George Luther Kapeau appointed lieutenant governor of Kona, Hawaiʻi, 1846
Cover Image: Masthead of Ka Elele published on December 28, 1846.
Image: This map of the Hawaiian Islands was engraved on copper plate by Kapeau while he was a student at Lahainaluna Seminary. It is one of the maps included in the 1840 atlas. “Na Mokupuni o Hawaii,” Lahainaluna 1839. Na Kapeau i kaha. Bishop Museum Library. PL Phil Pam 372, p. 12, detail.
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Kamehameha III appoints G. L. Kapeau lieutenant governor of Kona, Hawaiʻi in November 1846. Here is a report as it appears in the newspaper, Elele Hawaii, by Kapeau to Richard Armstrong describing his first days in that office.
Image: Kapeau, G. L., “Ka Palapala a G. L. Kapeau, Hope Kiaaina o Hawaii,” Ka Elele, December 28, 1846, p. 140.
LETTER OF G. L. KAPEAU, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF HAWAIʻI.
Aloha to you, Armstrong [Limaikaika] and all our brethren in Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu. I will give you my account of my arrival to this land and things about this place I have heard about.
I left the island of Oʻahu on the 17th of November, 1846, at perhaps 6:00 in the evening; there were many people aboard our ship who sailed with me: William Pitt Leleiōhoku [W. P. Leleiōhoku] and William Beckley [William Bekele] who was returning to Waimea; as for W. P. Leleiōhoku, he came to hang the murderer and also to put in order the governor’s office before this day that I was given by the King as an assistant for W. P. Leleiōhoku.
We landed here in Kailua on the 27th of November, 1846. On the 21st, we stopped at Lahaina, and on the 24th, we sailed from Lahaina.
In the evening of the day we landed, I visited the home of Asa Thurston [Takina] folks to see them, but he had gone to Keauhou on business; I stayed with Mrs. Thurston and Dr. Seth Lathrop Andrews [Dr. Anaru], until Thurston returned. We drank evening tea pleasantly as proper with aloha.
On the 28th, 12 noon, the fort here in Kailua shot a 21 gun salute, for the day that the independence of this nation was recognized by the nations of Great Britain and France; at 3:00 in the evening, there was a banquet given by W. P. Leleiōhoku; I was sat to dine with the prominent residents of Kailua.
On the 30th of November 1846, my lord, the King gave me an office at Huliheʻe, an office for me to carry out the duties of the office of the governor.
On that same day, the deputy judge informed me he was carrying out his office from the month of October 25, 1846 to the 30th of November; there were many people who drank intoxicants made from sweet potato and from gourd. This is what they do, according to what I hear. Some people make sweet potato and gourd ferment, then someone comes along and asks, “What do you do with your seeds?” “For weeding uncultivated land, and as mulch for my garden.” And the one who asked the question goes about to many people, and they come back to drink along; and to carry out the duties of the one to whom belongs the seeds, as well as doing other jobs of hisl
Image: Kapeau, G. L., “Ka Palapala a G. L. Kapeau, Hope Kiaaina o Hawaii,” cont. Ka Elele, December 28, 1846, p. 141.
On the first day of this month, I declared the new law to the people of a district of Kona, pertaining to the poll tax, the property tax, and the animal tax.
I informed them of the words published in the Elele newspaper, [Book 2], Paper 14, Page 1, about the prohibition of ʻawa and some other items that were written in that paper. And I put under control the production of all intoxicants: sweet potato, gourds, and other things. I was informed of two people who planted ʻawa fields, a man and a woman. Their fields of ʻawa are growing now; old ʻawa as well as new ʻawa.
On the 28th, we [he and Leleiōhoku] went to the prison where the murderer was held to see him, and to read the proclamation of the King to that man and the day he is to be hanged until dead; the proclamation was read by the Honorable W. P. Leleiōhoku, and this proclamation stated what day he was to be hanged: the 5th of December, 1846, at 12 noon.
The 5th came and many people from here in Kona arrived, so many. In just my estimation, there were a thousand or more; the number of canoes in my estimation were a hundred or more. It is said that all of the people of Kona came. All of the officers who were intended to hang Koakanu were all fearful. What scared them was that it was said by some that the one being hanged possessed many false gods. I laugh much at the great ignorance of these very few who hanged him. That is all, so that you know.
G. L. Kapeau, Lieutenant Governor of Hawaiʻi
Kailua, Kona, Hawaiʻi, December 8, 1846.
This post is part of He Aupuni Palapala: Preserving and Digitizing the Hawaiian Language Newspapers, a partnership between Bishop Museum and Awaiaulu with assistance from Kamehameha Schools. Mahalo nui loa to Hawaii Tourism Authority for their support. Learn more about this project here.
