Wahinepio
Encyclopedia
Kahakuhaakoi Wahinepio (died 1826), was a Hawaiian chiefess and member of the royal family during the Kingdom of Hawaii
. Wahinepio means captive women in Hawaiian
.
Sometimes she is called Wahineopio, or an extra okina
is added, calling her Kahakuhaakoi.
She was also called Kamoonohu
She was Kamehameha I
's third favorite wife
and served as Governess of Maui
, an act unheard of at the time in the western world, but common in Hawaiian history.
.
One source gives her birth to be around 1796, but this would be impossible seeing as how her youngest child was said to be born around 1805.
Judging from the alleged birthdate of her brother and the fact she married Kamehameha I and later his son, she was probably born in the 1770s or 1780s.
Her father was Kekuamanoha, and her mother was Kamakahukilani, the niece of her father. Through her father she was a granddaughter of Kekaulike, the King or Moi of Maui. Her mother was the daughter of Kauhiaimokuakama, the eldest son of Kekaulike, who was denied the right of succession to the throne of Maui due to his mother Kahawalu's inferior rank in comparison to his other wife Kekuiapoiwanui's.
He was drowned to death after leading a failed uprising against his younger half-brother King Kamehamehanui Ailuau, who was assisted by the King of the Big Island Alapainui.
Her siblings included Kalanimoku
, later served as prime minister, Boki
, later served as Governor of Oahu, and Manono II, the wife of Keaoua Kekuaokalani
. She was cousin of Kaahumanu, Kaheiheimālie, and Namahana Piia
, Kuakini, later served as Governor of Hawaii; and Keeaumoku II, later served as her predecesser as Governor of Maui.
Born Kahakuhaakoi, details of her early life are scarce. She grew up in the court of her uncle King Kahekili II
of Maui.
During her early childhood her father Kekuamanoha helped Kahekili conquer the island of Oahu
, and was the chief responsible for the capture and execution of it's King, Kahahana
, who was his own brother-in-law.
Afterward Kahekili set up this court on Oahu. She probably stay on in Maui with her aunt Kalola, the most senior chiefess of Maui at the time, and her cousin Kalanikauikaʻalaneo (later named Keōpūolani)
, Kalola's granddaughter.
When Maui forces under Kalanikupule
, Kahekili's son and regent in his absence, lost to Kamehameha I
at the Battle of Kepaniwai
, Kalola along with her family tried to flee to Oahu. They stopped in Molokai
as sickness overcame the elderly Kalola, and were caught by Kamehameha's forces. The dieing Kalola offered her granddaughter Keōpūolani as a future bride in exchange for peace. Other Maui chiefesses, including Kahakuhaakoi, also joined Kamehameha's court.
She and her cousin both shared the new name Wahinepio (captive women) commemorating this event. Her cousin later adopted the name Keōpūolani
, while Kahakuhaakoi is mainly called Wahinepio by historians throughout the rest of her life.
or spiritual power. Wahinepio married Kamehameha I around that time. She was related to everyone of Kamehameha's wives; her cousins mentioned above were all married to the king, and her younger sister Manono was later to be one of two young women taken by Kamehameha "to warm his old age".
She was considered to be Kamehameha's third favorite wife, after Kaahumanu and Kaheiheimālie, although Keōpūolani was his most sacred wife.
Like Kaahumanu she had no children by Kamehameha.
She and Kamehameha separated in the early 1800s, around the time he married Kaheiheimālie. As a sort of compensation Kamehameha may have given Wahinepio to Kaheiheimālie's first husband, his half-brother, Kalaʻimamahu.
Kamehameha gave many of his wives to his trusted friends and relatives. Remarriage was common among the chiefs of Hawaiʻi, and many chiefesses could even choose to have more than one husband at a time.
She had a son Kahalaiʻa Luanuʻu by her second husband. Some sources state he was the product of her third marriage and not her second marriages, but most historian agree that he was Kalaʻimamahu's son. Kahalaiʻa would later be appointed Governor of Kauai after helping suppress the Humehume
rebellion in 1824.
He had a possible daughter Keʻelikōlani
and an unnamed son from his fourth and fifth marriages, respectively.
Her second marriage didn't last long, and she remarried to Kahōanokū Kīnau, the eldest surviving legitimate son of Kamehameha I by his wife Peleuli.
According to Hawaiian tradition Kīnau would have been Kamehameha's heir to the throne as his eldest son,
instead his younger half-brother Liholiho was chosen to be Kamehameha's heir due to his mother Keōpūolani's higher rank. This is ironic considering Wahinepio's own grandfather had been denied his right to the throne because of the inferior rank of his own mother.
Tradition tells of a story, recorded down by John Papa Īī, that once while traveling with Kīnau from Honolulu to Waikīkī, an offering of fishes were made to the couples by Kinopu from Moehonua's fishpond
in Kālia. At the moment the sea came into the pond and fishes of every kind entered the sluice gate. Fish nets were casted and the harvest was so abundant that a great heap of lay spoiling upon the bank of the pond. When word of this reached Kamehameha I, instead of being pleased, was displeased at that their waste of food. Kalanimoku, who was by the king's side at the time, ordered that Kinopu release most of the fish. When Kalaʻimamahu heard of what his nephew had done, his anger was kindled against him. With Kīnaʻu she had a daughter named Kekauʻōnohi
, who later became one of the five wives of Kamehameha II and later Governor of Kauaʻi.
Kekauʻōnohi had a son, but he died young.
Kīnaʻu died around 1809 leaving her a widow.
Her final marriage was to Kaukuna Kahekili
, who was descended from the Kings of Maui like herself and had Spanish blood in his vein.
Her fourth husband had absolutely no power and served no post under Queen Kaahumanu, although he had help lead an army of a thousand soldier to Kauai with Hoapili
and Kaikioʻewa to assist her brother Kalanimoku and her son Kahalaia put down the Humehume uprising in 1824. He was noted as a stern warrior with great strength and many battle scars. No known children came from this union.
Like many Hawaiian chiefess at the time, Wahinepio was a giant of a women.
Reverend Stewart observed that she weigh no less than four hundred pound.
But like many female of rank, she became accustom to Western dress and may have become self-conscious about her weight and thought of eating less poi
, so her clothes could sit better. She became part of the first generation of Hawaiian women to be bothered by their appearance and inability to fit the mold of Western feminity. This came at the cost of lowering the status and right of Hawaiian women, and subsequent generation's only notion of being a women was to follow their subservient Puritan
ic sisters'.
along with Queen Keōpūolani
, Hoapili
, Nāhiʻenaʻena
, Governor Keeaumoku II, Kekauʻōnohi, Kahekili, and Kaiko and his wife Haaheo who all attended classes set up by the missionaries. After Keōpūolani's death in 1823, many of the chiefs returned back to some of the old ways including Wahinepio, who allowed most of her subjects to do as they wish.
She was said to have been the principal agent in leading the princess to return to worshipping the old Hawaiian gods
in 1824, a year after the death of her mother. Wahinepio may have assumed a motherly role over the recently orphaned princess. Although not for long because Nāhiʻenaʻena return to the Christian faith the following year and forbade anyone to enter her house who could no read hymns, targetting Wahinepio who couldn't read. The angry Wahinepio likewise forbade any to enter her house who was not skilful in dancing, referring to the pagan hula
forbidden by the missionaries.
She may have eventually reconverted, but she was never considered a devout Christian and was clearly disliked by Reverend Richards
and Reverend Bingham
. Her refusal to bend to Western ways or submitting to Chritianity and her strong belief in the old Hawaiian ways was indentical to her possible granddaughter Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani
.
Reverend Richard tells of a change of heart by Wahinepio, in an account involving a Hawaiian girl Leoiki under her care. The sixteen year-old girl Leoiki was an attentive student of the Christian missionaries. She had attracted the eyes of Captain William Buckle of the British whaleship Daniel IV, who resolved to have her board his vessel. She pleaded to be spared, but Wahinepio allow her to be taken for the payment of sixteen doubloon
s, valued at ten dollars each, and Leoiki was taken on board for seven months, according to Richard's as a "slave." Wahinepio soon confessed that she had done wrong. She gave the coins to Nāhiʻenaʻena who refused them, and according to legends the coins were placed among the treasures left by Kamehameha II
. Afterward laws were place throughout the islands forbidding women to visit ships for immoral purposes much to the anger of visiting sailors. Although, this might just be missionary propaganda.
Other accounts seems to suggest that Wahinepio took the payment as dowry and assurance of her return. And that Leoiki, instead of being sold, married Captain Buckle and had a son with him, born on February 5, 1826 as a British citizen on board the Daniel IV. The boy was named William Wahinepio Kahakuhaakoi Buckle in honor of her, and he served in King Kalakaua's privy council and was the first warden of Oahu prison.
swept across Hawaii claiming the lives of many Hawaiians who lack natural immunity to the disease. Her son Kahalaiʻa and his son, her grandson, fell victims to the epidemic in April of that year.
This double loss brought great sorrow to Wahinepio. Her grief weaken her constitution even further, and added with the rapid change Hawaii, she succumbed to the epidemic.
She died at Mokuula, the royal residence of Kamehameha III
, in May 1826.
She was given the honor of being buried at Mokuʻula where Keōpūolani had been interred and where her daughter Kekauʻōnohi would be buried too. Her remains along with other royals were later transported to the Waineʻe Church, later renamed the Waiola Church
, in Lāhainā.
Wahinepio Avenue in Kahului next to Maui Community College
and Maui Nui Botanical Gardens
is named after her.
Kingdom of Hawaii
The Kingdom of Hawaii was established during the years 1795 to 1810 with the subjugation of the smaller independent chiefdoms of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lānai, Kauai and Niihau by the chiefdom of Hawaii into one unified government...
. Wahinepio means captive women in Hawaiian
Hawaiian language
The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the state of Hawaii...
.
Sometimes she is called Wahineopio, or an extra okina
Okina
The okina, also called by several other names , is a unicameral consonant letter used within the Latin script to mark the phonetic glottal stop, as it is used in many Polynesian languages.- Geographic names in the United States :...
is added, calling her Kahakuhaakoi.
She was also called Kamoonohu
She was Kamehameha I
Kamehameha I
Kamehameha I , also known as Kamehameha the Great, conquered the Hawaiian Islands and formally established the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1810. By developing alliances with the major Pacific colonial powers, Kamehameha preserved Hawaii's independence under his rule...
's third favorite wife
and served as Governess of Maui
Governors of Maui
The Governor of Maui was the royal governor or viceroy of the Island of Maui in the Kingdom of Hawaii. The Governor of Maui resided at Lahaina and was usually a Hawaiian chief or prince and could even be a woman. The Governor had authority over four of the eight islands: Maui, Molokai, Lānai, and...
, an act unheard of at the time in the western world, but common in Hawaiian history.
Life
She was born on the island kingdom of MauiMaui
The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
.
One source gives her birth to be around 1796, but this would be impossible seeing as how her youngest child was said to be born around 1805.
Judging from the alleged birthdate of her brother and the fact she married Kamehameha I and later his son, she was probably born in the 1770s or 1780s.
Her father was Kekuamanoha, and her mother was Kamakahukilani, the niece of her father. Through her father she was a granddaughter of Kekaulike, the King or Moi of Maui. Her mother was the daughter of Kauhiaimokuakama, the eldest son of Kekaulike, who was denied the right of succession to the throne of Maui due to his mother Kahawalu's inferior rank in comparison to his other wife Kekuiapoiwanui's.
He was drowned to death after leading a failed uprising against his younger half-brother King Kamehamehanui Ailuau, who was assisted by the King of the Big Island Alapainui.
Her siblings included Kalanimoku
Kalanimoku
William Pitt Kalanimoku was a High Chief who functioned similar to a prime minister of the Hawaiian Kingdom during the reigns of Kamehameha I, Kamehameha II and the beginning of the reign of Kamehameha III. He was called The Iron Cable of Hawaii because of his abilities.-Life:Kalanimoku was born ...
, later served as prime minister, Boki
Boki
Boki may refer to:*Boki Royal Governor of Oahu*Boki, Nigeria Local Government Area in Africa*Boki people in Nigeria*Boki Milošević Serbian clarinetist*Boki Nachbar Slovenian basketball player...
, later served as Governor of Oahu, and Manono II, the wife of Keaoua Kekuaokalani
Keaoua Kekuaokalani
Keaoua Kekua-o-kalani was a nephew of Kamehameha I, the chief from the Big Island of Hawaii who had unified the Hawaiian islands. He was the son of Kamehameha's half brother Kealiimaikai and Kamehameha's half-sister Kiilaweau. After Kamehameha died in 1819, Keaoua rebelled against Kamehameha's...
. She was cousin of Kaahumanu, Kaheiheimālie, and Namahana Piia
Namahana Piia
Lydia Namahana Piia was a wife of King Kamehameha I of Hawaii. She was the daughter of Keeaumoku Pāpaiahiahi, and her sister Kaʻahumanu was also Kamehameha's wife. Kamehameha and Kaʻahumanu later arranged Piia to marry Gideon Peleioholani Laanui, who was ten years her junior...
, Kuakini, later served as Governor of Hawaii; and Keeaumoku II, later served as her predecesser as Governor of Maui.
Born Kahakuhaakoi, details of her early life are scarce. She grew up in the court of her uncle King Kahekili II
Kahekili II
Kahekili II, full name Kahekilinuiahumanu, was the twenty fifth King of Maui. His name was short for Kāne-Hekili after the Hawaiian god of thunder. Because Kāne-Hekili was believed to be black on one side, Kahekili tattooed one side of his body from head to foot.-Family:He was born about...
of Maui.
During her early childhood her father Kekuamanoha helped Kahekili conquer the island of Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
, and was the chief responsible for the capture and execution of it's King, Kahahana
Kahahana
Kahahana was the 22nd Alii Aimoku of Oahu and Alii Aimoku of Molokai. He ruled the island of Oahu and its tributary, the island of Molokai, from 1773 until his death in 1783. He was elected by the Oahu nobility to succeed Kumahana as Moi of Oahu. This was the second king to be elected to succeed...
, who was his own brother-in-law.
Afterward Kahekili set up this court on Oahu. She probably stay on in Maui with her aunt Kalola, the most senior chiefess of Maui at the time, and her cousin Kalanikauikaʻalaneo (later named Keōpūolani)
Keopuolani
Kalanikauikaalaneo Kai Keōpūolani-Ahu-i-Kekai-Makuahine-a-Kama-Kalani-Kau-i-Kealaneo was a queen consort of Hawaii and the highest ranking wife of King Kamehameha I.-Early life:...
, Kalola's granddaughter.
When Maui forces under Kalanikupule
Kalanikupule
Kalanikūpule was the 27th Mōī of Maui and King of Oahu. He was the last king to physically fight with Kamehameha I over the Hawaiian Islands. Kalanikūpule was the last of the longest line of Alii Aimoku in the Hawaiian Islands.- Early life :...
, Kahekili's son and regent in his absence, lost to Kamehameha I
Kamehameha I
Kamehameha I , also known as Kamehameha the Great, conquered the Hawaiian Islands and formally established the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1810. By developing alliances with the major Pacific colonial powers, Kamehameha preserved Hawaii's independence under his rule...
at the Battle of Kepaniwai
Battle of Kepaniwai
The Battle of Kepaniwai was fought in 1790 between Hawaii Island and Maui. The forces of Hawaii were led by Kamehameha I, while the forces of Maui were led by Kalanikūpule...
, Kalola along with her family tried to flee to Oahu. They stopped in Molokai
Molokai
Molokai or Molokai is an island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It is 38 by 10 miles in size with a land area of , making it the fifth largest of the main Hawaiian Islands and the 27th largest island in the United States. It lies east of Oahu across the 25-mile wide Kaiwi Channel and north of...
as sickness overcame the elderly Kalola, and were caught by Kamehameha's forces. The dieing Kalola offered her granddaughter Keōpūolani as a future bride in exchange for peace. Other Maui chiefesses, including Kahakuhaakoi, also joined Kamehameha's court.
She and her cousin both shared the new name Wahinepio (captive women) commemorating this event. Her cousin later adopted the name Keōpūolani
Keopuolani
Kalanikauikaalaneo Kai Keōpūolani-Ahu-i-Kekai-Makuahine-a-Kama-Kalani-Kau-i-Kealaneo was a queen consort of Hawaii and the highest ranking wife of King Kamehameha I.-Early life:...
, while Kahakuhaakoi is mainly called Wahinepio by historians throughout the rest of her life.
Marriages
Kamehameha I married most of the women he took captive because they were the highest-ranking women in all the Hawaiian Islands and any children bore by them would hold the highest manaMana
Mana is an indigenous Pacific islander concept of an impersonal force or quality that resides in people, animals, and inanimate objects. The word is a cognate in many Oceanic languages, including Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian....
or spiritual power. Wahinepio married Kamehameha I around that time. She was related to everyone of Kamehameha's wives; her cousins mentioned above were all married to the king, and her younger sister Manono was later to be one of two young women taken by Kamehameha "to warm his old age".
She was considered to be Kamehameha's third favorite wife, after Kaahumanu and Kaheiheimālie, although Keōpūolani was his most sacred wife.
Like Kaahumanu she had no children by Kamehameha.
She and Kamehameha separated in the early 1800s, around the time he married Kaheiheimālie. As a sort of compensation Kamehameha may have given Wahinepio to Kaheiheimālie's first husband, his half-brother, Kalaʻimamahu.
Kamehameha gave many of his wives to his trusted friends and relatives. Remarriage was common among the chiefs of Hawaiʻi, and many chiefesses could even choose to have more than one husband at a time.
She had a son Kahalaiʻa Luanuʻu by her second husband. Some sources state he was the product of her third marriage and not her second marriages, but most historian agree that he was Kalaʻimamahu's son. Kahalaiʻa would later be appointed Governor of Kauai after helping suppress the Humehume
Humehume
Humehume , known by many different names during his time, such as George Prince, George Prince Kaumualii, Tamoree or Kumoree by American writers, was a son of the king of part of the Hawaiian Islands. He traveled widely, served in the U.S...
rebellion in 1824.
He had a possible daughter Keʻelikōlani
Keelikolani
Princess Ruth Luka Keanolani Kauanahoahoa Keelikōlani , was a member of the Kamehameha family, the founding dynasty of the Kingdom of Hawaii. She served as Royal Governor of the Island of Hawaii. As primary heir to the Kamehameha family, Ruth became a landholder of what would become the Bernice...
and an unnamed son from his fourth and fifth marriages, respectively.
Her second marriage didn't last long, and she remarried to Kahōanokū Kīnau, the eldest surviving legitimate son of Kamehameha I by his wife Peleuli.
According to Hawaiian tradition Kīnau would have been Kamehameha's heir to the throne as his eldest son,
instead his younger half-brother Liholiho was chosen to be Kamehameha's heir due to his mother Keōpūolani's higher rank. This is ironic considering Wahinepio's own grandfather had been denied his right to the throne because of the inferior rank of his own mother.
Tradition tells of a story, recorded down by John Papa Īī, that once while traveling with Kīnau from Honolulu to Waikīkī, an offering of fishes were made to the couples by Kinopu from Moehonua's fishpond
Fishpond
Fishpond was the code name given to an extension to the British H2S airborne radar system fitted to Royal Air Force Avro Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax heavy bombers during World War II...
in Kālia. At the moment the sea came into the pond and fishes of every kind entered the sluice gate. Fish nets were casted and the harvest was so abundant that a great heap of lay spoiling upon the bank of the pond. When word of this reached Kamehameha I, instead of being pleased, was displeased at that their waste of food. Kalanimoku, who was by the king's side at the time, ordered that Kinopu release most of the fish. When Kalaʻimamahu heard of what his nephew had done, his anger was kindled against him. With Kīnaʻu she had a daughter named Kekauʻōnohi
Kekauonohi
Anna Keahikuni-i-Kekauōnohi , sometimes called Miriam Kekauōnohi, was a Hawaiian princess and queen consort, member of the House of Kamehameha and granddaughter King Kamehameha I....
, who later became one of the five wives of Kamehameha II and later Governor of Kauaʻi.
Kekauʻōnohi had a son, but he died young.
Kīnaʻu died around 1809 leaving her a widow.
Her final marriage was to Kaukuna Kahekili
Kaukuna Kahekili
Kaukuna Kahekili, often called Kehikili or Kehikiri in earlier sources, was a Hawaiian high chief during the early period of the Kingdom of Hawaii....
, who was descended from the Kings of Maui like herself and had Spanish blood in his vein.
Her fourth husband had absolutely no power and served no post under Queen Kaahumanu, although he had help lead an army of a thousand soldier to Kauai with Hoapili
Hoapili
Ulumāheihei Hoapili was a member of the nobility during the formation of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He was a trusted military and political advisor to King Kamehameha I, known as "Kamehameha the Great"...
and Kaikioʻewa to assist her brother Kalanimoku and her son Kahalaia put down the Humehume uprising in 1824. He was noted as a stern warrior with great strength and many battle scars. No known children came from this union.
Governor of Maui
Wahinepio, a wife of Kamehameha I, dies May 26. She was a former governor of Maui.Like many Hawaiian chiefess at the time, Wahinepio was a giant of a women.
Reverend Stewart observed that she weigh no less than four hundred pound.
But like many female of rank, she became accustom to Western dress and may have become self-conscious about her weight and thought of eating less poi
Poi (food)
Poi is a Hawaiian word for the primary Polynesian staple food made from the corm of the taro plant . Poi is produced by mashing the cooked corm until it is a highly viscous fluid...
, so her clothes could sit better. She became part of the first generation of Hawaiian women to be bothered by their appearance and inability to fit the mold of Western feminity. This came at the cost of lowering the status and right of Hawaiian women, and subsequent generation's only notion of being a women was to follow their subservient Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
ic sisters'.
Christianity
When the Christian missionaries arrived Wahinepio accepted ChristianityChristianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
along with Queen Keōpūolani
Keopuolani
Kalanikauikaalaneo Kai Keōpūolani-Ahu-i-Kekai-Makuahine-a-Kama-Kalani-Kau-i-Kealaneo was a queen consort of Hawaii and the highest ranking wife of King Kamehameha I.-Early life:...
, Hoapili
Hoapili
Ulumāheihei Hoapili was a member of the nobility during the formation of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He was a trusted military and political advisor to King Kamehameha I, known as "Kamehameha the Great"...
, Nāhiʻenaʻena
Nahienaena
Harriet or Harrieta Keōpūolani Nāhienaena was a high ranking princess during the founding of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the conversion of its royalty to Christianity.-Life:...
, Governor Keeaumoku II, Kekauʻōnohi, Kahekili, and Kaiko and his wife Haaheo who all attended classes set up by the missionaries. After Keōpūolani's death in 1823, many of the chiefs returned back to some of the old ways including Wahinepio, who allowed most of her subjects to do as they wish.
She was said to have been the principal agent in leading the princess to return to worshipping the old Hawaiian gods
Hawaiian religion
Hawaiian religion is the term used to describe the folk religious beliefs and practises of the Hawaiian people. It is unrelated to, though commonly confused with, the philosophy of Huna....
in 1824, a year after the death of her mother. Wahinepio may have assumed a motherly role over the recently orphaned princess. Although not for long because Nāhiʻenaʻena return to the Christian faith the following year and forbade anyone to enter her house who could no read hymns, targetting Wahinepio who couldn't read. The angry Wahinepio likewise forbade any to enter her house who was not skilful in dancing, referring to the pagan hula
Hula
Hula is a dance form accompanied by chant or song . It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians who originally settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli or mele in a visual dance form....
forbidden by the missionaries.
She may have eventually reconverted, but she was never considered a devout Christian and was clearly disliked by Reverend Richards
William Richards (Hawaii)
William Richards was a missionary and politician in the Kingdom of Hawaii.-Family life:William Richards was born in Plainfield, Massachusetts on August 22, 1793. His father was James Richards and mother was Lydia Shaw. He was schooled under Moses Hallock in Plainfield, attended Williams College...
and Reverend Bingham
Hiram Bingham I
Hiram Bingham, formally Hiram Bingham I , was leader of the first group of Protestant missionaries to introduce Christianity to the Hawaiian islands.-Life:...
. Her refusal to bend to Western ways or submitting to Chritianity and her strong belief in the old Hawaiian ways was indentical to her possible granddaughter Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani
Keelikolani
Princess Ruth Luka Keanolani Kauanahoahoa Keelikōlani , was a member of the Kamehameha family, the founding dynasty of the Kingdom of Hawaii. She served as Royal Governor of the Island of Hawaii. As primary heir to the Kamehameha family, Ruth became a landholder of what would become the Bernice...
.
Reverend Richard tells of a change of heart by Wahinepio, in an account involving a Hawaiian girl Leoiki under her care. The sixteen year-old girl Leoiki was an attentive student of the Christian missionaries. She had attracted the eyes of Captain William Buckle of the British whaleship Daniel IV, who resolved to have her board his vessel. She pleaded to be spared, but Wahinepio allow her to be taken for the payment of sixteen doubloon
Doubloon
The doubloon , was a two-escudo or 32-reales gold coin, weighing 6.77 grams . Doubloons were minted in Spain, Mexico, Peru, and Nueva Granada...
s, valued at ten dollars each, and Leoiki was taken on board for seven months, according to Richard's as a "slave." Wahinepio soon confessed that she had done wrong. She gave the coins to Nāhiʻenaʻena who refused them, and according to legends the coins were placed among the treasures left by Kamehameha II
Kamehameha II
Kamehameha II was the second king of the Kingdom of Hawaii. His birth name was Liholiho and full name was Kalaninui kua Liholiho i ke kapu Iolani...
. Afterward laws were place throughout the islands forbidding women to visit ships for immoral purposes much to the anger of visiting sailors. Although, this might just be missionary propaganda.
Other accounts seems to suggest that Wahinepio took the payment as dowry and assurance of her return. And that Leoiki, instead of being sold, married Captain Buckle and had a son with him, born on February 5, 1826 as a British citizen on board the Daniel IV. The boy was named William Wahinepio Kahakuhaakoi Buckle in honor of her, and he served in King Kalakaua's privy council and was the first warden of Oahu prison.
Death and Legacy
In 1826 an epidemic of whooping cough and bronchitisBronchitis
Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the large bronchi in the lungs that is usually caused by viruses or bacteria and may last several days or weeks. Characteristic symptoms include cough, sputum production, and shortness of breath and wheezing related to the obstruction of the inflamed airways...
swept across Hawaii claiming the lives of many Hawaiians who lack natural immunity to the disease. Her son Kahalaiʻa and his son, her grandson, fell victims to the epidemic in April of that year.
This double loss brought great sorrow to Wahinepio. Her grief weaken her constitution even further, and added with the rapid change Hawaii, she succumbed to the epidemic.
She died at Mokuula, the royal residence of Kamehameha III
Kamehameha III
Kamehameha III was the King of Hawaii from 1825 to 1854. His full Hawaiian name was Keaweaweula Kiwalao Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa and then lengthened to Keaweaweula Kiwalao Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa Kalani Waiakua Kalanikau Iokikilo Kiwalao i ke kapu Kamehameha when he ascended the throne.Under his...
, in May 1826.
She was given the honor of being buried at Mokuʻula where Keōpūolani had been interred and where her daughter Kekauʻōnohi would be buried too. Her remains along with other royals were later transported to the Waineʻe Church, later renamed the Waiola Church
Waiola Church
Waiola Church is the site of a historic mission established in 1823 on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Originally called Wainee Church till 1953, the cemetery is the final resting place for early members of the royal family of the Kingdom of Hawaii....
, in Lāhainā.
Wahinepio Avenue in Kahului next to Maui Community College
Maui Community College
The University of Hawai'i Maui College is a public, co-educational commuter college in Kahului, Hawaii on the island of Maui...
and Maui Nui Botanical Gardens
Maui Nui Botanical Gardens
The Maui Nui Botanical Gardens , formerly known as the Maui Zoological and Botanical Gardens, are botanical gardens located at 150 Kanaloa Avenue, Kahului, Maui, Hawaii. They are open Monday through Saturday...
is named after her.