March 6, 1899

"It has been a strange life, really, and a very romantic one."

On October 16, 1875, a child was born to Princess Miriam Likelike (the youngest sister of King Kalākaua) and Archibald Cleghorn.  The child, the only direct descendant of the Kalākaua dynasty, was named Victoria Kawekiu Kaʻiulani Lunalilo Kalaninui Ahilapalapa.

On March 9, 1891, Princess Victoria Kaʻiulani Cleghorn was duly appointed and proclaimed heir apparent to the Hawaiian throne.

Kaʻiulani inherited 10-acres of land in Waikīkī from her godmother, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani.  Originally called Auaukai, Princess Likelike (Kaʻiulani's mother) named it ʻĀinahau; Princess Kaʻiulani spent most of her life there.

The stream that flowed through ʻĀinahau and emptied into the ocean between the Moana and Royal Hawaiian Hotels (where the present Outrigger Hotel is located,) was called ʻApuakehau (the middle of three rivers that used to run through Waikīkī.)

The family built a two-story home on the estate.  At first the home was used only as a country estate, but Princess Kaʻiulani's family loved it so much, it soon became their full time residence.

Sadly, Kaʻiulani died, March 6, 1899.

The New York Times obituary (March 18, 1899) read, “Princess Kaʻiulani died March 6 of inflammatory rheumatism contracted several weeks ago while of a visit to the Island of Hawaii.”

“The funeral of the Princess will occur on Sunday, March 12, from the old native church (Kawaiahaʻo,) and will be under the direction for the Government. The ceremonies will be on a scale befitting the rank of the young Princess.”

“The body is lying in state at ʻĀinahau, the Princess’s old home. Thousands of persons, both native and white, have gone out to the place, and the whole town is in mourning. Flags on the Government buildings are at half mast, as are those on the residences of the foreign Consuls.”

Kaʻiulani had gone to the Waimea on the Big Island to visit Helen and Eva Parker, daughters of Samuel “Kamuela” Parker (1853–1920,) grandson of John Parker (founder of the Parker Ranch.)  (When his grandfather died, in 1868, Samuel (at the age of 15) inherited half the Parker Ranch, with his uncle John Palmer Parker II (1827–1891) inheriting the other half.)

While attending a wedding at the ranch, Princess Kaʻiulani and the girls had gone out riding horseback on Parker Ranch; they encountered a rainstorm.  Kaʻiulani became ill; she and her family returned to O‘ahu.

Tragically, after a two-month illness, Kaʻiulani died at ʻĀinahau, at age 23.

Kaʻiulani became a friend of author Robert Louis Stevenson.  He had come to Hawaiʻi due to ill health.  In his writings, Robert Louis Stevenson endearingly recalled that Princess Victoria Kaʻiulani was "...more beautiful than the fairest flower."

He was a frequent guest and used to read passages of poetry to the young Princess under the banyan tree.  Reportedly, the first banyan tree in Hawaiʻi was planted on the grounds of ʻĀinahau.

As many as fifty peacocks, favorites of the young Princess, were allowed to roam freely on the grounds.

Prior to her departure to study abroad, Stevenson wrote a farewell poem to the princess in her autograph book:

“Forth from her land to mine she goes,
The Island maid, the Island rose;
Light of heart and bright of face:
The daughter of a double race.

Her islands here, in Southern sun,
Shall mourn their Kaʻiulani gone,
And I, in her dear banyan shade,
Look vainly for my little maid.

But our Scots islands far away
Shall glitter with unwonted day,
And cast for once their tempests by
To smile in Kaʻiulani’s eye.”

A notation in Stevenson’s poem book further noted, “Written in April in the April of her age; and at Waikīkī, within easy walk of Kaʻiulani’s banyan!  When she comes to my land and her father’s, and the rain beats upon the window (as I fear it will,) let her look at this page; it will be like a weed gathered and pressed at home; and she will remember her own islands, and the shadow of the mighty tree; and she will hear the peacocks screaming in the dusk and the wind blowing in the palms; and she will think of her father sitting there alone.”

It is said that the night Kaʻiulani died, her peacocks screamed so loud that people could hear them miles away and knew that she had died.

The image shows Princess Kaʻiulani in the 1890s.  In addition, I have included other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Ka Liona Hae O Ka Pakipika

A busy life … Teacher, Noble, Legislator, Newspaper Publisher, Italian Military Trainee, Surveyor, Revolutionist, Royalist, Counter-Revolutionist, Prisoner, Home Rule Candidate, Hawaiʻi’s First Congressional Delegate … he died October 23, 1903, at the age of 48.

He was born February 15, 1855 on the island of Maui. Hapa - his father was a native of Newport, Rhode Island; his mother, a native of Maui, a descendant of royalty.

He first went to school at Wailuku at the age of 8 years. When he was 10 years old his mother died, then his father moved to ranching at Makawao. There was no English school at Makawao until 1869.

That year, the Board of Education established the Haleakalā Boarding School; he was one of the first students at that school.  Upon completion of his studies, he became a teacher at ʻUlupalakua.

In 1880, he was elected to the Islands’ legislature; he represented the citizens of Wailuku and its neighboring Maui community.

Nicknamed Ka Liona Hae O Ka Pakipika, or "The Roaring Lion of the Pacific," Robert William Wilcox was a revolutionary soldier and politician – he was also referred to as the “Iron Duke of Hawaiʻi.”

King Kalākaua sent Wilcox to Italy to receive military training at the Royal Military of Turin, at the expense of the Hawaiian government.

In 1885, he graduated from the academy and was promoted to sub-lieutenant of the artillery; he then entered in the Italian Royal Application School for Engineer and Artillery Officers.  (Several of the old photos of Wilcox show him in his Italian uniform.)

There, he married the first of his two wives, Signorina di Sobrero, an Italian.

Wilcox stayed in Italy until 1887; he returned to the Islands that year, because of the constitutional changes that had happened at that time (Bayonet Constitution.)

Later, he and his wife moved to San Francisco in 1888 and he worked as a surveyor for the Spring Valley Water Works Co.  Wilcox came back to the Islands in 1889 and his wife returned to Italy.

On July 30, 1889, Wilcox led a rebellion to restore the rights of the monarchy, two years after the Bayonet Constitution of 1887 left King Kalākaua a mere figurehead.

By the evening, he became a prisoner and charged with high treason by the government.  He was tried for treason, but was acquitted by the jury.

In 1890, he was elected to the Legislature in the Islands.

Following the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893, the Committee of Safety established the Provisional Government of Hawaiʻi as a temporary government until annexation by the United States.

The Provisional Government convened a constitutional convention and established the Republic of Hawaiʻi on July 4, 1894. The Republic continued to govern the Islands.

From January 6 to January 9, 1895, in a “Counter-Revolution,” patriots of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the forces that had overthrown the constitutional Hawaiian monarchy were engaged in a war that consisted of battles on the island of Oʻahu.

It has also been called the Second Wilcox Rebellion of 1895, the Revolution of 1895, the Hawaiian Counter-revolution of 1895, the 1895 Uprising in Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian Civil War, the 1895 Uprising Against the Provisional Government or the Uprising of 1895.

In their attempt to return Queen Liliʻuokalani to the throne, it was the last major military operation by royalists who opposed the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.  The goal of the rebellion failed.

Wilcox was court-martialed and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to thirty-five years.  While in prison in 1895, Pope Leo XIII granted an annulment of their marriage.  The Italian Consul and the Catholic Bishop at Honolulu confirmed this action.

In January, 1896, he was given a conditional pardon and became a free man; later that year, Wilcox married again, this time to Mrs. Theresa Cartwright.  In 1898, President Dole gave him a full pardon.

With the establishment of Territorial status in the Islands, Hawaiʻi was eligible to have a non-voting delegate in the US House of Representatives.

Wilcox and others formed the Independent “Home Rule” Party and Wilcox ran as a candidate for the Delegate position (against Republican Samuel Parker and Democrat Prince David Kawānanakoa.)  Wilcox won, and served as the first delegate and representative of Hawaiʻi in the US Congress.

He ran for re-election, but lost to Republican Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Piʻikoi (Prince Kūhiō served from 1903 until his death in 1922.)

Wilcox returned to Washington to finish out his term (November 6, 1900 to March 3, 1903,) but was very ill.  He came back to Hawaiʻi in 1903, and died October 26, 1903.  He is buried in the Catholic cemetery on King Street.

The image shows a statue of Robert Wilcox at Fort Street Mall and King Street in downtown Honolulu.  In addition, I have included other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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What’s in a name?

In ancient Hawaiʻi, there were no “towns,” “villages” or “cities,” in the modern context.  Around the 1400-1500s, the land was broken down into ahupuaʻa, ʻili and other physical subdivisions.

All of the land was owned by the ruling chief.  Each ahupuaʻa in turn was ruled by a lower chief, or aliʻi ʻai.  He, in turn, appointed an overseer, or konohiki.  (The common people never owned or ruled land.)

A typical ahupuaʻa (what we generally refer to as watersheds, today) was a long strip of land, narrow at its mountain summit top and becoming wider as it ran down a valley into the sea to the outer edge of the reef.  If there was no reef then the sea boundary would be about one and a half miles from the shore.

Each ahupuaʻa had its own name and boundary lines.  Often the markers were natural features such as a large rock or a line of trees or even the home of a certain bird.  A valley ahupuaʻa usually used its ridges and peaks as boundaries.

An ahupuaʻa in South Kohala on the Island of Hawaiʻi is Waimea (reddish water (as from erosion of red soil.))  Over time, the growing community concentrated at a cross-road at the lower slopes of the Kohala Mountains – that town was referred to as Waimea.

The Territory, officially through the US Board of Geographic Names, in 1914, agreed to name the community "Waimea" (and further noted it as a “village.”)  Later, in 1954, they revised the name to simply Waimea (and dropped the village reference.)

While there are several other “Waimea” communities in the islands, and folks don’t seem to get confused with the name, the naming of the Post Office in Waimea was different.

On July 16 1832, Missionary Lorenzo Lyons (Makua Laiana) replaced Reverend Dwight Baldwin as minister at Waimea, Hawai‘i. Lyons’ “Church Field” was centered in Waimea, at what is now the historic church ‘Imiola.

He was known in the town as the man who carried out many functions.  In October, 1854 Father Lyons became the first official Postmaster of Waimea, a post he held until he was very old. The Honolulu Directory of 1884 listed him as pastor of ʻImiola Church, postmaster, school agent and government physician.

In the early 1830s it took one year or more for mail to reach Waimea from the continent, coming by way of Cape Horn.  When the transcontinental railroad was built, it took about a month for mail to reach Waimea.

Prior to 1854 there was no regular mail service on the Islands. Letters were forwarded by chance opportunities. Father Lyons described the first official shipment of mail that he handled, a small bag, sealed with wax, and containing a few letters. This first mail shipment had been carried from Hilo to Waimea.

Over the years, the communities across the state grew.  With that, some uncertainty over postal facility names apparently created some confusion.  In addition to the Waimea postal station in South Kohala, there was another “Waimea” post office on Kauaʻi.

At the time, Waimea, Kauaʻi was a larger community.  To avoid confusion, on November 8, 1900, the Waimea, Hawaii Island Post Office was changed to Kamuela Post Office.  (USPS Daily Bulletin, January 9, 1901)  The Postmaster was Elizabeth W. Lyons, daughter of Lorenzo Lyons.

There are a couple stories about where the “Kamuela” (Samuel) name came from.

Some incorrectly suggest it was named after Samuel M Spencer (suggesting he was a Postmaster for the facility – however, there are no records that indicate he ever held that position.)

Samuel Spencer was, however, a prominent member of the community and member of the Hawaii Island Board of Supervisors serving at its Chair (equivalent to the present position of Mayor, from 1924-1944; the island’s longest serving.)

The Spencer story was told that when mail sorters in Honolulu were dividing the mail, they would “send it to Kamuela” (calling him by name, suggesting he would receive and deliver it.)  Since he apparently was never with the postal service, this story doesn’t seem plausible.

Spencer was politically prominent almost 25-years after the Post Office name change.  Likewise, there are no known references to Sam Spencer using “Kamuela” as his moniker.  And, acknowledgment to him was made in the naming of a coastal beach park – Samuel M Spencer Beach Park (with no Kamuela reference.)  That park was renamed “Spencer Park at ʻŌhaiʻula Beach,” in 2003.

What seems plausible (and is supported by documentation within the records of the US Board of Geographic Names) is the story that the Kamuela Post Office was named for Samuel “Kamuela” Parker, grandson of John Parker (founder of the Parker Ranch.)

In 1868, when his grandfather died, Samuel (at the age of 15) inherited half the Parker Ranch, with his uncle John Palmer Parker II (1827–1891) inheriting the other half. Samuel was attending Punahou School on Oʻahu at the time.

In 1883, Parker took his first political role when he became a member of the Privy Council of King Kalākua. He was appointed to the House of Nobles in the legislature from 1886 to 1890. In early-1891, Kalākaua died and Queen Liliʻuokalani became the new ruler; Parker was appointed to be her Minister of Foreign Affairs.  (Samuel Parker was notably successful well before the Post Office name change.)

While I previously bought into the “send it to Kamuela” scenario, it’s clear to me now that Kamuela Post Office was named after Samuel Parker, grandson of John Parker and prominent Waimea and Hawaiʻi citizen.

A sad side story:  Samuel’s daughters, Helen and Eva Parker, were friends of Princess Kaʻiulani, and, sadly, riding horseback in a rainstorm on Parker Ranch led to her illness and untimely death a few months later.

An interesting postal side story:  Postal Service to Kamuela Post Office was discontinued on March 5, 1908 and mail was rerouted to Kukuihaele.  (USPS Daily Bulletin, March 5, 1908) On May 9, 1908, the order was modified and mail was rerouted to Kawaihae, instead of Kukuihaele. ((USPS Daily Bulletin, May 9, 1908) Post services were reestablished at Kamuela Post Office on June 9, 1909.  (USPS Daily Bulletin, August 6, 1909)

It turns out a former postmaster and his nephew (Moses Koki and Joshua Koki, respectively) were charged with the embezzlement of post office funds from the Kamuela post office.  (The Hawaiian Star, March 18, 1908)

Remember, it’s the Post Office that is called “Kamuela;” the region and town have long been and continue to be known as “Waimea.”

The image notes the Kamuela Post Office zip code, 96743; in addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

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© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC