Fanny Kekelaokalani

Fanny Kekuiapoiwa Kekelaokalani Young Lewis Naea (1806-1880), was a Hawaiian high chiefess and mother of one of Hawaii's most well known figures Queen Emma. Fanny was a serious, stable lady and a strict Christian.

Early life

She was born, July 21, 1806 in Kawaihae, in Kohala District, on the Island of Hawai'i.^[1] Her father was John Young was a former English sailor who became the royal advisor of Kamehameha the Great. Her mother was the High Chiefess Kaʻoanaʻeha, the niece of Kamehameha the Great. She was given the name of Fanny or Fannie and sometimes referred to as Pane the Hawaiian version of Fanny. Her Hawaiian name Kekelaokalani derived from her great-great grandmother, the High Chiefess Kekelaokalani, the sister of Keeaumoku-nui, the grandfather of Kamehameha the Great; and was also a common name among the Hawaiian nobilities before that. Her name Kekuiapoiwa derived from Kamehameha's mother and her great-grandmother. She was raised on her father's homestead situated on a barren hillside overlooking the Kawaihae Bay, on a piece of land Kamehameha had parcel out to her father on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. She grew up with her two sisters, Grace and Jane, and her brother, John. Fanny was eldest, Grace was second, John was third, and Jane the youngest. She had two elder brother by her father's first marriage, to Namokuelua, and they were Robert and James. She and her siblings were hapa-haole or part Caucasian but still of a aliʻi (royal) status.^[2]

Marriage

Her first marriage was to Henry Coleman Lewis^[3], a Haole or foreigner, and she mothered Mary Paaaina, who attended Royal School along with her younger daughter Emma. Later, she married the High Chief George Naea. With Naea she gave birth to a daughter. They named her Emma. She, according to Hawaiian tradition, hanaied her daughter to the her sister Grace Kamaikui and her husband Dr. Rooke. Emma's birthplace has been debated rather if it was in Kawaihae, Lahaina or Honolulu. Most likely Emma was born in Honolulu. It was when her father, John Young, had died at the her sister's home in Honolulu on December 16, only three weeks before Emma's birth. He had been living there for some time under Dr. Rooke's care, and it appears the Young family, including Fanny and Nae'e, had gather in Honolulu, perhaps in anticipation of his death. In any case, they were present to attend his funeral. It is foolish to think that the Rookes would have allowed Fanny in her last stages of pregnancy to risk the health of the baby by sailing back in the rough channels to either Kawaihae or Lahainna. Obviously, the only sensilble alternative for her was to remain in Honolulu and have her baby there..^[4] After Emma's adoption it was say that Fanny either divorced her husband or Naea died and she became a widow. Naea later contracted leprosy in 1838 and died in 1854.

Later life

She was present at the deathbed of Kamehameha V in 1872. Other women present were his half-sister, the Princess Ruth Keelikolani, Mrs. Pauahi Bishop, Queen Emma, and Lydia Kamakaeha Dominis, all eligible candidates in the female line. ^[5] Fanny died September 4, 1880, on Honolulu, Oahu. She was 74 years old. She live to a very old age. She had lived passed all her siblings and relatives. She was the second to the last surviving member of the Young family, the last being her daughter Emma Kaleleonalani. She was intured at Mauna Ala in September of 1880, in the Wylie Tomb.^[6]htm

Ancestors

References