Jane Loeau

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Jane Loeau (December 5, 1828–July 30, 1873) was a Hawaiian chiefess who attended Chiefs' Children's School also known as Royal School.

Early life

She was born December 5, 1828, the daughter of High Chief Kalaniulumoku and High Chiefess Kuini Liliha. Her mother was the royal governor of Oahu and was politically powerful during the regency of Kaahumanu. She was descended from Kahekili II, Moi of Maui, and High Chief Hoapili through her mother. She had a half-sister Abigail Maheha who also attended Royal School. She was adopted or hānaied by Ahukai (Kaukualii).[1]

She was one of the first to attend Chiefs' Children's School. She was chosen by King Kamehameha III to be eligible to sit on the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Taught by Amos Starr Cooke and his wife, Julliete Montague Cooke, to eat, dress and speak like European or American children. At the age of eleven, she was the eldest girl at the school. On Sundays it was customary for boys and girls to walk side by side to church; Jane walked beside Moses Kekūāiwa, the eldest boy at the school and brother of Alexander Liholiho and Lot Kapuaiwa, so there may have been hope for them to be married. In her school days, she was a closed friend of Bernice Pauahi,[2]:28 who was the only girl at the school around her age. She and Bernice often played on the piano, teaching the younger girls how to sing and play the piano and among them was the young Lydia Kamakaeha, who would be Hawaii's last queen and a great composer.[3]:581[4]:140

Marriage

She was known for her good looks and lively ways.[5] When she turned eighteen she left school. On September 2, 1847 she married John Robert Jasper, a young American attorney from Virginia. The marriage had the sanction of the Privy Council.[4]:140 Their wedding party was held at Chiefs' Children School and was a festive event. Seventy-five were present, including King Kamehameha III, Queen Kalama, chiefs, chiefesses, the privy council, ministers of state, consul, missionaries and other foreigners.[2]:82 Her marriage to John Jasper was not a happy one as noted later on by her school teacher Mrs. Cooke in her diary:

Jane's marriage with Mr. Jasper turns out to be a sad affair. He is, and has been, very intemperate and she has not been any better for it, and now he has forbidden any one trusting her on his account. The probability is that they will be divorced....[6]

Their marriage was one of greatest scandals in Honolulu in those days and was a continental source of gossips.[5] As Mrs. Cooke predicted their marriage eventually ended in divorce,[7] and he died on April 29, 1851.[8] She married for the second time to Martin Seger on March 15, 1855, and she married, December 6, 1862, J. L. Kaelemakule. She was known to have had one son, Paki-liilii Kaelemakule by her third husband.[9][10]

She later moved to Lahaina and withdrew from royal affairs.[2]:81 When she died, Queen Emma complained in a letter to her cousin Peter Kaeo on the tastelessness of her obituary and the lack of respect she was given.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Sheldon Dibble (1843). History of the Sandwich Islands. Lahainaluna: Press of the Mission Seminary. p. 330. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Mary Hannah Krout (1908). The Memoirs of Hon. Bernice Pauahi Bishop. The Knickerbocker Press. 
  3. ↑ Hiram Bingham I (1855) [1848]. A Residence of Twenty-one Years in the Sandwich Islands (Third ed.). H.D. Goodwin. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Samuel T. Armstrong (1848). The Missionary Herald: Volume 44. American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Queen Emma of Hawaii, Peter Kaʻeo (1976). Alfons L. Korn, ed. News from Molokai, letters between Peter Kaeo & Queen Emma, 1873-1876. The University Press of Hawaii. pp. 44–45. ISBN 978-0-8248-0399-5. 
  6. ↑ Amos Starr Cooke, Juliette Montague Cooke (1970) [1937]. Mary Atherton Richards, ed. The Hawaiian Chiefs' Children's School. C. E. Tuttle Company. p. 342. 
  7. ↑ Rosemary I. Patterson (2006). Kula Keiki Aliʻi: A Novel Partially Based on the Effect of the Chief's Children's School on Hawaii's Monarchs (2 ed.). Booksurge LLC. p. 57. ISBN 1-4196-4875-6. 
  8. ↑ David Lawrence Gregg (1982) [1853-1858]. Pauline King, ed. The Diaries of David Lawrence Gregg: an American Diplomat in Hawaii, 1853-1858. Hawaiian Historical Society. p. 553. 
  9. ↑ Christopher Buyers. "The Kamehameha Dynasty Genealogy (Page 4)". Royal Ark web site. Retrieved 2009-11-22. 
  10. ↑ Edith K. McKinzie and Ishmael W. Stagner (1983). Hawaiian Genealogies: Extracted from Hawaiian Language Newspapers 1. University of Hawaii Press. p. 42. ISBN 0-939154-28-5. 
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