Kaukuna Kahekili

Kaukuna Kahekili, often called Kehikili or Kehikiri in earlier sources, was a Hawaiian high chief during the early period of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Kaukuna Kahekili
Diedc. 1840s
SpouseKahakuhaʻakoi Wahinepio
IssueKahalaiʻa Luanuʻu (stepson)
Kekauʻōnohi (stepdaughter)
HouseKekaulike
FatherKawelookalani?
MotherPeleuli?
ReligionChristian
8. Kahekil's brother Kaiko and 6. wife Wahinepio mourning alongside 7. Kalākua Kaheiheimālie and two unidentified women during Queen Keōpūolani's funeral.

His parentage and ancestry are disputed. Most source said he was descended from the Kings of Maui, although it doesn't tell how.[1]:99 While another source claim that not only was he descended from the last king of Maui, probably Kalanikūpule or Kahekili II, but that he had Spanish blood in his vein, citing the legend of a shipwreck Spanish captain and his daughter who married into the aliʻi class.[2]:213 One source says he was the son of Kawelookalani and Peleuli.[3]:231 Peleuli was the daughter of High Chief Kamanawa, one of the royal twin and trusted advisor of Kamehameha I, and his wife Kekelaokalani. Peleuli was a former queen of Kamehameha I. Kawelookalani's was Kamehameha's half-brother and son of High Chief Keōuakupuapāikalani and High Chiefess Kamakaeheukuli.

He had a brother by the name of Kaiko (sometimes written Kakio) who later married Haʻaheo Kaniu, the future foster mother of Kalākaua. They became the punahele of close companions of Kamehameha II.[1]:100 He and his brother had absolutely no power and served no significant governmental post under Queen Kaʻahumanu or King Kamehameha II. Although Kahekili led an army of a thousand men alongside Hoapili and Kaikioʻewa to reinforce Kalanimoku and Kahalaiʻa Luʻuanu in Kauaʻi against Humehume and his rebels in 1824. Placed in charge of small battery in Lahaina under Governor Hoapili, he was noted as a stern warrior with great strength and many battle scars – "a savage in countenance, in form and muscle ... a perfect Hercules"[1]:105 – and was a greatly trusted member of court.[4]

Kahekili was one of the founding members of the House of Nobles in 1841.[5] His name was mentioned in the 1840 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Kahekili married Kahakuhaʻakoi Wahinepio as her fourth husband. They had no known children. He converted to Christianity in the 1820s alongside many of his relatives.[1]:137 He died in the 1840s and willed all his lands to his stepdaughter Kekauʻōnohi.[6]:108

References
  1. Charles Samuel Stewart (1839). William Ellis (ed.). A Residence in the Sandwich Islands. Weeks, Jordan & Company.
  2. James Jackson Jarves (1843). History of the Hawaiian Islands. Tappan and Dennet.
  3. Sheldon Dibble (1843). A History of the Sandwich Islands. Lahainaluna: Press of the Mission Seminary.
  4. Hiram Bingham I (1855) [1848]. A Residence of Twenty-one Years in the Sandwich Islands (Third ed.). H.D. Goodwin. pp. 238, 314.
  5. "Kahekili office record". state archives digital collections. state of Hawaii. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
  6. Davianna McGregor (2007). Nā Kuaʻāina: Living Hawaiian Culture. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-2946-8.
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