John Papa Īī

Ioane "John" Kaneiakama Papa ʻĪʻī (1800–1870) was a Hawaiian politician and historian.

Life ʻĪʻī was born 1800, in the month of Hilinehu, which he calculated to be August 3, in later life. He was born near the Hanaloa fishpond in Kūmelewai, Waipiʻo, ʻEwa, Oʻahu. His mother was Kalaikāne Wanaoʻa Pahulemu while he is considered to have two fathers (a tradition called poʻolua), either Kuaʻena Mālamaʻekeʻeke or Kaiwikokoʻole, although ʻĪʻī claimed the former as his father because he did not resemble Kaiwikokoʻole. His family belonged to the Luluka branch of the Luahine line, hereditary kahu (caretaker) to the chiefs of Hawaii. His cousin was Daniel Papa ʻĪʻī.

ʻĪʻī was raised under the traditional kapu system and trained from childhood for a life of service to the high chiefs. At the age of ten he was taken to Honolulu by his uncle Papa ʻĪʻī, a kahu of Kamehameha I, to become a companion and personal attendant to Prince Liholiho, who became King Kamehameha II in 1819. ʻĪʻī was close to Liholiho during the young heir's instruction in the conduct of government and ancient religious rites. His master died in 1823 in England.

After Liholiho's death, ʻĪʻī continued to serve the rulers of Hawai‘i and including being kahu for Victoria Kamāmalu and hānai father of Mary Polly Paʻaʻāina. ʻĪʻī and his wife Sarai Hiwauli were selected to be kahu of the students at the Chiefs' Children's School in 1840. Throughout his life he was in constant contact with the political, religious, and social concerns of the court, as well as the common people. ʻĪʻī was among the first Hawaiians to study reading and writing with the missionaries, yet although he adopted Christian teachings, he retained a profound love and respect for the culture of his ancestors. ʻĪʻī died of scarlet fever on May 2, 1870, at Mililani, his residence in Honolulu.

Legacy

He left a first-hand account chronicle from 1866 until his death in a series of articles in the Hawaiian language newspaper Ka Nupepa Ku'oko'a. or August 1, 1861; she died of consumption a month afterward. On January 1, 1862, he married for final time to Maraea (Malaea) Kamaunauikea Kapuahi. By this marriage, he had his only surviving child, Irene Haʻaloʻu Kahalelauko-a-Kamāmalu ʻĪʻī, born on October 1, 1869. On September 30, 1886, Irene married Charles Augustus Brown and had sons George ʻĪʻī Brown (1887–1946), and Francis Hyde ʻĪʻī Brown (1892–1976); a daughter, Bernice Kamamalu (1894-1895), died young; a second daughter Rose Kaouinuiokalani (1895-1972) married Arthur Lewis Davis and had two sons. Irene divorced Brown in 1898 and married Carl Sheldon Holloway on June 27, 1901. She died on August 26, 1922. From his grandson, ʻĪʻī has many descendants including Kenneth Francis Brown.

The lands that John ʻĪʻī had been awarded were put into a trust called the John ʻĪʻī Estate, Limited, which was the subject of a lawsuit due to ambiguity in the original will.