Kiliwehi

Mary Ann Kiliwehi Kaʻauwai ( – November 4, 1873) was a Hawaiian high chiefess and lady-in-waiting of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Alongside her husband William Hoapili Kaʻauwai, she traveled with Queen Emma of Hawaii to Europe between 1865 and 1866, and circumnavigated the globe upon their return eastward via New Zealand.

Early life Kiliwehi was born , as the daughter of Kuini Liliha, an influential high chiefess and Governor of Oahu, and Haʻalou (different from the chief executed for adultery with one of Kamehameha II's wives in 1822). Her mother was a descendant of the ancient kings of Hawaii and Maui. Kiliwehi was also the name of an early Hawaiian high chiefess who was the daughter of King Kamehameha I and Peleuli, the wife of Prime Minister Kalanimoku and the mother of Leleiohoku I.

She had many half-siblings including sisters: Jane Loeau (1828–1873), Abigail Maheha (1832–1861), and Kailinoa, and brothers: Pius F. Koakanu (died 1880) and Aberahama Kaikioewa Palekaluhi (1830–1912). Most of her siblings were given away in hānai to other family members and friends. The Hawaiian custom of hānai is an informal form of adoption between extended families practiced by Hawaiian royals and commoners alike. Kiliwehi and her sister Abigail Maheha were adopted under the Hawaiian tradition of hānai by the Princess Kekauʻōnohi, a granddaughter of Kamehameha I who served as Governor of Kauai.

She attended the Royal School in Honolulu, which was run by American Protestant missionaries Reverend Edward G. Beckwith. Her classmates included the future monarchs Kalākaua and Liliuokalani, and Princess Victoria Kamāmalu. These royal classmates and her two elder sisters had attended the previous institution of the same name, a boarding school ran by Amos Starr Cooke and Juliette Montague Cooke, and had been declared by King Kamehameha III as eligible for the Hawaiian throne.

Marriage and travel abroad

Kiliwehi married William Hoapili Kaʻauwai (1835–1874), a Maui high chief, politician and the only ordained Native Hawaiian priest of the Anglican Church of Hawaii. They had no children. She and her husband became associated with King Kamehameha IV and his wife Queen Emma. They became early converts to the Anglican faith. At Florence, her husband requested to return home and continue his clerical duties in Hawaii. Later at Turin, Kiliwehi was also permitted to accompany him back. They returned to London and took an extended route back to Hawaii, stopping off in Auckland, New Zealand without the knowledge or permission of Queen Emma or King Kamehameha V. Prior to leaving England, Kaʻauwai had written to the Hawaiian Minister of Finance Charles Coffin Harris indicating they intended to take a "rather long round-about, and slow way toward home". Unknown to the Hawaiian government, the couple went to New Zealand to recruit Māori immigrants to settle in the Kingdom of Hawaii. This unauthorized excursion displeased the Hawaiian government and they were asked to return home.

Illness and death

Kiliwehi developed pulmonary tuberculosis, a serious disease among the Native Hawaiians which her husband also had.