Joshua Kaʻeo (c. 1808 – June 27, 1858) was a Hawaiian high chief or nobleman, uncle of Queen Emma of Hawaii, and an early Hawaiian politician and advisor of Kamehameha III. He is sometimes referred to as Kaʻeo Ehu or by the Hawaiianized form of his name Iosua.

He was born a kaukau aliʻi, a lesser chief below the rank of the aliʻi nui or high chiefs. ^[2] Sources differ on the identity of his father. Fornander stated his father was Asa Kaʻeo, a grandson of Manoua, the daughter of King Kalaniʻōpuʻu and one of his wives, Mulehu or Muʻolehua. Muʻolehua was the daughter of Kaaloapiilani, a chief of Kaʻū, and Kaneikaheilani, a descendant King Kawelo-a-Maihunaliʻi of Kauai. She was also aunt of Haʻalou, the grandmother of Queen Kaʻahumanu, and grandmother of Abner Pākī (one of Kaʻeo's own contemporaries) through a second marriage thus making her the great-grandmother of Bernice Pauahi Bishop. ^{[3] [4]}

While a former guest book at Rook House, the residence of his niece Queen Emma, his father is said to be Kaleikoa. ^[5] His mother is named Paaluanui. ^[6]

He was distant cousin to Kamehameha I since his great (great) grandfather Kalaniʻōpuʻu was Kamehameha I's half-uncle.

Kaʻeo served the captain of Lahaina Fort while the capital was at Lahaina. ^[7] He was member of the King's Privy Council from 1845 to 1850 and a member of House of Nobles from 1845 to 1856. ^[8] At one time, he was the Judge of the Supreme Court of Hawaii.

Kaeo said that his niece Emma was a good girl and he was glad she was going to marry the King, though her rank was [not] as high as it ought to be for a Queen. ^[9]

He married Jane Lahilahi Young, the hapa-haole (part-Hawaiian) daughter of John Young and his wife Kaʻōanaʻeha, the niece of Kamehameha I. Kaʻeo and Lahilahi had two sons:

• Peter Young Kekuaokalani Kaʻeo (1836–1880), he was given as a hānai child (adopted) to Jane's brother Keoni Ana and his wife Julia Alapaʻi. Educated at Royal School, he became a member of the House of Nobles but later contracted leprosy and was sent to leper colony at Kalawao. ^[10]
• Keliʻimaikai Kaʻeo, nicknamed "Alebada" (died October 13, 1851), he was given as a hānai child to Jane's other brother James Kanehoa and his wife Sarah Kale Davis. He was named after Jane's ancestor Keliʻimaikaʻi, Kamehameha's only full brother. ^{[11] [12]}

References

Bibliography

• Fornander, Abraham (1880). Stokes, John F. G. (ed.). An Account of the Polynesian Race: Its Origins and Migrations, and the Ancient History of the Hawaiian People to the Times of Kamehameha I. Vol. Volume 2. Trübner & Co. {{ cite book}}: |volume= has extra text ( help)
• Forbes, David W., ed. (2001). Hawaiian national bibliography, 1780-1900. Vol. 3. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 338–339. ISBN  0-8248-2503-9.
• Kaeo, Peter; Queen Emma (1976). Korn, Alfons L. (ed.). News from Molokai, Letters Between Peter Kaeo & Queen Emma, 1873–1876. Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii. ISBN  978-0-8248-0399-5.
• Kanahele, George S. (1999). Emma: Hawaii's Remarkable Queen. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN  0-8248-2240-4.
• Kamakau, Samuel (1992) [1961]. Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii (Revised ed.). Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools Press. ISBN  0-87336-014-1.
• Kuykendall, Ralph Simpson (1965) [1938]. Hawaiian Kingdom 1778–1854, Foundation and Transformation. Vol. 1. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN  0-87022-431-X.
• McKinzie, Edith Kawelohea (1983). Stagner, Ishmael W. (ed.). Hawaiian Genealogies: Extracted from Hawaiian Language Newspapers. Vol. 1. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN  0-939154-28-5. OCLC  12555087.
• McKinzie, Edith Kawelohea (1986). Stagner, Ishmael W. (ed.). Hawaiian Genealogies: Extracted from Hawaiian Language Newspapers. Vol. 2. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN  978-0-939154-37-1. OCLC  12555087.
• Osorio, Jon Kamakawiwoʻole (2002). Dismembering Lāhui: a history of the Hawaiian nation to 1887. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN  0824825497.