Kinoʻoleoliliha Pitman (c. 1825–1855), also written as Kinoole-o-Liliha, was a high chiefess in the
Kingdom of Hawaii. She was known as Mrs. Pitman after her marriage. In the
Hawaiian language, kino 'ole means "thin"[2] and liliha can mean "heartsick".[3]
Life
Her father was High Chief
Hoʻolulu. Her paternal grandfather was High Chief
Kameʻeiamoku, one of the royal twins (with
Kamanawa) who advised
Kamehameha I, and her paternal grandmother was High Chiefess Kahikoloa. Her mother was High Chiefess Charlotte Halaki Cox, whose father lent his name to
Keeaumoku II, the
Governor of Maui.[citation needed]
Her father and uncle
Hoapili were chosen to conceal the bones of Kamehameha I in a secret hiding place after his death.[4][5]
They placed the bones of the king in a cave along the coastline;[6] it was a great honor to be the last to touch the bones of the king.[4]
Her brothers were the High Chief Kaiheʻekai[citation needed] and the High Chief Moʻoheau-nui-i-Kaaiawaawa-o-ʻUlu[7] and her only known sister was the High Chiefess Kahinu-o-kekuaukalani,[8] who married William Beckley (1814–1871),[9] the
hapa-haole son of Captain
George Charles Beckley (1787–1826),[10][11] an English sea captain and close friend of Kamehameha I,[12] and his Hawaiian wife, the Chiefess Ahia (1792–1854).[7][11][13] Some of her famous cousins are: High Chief
Kamanawa II and High Chief
ʻAikanaka, sons of her uncle High Chief
Kepoʻokalani and grandfathers of Queen
Liliʻuokalani and King David
Kalākaua; the High Chiefess
Kapiʻolani, daughter of her aunt High Chiefess Kekikipaʻa; the High Chiefess Keouawahine, daughter of her aunt High Chiefess Loewahine and grandmother of Princess Ruth
Keʻelikōlani; and
Kuini Liliha, the daughter of her uncle the High Chief Hoapili.[citation needed]
From her father she inherited vast lands in Hilo and Olaʻa.[5][6] King
Kamehameha III granted her control of the
ahupuaʻa of
Hilo, thereby making her high chiefess. It was customary that when the
lehuas started to bloom, the first blossoms had to be strung into the
leis for Kinoʻole. These flowers were called the "Lehuas of Panaewa".[6] This is one of the remnant traces of the
kapu system which gave the noble class special privileges and sacredness.
She married
Benjamin Pitman, born in
Salem, Massachusetts[14] who had arrived in Hawaii from
New England in 1833.[5][15][16]
Pitman was a prominent businessman in
Hilo and
Honolulu. He owned a store[5] or ship chandlery in Hilo[14] and in Honolulu took up banking.[6] This marriage was an example of a businessman marrying a landholding high chiefess. Such marriages paved the way for the ranches, plantations, banks and other businesses, through the investment of foreign capital.[17]
In the 1850s, the Pitman family moved to the new capital of
Honolulu. They built a beautiful two-story house named Waialeale ("rippling water") at the corner of Alakea and Beretania Streets, which later became the site of the Honolulu Gas Company office. Surrounded by an iron fence, the walks were paved with tiles.[6] She died in Honolulu, on August 16, 1855, soon after the construction of her new home. She was buried at the
Waiola Church, on
Maui, where her headstone now stands.[1]
However, later reports claimed she was buried on the
Island of Hawaii, her ancestral home, and her remains were taken to Hilo with a large entourage of relatives and friends. The people of Hilo, reportedly, swam out in great numbers to the boat and bore the casket on their shoulders.[6]
Children
Kinoʻole and Benjamin Pitman had three children:
Mary Ann Kinoʻole Kaʻaumokulani Pitman (1838/41–1905),,[18][19] later Mary Ailau,[20] an intimate friend and bridesmaid[5] of
Queen Emma, who married
Kamehameha IV. In her youth, she was known as the "Belle of Hilo Bay".[6] She married in late life to Jack Ailau (1860–1894), a printer and musician of Honolulu. She died childless at Hilo in 1905, ten years after her husband.[15][21]
Benjamin Franklin Keolaokalani Pitman (1852–1918), married
Almira Hollander (1854–1939), from
Brookline, Massachusetts,[24] His wife Almira was credited with helping the women of Hawaii achieve suffrage in 1918.[25][26] Among their descendants is Theodore Pitman, great-great-grandson of Kinoʻole who donated some of his great-great-grandfather's manuscript that accounted the events of the early period of the Kingdom of Hawaii.[6][16][27][28]
In 1851, Benjamin Pitman bought the "Post Boy", a 44-ton topsail schooner built in
Auckland,
New Zealand that had arrived from
San Francisco on November 22, 1850. It had been previously sold to a
native by the name of Philip Nation who registered and ran her for a time under her foreign name. Pitman changed her name to the "Kinoole" after his wife. The "Kinoole" plied as a windward packet on various routes, with occasional trips to
Kauaʻi. She was sold to R. Robinson and J. A. Simmons in 1852, Jas. Dawson and Paniani in 1853, D. Fredison and T.E. Cook and P.H. Treadway in 1856, A. K. Clark and O. H. Culick in 1858, and later to E. W. Clark and S. L. Austin.[33] On February 1, 1859, the "Kinoole" sailed from Honolulu and landed on
Kealakekua Bay two days later. Onboard was the President of
Punahou School who wanted to see the recent eruption of
Mauna Loa.[34] On August 24, 1860, she finally wrecked on the shores of
Niʻihau.[33]
After her death on August 16, 1855, Pitman remarried to
Maria Louisa Walsworth Kinney, but soon after, she too died. He relocated his three children to attend schools in Boston.[6] Besides short trips back to Hawaii, her daughter Mary did not return to Hawaii until 1881.[35] Their son Benjamin remained in Massachusetts where he married Almira Hollander Pitman; they visited Hawaii in 1917. Kinoʻole's descendants from her son Benjamin still live in
Massachusetts. Many of her descendants were named after her.[6]
References
^
abGrave Marker of Kinoole. Lahaina, Hawaii:
Waiola Church Cemetery.
^Pukui and Elbert (2003).
"lookup of Kino'ole". on Hawaiian dictionary. Ulukau, the Hawaiian Electronic Library, University of Hawaii. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
^Pukui and Elbert (2003).
"lookup of liliha". on Hawaiian dictionary. Ulukau, the Hawaiian Electronic Library, University of Hawaii. Archived from
the original on 2012-07-18. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
^Peggy Kai (1974). "Chinese Settlers in the Village of Hilo before 1852". The Hawaiian Journal of History. Vol. 8. Hawaiian Historical Society. p. 64.
hdl:
10524/221.
^"Statement of Mrs. Benjamin F. Pitman of Boston, Mass". Extending the Right of Suffrage to Women: Hearings Before the Committee on Woman Suffrage, House of Representatives, Sixty-fifth Congress, Second Session on H. J. Res 200. January 3, 4, 5, and 7, 1918. Washington, D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1918. pp. 341–344.
^Pukui and Elbert (2004).
"lookup of kino'ole". on Place Names of Hawai'i. Ulukau, the Hawaiian Electronic Library, University of Hawaii. Retrieved 2009-11-30.