Mary Polly Paaaina

Mary Polly Paʻaʻāina or Mary ʻĪʻī (1833–1853) was a Hawaiian chiefess and sister of Queen Emma who attended Royal School.

Biography

She was born circa 1833. Her parents were Henry Coleman Lewis and High chiefess Fanny Kekelaokalani. Her mother was daughter of John Young the advisor of Kamehameha I and was also grandniece of Kamehameha I. She was adopted by John Papa ʻĪʻī and his wife Sarai. Her hānai parents were lesser ali'i and her foster father also served as kahu (caretaker) to Princess Victoria Kamāmalu. Her half-sister was Emma Rooke, who was 3 years younger than her and the daughter of her mother's second marriage to George Naʻea.

The Cooke Memorial Tablet at Kawaiahaʻo Church commentating the sixteen royal children and their teachers

Entering the boarding school May 1843, she was the last girl to enter the school (the last boy John William Pitt Kīnaʻu entered in 1844). She was 10 years old which was relatively old.[1] She was taught reading, spelling, penmanship, arithmetic, geometry, algerbra, physics, geography, history, bookkeeping, singing and English composition by the missionary couples Amos Starr Cooke and Juliette Montague Cooke. In the classroom students were divided by their age and or length of time as the school. The older group consister of Moses, Lot, Alexander, William, Jane, Bernice, Abigail and Elizabeth who had attend the school since 1839. The next class consisted of Emma, James, Peter and David. Mary was in the youngest class together with Victoria, Lydia, and John Pitt due to her late attendance.[2] They never failed to go to church in a procession every Sunday in charge of their teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Cooke, and occupied seats in the immediate vicinity of the pew where the king was seated. The custom was for a boy and girl to march side by side; the lead being taken by the eldest scholars. Moses and Jane had this distinction, next Lot and Bernice, then Liholiho with Abigail, followed by Lunalilo and Emma, James and Elizabeth, David and Victoria, Mary and Peter, and John and Lydia being the last. She was called Polly Paaina by the Cookes and Liliiuokalani mentioned her in her Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen as Mary Paaina. Notice the numbers of "a" letters in her name varies.[3]

She married Mr. James Augustus Griswold on December 21, 1851 in Honolulu, Oʻahu.[4] Their marriage was extremely short-lived. In 1853, Paʻaʻāina fell ill and after much suffering died at her classmate Princess Victoria Kamāmalu's residence in May 28, 1853 of scrofulous complaints.[5] She was buried in Honolulu in June.[6] The missionary newspaper Friends described her last days:

Her sufferings during her last sickness were extreme. She felt conscious of danger, and, as far as human eye could see, prepared herself for her departure. She took a calm and effecting leave of her friends that were present, and sent her last message to absent ones. She expressed the wish that others whom she loved would prepare while in health for the trying hour of death. “Dearest Mary thou hast left us, Here thy loss we deeply feel, But ‘tis God who hath bereft us, He can all our sorrow heal.” [7]

The only child of this marriage was a daughter named Mary Paʻaʻāina Griswold (March 19, 1853 – aft 1900) who married (1) in San Francisco, 1871, Lewis Albert and had daughter Edith G. Albert, b. 18 Sep 1872, and married (2) in Honolulu, 15 Apr 1886, Charles Ellet Kellogg.[8][9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cooke & Cooke 1970, p. 126.
  2. ↑ Kanahele 1999, pp. 30-34.
  3. ↑ Liliuokalani 2007, pp. 1-9.
  4. ↑ "Marriages: Oahu (1832-1910)". state archives digital collections. state of Hawaii. Retrieved May 31, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Died". The Polynesian. May 28, 1853. Retrieved May 31, 2014.
  6. ↑ Our Family History and Ancestry. "Mary Polly PAAAINA". Retrieved December 27, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Died". The Friend. June 1853. Retrieved May 31, 2014.
  8. ↑ Hopkins 1903, p. 1427.
  9. ↑ Griswold Family Association of America & French 2001, p. 520.

Bibliography