Elizabeth Keawepoʻoʻole Sumner

Elizabeth Keawepo‘o‘ole Sumner

Elizabeth Keawepoʻoʻole Sumner Chapman Achuck Lapana (December 1850 – February 22, 1911) was a Hawaiian high chiefess during the Kingdom of Hawaii and lady-in-waiting of Princess Likelike. An accomplished Hawaiian composer, she composed the popular Hawaiian love song Sanoe with Queen Liliʻuokalani, which was about a love affair in the Hawaiian royal court in the 1870s.[1][2] Her Hawaiian name Keawepoʻoʻole literally means "headless Keawe."[3][4][note 1]

Early life and family

Born in December 1850, she was the daughter of William Keolaloa Kahānui Sumner, a hapa-haole (part Caucasian) Hawaiian high chief, and his punalua partner Mauli Tehuiarii, a Tahitian princess and the sister of Sumner's wife Manaiula Tehuiarii.[7] She was of Hawaiian, Tahitian and English descent.[8] Her father High Chief William K. K. Sumner (1816–1885) was the eldest son of High Chiefess Keakuaaihue Kanealai Hua and the British Captain William Sumner (1786–1847), of Northampton. Captain Sumner arrived in Hawaii in 1807 as a cabin boy; initially befriending Kauai's king Kaumualii, he later became a naval captain under King Kamehameha I, who united the Hawaiian Islands in 1810. Sumner captained the government schooner Waverly and deported the party of Catholic missionaries led by Alexis Bachelot and Patrick Short in 1831.[9][10] Hua, her paternal grandmother, was the cousin and hānai (adoptive) sister of high Chiefess Ahia Beckley, wife of Captain George C. Beckley, who was one of the reputed designer of the Flag of Hawaii. Related to the Kamehamehas through Uminuikukaailani, her grandmother descended from the famous twins Kahānui and Kaha‘opulani, the Kohala chiefs who reared Kamehameha during his infancy.[11][12] Elizabeth Sumner attended Oahu College from 1864 to 1865.[13]

Keawepoʻoʻole's elder half-sister was Nancy Wahinekapu Sumner (1839–1895); their mothers were sisters. Their family's ancestry and connection to the ruling families of Hawaii and Tahiti allow the two sisters to associate with many members of the royal family of Hawaii. Nancy was a prominent lady of the court during the reigns of King Kamehameha IV and King Kamehameha V, serving as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Emma and close friend to Princess Victoria Kamāmalu. She was notorious for rejecting the marriage proposals of Lord Charles Beresford and Kamehameha V.[14]

Compositions

Elizabeth Keawepoʻoʻole Sumner with Liliʻuokalani and Likelike, 1880

Keawepoʻoʻole became the lady-in-waiting of Princess Likelike, befriending her and her elder sister Princess Liliʻuokalani. Both princesses were the royal sisters of the reigning King Kalākaua who had won the royal election of 1874 against Queen Emma. Liliʻuokalani, who would later reign as the last queen of Hawaii, called her by the name of Kapeka. And with Liliʻuokalani, she collaborated with and wrote several songs under this name. Their best known composition was Sanoe, which along with Aloha ʻOe were amongst Liliʻuokalani most classic works.[6][15] This romantic mele (song) described a secret love affair in the court of King Kalākaua in the 1870s involving an unknown man and a married lady at the royal court given the pseudonym "Sanoe," meaning "the fog or mist of the mountaintop,".[1][2] The identity of the lady has been popularly ascribed to Kapeka herself or Likelike, although the lyrics do not disclose the woman's identity.[1][15] Other songs credited to her include Penei No, Pua Ani Ani, and Ka Lei Na Ke Aloha with most of her work still in private hands.[1] Beside being an accomplished composer, she was expert in the traditional chants of Ancient Hawaii. She composed a kanikau (death chant) for her half-sister after Nancy's death from asthma in January 10, 1895.[16][17]

Marriages and children

Elizabeth Keawepoʻoʻole Sumner married a wealthy Chinese businessman Mr. Achuck (1832–1877). Achuck was the adopted Hawaiianized name of Qing Ming Qwai, who had immigrated in 1849 from Zhongshan in the Guangdong province of China.[18] He was the friend and business partner of Chun Afong, Hawaii's first Chinese millionaire, with whom he co-owned Afong & Achuck, a chain of stores formed in 1865, which sold Oriental novelties to Chinese residents and the upper echelon of Honolulu society.[19][20] Although not the first,[note 2] the interracial marriage of a Hawaiian high chiefess to a Chinese businessman was considered unconventional at best. Her father disproved of the union but "found solace in the fact that the 'Chinaman' was a wealthy one."[22] Considered a beauty of the royal court, Elizabeth had numerous prominent suitors and marriage proposals. Queen Emma, a political rival to the Kalākaua family and a friend of her sister Nancy, referred to Elizabeth's husband as the "pigtail suitor Achuck." Commenting on Achuck's previous two marriages, one which was still legal, she stated in a letter, "Fancy spending a lifetime with a heathen Chinese who has the diversion of two wives at home to whom he must now and again go to spend a time with."[21] Achuck had previously contracted a marriage with a hapa-haole Hawaiian woman named Kamaua,[note 3] while his first wife was still alive in China. He later dissolved the union with Kamaua on the charges of adultery.[24][18]

In a ceremony presided by the Reverend Father Herman Koeckemann, Achuck and Elizabeth were married on the evening of July 3, 1872, at the residence[note 4] of Princess Likelike and her husband Archibald Scott Cleghorn in Honolulu.[25][26] With Achuck, she had two known daughters. The eldest named Anastasia Nalanialua Achuck (1874–1947), married James Kenneth Old, Jr. in 1895,[27] and the younger daughter was named Mary Achuck, who married H. G. Morse and later William Kaia Sproule.[28][29][30]

Daughter Mauli Keawepoʻoʻole Lapana (1885–1899)

After Achuck's death, Keawepoʻoʻole remarried to a Hawaiian man named Lapana who had no surname. They became Mr and Mrs Lapana Keawepoʻoʻole and had one daughter Mauli Keawepoʻoʻole, who had been a student at the Kamehameha Girls' School before dying in May 28, 1899 from cephalitis.[31][32] Through her eldest daughter Anastasia, Elizabeth is the great grandmother of Nalani Yvonne Olds Napoleon and Mauli Olds Aspelund.[6]

After suffering from diabetic complications for four months, she died in Honolulu at her daughter's residence on Liliha street in February 22, 1911. She was sixty years old at the time of her death. Her funeral service was held at the Catholic Cathedral.[30][33][6]

Notes

  1. ↑ Her Hawaiian name is also often spelled Keawepoʻole[5] or Keawepoʻoolenamoku.[6]
  2. ↑ Achuck's business partner Afong was already married to Elizabeth's estranged cousin Julia Fayerweather.[21]
  3. ↑ Kamaua was twelve years old at the time of her marriage to Achuck. She was a student of Protestant missionary Reverend Lowell Smith of the Kaumakapili Church, who orchestrated the match.[18][23]
  4. ↑ This was most likely the Emma Street residence of the Cleghorn's, where Princess Kaʻiulani was born, before the family moved to ʻĀinahau.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Topolinski March 1976, pp. 3–6.
  2. 1 2 Carroll 2006, p. 59.
  3. ↑ Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel Hoyt Elbert (2003). "lookup of poʻoʻole". in Hawaiian Dictionary. Ulukau, the Hawaiian Electronic Library, University of Hawaii Press. Retrieved July 2, 2013.
  4. ↑ Thrum 1896, p. 116.
  5. ↑ Topolinski March 1976, p. 3.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Hawaii Medical Association 2004, p. 148.
  7. ↑ "Princess Keawepooolenamoku". geni.com. Retrieved July 2, 2013.
  8. ↑ Topolinski February 1976, p. 2.
  9. ↑ Daws 1968, p. 89.
  10. ↑ Kaeo & Queen Emma 1976, p. 127.
  11. ↑ Topolinski 1981, p. 51.
  12. ↑ Topolinski February 1976, pp. 2–4.
  13. ↑ Punahou School 1907, p. 82.
  14. ↑ Topolinski 1981, pp. 50-51.
  15. 1 2 "Sanoe". Huapala – Hawaiian Music and Hula Archives. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
  16. ↑ Topolinski 1981, p. 56.
  17. ↑ Topolinski January 1976, pp. 5–6.
  18. 1 2 3 Dye 2010, p. 25.
  19. ↑ Dye 1997, p. 97.
  20. ↑ Dye 2010, p. 26.
  21. 1 2 Dye 1997, pp. 109–110.
  22. ↑ Dye 1997, p. 110.
  23. ↑ Dye 1997, pp. 16–17.
  24. ↑ Dye 1997, pp. 73–74.
  25. ↑ "Married: Achuck—Chapman". The Friend 21 (8) (Honolulu). August 1, 1872. p. 61.
  26. ↑ Dye 1997, p. 109.
  27. ↑ "Marriages: Oahu (1832-1910)". state archives digital collections. state of Hawaii. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  28. ↑ "The "Rough House" Case". The Independent. XVIII (2728) (Honolulu). February 4, 1904. p. 3.
  29. ↑ "Married: Sproule–Morse". Honolulu Star-Bulletin XXIV (7596) (Honolulu). August 16, 1916. p. 4.
  30. 1 2 "Friend of Former Queen is Dead". The Hawaiian Gazette LIV (16) (Honolulu). February 24, 1911. p. 6.
  31. ↑ "Died". The Independent VIII (1213) (Honolulu). May 29, 1899. p. 3.
  32. ↑ "News in a Nutshell". The Hawaiian Star VI (2261) (Honolulu). May 29, 1899. p. 8.
  33. ↑ "Mrs. Lapana Dies At Daughter's Home". Evening Bulletin (4859) (Honolulu). February 23, 1911. p. 10.

Bibliography

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