Ionah (Jonah) Piʻikoi (1809–1859) was a Hawaiian high chief, distantly descended from the King of Kauaʻi. He was patriarch of a family of future nobles of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
He served in the House of Nobles 1845–1859 and on the Privy Council 1852–1855.[1] Prior to serving King Kamehameha III he was believed to be a commoner, or at least a lesser chief who began public service as a tobacco lighter of King Kaumualiʻi of Kauaʻi and later King Kamehameha II. Credit for parcelling of the mahele lands was assumed by Piʻikoi in his autobiography. Piʻikoi Street in Honolulu is named after either him or his son. He probably adopted the name Jonah when he converted to Christianity, using the Hawaiian spelling spelling Ionah. His grandson Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole took his Christian name.
He once owned a large section of the land between Waikiki and Honolulu called the Kewalo area on the island of Oahu. He built the first two-story wooden house in that area near the present McKinley High School [2]
His first wife was Kamakeʻe and they had two daughters named Lilia or Lydia Piʻikoi and Maria Piʻikoi Cummins. Maria was married to Thomas Jefferson Cummins and had three daughters. He married later to the High Chiefess Kekahili, daughter of Kamokuiki, and half-sister of High Chief Caesar Kapaakea. This marriage made him brother-in-law to Kapaakea who was the father of David Kalākaua. He had only one son from his marriage to Kekahili, the High Chief David Kahalepouli Piʻikoi. Piʻikoi died at Honolulu, Oahu, April 20, 1859, at the age of 50.[3]
