Elizabeth Kekaaniau

Elizabeth Kekaʻaniau Laʻanui Pratt
Spouse Franklin Seaver Pratt
Issue Theresa Owana Laʻanui (adopted)
Eva Kuwailanimamao Cartwright(adopted)
Full name
Elizabeth Kekaikuihala Kekaʻaniauokalani Kalaninuiohilaukapu Laʻanui
House House of Kamehameha
House of Laanui
Father High Chief Gideon Peleʻioholani Laʻanui
Mother High Chiefess Theresa Owana Kaheiheimalie Rives
Born September 12, 1834
Laʻanui Estate, Waialua, Oahu
Died December 20, 1928 (aged 94)
Honolulu, Oahu
Burial Oahu Cemetery

Elizabeth Kekaʻaniau Laʻanui Pratt or Elizabeth Kekaikuihala Kekaʻaniauokalani Kalaninuiohilaukapu Laʻanui (1834–1928) was a great grandniece of Kamehameha I, being a great granddaughter of Kalokuokamaile, the older brother of Kamehameha I, founder of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Life

She was born September 12, 1834 in her family home at Waialua. She was given the name Elizabeth after her mother's adoptive mother Queen Elizabeth Kaʻahumanu, and the Hawaiian name after Chiefess Kekaikuihala, her father's older sister. Her full name was Elizabeth Kekaikuihala Kekaʻaniauokalani Kalaninuiohilaukapu Laʻanui. She was 10 years old when Kamehameha III placed her in the Chiefs' Children's School, also known as the Royal School, a select school for the children of the highest rank in the kingdom who eligible to be rulers. She was taught by missionaries Juliette Montague and Amos Starr Cooke. Her cousins Emma (later Queen consort) and Bernice Pauahi, called her Lizzie.

Her father was High Chief Gideon Peleʻioholani Laʻanui who escaped the slaughter of Kawaihae when Keōua Kūʻahuʻula was killed. Her mother was High Chiefess Theresa Owana Kaheiheimalie Rives, a relative of Queen Kaʻahumanu and daughter of Kamehameha II's French Secretary Jean Baptiste Rives. Through her father's first marriage to Namahana Piʻia, she was the step-niece of Queen Kaʻahumanu.

She married Franklin Seaver Pratt on April 27, 1864.[1] Pratt, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, was born in November 1, 1829.[2][3][4] He served as Colonel on the personal staff of King Kamehameha V. Queen Emma had promised to replace John Owen Dominis with Pratt as Governor of Oahu if she won the Royal election of 1874. Emma lost the election to Kalākaua.[5] After 1874, he served several positions under Kalākaua and later his successor Queen Liliʻuokalani, including Registrar of Public Accounts from 1884 to 1892 and Privy Councilor from March 7, 1891 to July 8, 1892. In October of 1892, Liliʻuokalani appointed him Consul General, stationed in San Francisco, for the Pacific states of Oregon, Washington, California and Nevada. He served as Consul until the time of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893 being recalled in June of that year.[6] Her husband died on January 21, 1894, from the dropsy.[2][3][4] They did not have any children of their own, although they adopted her niece, Theresa Owana Laʻanui, daughter of her brother Gideon Kailipalaki Laʻanui II, when he died in 1871. They would also later adopted Theresa's daughter Eva Kuwailanimamao Cartwright.[7]

She claimed that on his death bed, King Kamehameha V asked her to be his successor. She declined, as did Bernice Pauahi Bishop. Kekaʻaniau was the last survivor of the Royal School. She outlived the entire House of Kalākaua, and was the last Royal School alumnus to die. She died at the age of 94 in Honolulu, Oahu on December 20, 1928.

Gravestone at Oahu Cemetery

In her 80s, Kekaʻaniau wrote a book, Keoua Father of Kings, as a tribute to her great-grandfather Keōua Kalanikupuapaʻikalaninui Ahilapalapa and his son, Kamehameha I. It was republished in 1999 by her great-great nephew, David Castro. It was republished again in 2009.[8] She died December 20, 1928. She was buried at the Oahu Cemetery.

Family

Tree

Ancestry

References

  1. ↑ Hawaiʻi State Archives (2006). "Marriage record: Oahu 1831-1910". Ulukau, the Hawaiian Electronic Library. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "The Late Frank S. Pratt". The Daily Bulletin. January 12, 1894. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Frank S. Pratt Dead". The Hawaiian Gazette. January 12, 1894. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Dead An Old, Respected, Citizen Passes away". Hawaii Holomua Progress. January 12, 1894. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  5. ↑ Liliuokalani 2007, p. 6.
  6. ↑ "Pratt, Franklin S.office record". state archives digital collections. state of Hawaii. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
  7. ↑ Nucciarone, Monica (2009). Alexander Cartwright: The Life Behind the Baseball Legend. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. p. 113. ISBN 0-8032-3353-1.
  8. ↑ Pratt 2009, p. front.

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

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