Zorobabela Kaʻauwai

Zorobabela Kaʻauwai
Assistant Judge of the Supreme Court of Hawaii
In office
May 10, 1842 – November, 1846
Succeeded by Joshua Kaʻeo
Member of the Board of Commissioners to Quiet Land Titles
In office
February 10, 1846 – March 21, 1850
Succeeded by Joshua Kekaulahao
Member of the Kingdom of Hawaii
House of Representatives
for the district of Makawao, Maui
In office
1851, 1852, 1854, 1855
Personal details
Born c. 1799/1806
Kona, Hawaii
Died August 8, 1856
Makawao, Maui
Nationality Kingdom of Hawaii
Spouse(s) Kalanikauleleiaiwi III
Children David Kahalekula Kaʻauwai
William Hoapili Kaʻauwai
George Kaleiwohi Kaʻauwai
Alma mater Lahainaluna Seminary
Occupation Deacon, Judge, Politician, Businessman

Zorobabela Kaʻauwai (c. 1799/1806 – August 8, 1856) was an early politician and judge in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Beginning as an assistant to the Hoapili, Governor of Maui, he served many political posts during the monarchy including Assistant Judge of the first Supreme Court of Hawaii, an original member of the Board of Commissioners to Quiet Land Titles, a multiple-term representative in the Hawaiian legislature and circuit judge for Maui. An early convert to Christianity and devout adherent of the Protestant faith, his first name is a Hawaiian form of the Biblical name Zerubbabel.

Early life

Kaʻauwai was born around 1799 or 1806, in the district of Kona on the island of Hawaii. Although not of chiefly descent, his family belonged to the "old class of chief's right-hand men." Later historian Jon Kamakawiwoʻole Osorio stated he was a chief of Maui lineage.[1] At a young age, he attracted the attention of Kamehameha I and later came under the patronage of High Chief Hoapili, one of Kamehameha's advisor and loyal companion and later Governor of Maui. He worked in the household of Hoapili and became a loyal subject of the chief. Later writer noted that Kaʻauwai "must have been an extraordinary youth to secure, as he did, the confidence and love of this old chieftain."[2]

Kaʻauwai revered Hoapili as a father figure and accompanied him into battle and fought in the 1824 rebellion of Humehume, on the island of Kauai.[3] He was present when the American missionaries, who arrived in Hawaii in 1820, established a mission station at Lahaina. After the converted Hoapili imposed a law requiring his household retainers to learn the Hawaiian alphabet or otherwise be deprived of food, the obedient Kaʻauwai abstained from food for two entire days and he learned to read and write. He and his friend David Malo became interested in Christianity at the same time and both served as early helpers to the missionaries in Lahaina, although unlike Malo, he was never licensed to preach. Under the order of Hoapili, he helped build the stone church of Kalaniʻohua, on Maui.[4] With Malo, he attended the Lahainaluna became one of the first generation of Hawaiians to receive a western education by the American missionaries who arrived in Hawaii in 1820.[5] Reginald Yzendoorn, author of History of the Catholic Mission in the Hawaiian Islands, later wrote that Kaʻauwai was a judge and Calvinist deacon who related the burning of the Roman Catholic chapel of Wailuku in 1843 to his mother-in-law Marie Leahi, an early Catholic female catechumen.[6] In the early Hawaiian Protestant mission, deacons did not have to be licensed to preach.[7]

Kaʻauwai became an experienced fisherman, manager of the chief's canoes and an early physician. He worked as his headman or right-hand agent to Governor Hoapili and was effectively the Lieutenant Governor of Maui in all but name. In their first meeting in 1832, Reverend Richard Armstrong described how Hoapili trusted him with all his important business including accessing and collecting taxes, managing his property, and conducting tours of the island of Maui, and thus became a highly respected and well-loved official in the eyes of the people.[8] In October 1851, the Privy Council of State, the advisory council for the king, recommended him as a candidate for the Governorship of Maui left vacant by the death of James Kānehoa Young, but the council eventually voted eight to three to recommended the appointment of Prince Lot Kapuāiwa (the future Kamehameha V) instead. However, Prince Lot never seem to have taken up this position either because Kānehoa's deputy Paul Nahaolelua remained acting governor until his own appointment in 1852.[9]

Political career

In 1842, Kaʻauwai was elected by the Hawaiian legislature to serve as one of the four Assistant Judges of the Supreme Court of Hawaii, the first formed in the Kingdom of Hawaii between 1842 and 1848, which was headed by King Kamehameha III and the Kuhina Nui Kekāuluohi and after her death Keoni Ana. These four judges of the Supreme Court were not Associate Justices (like later individuals appointed after 1848) but served that capacity as assistant to the Chief Justice, i.e. the King. He sat as a judge from from 1842 to 1846, before resigning in November, 1846.[10] His seat in the court was later filled by Joshua Kaʻeo.[11] In 1842, King Kamehameha III also appointed Kaʻauwai as one of the five original members of the Board of Commissioners to Quiet Land Titles, a government committee in charge of settling or quieting land claims of the Great Māhele. He served in this post from February 10, 1846 until his resignation on March 21, 1850; an experienced attorney Joshua Kekaulahao was appointed in his place after he resigned.[12]

Mauna Kilika, an early government building and meeting place for the Legislature of Hawaii from 1845 to 1852

According to historian Samuel Kamakau, Kaʻauwai was one of the early "representatives of the people" who assembled with the king and the chiefs in the first session of the legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom which met between April and May of 1841, at Luaʻehu, in the early capital of Lahaina. However, government records and legislative roster from the monarchy do not mention him as part of the 1841 assembly or any of the 1840s sessions. Records indicate that he was elected in the 1850s as a member of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the legislature for the district of Makawao. He served four terms, sitting in at the legislative assemblies of 1851, 1852, 1854 and 1855.[13][14] Writing after his death, Reverend Jonathan Smith Green noted, "As a member of this body, I had the testimony of Judge Lee, often repeated, that no Hawaiian member equalled him for solid worth. Mr. Lee was Speaker once or twice when Kaauwai was a member, and knew him well. Had he lived, he would doubtless have continued to serve his generation by the will of God."[15] He served as a magistrate for Makawao. He was also a judge of the Circuit Court of Maui from April 27, 1855 until his death in August 8, 1856.[16][17]

Aside from politics, Kaʻauwai was a successful entrepreneur and was regarded as a "man of wealth".[18] He acquired and accumulated extensive property in Honolulu (which had become the new capital) and Maui, and according to Rev. Armstrong, who was pastor at Kawaiahaʻo Church and knew him in later life, stated "He did accumulate property; he had lands, houses, cattle, and money. But he did not hoard these fruits of his industry—he gave freely to aid in every good work; gave for the support of the Gospel; aided in building meeting houses and school houses; in sending the Gospel to the heathen, and in assisting the needy.”[15] On March 1849, he attempted to purchase the island of Kahoʻolawe from the King and the Land Commission. Kaʻauwai offered $400 for the entire island, which had been previously used unsuccessfully as a male penal colony. The offer was refused by the King and his Privy Council of State, and a subsequent application dated to August 18, 1854 for a fifty year lease at $200 per year was also declined.[19] He also worked as a farmer and acquired property on Maui for growing taro and banana, which he won prizes for at the Hawaiian Agricultural Society in 1851.[20]

In later life, he became a resident of Wailuku and Makawao and was a donor and attendant of the church of Makawao, after developing a rift with the Wailuku Congregational Church. Falling ill while he was in Honolulu, Kaʻauwai returned to his native Maui for a change of climate which did nothing to improve his health. He died at Makawao, on August 8, 1856.[18] In a letter dated to October 6, 1856, Reverend Jonathan Smith Green, who had befriended him during his lifetime, wrote a short biography of Kaʻauwai which was published in The American Missionary.[21]

Family and children

His son William Hoapili Kaʻauwai

Kaʻauwai married Kalanikauleleiaiwi III, a high chiefess of the Maui lineage descended from Piʻilani, and a relative of the family of High Chief Hoapili.[22] His mother-in-law Marie Leahi was an early Roman Catholic female catechumen.[6] With Kalanikauleleiaiwi he had four children: three sons including David Kahalekula Kaʻauwai (1833–1856), William Hoapili Kaʻauwai (1835–1874), and George Kaleiwohi Kaʻauwai (1843–1883) and a daughter who died in infancy before 1848.[20] His eldest son David Kahalekula Kaʻauwai served alongside his father in the House of Representatives, from 1854 to 1855, and was considered "one of the finest Hawaiian orators".[23] His second son William Hoapili Kaʻauwai also served in the legislator as a Representative for Wailuku for two nonconsecutive terms in 1862 and 1870. He became the only ordained Hawaiian Anglican priest and traveled with his wife Kiliwehi as part of the retinue of Queen Emma during her trip to Europe.[24] His youngest son George Kaleiwohi Kaʻauwai married Ulalia Muolo Keaweheulu Laʻanui and became the father of Princess Elizabeth Kahanu Kalanianaʻole, wife of Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, the second Congressional Delegate from the Territory of Hawaii.[25]

References

  1. ↑ Green 1857, p. 27; Muir 1952, p. 5; Osorio 2002, pp. 34–35
  2. ↑ Green 1857, p. 28
  3. ↑ Green 1857, pp. 27–28
  4. ↑ Green 1857, pp. 27–28, 30; Kuykendall 1965, p. 343; Kamakau 1992, p. 356
  5. ↑ Osorio 2002, p. 267
  6. 1 2 Yzendoorn 1927, p. 181.
  7. ↑ Lange 2006, p. 183.
  8. ↑ Green 1857, pp. 27–29
  9. ↑ "Minutes of the Privy Council, 1851–1852". Ka Huli Ao Digital Archives. p. 273, 275. Retrieved August 5, 2015.; "Governor of Maui, Molokai and Lanai" (PDF). official archives. state of Hawaii. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 21, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
  10. ↑ Frear 1894, p. 9; Judd 1888, pp. 63–67; Kuykendall 1965, pp. 167–168
  11. ↑ "By Authority". Polynesian. 3 (6). Honolulu. November 14, 1846. p. 3. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  12. ↑ Moffat & Fitzpatrick 1995, pp. 43, 47; Kuykendall 1965, p. 280; Van Dyke 2008, pp. 34–35; Kameʻeleihiwa 1992, p. 185; Osorio 2002, pp. 34, 48; Green 1857, p. 29
  13. ↑ Kamakau 1992, p. 396; Hawaii & Lydecker 1918, pp. 32, 35, 55, 61; Osorio 2002, p. 69
  14. ↑ "Journal of the House of Representatives, 1851 through 1853". Ka Huli Ao Digital Archives.; "Journal of the House of Representatives, 1854". Ka Huli Ao Digital Archives.; "Journal of the House of Representatives, 1855 through 1856". Ka Huli Ao Digital Archives. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  15. 1 2 Green 1857, p. 29
  16. ↑ Green 1857, pp. 29–30
  17. ↑ "Kaauwai, Zorobabela office record". state archives digital collections. state of Hawaii. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  18. 1 2 Green 1857, p. 30; "Died". The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. I (7). Honolulu. August 14, 1856. p. 2.; "Death". Polynesian. XIII (15). Honolulu. August 16, 1856. p. 3.
  19. ↑ MacDonald 1972, pp. 69–90; Judd 1916, pp. 117–125; Van Dyke 2008, p. 34; Osorio 2002, p. 76; "Minutes of the Privy Council, 1847–1849". Ka Huli Ao Digital Archives. p. 241. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  20. 1 2 Muir 1952, pp. 5, 11.
  21. ↑ Green 1857, pp. 27–30
  22. ↑ Muir 1952, p. 5; McKinzie 1983, p. 49; "Mookuauhau Alii – Na Iwikuamoo o Hawaii Nei Mai Kahiko Mai". Ka Makaainana. VI (6). Honolulu. August 10, 1896. p. 2. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  23. ↑ Muir 1952, p. 11; Kaeo & Queen Emma 1976, pp. 208–210; Hawaii & Lydecker 1918, pp. 55, 61, 63–64
  24. ↑ Hawaii & Lydecker 1918, pp. 86, 117; Muir 1952, pp. 5–13
  25. ↑ Muir 1952, p. 11; Peterson 1984, p. 186–189

Bibliography

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