Kekūanāoa

Mataio Kekūanāoʻa (1793–1868) was descended from the high chiefs of the island of Oʻahu. His name Mataio was the Hawaiian form of Matthew, although the former remain the most common form used to referred to him.

He was born in 1791 or 1793. His mother was High Chiefess Inaina, daughter of Pupuka, an Oʻahu chief who joined with Elani of Ewa in revolt against Kahekili II. His father was either Nāhiʻōleʻa, an Oʻahu chief descended from Kalehunapaikua, or High Chief Kiʻilaweau, the grandson of the Hawaii Island Chief Alapa'inui, who was nephew of Keaweikekahiali`iokamoku who was son of Princess Kalanikauleleiaiwi who ruled alongside her brother Keaweikekahiali`iokamoku. He was the aikāne, or intimate companion of King Kamehameha II in his youth, and followed him to England where the King and Queen Kamāmalu died of measles in 1824. He was able to escape the sickness and return to Hawaii, stabilizing himself in the court by marrying two wives of his late sovereign.

His first marriage to the High Chiefess Kalehua lasted from 1822 to 1825, and the product of this marriage was a son named Paʻaula. He married again to the widow of Kamehameha II, Princess Kalanipauahi. Their marriage lasted from 1825 to her death in 1826, and he was probably the father of her daughter Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani. He remarried Elizabeth Kīnaʻu, another Kamehameha II widow, who ruled as the Kuhina Nui at the time under the name Kaʻahumanu II. From her he fathered David Kamehameha, Moses Kekūāiwa, Lot Kapuāiwa, Alexander Liholiho, and Victoria Kamāmalu. His sons Alexander and Lot would become King Kamehameha IV and King Kamehameha V. His daughter would become the fifth Kuhina Nui as Kaʻahumanu IV. The third marriage lasted from 1827 until Kīnaʻu's death in 1839. After 6 years as a widower he remarried again in 1845, to the High Chiefess Kaloloahilani. Their marriage, lasting to his death, was issueless.^[1]

He was the Royal Governor of Oʻahu 1839–1864.^[2] On December 21, 1863 he was made the sixth Kuhina Nui, replacing his daughter who became Crown Princess and heir apparent to the throne. For most of his reign as Kuhina Nui he supported his son Kamehameha V's view of abolishing the position. He held the position until 1864 when the Constitution of 1864 abolished it. He also served as a member of the House of Nobles from 1841–1868, Privy Council 1845–1869, and as President of the Board of Education from 1860.^[3] In 1866, Mark Twain praised Mataio Kekūanāoʻa as "a man of noble presence... seemingly natural and fitted to the place as if he had been born to it...."

The Territorial Building in the Hawaii Capital Historic District was named for him.^[4]

Family tree

References