Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 7, 1 July 2004 — Hawaiians played key role in early California history [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiians played key role in early California history

By Andy Ah Po Today, the Hawaiian contribution to California history is all but ignored, even though a significant amount of research and documentation exists. No mention is made of them in state history textbooks, yet there are many tales to tell. In fact, Kānaka formed the bulk of the population of San Francisco in 1847. One of the first records of the Hawaiian presenee in California appears in the "Journal of the Vancouver Expedition" kept by Archibald Menzies, a naturalist who accompanied Captain George Vancouver on a voyage around the world. On Nov. 14, 1792, when they were invited ashore by the Mission Fathers at San Francisco Bay, Menzies wrote that Vancouver and several officers "thought that the novelty of a short (horseback) ride might be pleasing to the two Sandwich Island (Hawai'i) women we had on board, so we included them in the party." The next recorded presence of Native Hawaiians occurs within the Chronicles of George C. Yount, who describes an otter hunting expedition in Santa Barbara Bay, off Gilbreth's Point in 1832. Yount's "light boat ... was propelled with paddles in the hands of two sturdy Kanakas" and onee an otter was shot, "one of the Kanakas would plunge into the water and swim for his game and bring it into the boat." The Native Hawaiians' nautical skill also received praise from one Edward Vischer in a

journal account titled "First Visit to CaIifornia" - "These Kanakas have heeome almost indispensable for the ships along the coast of California," he wrote in 1842. "They row uniformly, steadily and untiringly, and are extremely dexterous in bringing a sloop safely and undamaged through breakers whieh no European would dare cross. Many captains not acquainted with these shores owe their rescue to the resolution of these islanders, to their admirable skill in swimming, and to their familiarity with surf." A few diligent historians willing to dig through library stacks or sleuth out the ancestors of these Native Hawaiians who migrated to California ean

be credited with uncovering most of this forgotten history. Two in particular, Henry B. Collins, a curator for the Indian Museum with the State of California, and Charles Kenn of Honolulu, corresponded from 1953 to 1965, exchanging bits of information they uncovered. The Native Hawaiian immigrants enriched California with their skills and culture. One descendent, whose grandfather was a Kanaka and grandmother a Maidu Indian, fondly remembers the red and yellow feather leis his mother made for him. Like those bright feather leis, the stories of the Kānaka and other settlers add a bit of color to the pages of history and help the reader visualize the people, as well as the events, that shaped the California of today. Andy Ah Po is a California state eh'il servant and martial-arts expert of Hawaiian ancestry, who has lived in Sacramento since he was stationed at McClellan Air Force Base there in the late 1950s. Active in Hawaiian civic and advocacy organizations, he was one of the founders of the Hui 'O Hawai'i Hawaiian Club of Sacramento. If you are a Hawaiian on the continent with an interesting story to tell, or if you know of one, please contact OHA Outreach Coordinator Aulani Apoliona at 594-1912, or e-mail aulania@oha.org. ■

"These Kanakas have heeome almost indispensable for the ships along the coast of California. They are extremely dexterous in bringing a sloop safely and undamaged through breakers whieh no European would dare cross." — Edward Vischer, 1 842

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