Kaoanaeha

Kaokinaōanaokinaeha Mele or Mary Kuamookinao Kaokinaōanaokinaeha, was a Hawaiian high chiefess were married the English sailor John Young who became the royal advisor of Kamehameha the Great. After her husband, John Young died, she took the name Kuamookinao.

Parentage

She was born, circa. 1780 [ [http://homepage.mac.com/gencea/Nui/ps03/ps03_057.htm Kuamoo Kaoanaeha “Mele” ] ] , the daughter High Chiefess Kalikookalani. Geneaologist disagree over who was Kaoanaeha's father due to her mother's to two high chiefs. Most say she was the daughter of High Chief Keli'imaika'i (The Good Chief). He was the only full-blood brother of Kamehameha the Great, being the son of Keoua and Kekuiapoiwa II. Some say her father was High Chief Kaleipaihala-Kalanikuimamao son of Kalaniopuu, King of Hawaii and uncle of Kamehameha. King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani supports the later due to their conflict with Kaoanaeha's granddaughter Emma Naea who ran for Queen Regnant in the Royal Election of 1874. Keliimaikai accepted her as daughter without question and most say he was her true father.

Royal Status

Her royal statues is attested to by the fact that when she was born, "pulo'ulo'u" or "kapu" sticks with tapa-covered balls on the ends signifying a taboo were set up before her house and "pahu heiau" or "kapu" drums were beaten heralding her birth. Further confirmation of her high status was when her father Keliimaikai died in 1810, she was reportedly the only person allowed to enter his premises, which had been declared kapu.

One story states her love story with John Young similar to the story of Pocahontas and John Smith:

Young and Davis would have been killed had not Kaoanaeha, a high lady, fallen in love with Young and by her intercession with the King saved the lives of both sailors. Kaoanaeha was the most beautiful woman on the island of Owhyhee (Hawaii) and was the admiration of all the sailors who visited Karakakooa Bay (). She was the only daughter of Keliimaiki, the favorite brother of the great King, Kamehameha I. John Young and Kaoanaeha were soon married. King Kamehameha appreciated the superior talents of the white men and made them high chiefs.

[http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=990CE5D61F3BE532A25757C1A9649C94679FD7CF&oref=slogin]

A problem with this story is that Young married to Namokuelua prior to her and more than 18 year lapsed between Young's arrival and her marriage to him. She married John Young as his second wife in 1805.

She defied Christianity, the religion of her husband, and was simialar to Ruth Keelikolani in turning down western ways. For example, she defied convention when she took as her new name "Mele Kuamoo", after the name of the battlefied where her brother Kekuaokalani, defender of the kapu system, was killed leading the rebel forces against those of Kamehameha II in 1819.

Death

In the last days of her life, she had wished to stay in Kawaihae. She had been reluctant to leave and probably knew that she would not return -just as fifteen years before, her husband did not return. At sixty-two and too ill to be cured, she died in Rooke House on January 22, 1850. She was buried the next day on the palace grounds by the Royal Tomb, without the high ceremony to which she was entitled by her high chiefly rank. Some wondered why a chiefess of her status would be buried so quietly. The official "Polynesian" did not make much of her death either, devoting just a few lines to her obituary. One reason for the lack of respect indicated that she was "out of favor in the royal circle of Honolulu" partly because she preferred the traditional Hawaiian values, including the ancient religion, and had resisted Christianity and westernization.

Notes

Reference

*Kanahele, George S.. Emma: Hawai'i's Remarkable Queen : a Biography . University of Hawaii Press, 1999.
*Hawaiian Kingdom 1854-1874, Twenty Critical Years By Ralph S. Kuykendall