Kaua‘i theater man William A. Fernandez
Born in Makawao, Maui, Kaua‘i theater man William A. Fernandez (1880-1949) began working in the transportation business with his father in 1898, and was later employed as an O‘ahu police officer, a mounted Honolulu patrolman and an employee of the Honolulu Rapid Transit Co.
Hadji Ali, the weirdest person to have ever visited Kaua‘i
By 1933, Honolulu-born showman Edwin Kane “E.K.” Fernandez (1883-1970), founder of Hawai‘i’s E. K. Fernandez Shows, had been staging carnivals, circuses, fairs and sideshow acts in Hawai‘i for 30 years.
Sergeant First Class Roque Perpetua Jr. killed in the Vietnam War
This Island History was written to honor Army Sergeant First Class Roque Perpetua Jr., who was born on Kauai and raised at Grove Farm Plantation, and the other 12 servicemen from Kauai who were killed in Vietnam.
Charles Reed Bishop, the husband of Bernice Pauahi Bishop
Born in Glens Falls, New York, Charles Reed Bishop (1822-1915) sailed from New York City in 1846 with William Little Lee to seek opportunities in the Oregon Territory, but during a stopover for provisions in Hawaii, he remained there instead and formed a partnership with William A. Aldrich selling merchandise to supply the California Gold Rush.
‘Tales about Hawai‘i’ columnist Clarice B. Taylor
Trained as a nurse, Iowa-born “Tales About Hawaii” newspaper columnist Clarice B. Taylor (1896-1963) first came to Hawaii in 1917, where she practiced nursing at Lihue Hospital while collecting Hawaiian tales and artifacts as a hobby in her spare time.
Shideler Harpe, the ‘Soviet spy’ detained on Ni‘ihau
In October 1959, Shideler Harpe, a reporter for The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, was assigned by the paper to make his way to the island of Ni‘ihau — then as it is today the private property of Kaua‘i’s Robinson family — to spend several days there and write an expose of his experiences upon his return to Honolulu.
Ruth Knudsen Hanner’s reminiscences of Waiawa, Kauai
Ruth Knudsen Hanner (1901-1995) was the granddaughter of Valdemar Knudsen, a Norwegian who settled on Kauai in 1852 and became konohiki of over 100,000 acres of west Kauai, and Annie Sinclair, the daughter of Eliza Sinclair, who purchased Niihau from Kamehameha V in 1864.
Three Kauai girls appeared in the movie ‘Blue Hawaii’
Three Kauai girls – Elithe Aguiar, Leimomi Buchanan and her sister, Marvelyn Buchanan – appeared in the movie “Blue Hawaii,” a musical romantic comedy starring Elvis Presley, Joan Blackman and Angela Lansbury that was filmed in Hollywood, Oahu and on Kauai in 1961, with shooting beginning on Kauai on April 11 and largely ending on the 17th .
Francis X. Warther linked Hawaiian Heiau with the Heavens
Hawaiian hula, mythology and chants contain numerous references to relationships between heavenly bodies and heiau.
E. Helekunihi’s visit to Niihau in 1871 – Part 2
In Sept. of 1871, Mr. E. Helekunihi, Mr. and Mrs. Waianaau, and the Rev. Mr. A Kaukau visited Niihau where they were entertained by Mr. and Mrs. Francis Sinclair, the owners of the island.
E. Helekunihi ‘s visit to Niihau in 1871 – Part 1
In Sept. 1871, Mr. E. Helekunihi visited Niihau and wrote an account of his sojourn there that was published in the Hawaiian newspaper “Ke Au Okoa.”
Lonely Hawaiians far from home in the South Seas
While traveling in the South Seas during 1925, Honolulu-born naturalist, agriculturist and traveler Gerrit P. Wilder (1863-1935) met two lonely Hawaiians who had not seen or heard from their Hawaiian relatives for many years.
Denjiro Ota, Founder of Lihue’s Tip Top Cafe & Bakery
Denjiro Ota (1873-1936), the founder of Lihue’s Tip Top Cafe & Bakery (now Tip Top Motel, Cafe, & Bakery), was born in Japan and went to work for Lihue Plantation at Hanamaulu following his arrival on Kauai about 1896.
The construction of the Port Allen breakwater and pier
In 1933, John Waterhouse, the president of Alexander & Baldwin, acting on behalf of Kauai shippers using Port Allen Harbor, urged the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors (BERH) in Washington DC to recommend a $880,000 harbor improvement project for Port Allen, of which $200,000 would be funded by local interests.
Kauai Fisherman J. G. Wyman’s hard luck
On Saturday, Nov. 11, 1905, J. G. Wyman, an elderly, penniless fisherman from Kauai, was sentenced in Honolulu to 24 hours confinement at Oahu Prison by U. S. District Court Judge Sanford Ballard Dole for contempt, because he’d failed to obey a subpoena summoning him to Honolulu for jury duty.
U.S Geological Survey hydrographer on Kauai William V. Hardy
William V. Hardy (1863-1950) is best known for having climbed Mt. Waialeale from Kokee to its summit 22 times – 14 of them alone – between 1911 and 1920 to read its rain gauge as part of his work with the U.S Geological Survey – a record number of ascents for its time.
The arrival of horses at Kalalau Valley in 1864
In 1864, during the reign of Kamehameha V, Kalalau Valley, Kauai had a large thriving population and its own school.
Elsie H. Wilcox Elementary School principal Clarissa Piilani Gerdes
Born on Kauai, Elsie H. Wilcox Elementary School principal Clarissa Piilani Gerdes (1908-1969) was the daughter of lawyer, engineer, sheriff, legislator and Niumalu resident John Haalelea Coney, whose parents were John Harvey Coney, the high sheriff of the Big Island during the reign of Kamehameha IV, and High Chiefess Kekua Kapu o Kalani, a descendent of the Queen of the Puna district, renowned in the meles of Hawaii.
The kidnapping of King Kaumualii
On July 21, 1821, King Kamehameha II (Liholiho) set sail from Oahu with his entourage to pay a surprise visit to King Kaumualii of Kauai.
Kaumualii, the sandalwood trade, and Georg Anton Schaffer
From the 1790s until 1830, sandalwood – the fragrant wood of the iliahi tree – was exchanged by Hawaiian chiefs for foreign goods offered by New England traders, who then shipped it to Canton, China, where they sold it for profit to Chinese merchants, who fashioned it for sale into boxes and chests, or sold it as medicine, perfume, or incense.