Pākī

Abner Kuhoʻoheiheipahu Pākī (c. 1808–1855) was a Hawaiian high chief during the reign of King Kamehameha III, the father of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, founder of Kamehameha Schools.

Early life and family According to Hawaiian tradition, he was born in the year Ualakaa, which corresponded to around 1808, on the island of Molokaʻi.

Pākī was a close friend of King Kamehameha III. He served as Privy Councillor, Chamberlain to the King, Assistant Judge of the Supreme Court, and in the House of Nobles from its founding 1841 until 1855. The most prominent feature of his character was his firmness; when he took a stand he was immovable.

Marriages Pākī married first High Chiefess Kuini Liliha but their marriage produced no children. He then married Kamehameha III's niece Laura Kōnia, daughter of Kamehameha III's half-brother Pauli Kaōleiokū. It was one of the first Christian weddings for native Hawaiians at Kawaiahaʻo Church in Honolulu on December 5, 1828.

Konia and Pākī lived at Lahaina when it was the capitol, and the King and the Premier Kekāuluohi, had their residence there. Gorham D. Gilman, a merchant from Boston, mentions visiting Kōnia and Pākī at Lahaina in their "fine new house" in his diary on June 26, 1845. He and his wife arranged a marriage between her daughter and Kinau's and Kekūanaōʻa's son, Prince Lot.

His daughter opposed her parents' decision. She wished to marry for love and said there was no love between her and Lot besides the love of a brother toward his sister. He, his wife, and Governor Kekūanaōʻa told Bernice it was her duty as a high chiefess to marry a high chief of rank. His daughter later married Charles Reed Bishop, an American. He never attended his daughter's wedding at the Royal School. Bernice and her parents later reconciled at the constant urging of the twelve-year-old Princess Victoria Kamāmalu. The house was originally called ʻAikupika (Egypt). Later it became the Arlington Hotel.

The two-story coral house was built by Pākī himself, from the original grass hut complex of the same name at the same site, financed by the sale of Mākaha Valley and would later become one of the primary residence of his daughter Bernice Pauahi and her husband.

Death On the death of Kamehameha III, Pākī predicted he would only outlive his king for a few months. He had planned on giving all his land and estates to his foster daughter Lydia, but changed his mind and left all his properties to his daughter Bernice. Lydia later became ruling Queen Liliʻuokalani, and would always feel disappointment that her foster sister, Bernice, had not willed her Haleʻākala, where she grew up as a child.

Family tree