► King Kalakaua Intervenes

Excerpt from The Honolulu Star Bulletin
Clarice B. Taylor's Tales About Hawaii
June 30, 1953

NAME IS CHANGED BY KING KALAKAUA

Hidden Alii, No. 14

     Kalilioku Piianaia found her Chinese husband to be a perfect partner except for one thing. He wanted to make his oldest boy, Abraham, a Chinese gentleman.

     Akuna had all the virtues of a Chinese husband. He was a good provider, he cooked, tended the children and kept the family well dressed. When farming failed on Lanai,he brought his family back to Honolulu and engaged in business.

     By the time Abraham was entering his teens, Akuna had made enough money to go back to China and live as a Chinese gentleman.

     Kalilioku did not want to go to China. Akuna tried to talk to her into allowing him to return with just one boy, Abraham. He told her she could keep the other two boys and three girls.

KING KALAKAUA ACTS

     The distracted mother turne to King Kalakaua with her problem. She begged him to stop her husband from taking the boy out of Hawaii.

     Kalakaua agreed to forbid the boy leaving for China. He went further, he said he would protect all the children by officially changing their name to Piianaia instead of Akuna.

     And that is how it happens that the Piianaia children have their mother's name instead of their father's. In some obituaries the members of the family were identified as the son or daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Piianaa Akuna. 

     Akuna took the King's decision with grace. He gave up returning to China and lived in Honolulu with a son to a ripe old age. He was almost 90 when he died in the 1900s.

SENT TO ENGLAND

     Having kept Abraham Piianaia in Hawaii, King Kalakaua began to take interest in the bright young man. When he attained funds to send young Hawaiians to England and Europe to be educated, Abraham Piianaia was among the group. A friend John Lovell, was sent at the same time and returned at the same time.

     When he returned from England, Abrahama became Abraham St. Chad Piianaia as has been told before in this story. 

     During the residence at St. Chad College, Abraham St. Chad Piianaia made friends with an Englishman, Leopold Blackman. The friendship continued after Piianaia returned to Hawaii. 

     Eventually Mr. Blackman came to Hawaii and settled her. He became a writer on articles about Hawaiiana.

Next: The Weddng

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Source: https://familysearch.org/patron/v2/TH-300-43958-0-84/dist.pdf?ctx=ArtCtxPublic

► Abraham Piianaia. Son of Hidden Alii

Honolulu Star Bulletin. June 16, 1953 - Tales About Hawaii, Clarice B. Taylor 

Abraham Piianaia.
Son of Hidden Alii

Hidden Alii, No. 1

     If all goes according to plan, Abraham Piianaia will receive a master's degree in Pacific Area Studie from the University of Hawaii in June of 1954 and will be the first Hawaiian to do so.

     Mr. Piianaia was graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University in January 1953. If he gets his master's degree, he hopes to continut until he gets a doctorate.

     All Hawaiians may take pride in Mr. Piianaia's accomplishments, for he is a symbol of the coming of age of the Hawaiian. They may be proud of the fact that Mr. Piianaia, a descendant of the old priests who were Hawaii's intellectuals, is demonstrating a desire for scholarship shown by his alii ancestors, one of whom was a true "hidden" alii.

     Mr. Piianaia was graduated from the Kamehameha Schools in 1933 when jobs were at a premium. Since he could not afford to attend the University, he took a job as a stevadore. Eventually this led to signing on a ship which carried him around the world.

MASTER'S LICENSE

     He joined the Honolulu Police Force in 1937, expectin the settle down and spend full time supporting his wife and two growing boys. The World War II came along and he took leave of absence in1942 to go to the Mainland to attend a maritime school.

     In the same manner that his Hawaiian ancestors had obtained knowledge to guide them on 2,000 mile voyages, Piianaia obtained a Master's Unlimited License and joined the Army Transport Service.

     He saw more of the world from the decks of an Army Transport and rejoined the police force at the end of the war. He left the Police Department in 1952 to work for the Public Utilities Commission.

UNIVERSITY STUDENT

     Mr. Piianaia's hunger for knowledge had been fed by his travels. Now he decided on ambitious project. He kept his full time job (to support his family) and enrolled at the University of Hawaii.

     His interest in anthropology, languages and the cultures of the many people he had visited in the Pacific led to his determination to study the University's new graduate course of the Pacific Areas.

     In order to learn other Polynesian languages, Piianaia decided he must first perfect his knowledge of Hawaiian. He spoke Hawaiian fluently but he did not know its technicalities, so he enrolled in the class at the University taught by Samuel Elbert, master of many Polynesian languages.

     As he learned his own language, Piianaia taught it in turn to a class of teachers at Kamehameha Schools. Now he is furthering his knowledge of Hawaiian by acting as guide to exhibits on Saturday and Sunday at the Bishop Museum.

Next: Hidden Alii, No. 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Source: https://familysearch.org/patron/v2/TH-300-43958-0-84/dist.pdf?ctx=ArtCtxPublic