Video Replay available: Emma Nakuina & the Preservation of Hawaiian Culture

Q: How important is her voice today to Hawaiian women?

I cannot answer that for all women. I can only answer for myself. Personally, whatever discrimination I have in my life wasn’t because of my gender, so her gender is not what inspired me. Rather, it was her intelligence, her confidence, and her willingness to do whatever it took to keep going. Did she always make the right decision? No, but at least she kept going in the face of adversity.

I was first introduced to her through her knowledge of Hawaiian moʻolelo, and what has always mattered to me most is finding out who I am. I was not raised in a household that thought of itself as Hawaiian, and no one else in my family cares that we have that bloodline. Emma Nakuina was someone that I could finally relate to. Her voice helped induct me into the Hawaiian world that was previously hidden from me.

I imagine that every person, female or male, Hawaiian or not, will find something about her that is important to them. After all, isn’t that why we study the people of our past?

Genealogy & Personal life

Q: Where exactly was she born in Mānoa? And where did she live in Mānoa?

Her obituary says that she was born in Kauaʻala in Mānoa and lived there until adulthood. I included this in my thesis. However, I have done a great deal of research since then, and am now questioning both the name of the land and the idea that she was born there. I found court transcripts in which Emma testifies that she didn’t come to live at Mānoa until after she was born. She was born in March 1847, and the fact that her father purchased land in the ʻili of Kauwalaʻa in July of that same year would confirm her statement.

In 1849 her father purchased more land in Kauwalaʻa and the adjoining ʻili of Pilipili, making up the Metcalf Homestead, as it was called. This is where she grew up, and today makes up the bulk of the University of Hawaiʻi’s Mānoa campus. Kauwalaʻa is the back portion of the campus, where the Bio-Med building and facilities management is located, bounded by Mid-Pac on the western side and Mānoa stream on the other. It cuts off at about the middle of the Imin Conference Center and stretches into the main campus where it meets up with Pilipili, which makes up the majority of the main campus. The boundaries of Pilipili are University Ave on the west side, a bit past Maile Way on the north side, and just south of Kuykendall Hall on the southern side. Hawaiʻi Hall is situated in the center, right about where the old Metcalf Plantation House would have been.

Q: I’m interested in her genealogy. Does she have any descendants here in Hawaiʻi nei? Is there a way to get her complete genealogy?

Q: Does she have ʻohana on Maui? 

I did a lot of research to find what little I could about her genealogy, and all of it is included in my thesis. Overall, the information has been elusive; I still have not been able to find any information on her mother’s parents or siblings. To be fair, I did not ask any of her descendants for that information either, since I had not met any of them before I wrote my thesis. I have met some of them since that time, but have not asked them for that information. It is theirs and I respect whatever they may or may not want to share with the public.

And, as inferred above, she has several descendants still living today, both in Hawaiʻi and outside of it. I don’t know if any of them live on Maui, though it is possible. All of her descendants are from her first husband, Frederick Beckley, as she only had one child with her second husband, and, as far as I know, that child did not survive.

Q: Speak of Emma’s marriage to a much younger man, Moses Nakuina, who was 30 years younger. This makes a rather amazing cougar for her time.

Q: Wondering if Emma Nakuina is related to John W. Nakuina (12/18/1843-4/11/1883) who is buried at Kalaupapa? And how is she related to the Beckley line? Is she related to the Molokai Nakuina ‘ohana?

Yes, her second husband, Moses Nakuina, was 20 years her junior. Perhaps that explains why they did not have any surviving children. Apparently they met at work.

Moses Nakuina’s line was from Molokaʻi, and his father’s name was John. I haven’t researched Moses Nakuina, so I don’t know if he had any siblings. Moses Nakuina’s obituary says, “His father, John Nakuina, was the youngest son of Pukaloheau, a son of Kekaiakea, mentioned in Fornander’s History as a prominent chief of Molokai during the Oahu invasion by Kamehameha the Great” (“Honor Memory of M. K. Nakuina,” The Hawaiian Gazette, 8 August 1911, p. 5).

Emma would have been related to the Molokaʻi Nakuina family as well as the extensive Beckley line only through marriage. She herself was not a Nakuina or a Beckley.

Q: I’m curious if you have interest in discussing the Afong history? I just have some alternate opinions about your discussions with the familial ties and traditional concepts. Also curious as to what references you state your claims about her disagreement with the Afong ‘ohana and her plantation? Was it directly stated somewhere?

I have not researched the Afong family history and therefore could not offer anything on this topic. All I do know is that Afong was able to purchase Emma’s plantation at an auction (and a bargain price) because the executors of her father’s will ran the plantation into the ground and made it unprofitable at a time (1866-1875) when all other Hawaiian plantations were profitable due to the fallout from the Civil War in America. Not at all coincidentally, this sale took place right around the same time that the Reciprocity Treaty with America was first enacted.

For the nine years throughout her father’s probate, Emma tried to get control over her own plantation, but the executors of her father’s will would not let her do so. She never wanted to sell, but in the end King Kalākaua personally, and strongly, persuaded her to do so, inferring that if she did not sell, it would be taken from her with no compensation. Everything I have just stated is all related in Emma’s own words in her father’s probate documents, and was also covered in my 2012 thesis.

Earlier this year I also found another letter in court documents in which Emma states that she wanted to dispute the sale at that time but was not allowed to do so. She was married to Frederick Beckley and her husband would not let her fight it because one of his first cousins was married to Afong. The law of coverture was in place, which enabled husbands to control certain actions of their wives. After her husband’s death she filed a petition to bring suit against Afong and try to get her plantation back, but the case was dismissed.

Although familial ties did play a role in these events, nothing about this situation followed traditional concepts. Emma felt robbed. That is very clear in her letters. However, she does not convey in the texts whether she held any resentment against the Afong side of the family or not, so I cannot speak to it.

 Q: What article shows that she was Kaʻiulani’s Godmother?

I found this mention in an article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin dated 16 October 1916 on page 1. I am aware that this little tidbit causes some controversy.

I should clarify that Ruth Keʻelikōlani is documented as Princess Kaʻiulani’s godmother at her baptism on Christmas Day in 1875. However, Keʻelikōlani died in 1883 when the young princess was only 7 years old, so it is possible that another godmother was unofficially chosen at some point thereafter. It is also possible that the newspaper article was wrong, which does happen. I can only report what the sources tell me.

Q: The picture of the book—who is the wom[a]n on the upper right? I noticed the name is Mrs. F. W. Beckley.

Q: My great, great grandmother was Lulia Kalaukoa pictured in your slide from “Hawaii, It’s People, Their Legends.” Would you know why Lulia is pictured in her book? Could they be related?

I do believe that Emma is somehow related to everyone that is pictured in her book, though I do not yet have the research to prove it. Right now it’s just a hunch based on the context of the photos.

She has two pages that feature five portraits each. On page 10 (the one pictured in the slideshow), “Kamehameha I, The Napoleon of the Pacific” is in the center, with “Lulia Kalaukoa, Hawaiian Lei Woman” at the top left, “Mrs. F. W. Beckley, Hawaiian” at the top right, “O. T. Polikapu, Hawaiian” at the bottom right, and “Haka, Hawaiian Policeman” at the bottom left. On page 12 her son, “F. W. Beckley, Speaker of the House, Hawaiian-American” is featured in the center, with “Beatrice Taylor, Hawaiian-English,” starting the circle at the top left and going clockwise to “Princess Kaiulani, Hawaiian-English,” “Richard Mossman, Hawaiian-American,” and “Gov. Boki and Princess Liliha, From English Painting, 1823.”

It is easy to understand why Kamehameha I would be at the center of a photo collage, but why surround him with other seemingly random people? We do know that Emma was related to the Kamehameha family line, and we also know that Mrs. F. W. Beckley was her daughter-in-law. Therefore, it makes sense that the other three portraits on that page are her relatives. I just don’t know yet how they’re related. The second photo collage features Emma’s own son at the center, and Beatrice Taylor, who is a Beckley, at the top left. Princess Liliha is also an ancestor to the Beckleys, and I did find that one newspaper article that suggests Emma Nakuina may have been a godmother to Princess Kaʻiulani. Therefore, we can account for a familial connection to four out of the five portraits on that page. I haven’t researched the Mossmans yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find that they’re connected to the Beckley line in some way also.

 Q: How many years did she attend Sacred Hearts Academy?

She did not attend Sacred Hearts Academy. Any confusion is my fault; I should have specified that more clearly in my slideshow. She attended Sacred Hearts Convent, which opened in 1859. I don’t know exactly when or for how long she attended, as the information came from her obituary in 1929. It couldn’t have been for very long, however, since she went back to Oʻahu College (Punahou School) starting in 1861.

Q: Do you know of any lands that Emma and Fred Beckley owned together?

I’m not entirely sure that they owned any lands “together,” though I do need to do a lot more research to find this info. I know that whatever lands her husband, Frederick Beckley had were passed on to her when he died, including, I believe, a significant area on Molokaʻi. There are a ton of land transactions throughout Emma’s lifetime, and it’s a big, tangled mess. I’m going to be spending a lot of time in the future trying to untangle all of it.

Q: Is there more info on her life during 1887? If she did not travel with Kapiʻolani & Liliʻuokalani, do we have any letters between them at the time?  Do we have any info on her thoughts either before or after the Bayonet Constitution?

I’m hoping there’s more, but I haven’t focused my research on that specific year yet. I would love to find this kind of information. When the archives open up again, I’ll be looking for it.

Professional activities & achievements

Q: I would like to read some of her moʻolelo, which one would you recommend? Also are [there] any Hawaiian writings of her talks?

Most of her moʻolelo are short, so I would recommend all of them. The longest moʻolelo she published was the serial on Hiʻiaka that she authored under the name Kaili. Perhaps that format did not agree with her, because that was her first and last long moʻolelo.

I have not yet found any written versions of her talks in the Hawaiian language, but I’m still looking.

Q: You mentioned that Emma published multiple moʻolelo—was she a native speaker of Hawaiian?

Yes. She was a native speaker of both Hawaiian and English, as those were the native languages of each of her parents, so she grew up speaking both. She worked as a translator, converting things from English into Hawaiian for schools. She also presented talks in Hawaiian, but for whatever reason it looks like she did not publish anything in Hawaiian.

Q: Did she relay the legend of the Shark Man…or did she create it herself?

All the moʻolelo she published already existed in Hawaiian society. She did not make them up. She was simply using the new print media to pass them on to future generations…and thank goodness she did. 

Q: Do you know if her publication on Tradition of Kaimuki [is] still available somewhere?

As far as I know, this was not published. This was a talk she gave at a Daughters of Hawaii meeting in 1912. I found the meeting record which simply stated that she gave this talk. There was no transcript included in the records.

Q: Did she compose Hawaiian mele as she was knowledgeable to aina and wai?

I have not yet come across any compositions of this type. If she did, she did not sign her name to them. However, knowing what I do about her, I don’t think mele was her preferred style. She liked to tell stories, which is why she published moʻolelo. I think narratives were her preferred method of conveying cultural knowledge. Also, the story of Kahalaopuna mentions that the main character often chanted after she was resurrected, yet Emma’s version of the story omits those chants. Either chants or mele didn’t resonate with her, or she felt that those oli shouldn’t be put into print. I cannot say.

Q: I am also curious about more detail on her involvement in the woman’s suffrage movement in Hawaiʻi.

As am I, but I have not done the research on that particular topic yet. I do believe that she was involved, as some of the more fervent activists were her Beckley relatives, but I haven’t yet learned enough to make any kind of statement on it.

Q: I was wondering about exactly why Emma Nakuina is featured in newspapers on the North American continent in 1910. Obviously, it is related to the suffrage movement—but have you come across the names of frequent newspaper reporters who had specific ties through social networks to Nakuina? Perhaps Punahou or other connections?

I am wondering the same thing. I indexed all the other articles on each page where this article was found in order to better understand what context, what discussions, each newspaper felt this article contributed to. Interestingly, only one newspaper put it on a page with things they considered for women only, and only one other newspaper put a women’s suffrage article on the same page. Most of the other papers included the article on pages that featured international news.

Unfortunately, the article was not signed, so I do not know who wrote it. I am still trying to figure out the political significance of running this article in 1910, and what and who the connection might be. Most of the newspapers that ran it were small, so my question is still, why did it run at all? There had to have been a person who instigated it, I just don’t know who that is yet. Emma Nakuina did not write it herself, and we can tell from the text that it was not written by any of her relatives. None of them would have wanted to be associated with Captain Metcalf of the Olowalu Massacre.

Q: Were any of Emma’s decisions as a Water Commissioner/Judge later cited as precedent or form the basis of Hawaii’s water law? How else did she influence the development of Hawaii water law?

I am not qualified to answer this question. I am a historian and have not studied water law. As a historian, I simply look at the records and see what they tell me. If I’m only looking at Emma Nakuina’s cases, then I won’t find any cases in which other Water Commissioners cited her decisions.

Therefore, your question might be better posed to a lawyer. Kapua Sproat has done a lot of research into that arena and would be far better qualified to answer any questions about the law. There’s also a book called Water and the Law in Hawaiʻi by Lawrence Miike. I should note, however, that he doesn’t mention Emma Nakuina specifically. Rather, the bulk of his book focuses on the big land-grab era just after annexation and how big corporations tried to claim water for their own use.

Q: Did she travel to other islands to review/support water rights and other matters concerning kanaka Hawaiʻi?

Yes. As mentioned in the presentation, she was consulted in a big water case in Lahainaluna. I have not yet found any documentation about other cases, but I’m still looking.

She was also consulted on other matters concerning Kanaka Hawaiʻi. In 1916 an investigation was launched in regards to Kamehameha Schools, to determine how well the school was run, if the curriculum was appropriate, etc. Emma Nakuina was on the three-person committee, partnering with two attorneys. In addition to that, Mrs. Nakuina was concerned with the health of kanaka, especially during the 1895 cholera outbreak. She wrote a newspaper article theorizing about the causes for cholera, warned Hawaiians to disregard gossip and seek medical attention, and started a Women’s Relief Society that helped provide food to those who needed it. She helped her people in many other, less publicized ways as well.

Q: [I am] particularly interested in Emma’s role as Curatrix of National Museum & Library.

Q: I am also wondering what types of exhibits/collections she curated at the Hawaiian National Museum.

Q: Why did the Hawaiʻi National Museum end?

I don’t know much about her activities while she was curatrix aside from her blossoming into a writer. She wrote her first publication because of that position, and she didn’t stop publishing from that point on. She also turned the museum into a success, however briefly.

I responded to the second question during the webinar. I don’t know if she curated any kind of special exhibits or made any specific addition to the collections. All I do know is that she created the last and most complete inventory before the museum was closed.

I’m still researching this, but it is safe to say that the museum ultimately closed as a result of the Bayonet Constitution. At that time in history, museums were political tools and the new Bayonet oligarchy used it as a political weapon against Walter Murray Gibson, who had taken the museum away from the Board of Education. Walter Murray Gibson was in many ways one of the two main targets for those who enacted the Bayonet Constitution (the other being King Kalākaua), so they wanted to disenfranchise him specifically and in as many ways possible. The National Museum and its current curatrix were victims in those political games. I don’t have all the details yet but I do hope to weed all of this out someday.

Sources

Q: Have you come across any personal journals or letters of hers? If so, what do they say of her interior life?

I responded to this during the webinar. In short, I haven’t found any personal journals or letters, but I haven’t yet exhausted all research avenues either. I have found a couple of lengthy letters in court documents that give me a lot of insight into her thoughts and feelings about specific events in her life. She also wrote letters into the newspapers, and you can discern a lot about her character from those as well.

Q: I was wondering if you have come across some additional photos of Emma besides the ones that you easily find on google. Have you come across any with her first husband Fred Beckley? Is there a way that I could get these photos of Emma?

All the photos I have of Emma came from the various archives, and all of these have since been made available through Google searches (I don’t know who posted them online). I have not come across any others. Consequently, I have not seen any with her first husband, Frederick Beckley. For that matter, I haven’t seen any of her with her second husband either.

Q: Is there an index to Thrum’s Hawaiian Annual so we can read M[r]s. Nakuina’s articles?

I don’t recall using a main index or all of the Hawaiian Annual books. I had to search for her name in the various sources.

Q: Is your thesis available online?

It is, through UH ScholarSpace: http://hdl.handle.net/10125/100964. I should caution everyone, however, that I have done a significant amount of research since then and there may be some things in that document that need to be updated.

Q: Can you please provide your bibliography for [the] presentation?

I did not prepare a formal bibliography for this presentation, and in the interest of timeliness I cannot yet post one here. It will take me some time to assemble it. I pulled most of the information from my 2012 thesis, other articles and presentations, and new research that I am currently conducting. When it is ready, I will send it to HHF to update this site.