Mary Dominis

Captain Dominis (1796–1846)

Mary Lambert Jones was born on August 3, 1803, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Owen Jones and Elzabeth Lambert.[1][2] One of eight children, her extended family remained mainly in New England except for her brother-in-law Robert William Holt (1792–1862) who settled in Hawaii around 1833 after her sister Anne Marie's death in 1832. Mary was left in charge of the guardianship of her two nieces Anna Marie and Elizabeth.[3]

Jones married the merchant sea Captain John Dominis (1796–1846), originally of Trieste, on October 9, 1821. They had three known children: Mary Elizabeth Dominis (1825–1838), Frances Ann Dominis (1829–1842), and John Owen Dominis (1832–1891). The family lived in Boston and were listed in directories of Boston until about 1831 when they moved to Schenectady, New York, where John Owen was born.[4][5] Captain Dominis was frequently absent from home, as he was involved in the China Trade in the Far East and competed in the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest with the British Hudson's Bay Company. Commanding the brig Owyhee in 1827, he became the first American importer to cure and introduce the Pacific salmon to the markets of New England. He frequently stopped in the Hawaiian Islands to conduct business and resupply.[6][7] Captain Dominis, Mary and their son John Owen Dominis re-settled in Honolulu, arriving by the bark Jones on April 23, 1837.[2][5] Their two daughters were left in New England for their education. Mary Elizabeth and Frances Ann both died in 1838 and 1842, respectively, and were buried in the Vale Cemetery of Schenectady.[4][8]

Washington Place, Honolulu. Oil on paper by an anonymous artist, ca. 1850–1854

In Honolulu, the Dominises started building a mansion, on lands near the residence of the British consul to Hawaii Richard Charlton. Between 1841 and 1847, the construction details of the mansion were largely attended to by Mary since Captain Dominis was mostly away on voyages raising money for the building cost.[9] Honolulu had become the political and business capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, as during the mid-1840s, King Kamehameha III relocated the government from Lahaina,[10] establishing his residence at ʻIolani Palace on adjacent property facing the Dominis property. [11] In 1846 Captain Dominis sailed for China on the brig William Neilson,[12] intending to purchase Chinese-made furniture for the house which was nearing completion.[13] The ship was lost at sea, along with the United States commissioner George Brown, and Mary became a widow.[14][5]

After the reality of her husband's death became apparent, Dominis opened up Washington Place to boarders to support herself and her young son John Owen Dominis.[note 1] Among these tenants was Anthony Ten Eyck, the US resident commissioner to Hawaii.[12] While boarding with the Dominises, his room became the United States legation in Honolulu. On February 22, 1848, the birthday of the first US President George Washington, Ten Eyck wrote to the kingdom's Minister of Foreign Affairs Robert Crichton Wyllie, that he had re-named the mansion "Washington Place". Wyllie replied in agreement the same date. Kuhina Nui Keoni Ana issued the official proclamation from Kamehameha III, of the renaming on Washington's birthday.[16][17][18] Other tenants and guests included American diplomats Luther Severance, David L. Gregg and Elisha Hunt Allen and politicians William Little Lee and Robert Crichton Wyllie.[19] Dominis also established the first European-style garden in Honolulu.[20]

On September 16, 1862, Dominis' son married the Hawaiian high chiefess Lydia Kamakaʻeha Pākī, the future Queen Liliʻuokalani. The "small and quiet" wedding was held at Haleʻākala, the residence of Bernice Pauahi Bishop and her husband Charles Reed Bishop. The ceremony was officiated by Rev. Samuel C. Damon in the Anglican rites. King Kamehameha IV and other members of the royal family were honored guests.[21] The newly married couple moved to Washington Place with Dominis.[18] John was appointed Governor of Oʻahu in 1868 by King Kamehameha V. After the accession of Liliʻuokalani's brother King Kalākaua in 1874, John was also appointed Governor of Maui in 1878 and Lieutenant General and Commander in Chief of the Hawaiian Army in 1886.[22][23][24]

Despite Liliʻuokalani's royal status, Mary Dominis disapproved of the marriage. According to historian James L. Haley, Mary Dominis was an "arrant racist" toward her daughter-in-law.[25] The married life of Dominis and Liliʻuokalani was a troubled one, however by the time of Mary's death, she had learned to accepted her. In Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen, Liliʻuokalani revealed a little about her domestic difficulties:

As she felt that no one should step between "[Dominis]" and her child, naturally "[Liliʻuokalani]", as her son's wife, was considered an intruder; and I was forced to realize this from the beginning. My husband was extremely kind and considerate to me, yet he would not swerve to the one side or to the other in any matter where there was danger of hurting his mother's feelings. I respected the closeness of the tie between mother and son, and conformed my own ideas, so far as I could, to encourage and assist my husband in his devotion to his mother. Later in life Mrs. Dominis seemed to fully realize that there had been some self-sacrifice, and she became more and more a tender and affectionate mother to me as her days were drawing to a close.[26]

Mary Dominis died on April 25, 1889, and was buried at the Oahu Cemetery in Honolulu.[2][27] After Mary Dominis's death, Queen Liliuokalani took down the American flag which had flown at Washington Place during Mary's lifetime. This flag wouldn't be raised again until April 1917 when Liliuokalani raised it in honor of Hawaiian casualties in the sinking of the SS Aztec by German U-boats.[28]