the mother of the child, Dr. Trouseau, and Mary Purdy were to know the birth. She was again thinking John, even putting him and his feelings ahead of what she knew was illegal in heritage. It was not an easy decision for her. Out of bits and pieces of correspondence of Queen Emma, Dr. Trouseau to his brother, and Dr. Tisdale of Oakland, California, a strange conspiracy emerges; it is further strengthened by Lili'uokalani's later diaries and the corresponding dating by her hanai daughter, Lydia Ahalo. "On Janury 9, 1883, a child was born in the household of Lili'uokalani at Waikiki. The mother gave her child in Hawai'ian fashion in hanai to its maternal grandmother, Mary Purdy ( Pahau ), who was at the time 53 years old. She claimed him as her own -- a remarkable woman, Mary Purdy ( Pahau ). Another remarkable woman, Princess Lili'uokalani took over his support, but she followed the letter of law of 1860, as she did with Lydia, only tis time the law read that a child born out of wedlock took the legal surname of his mother, Aimoku. Thus John Dominis Aimoku came into being. Not until after the death of John Owens Dominis did Lili'uokalani officially adopt Aimoku (1910) and his name changed to John Aimoku Dominis. John Aimoku married Sybil McInerny whose parents lived in Kahala. They had three children, the youngest was but a year old when John Aimoku Dominis died at age 34, July 8, 1917. +++++++++++++++++++++ Joseph Kaipo Aea "Known as Kaipo" The preceeding June ( 1882 ) another child was born to another retainer of the Princess househould --Kahoe Aea, the wife of Joseph Aea. Both Joseph and Kaheo were pure Hawai'ian and Lili'uokalani had a close friendship with Joseph as a informal financial advisor. although Joseph drank heavily, something Lili'uokalani abhorred. Lili'uokalani decided to take him in hanai after the birth of John Aimoku. He was named Kaipo Aea as with Hawai'ian custom. After the Jubilee, problems had arisen with Joseph Aea. While Lili'uokalani abhored the attitude of money in the haole, she had become only to aware of its value and debts owed. To Joe Aea she mentioned a $780 debt, borrowed in 1882, and a threat was made by Joe Aea. He said " Well wait until Monday to let me know -- " She wondered as to this meaning. The last question could imply extreme naievete on her part or could it mean -- how far will he go ? Intermittently from the birth of Kaipo, Joe and his wife had threatened to take Kaipo from Lili'uokalani. The $780, no doubt " lent" for the child, was not a debt in Joe Aea's mind. However, the fact that Lili'uokalani thought of it as a " debt " seems to substantiate the fact that Kaipo was not the child of two heads despite the rumors of her and Joe's friendship and advice. Aea knew enough of the Hawai'ian politics to realize that Kalakaua had come close to being dethroned, and were he, Lili'uokalani could conceiveably bcome queen, her elder hanai son was Kaipo, not Aimkoku, and Joe had an ace to pay against a poor hand of only a $780 debt.. It was not that she would lose a son whom she was dearly fond of -- as he was her favorite. So she forgave the debt. Kaipo died in 1914 of Bright's disease at the Waikiki home at the age of thrty two, He was unmarried. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/newspapers/queenlil7nnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/hifiles/ File size: 10.1 Kb