Levi Haʻalelea

Levi Haʻalelea ( – October 3, 1864) was a high chief and member of the Hawaiian nobility during the Hawaiian Kingdom. He initially served as a kahu (royal caretaker) and konohiki (land agent) for High Chief Leleiohoku, one of the grandsons of Kamehameha I. He later became abHulumanu (court favorite) in the royal court of Kamehameha III and eventually served as Chamberlain for the court. He married Kekauʻōnohi, the granddaughter of Kamehameha I. These connections to the ruling dynasty gave him access to vast landholding during the land division of the Great Mahele in 1848. Active in politics, he was a member of the Privy Council of State and served in the House of Nobles. In later life, he helped the early Mormon missionaries to the islands by leasing them land and eventually converted to that faith.

Early life and family Born circa 1822 in Lahaina, Maui, his father was Haʻaloʻu, the Governor of the island of Molokai under Prime Minister Kalanimoku, and his mother was Kipa. His maternal half-brother was Timoteo Haʻalilio, secretary of Kamehameha III and envoy of the Hawaiian Kingdom who led a diplomatic mission to Europe and the United States for international recognition of Hawaii's sovereignty. In the Hawaiian language, his name Haʻalelea meant man sacrificed when cutting an ʻōhiʻa tree for an image.

Haʻalelea became a kahu (caretaker) and cared for High Chief Leleiohoku along with his maternal uncle Malo. Leleiohoku was the son of Kalanimoku and a grandson of Kamehameha I. He would also serve as Leleiohoku's konohiki or chief of land (land agent). In 1834, he and Leleiohoku attend Lahainaluna Seminary, a school ran by the American missionaries who arrived in Hawaii in 1820. Some of his classmates included writer S. N. Haleole, historian Samuel Kamakau and future royal governor George Luther Kapeau. He became a Hulumanu (court favorite) in the royal court of Kamehameha III in the 1830s. In 1837, the members of the Hulumanu divided the king's land on the island of Molokai between themselves and Haʻalelea received lands at Ohia and half the ahupuaʻa of Kamananoni.

In 1907, a marble memorial tablet at Kawaiahaʻo Church was erected honoring Haʻalilio, Haʻalelea, and his second wife Amoe Ululani, who was a great benefactor of the church. The plaque and another plaque commemorating Ululani's sister Laura Kekuakapuokalani Coney hang above the mauka (mountainward) royal pew at Kawaiahaʻo. His brother's Christian name was written as Richard instead of Timothy and Haʻalelea's birth year was inscribed as 1828 instead of 1822. The tablet reads: "In Memory of Levi Haalelea 1828-1864 His wife Ululani A. A. Haalelea 1824-1904 and Richard Haalilio 1808—1844." A similarly inscribed stone grave marker for Ululani, Haʻalilio and Haʻalelea was erected at the Kawaiahaʻo Cemetery in an enclosure, makai (seaward) of the Lunalilo Mausoleum.

An oil portrait of Haʻalelea (above) by Enoch Wood Perry Jr. once hanged at ʻIolani Palace in the 1920s. It is now in the collections of the Hawaii State Archives.

He was a related by blood to both Queen Kalama and her uncle, Charles Kanaʻina. After his death the two would approve administration of his Last Will and Testament as the devisees under the Will.

Family tree