Kapoli Kamakau

Lizzie Kapoli Kamakau (c. 1851/1852 – July 27, 1891) was a Hawaiian composer and musician who lived during the Hawaiian Kingdom. A close associate and friend of members of the Hawaiian royal family, she served as protège and lady-in-waiting to the future Queen Liliʻuokalani (r. 1891–1893). She was a member of the singing club organized by Liliʻuokalani and her sister Likelike and wrote music compositions with the two royal sisters. In 1888, she contracted leprosy and was exiled to the leper colony of Kalaupapa. At the settlement, she is thought to have taught singing lessons to the female patients. She died in 1891 after Queen Liliʻuokalani's visit to Kalaupapa as part of her tours of the islands.

Kapoli Kamakau, photograph by Menzies Dickson

Early life

Lizzie Kapoli was born in either 1851 or 1852. Her father was ʻUmi Kukaʻilani (1833–1899). ʻUmi would later marry a patient at Kalaupapa named Hana.[1][2]

She lived in the household of Bernice Pauahi Bishop and her husband Charles Reed Bishop. She formed a close friendship with the future Queen Liliʻuokalani (r. 1891–1893) and Princess Likelike. A member of the Kaohuokalani Singing Club founded by Liliʻuokalani, she helped compose numerous songs with the two royal sisters.[1][3] One of her first collaborative compositions was Liko Pua Lehua (Tender Leaves of the Lehua Flower) with Liliʻuokalani and Likelike. This tune was adapted from Thou E Ka Nani Mae ʻOle (Thou Art the Never Fading Beauty).[4] After the death of Likelike in 1887, she composed kanikau (dirges) with Eliza W. Holt and Liliʻuokalani.[5] In May 1887, her letters indicate she wrote O Makalapua, in honor of Liliʻuokalani, and shared the lyrics and music notes with the then princess while she was traveling to the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.[1]

In Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen, Liliʻuokalani wrote of her relationship with two of her other Hawaiian protèges Eveline Townsend Wilson and Sophie Sheldon:

Mrs. Eveline Wilson from her childhood had professed a great fondness and love for me, and with two other young ladies, Lizzie Kapoli and Sophie Sheldon, had made my home theirs. Bright young girls, with happy hearts, and free from care and trouble, they made that part of my life a most delightful epoch to me.[6]

In her will, Princess Keʻelikōlani bequeathed Kapoli (who was at her bedside prior to her death) her house lot (known as Namauʻu to Kekūanāoʻa) on Queen Street, Honolulu and a piece of land called Kaʻala, near Joseph O. Carter's residence, for her lifetime. After the 1844 death of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Kapoli was also provided with monthly allowance of 40 dollars in her will.[1][7]

Exile to Kalaupapa

Liliʻuokalani recorded the event leading to her exile for leprosy. Writing on January 22, 1888, Liliʻuokalani noted, “Recd letter from Kapoli telling me that she had been reported to board of health & perhaps will be sent to Kalawao. Poor Lizzie—sat thinking of her all evening and writing Music.” On March 1, 1888, Kapoli was admitted to Kakaʻako Branch Hospital for inspection. She successfully petitioned the governmental Board of Health for her father ʻUmi to accompany her to the colony as her kōkua (helper) before on April 27. On May 1, she and twenty-eight other individuals departed for the leper colony of Kalaupapa on Molokai. Liliʻuokalani's diary noted, "Went to Kakaako to bid Kapoli good bye."[1]

Between Kapoli's admission to Kakaʻako and departure for Kalaupapa, Charles Reed Bishop wrote to Superintendent of Kalaupapa Rudolph Wilhelm Meyer and Minister of Interiors Lorrin A. Thurston about building a home (at his own expense) for female patients in the colony. Through the intercession of Bishop, the government built the Bishop Home to allow Kapoli and other women and girls to reside away from the general population of patients. In 1889, the Catholic sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis: Mother Marianne Cope, Sisters Vincentia McCormick and Leopoldina Burns were charged with the care of the patients at Bishop Home.[1] Kapoli possibly taught singing to the girls at Bishop House and taught students how to play the organ at the Protestant church.[8]

Kapoli died on July 27, 1891, at Kalaupapa, from influenza complicated by dysentery.[8] Researcher Colette Higgins noted that Liliʻuokalani possibly visited Kapoli at Bishop House before her death. Liliʻuokalani was visiting Kalaupapa for her third time but first as reigning monarch, on April 27, 1891, as part of her tour of the islands.[9] Kapoli was buried at Kalaupapa. Her father and his second wife were later buried next to her.[1][2]

References
  1. Law 2012, pp. 199–211.
  2. Dill 2017.
  3. Taylor 1922.
  4. Allen 1982, p. 256.
  5. Forbes 2003, p. 249.
  6. Liliuokalani 1898, p. 227.
  7. Zambucka 1977, p. 76.
  8. Law 2012, pp. 242–243.
  9. Higgins 2019.

Bibliography
  • Allen, Helena G. (1982). The Betrayal of Liliuokalani: Last Queen of Hawaii, 1838–1917. Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark Company. ISBN 978-0-87062-144-4. OCLC 9576325.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Dill, Jan E. Hanohano (April 11, 2017). "Kalaupapa and its Legacy in Hawaiian Families: How Tragedy Begets Pride". At Low Tide. Retrieved January 20, 2020.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Forbes, David W., ed. (2003). Hawaiian National Bibliography, 1780–1900, Volume 4: 1881–1900. 4. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-2636-9. OCLC 123279964.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Law, Anwei Skinsnes (2012). Kalaupapa: A Collective Memory (Ka Hokuwelowelo). Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-6580-1. OCLC 830023588 – via Project MUSE.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Higgins, Colette (December 2, 2019). Three Queens and the People of Kalaupapa. Kāneʻohe, HI: Windward Community College. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  • Liliuokalani (1898). Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen, Liliuokalani. Boston: Lee and Shepard. ISBN 978-0-548-22265-2. OCLC 2387226.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Taylor, Albert Pierce (1922). Under Hawaiian Skies: A Narrative of the Romance, Adventure and History of the Hawaiian Islands. Honolulu: Advertiser Publishing Company, Ltd. OCLC 479709.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Zambucka, Kristin (1977). The High Chiefess: Ruth Keelikolani. Honolulu: Mana Publishing Company. OCLC 3836213.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

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