LILIUOKALANI GENEALOGY
Lydia
Kaniakaeha Liliuokalani, daughter of Kapaakea, was born at Honolulu, 2
September 1838. Immediately after birth, she was adopted, according to an old
Hawaiian custom, by High Chief Abner Paki, husband of Konia (see I. House of Kamehameha,
no. 16). She was thus a foster-sister of the celebrated Bernice Pauahi Bishop
(no. 23 of the House of Kamehameha). She was educated at the Royal School,
founded by the Cookes. On 16 September 1862, she married John Owen Dominis, who
was born at Boston, Mass., in 1832, as the son of Captain John Dominis, a
sea-captain of Italian extraction, by his wife, Mary, who was descended froin
the Lee and Snelling families of Massachusetts. She took an active part in
social and church affairs and was choir leader at the historic Kawaiahao
Church.
In
1874 her elder brother, Kalakaua, became King of the Hawaiian Islands, and
on
11 April 1877 she was proclaimed Heir Apparent, succeeding her younger brother,
Prince William Pitt Leleiohoku 11, who had died the preceding day. In 1878 the
Princess paid her first visit to the United States and in the same year
composed the beautiful Hawaiian song, Aloha Oe (Farewell to Thee). She was
Princess Regent of the Kingdom during her brother's world tour in 1881, and
during his final visit to the United States in December 1890-January 1891. On
the King's death 20 January 1891, she succeeded to the Throne, and nine days
later took the oath to maintain the Constitution of 1887. On 9 March 1891, she
named as Heir to the Throne her niece, Princess Victoria Kaiulani, sister of
Princess Miriam Likelike (no. 11).
There
is no need to describe here the events which led to Her Majesty's deposition.
On 17 January 1893, a provisional government was established with Sanford B.
Dole, son of missionaries from Maine, as President of Hawaii. The Republic
became a "permanent" institution on 3 July 1893, with Mr. Dole as the
first (and only) President.
Ex-Queen
Liliuokalani was very bitter toward the United States after her dethronement in
1893 and the annexation of Hawaii to this country in 1898. But in time she
became reconciled to her changed status. She lived in retirement at Washington
Place, her husband's home at Honolulu. In June 1910 a new vault for the
Kalakaua Dynasty was completed in Nuuanu Valley by the Territorial Government
of Hawaii. The remains of members of her family were transferred to it from the
old vault in her presence. In 1917 the United States entered World War 1, and
to show her patriotism she flew the American Flag at Washington Place. She died
there, 11 November 1917, and seven days later was buried in the Royal Mausoleum
with all of the honors due to a reigning sovereign. President Wilson sent a
floral tribute, units of the Army, Navy, and National Guard escorted her
remains, The Star Spangled Banner and the Hawaiian Kingdom's national anthem,
Hawaii Ponoi, were played, an artillery battery fired a 21-gun salute, and
"Taps" was played as her coffin was lowered into the vault where lie
forever the Sovereigns of Hawaii. The United States paid high tribute to the
last royal ruler of a territory that was to become the fiftieth State 42 years
later.
John
Owen Dominis, the Queen's American husband, was educated in a Honolulu school,
for a time was a mercantile clerk in San Francisco, and later was clerk in a
Honolulu commercial house. , His marriage to Liliuokalani (1862) brought him
many honors. He became Private Secretary to King Kamehameha V in 1863, and
Governor of Oahu (a lifetime position). He also served at various times
Governor of Maui, Commissioner for Administration of Crown Lands, Member of the
Hawaiian Embassy to Queen Victoria's Jubilee (1887), and Lieutenant~General of
the Kingdom. On his wife's accession to the Throne, he was created Prince
Consort (1891). He was Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Orders of Kamehameha 1,
Kalakaua, Crown of Hawaii, and Star of Oceania, and Knight Commander of the
Orders of Franz Joseph (Austria), Isabella the Catholic (Spain), the Rising Sun
(Japan), and the Chrysanthemum (Japan). His Royal Highness died 27 August 1891.
In his report on the death of the Prince Consort, U. S. Minister John L.
Stevens observed: "By his associates he has been regarded as amiable in
character, and of strong American sympathies". He is buried in the Royal
Mausoleum, Nuuanu Valley. He and Queen Liliuokalani had no issue.
Rubincam