Island Roots by my father...

A Hawaii Island Story: Aiko & Co.

There is no end to enriching Hawaii Island stories. Here's a Hawaii Island story that (so far)begins in the ranchlands of Waimea and winds up on Broadway, with innumerable tangents running to Kohala and Hilo and the Hamakua Coast, to Maui and Kauai, to Oahu and Hawaii's first Chinese millionaire (Chun Afong), to a famous writer (Jack London), and to a popular film actor (Keanu Reeves). It all begins here on Hawaii Island in Waimea.

Intuitively, most people who know anything about the now defunct sugar industry on Hawaii Island would readily believe it began on the Hamakua Coast. Not so; wrong. It began in Waimea in probably what is today known as the Lalamilo Farm Lots. About 250 acres. Not to be confused with Kauai, it was called the Lihue Plantation, irrigated by the Waikoloa Stream that runs through Waimea Town (behind KTA, next to Parker School, behind the Catholic and Episcopal Churches, and through Waimea Nature Park). The proposed Waimea Trail will run along the Waikoloa Stream from Church Row on down to a proposed park near the Waimea rubbish transfer station just off the Kawaihae Road.

In early Hawaiian times, Waimea was a place of streams and climates that ran from wet to dry - ideal, as it is today, for growing a variety of foods. The Waikoloa Stream is usually dry these days because the water has been diverted into reservoirs above Waimea to meet the town's need for drinking water. In 2004, however, due to obstruction upstream during heavy rains, the Waikoloa Stream flooded the town.

The area that became the Lihue Plantation was once controlled by Governor Kuakini who built the "Hulihee Palace" in Kailua-Kona. This was a time when all land belonged to the king, a time before the foreign concept of private land ownership was introduced, before the Mahele led to earthshaking change which is a whole different story in itself. What became known as the Lihuie Plantation was started by Chinese during the mid-1830s, specifically by Aiko (Lum Ah Jo), one of the original tongsee (sugar masters).

There were only about half a dozen tongsee. A few went to Kauai. It seems Aiko went there first, but the Governor of Kauai was not so accommodating. Somehow, Aiko wound up on Hawaii Island.

Sugarcane grew wild in Hawaii before Captain Cook arrived in 1778 and some of this wild cane was ground in stone mills powered by oxen going round and round. The juice was boiled down in stages into sugar. This occurred earlier, in the early 1800s. The first Chinese mill began on Lanai but this operation ran for only about one year.

The tongsee who came later during the 1830s established organized plantations that cultivated cane. The tongsee had, and coveted, the technique of grinding (squeezing) the cane stalks and boiling the juice down into sugar crystals. The Chinese started small sugar plantations on Hawaii Island which grew and were later consolidated into the larger plantations that operated up to the 1990s. Most of those early Chinese eventually became increasingly involved in acquiring and selling (and gifting) lands, and in early small businesses. Note that the first contract sugar laborers who came to Hawaii were Chinese, but they did not arrive until much later, in 1852.

Aiko sold his plantation around 1840 to Abram Feyerweather, an American who married into Hawaiian royalty. His daughter, Julia, in 1857, married a merchant in Oahu who became the first Chinese millionaire in Hawaii, Chun Afong. He and other Chinese are known to have thrown a big celebration for King Kalakaua. There is a marker on the Waikiki Trail, like the Duke Kahanamoku marker, at the spot where the Afong Villa (a mansion) once stood.

Chun and Julia Afong had 12 sons and 4 daughters. The life of Chun Afong inspired Jack London's short story Chun Ah Chun. Much later, this story morphed into the 1961 Broadway musical 13 Daughters written with music and lyrics by Eaton Magoon Jr. who is related to Julia. Don Ameche had the lead role. Keola Beamer had a part and his mother, Nona Beamer, was Hawaiian consultant. The show didn't run very long. One comment is that it ran too soon after the very successful 7 Brides for 7 Brothers.

Aiko married a Hawaiian woman from the Waimea area in 1835 and they had a daughter, Amelia Akoi, born in 1836. Aiko's wife, Maria Kaahuapea, probably from the Waimea area, was baptized a Catholic in 1840 during a time when Catholics were not very welcomed in Hawaii. Amelia was their only natural child. They raised other children, hanai and adopted.

After selling the Waimea plantation to Abram Feyerweather, Aiko started another plantation in Kohala, near Kapaau where the original Kamehameha Statue (one of five such statues) is located, in the area known as Iole (rat), very close to the distinctive Kalahikiola Church which was severely damaged in the 2006 earthquak but has since been restored, of Reverend Elias Bond who served the area in various capacities for over 50 years. Aiko's plantation was also close to the Kohala Girls School, an intriguing boarding complex which ceased to operate perhaps during the 1940s. In more recent years, it has been nicely restored and renovated and is being used as a private cultural center that welcomes the general public. The nearby original Bond Estate is also a feature of the area.

Aiko next moved down to Hilo where he with other Chinese started a plantation on Ponohawai. And he started other plantations in the areas of Amauulu, Paukaa, Onomea/Papaikou. Incidentally, Chun Afong had an interest in a plantation in Pepeekeo. Aiko had the first bowling alley in Hilo and was involved in other businesses including inter-island shipping. He owned or controlled various properties. Aiko became a Catholic late in life and gifted land to St. Joseph's Church.

Aiko's and Maria Kaahuapea's daughter, Amelia Akoi, married half-Hawaiian half-Chinese Wikoli (Victor) Kamukai. Both Amelia and Wikoli were born in 1836. When Wikoli was baptized a Christian, legend says he turned his name around to call himself Kamukai Victor. They had 11 (or 12?) children. This is how the Victors of Hilo began whose names are seen in various places around town including St. Joseph's School gym where a Victor was a well-known and much loved coach, not only there but elsewhere in Hilo where he served various sports and teams.

Incidentally, but notably, Kamukai Victor's signature, along with the signatures of other Victors, are found in the Ku'e: The Hui Aloha 'Aina Anti-Annexation Petitions 1897-1898. His age is stated as 64 years. This petition, submitted to William McKinley as President of the US Senate stated, ". . . earnestly protest against the said Hawaiian Islands to the said United States of America."

In Hilo, between the Hongwanji temple and Starbucks on Kilauea Avenue in Hilo there are two property lots. Today, one of the two, adjacent to Starbucks, is a parking lot for the Sangha Hall in the rear. The other, adjacent to the temple, is today a financial services office. Both properties once belonged to Aiko. About 10 years ago an old heritage house on what is today's parking lot was, unfortunately and regrettably, torn down.

The home was affectionately known as "Termite Tavern", a gathering place for the Victor family and friends. Aiko, born in China in 1799, died in that house in 1895 - he was blind and still had his Chinese-style hair queue. He is buried in the small, unkempt St. Joseph's Cemetery behind Hilo Terrace Apartments on Waianuenue Avenue. His tombstone is in one of the corners in a plot with other Victor family members.

One of the 11 original Victors, Joseph Aiona Victor, is a direct ancestor of Keanu Charles Reeves who is a sixth generation Victor. (Keanu has a sister, Kim Sarah Makakapu Reeves, and a half-sister Emma Kauluwehionalani Victor.) Born in 1964 in Beirut, Keanu's father was Hawaiian-Chinese-?? and his mother was English. His grandmother, Mrs. Sarah Momilani Victor, born 1923, lives in Hawaii and attends the biennial Victor 'Ohana Reunion.

Another of the 11 original Victor children married an Englishman-Scot (Watson) and they had 14 (or 16 or 18?) children who are directly related to "Huggo's" of Kailua-Kona (von Platen Luder), Honolulu Mayor Neil Blaisdell, the Thurstons, and other familiar names of Hawaii.

One of the 14 married a Hawaiian-Portuguese (Henry William Moniz) who worked for the then Hilo Tribune-Herald for exactly 50 years (1909-1959). Legend has it he never took a day of sick leave. Old timers in Hilo say people were like that in those days. His wife, Ethel (Watson) Moniz, worked for Consolidated Amusement Company (Palace and Hilo Theatres) for some 30+ years. They lived in the other Victor Estate house next to the Hongwanji temple where there is a financial services office today. (The 1960 tsunami terminated just opposite on the makai side of Kilauea Avenue which was half as wide at that time.)

There is always more to the story, the rest of the story, and the whole story. But this is some of the story. It begins in Waimea and goes all around Hawaii Island, to Honolulu, to Maui and Kauai where there are more Victors, to the mainland including Broadway, and beyond to Beirut and wherevah.

Here are a few reference sources:

1974 issue of the Hawaiian Journal of History has a lot on the early Chinese to Hawaii Islandof Hawaii, notably of Aiko and the Lihue Plantation. The 1974 journal is available at the Hilo Public Library and the Thelma Parker Memorial Library in Waimea. Aiko is also mentioned in many other books and articles including Kohala Aina, and Wayne Subica's "Mom & Pop" collections.

November 1986 issue of Honolulu Magazine (available in the Hilo Public Library), has an article by Bob Dye on Abram Feyerweather, Lihue - The Lost Plantation. Over some 50 years author, historian, and journalist Bob Dye wrote many articles published by the Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Magazine. He was an aide to the irascible steamroller Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi. From a Google source: "He wrote countless political and historical articles and edited the three-volume set, Hawaii Chronicles: Island History from the pages of HONOLULU Magazine. That’s not to mention his own books, including a novel, Humble Honest Men, and Merchant Prince of the Sandalwood Mountains, the fascinating story of his wife's, Tessa’s, great-great-grandfather, Chun Afong, Hawaii’s first Chinese millionaire." Dye passed away about a year ago.

Jack London's fictionalized biography of Chun Afong, Chun Ah Chun is available at: http://www.classicreader.com/book/676/1/)

Jack London's short story is the inspiration of the 1961 Broadway musical 13 Daughters starring Don Ameche, written with music and lyrics by Eaton Magoon Jr. Keola Beamer had a part. His mother, Nona Beamer, was Hawaiian consultant.
See: http://broadwaybuffet.wetpaint.com/page/13+Daughters

There's is a Victor 'Ohana website: http://www.victor-ohana.org/


Question: Who was Maria Kaahuapea? Who was her family? Where did she come from? What's HER story?