JANE "KINI" LAHILAHI YOUNG - KA'EO
Summer always brings to mind beach vacations, surfing, and the state of Hawaii which is perhaps the most famous American state for surfing since the sport originates there among the indigenous people and so many important surfing contests take place there. The Hawaiian people, of ancient Polynesian descent, had their own Royalty, though Hawaii being ruled by Kings and Queens was over in 1893, long before the islands were granted statehood in 1959. They had a system of High Chiefs and Chiefesses that controlled land and the common people living on it. Today there are still people in Hawaii who want these islands to go back to being a separate nation because they think that businessmen overthrew their native government illegally.
Traditionally, marrying or mating with your relatives was not allowed among common Hawaiian people, but accepted practice among royals. This attitude seems to have been the case among some other geographically distant ethnic royal groups in this world too, such as the Egyptians who even practiced sibling marriage. Long ago it was thought that royal people have a special blood line which it's important to preserve and goes along with the thinking called "The Divine Right of Kings To Rule." Very basically, this means that the person believes God himself gave them the Kingship. (It must be strange to realize what an exceptional place in life you have.) Today the study of genetics and DNA seems to show us that marrying relatives, especially close relatives, such as siblings or first cousins, often reinforces genetic and even psychological qualities that are not desirable. The European family The House of Hapsburgs, certainly played that out.
There is another factor that I think we need to consider here at Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot and that is that people who are arranged to be married, especially to close relatives, seem to not often find their legitimate spouses especially desirable. When the couple also need to produce offspring to guarantee a succession, there can be the burden of duty in trying to do so, made more awful when the offspring are born disabled or weak or die. The King or Queen who takes a lover and companion may do so out of desire, loneliness, or love - or all three. Perhaps desperation is another factor. The plight of the Royal Mistress is often that she cannot be married and her offspring face uncertainty. However, the situation for Jane Lahilahi in Hawaii may also have been one of a unique cultural understanding and cooperation among several people in her story.
Our Mistress of this summer month, Jane Lahilahi Young Ka'eo, usually just called Jane Lahilahi, (the Ka'eo the surname of her husband Joshua Ka'oe) is, like that of many a Royal Mistress, part of the history of her country. Jane was born on the Big Island, Hawaii, in a community called Kawaihae. She came from the elite status. Her mother was a High Chiefess named Ka'oana'ehu-u and a niece of King Kamehameha I. She was also associated with this King because of an important connection via her father, John Young, a Scottish man from England who had first arrived on an American fur trading ship. John Young Olohana (his honorary Hawaiian name) was the trusted advisor to King Kamehameha I. Jane, also affectionately called Jenny or Kini , was herself a High Chiefess.*
Jane's husband, Joshua, was a Judge on the Supreme Court of Hawaii and the grandson of King Kalani'opa'a. Therefore their two sons (we assume he was the father) also had Royal Hawaiian blood. Her son Peter, and to whom fatherhood is attributed to Joshua, was born in 1836, and for some reason was adopted to be raised by her brother John. Another son attributed to Joshua was adopted by her brother James, but died in 1851. One wonders why she wasn't raising them herself. The answer may simply be that there was a tradition of adoption in Hawaiian culture.
These people were living during a time when missionaries were coming in - Catholic, Protestant denominations, Mormons, and converting people to Christianity which was a shift in culture that became united with a shift in politics to Western forms of government.
As a Mistress to King Kamehameha III, Jane had twin sons. One of them, Albert lived into adulthood. This was The King's only son as the two children he had with his wife died in infancy. However, guess who this son was raised by? The King's wife, Queen Kalama. He was the last in the direct line of the House of Kamehameha. One wonders how Jane felt about not raising any of the children she birthed. Did she see having children as a joy or a duty? Was she simply too busy to also mother?
Jane's son Peter with her husband could have been eligible for the throne of Hawaii but he ended up living in a leper's colony for several years and died in 1880! Until vaccinations, illness had no respect for the elite in any country.
Jane remained married and signed an X next to her name on the legal paperwork used to settle her husband's estate. Her surviving son, though with royal blood, was not allowed to be the heir to his father's throne because of his illegitimacy. His mother wrote poetry. He wrote poetry. He reportedly was a "womanizer" but was there such a thing with the liberal mentality about sexuality that existed in traditional Hawaiian culture?
Jane Lahilahi was only forty-nine when she died and had suffered paralysis from a stroke eight years earlier! Reportedly she didn't let her disability get her down. This is an indication that she had a pleasant personality and open view of life. Little seems to be known about the relationship she had with the King but certainly his wife knew about it. Jane was buried at the Royal Mausoleum in the Wyllie Crypt, which is located in Mauna ;Ala (Fragrant Hills) in Honolulu. It is considered a sacred site.
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