Prince Moses Kekuaiwa (20 Jul 1829 - 24 Nov 1848) was a grandson of Kamehameha the Great, being the son of his daughter Kinau, also known as Kaahumanu II. He was born the eldest son of Mataio Kekuanaoa and Elizabeth Kinau. He would have two brothers Alexander Liholiho, Lot Kapuaiwa and a sister Princess Victoria Kamamalu.
He was according to Hawaiian customs hanaied (adopted) by High Chief Kaikio'ewa, Governor of Kauai and was heir presumative to the position of Governor of Kauai. His handsome features and strong physique were exactly like a picture of his grandfather, Kamehameha the Great.[1]
He was 10 years old when his uncle, Kamehameha III, placed him in the Chiefs' Children's School, a select school exclusive for the children of the highest chiefly rank in the kingdom, eligible to be rulers and was under the teachings of Mr. & Mrs. Amos Star Cooke. Under an official order of the king, he was proclaimed eligible to rule the Hawaiian Kingdom. He was believed[who?] to be next in line for the throne after Kamehameha III because of his age.
He was not a favorite student of the Cookes.[citation needed] The Cookes along with their fellow missionaries that Hawaiian children were wild and unruly and that the royal children were the worst. Unlike American children, ali'i children were considered to be kapu and sacred subjects. It would be unthinkable for a kahu (servant) to strike a royal charge and could be punished to the extant of death. The Cookes however, did not hesitate to enforce their rules and would beat the children with a ruler, deprive them of their meal and confining them to their rooms. On one occasion Mr. Cooke struck Alexander on the head and Moses replied, "he keiki a ke ali'i oia nei." Translated as "He is the son of the chief." Cooke replied "I am the King of this school."[2] Many strange and often trying experiences unfolded for both Moses, his classmates and their teachers. In the earliest, most shaping time of their lives, the children had been raised in the environment of their homes which in the 1830's mixed some of the worst features of the old culture and those of the West, newly introduced to Hawaii.
The presence of doting and scrupulously attentive kahus (attendant) by the score, within the margin of the school, presented a serious problem to the Cookes. Servants appearing at windows and doors, waiting to indulge the every impulse of their royal charges, continually hampered the educational program. In time this problem was handled, with the dimissing of most of them and replacing them with one, John Papa Ii. But others troubles developed. Fear of ghosts brought difficulties at nightfall. The children looked everywhere for signs portending trouble with the spirit world. Odd holes in the ground or a particular pattern of shadows on the floor, or some other manifestation, were looked upon as warning signs of demons. [3]
When the permanent school building was completed, the children were housed in rooms of their own but under the same roof with the Cooke family. A strict rule that kahus were not to sleep in the same rooms as the children was enforced upon by their teachers. Before long the rule was broken. Even disciplinary measures, when taken, could not put an end to the weeping that continued into the small hours of the morning. In time the burgeoning [[sexual urge|sexual surge]s of the older children presented the necessity of cautious surveillance of their after dark activities. The robust tendency of Moses became a great strain on Mr. Cooke's New England-endowed sense of sexual morality. Mathematics, history, philosophy, and music were embellished with interpolations of long-established lore superimposed upon the Western curriculum by fervent kahus and the older generation at home. In time the question of their future activities, including marriage, became a paramount issue. [4]
Moses, being the eldest male of his generation and a lineal descendant of Kamehameha the Great, was expected to marry a high chiefess of rank to continue the royal line as was the duties of his brothers and sister. This was not to be. He was among the first to graduate from Royal School. He died in 1848 at Honolulu in a measle epidemic that had struck Hawaii. He was 19-years old and was unmarried and without any issues.[5]
References
- ^ Kula Kaiki Ali'i: A Novel Based on the Effect of the Chief's By Rosemary I. PattersonPage 30
- ^ Kanahele, George S.. Emma: Hawai'i's Remarkable Queen : a Biography . University of Hawaii Press, 1999.
- ^ http://www.janesoceania.com/hawaii_monarchy/index.htm
- ^ http://www.janesoceania.com/hawaii_monarchy/index.htm
- ^ http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/liliuokalani/hawaii/hawaii.html#II