Kekūanāoa

Who was Kekūanāoa?

Mataio Kekūanāoʻa was descended from the high chiefs of the island of Oʻahu. His first name is the Hawaiian form of Matthew, although he is most commonly referred to as "Mataio".

He was born in 1791 or 1793. His mother was Inaina, daughter of Pupuka, an Oʻahu chief who perished with Elani of Ewa in their revolt against Kahekili II. His father was Kiʻilaweau, the grandson of the Hawaii Island Chief Alapaʻinuiakauaua, the king that had sought to kill the infant Kamehameha at his birth. He was the punahele, or intimate companion of King Kamehameha II in his youth, and followed him to England where the King and Queen Kamāmalu died of measles in 1824. He was able to escape the sickness and return to Hawaii, stabilizing himself in the court by marrying two wives of his late sovereign.

His first marriage to Kalehua was from 1822 to 1825, and the product of this marriage was a son named Paʻaula. He married again to Pauahi, the widow of Kamehameha II. Their marriage lasted only months, from November of 1825 to her death in February of 1826. He is considered the father of her daughter Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani.

He remarried Elizabeth Kīnaʻu, another Kamehameha II widow, who ruled as the Kuhina Nui at the time under the name Kaʻahumanu II. From her he fathered David Kamehameha, Moses Kekūāiwa, Lot Kapuāiwa, Alexander Liholiho, and Victoria Kamāmalu. His sons Alexander and Lot would become King Kamehameha IV and King Kamehameha V. His daughter would become the fifth Kuhina Nui as Kaʻahumanu IV. The third marriage lasted from 1827 until Kīnaʻu's death in 1839. After 6 years as a widower he remarried again in 1845, to the High Chiefess Kaloloahilani. The marriage resulted in the birth of a son on November 28, 1846.