Elizabeth Peke Davis

Elizabeth Peke Davis (1803–1860) was a Hawaiian Kingdom high chiefess, the hapa haole daughter of Isaac Davis, the Welsh advisor of Kamehameha I, who helped him unify the island in 1810. She was the wife of George Prince Kaumualii, also known as Humehume.

Early life Betty was born on February 12 or December 24, 1803, at Waimea, Hawaii Island. Her 45-year-old father, Isaac Davis from Milford Haven, Wales, known as Aikake by Hawaiians, was one of Kamehameha's closest friends and advisors. He was treated like nobility due to his service. He was given the title High Chief, and owned vast tracts of land. Her mother was the chiefess Kalukuna, a relative of Kamehameha I, and her father's second wife. She was given the name of Elizabeth and often referred to as Betty or Peke, the Hawaiian version of Betty. She was the youngest sister of Sarah "Kale" Kaniaulono Davis and George Hueu Davis.

Tragedy struck her father in 1810. Aikake was poisoned by the chiefs who disliked the peaceful capitulation of the Kingdom of Kauai, under King Kaumualii, into a vassal state of King Kamehameha. After his death, his close companion, John Young, looked after Betty and her brother and sister. Two of them were living with him in 1807, and after Davis's murder Young continued to raise them along with his own five children James, her future-brother-in-law; Fanny, mother of Emma Rooke; Grace, hānai (foster) mother of Emma; John, future premier or kuhina nui; and Jane, mother of Peter Kaeo and Albert Kunuiakea, at his homestead at Kawaihae. In his will, dated 1834, Young divided his lands equally between all his and Davis's children.

Marriages Betty married twice. Her first marriage was to Humehume, known as George Prince Kaumualii, the son of King Kaumualii and a commoner. George was five years her senior and a veteran of the War of 1812. Due to her mother-in-law's status, George was not in line to follow the father as King or even vassal king of Kauai. George was well educated, having been to New England for an education. Betty was a widow at age 23. George and Betty had a son in early 1821, but the boy died in February 1823. Mercy Whitney described the burial: "A regular procession of two and two followed the corpse. Going into the fort in which the grave was dug seemed like entering a burying ground, more so than anything I have witnessed since I left America." The fort was Paulaula o Hipo, a former heiau. The infant was part Hawaiian and part foreign. Betty and George had another daughter in 1821, who was given to another chiefess because George had no desire for a girl. From the same journal it is noted that Peke gave birth on Nov 25, 1821 to a girl. This girl is said to be Kamakahai, who had several surviving children. In 1824, another girl was born, Harriet Kaumualii, following her father's surname. The name Kawahinekipi was given to her by Kaahumanu while she was an infant in Oahu. She married John Meek Jr., but died in 1843, childless. Kamakahai named her daughter Hattie Kaumuali'i'kalani Kanaina after her.

Betty's second marriage was to Antone Sylva, also known as Antonio Sylva (1807–1887), and this match was childless.

Later life American missionary Hiram Bingham described Betty in 1824: "Betty was more fair, of more European feature and slender make than most of her countrywomen at the age of 25 or 30; more taciturn, thoughtful, sedate, and retiring than others of equal rank and intelligence. She had derived some advantages from the instructions of the missionaries, and manifested some concern for her salvation. But her circumstances differed little from those of the wife of a petty chief of the lowest rank."

She died in 1860.