Elizabeth McHutcheson Sinclair (26 April 180016 October 1892) was a Scottish homemaker, farmer, and plantation owner in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, best known as the matriarch of the Sinclair family that bought the Hawaiian island of

Niihau Niihau ( Hawaiian: ), anglicized as Niihau ( ), is the westernmost main and seventh largest inhabited island in Hawaii. It is southwest of Kauaʻi across the Kaulakahi Channel. Its area is . Several intermittent playa lakes provide wetland ha ...

in 1864. Born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland, she married Francis Sinclair, a ship's captain. With six children in tow, the family moved to New Zealand. Her husband and eldest son (and much of the family's property) were later lost at sea. After years of farming, mainly at Pigeon Bay on the Banks Peninsula in the

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

region of the South Island, she decided to relocate to Canada. Unhappy with the conditions she found on

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...

, she considered California but instead went to Hawaii where she bought the Hawaiian island of Niihau for . She later bought additional lands at Hanapepe and

Makaweli Kaumakani (literally, "place in the wind" in the Hawaiian language) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kauai County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 749 at the 2010 census, up from 607 at the 2000 census. History Kaumakani was off ...

on the island of Kauai.Novitz 2010 Her descendants, the Robinson family, continue to own and maintain the island of Ni'ihau.

Early life

Elizabeth Sinclair was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 26 April 1800. Known as "Eliza", she was one of six children born to William (or James) a successful merchant, and Jean Robertson McHutcheson (sometimes spelled "McHutchison").Peterson 1984, 335-340 Eliza married Captain Francis W. Sinclair (1797–1846) of the Royal Navy on 13 January 1824. They had three sons and three daughters. Sinclair was considered a master navigator, best known for saving the life of the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish soldier and Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of Uni ...

in rough seas while escorting him on his return from the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

in 1815.Daws, 1962Harrington, ''Hawaiian Encyclopedia''

New Zealand

The Sinclairs moved to New Zealand, arriving in 1841; they settled in Pigeon Bay in 1843. Eliza's husband and her oldest son George disappeared at sea in 1846 during a business trip headed towards

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

. Her husband was carrying all the family's cash and produce supplies.Joesting 1984, 190 After the disappearance of her husband, Eliza and her five children were left to survive on their own in Pigeon Bay. With her children marrying and producing grandchildren, the Sinclair clan needed more land, and Eliza's son Francis helped plan a new voyage towards that end. They sold their property in New Zealand and sailed to the Pacific Northwest of the United States with the goal of acquiring property in British Columbia.

Pacific Northwest

In early June 1863, the ''Bessie'' arrived in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...

. The Sinclairs found the land wild and undeveloped with thick forests, making the effort required to clear land for agriculture close to impossible with their limited labor and resources. Eliza set her sights on California, but an acquaintance named Henry Rhodes recommended that they avoid the rough oceans during the winter as it would make anchorage difficult. Rhodes suggested that they sail to the

Sandwich Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Ku ...

(Hawaii) instead, since his brother lived in Honolulu. The Sinclairs agreed, and they boarded the ''Bessie'' one last time.Tabrah 1987, 97-98

Hawaii

At the age of 63 years, Eliza led 13 members of her family to Hawaii, arriving in Honolulu Harbor on 17 September 1863 on the vessel ''Bessie''Joesting 1984, 189 captained by her son-in-law, Thomas Gay. The 300-ton barque arrived fully provisioned, with

Merino The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the bree ...

sheep, one cow, hay, grain, chickens, a grand piano, books, and clothing. Eliza was considered a "chiefess" by the native Hawaiians she and her family employed on the island of

and in Makaweli on Kauai.Joesting 1984, 144 In 1885, her niece

Isabella McHutcheson Sinclair Isabella McHutcheson Sinclair (1842 – 29 December 1900) was a Scottish born botanist, author and botanical illustrator. Her best known work is the 1885 book '' Indigenous flowers of the Hawaiian islands'', the first book published with colou ...

, who married Eliza's son Francis, authored and illustrated ''Indigenous Flowers of the Hawaiian Islands'' which has become an important record of the Hawaiian flora. The illustrations are of plants from Kauai and Niihau islands.

Descendants

Her descendants continue to run the island under their private ownership.

Notes

References

*Bird, Isabella L. 1875.
The Hawaiian Archipelago: Six Months Among the Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, and Volcanoes of the Sandwich Islands
'. London: John Murray. *Daws, Gavan, and Timothy Heap. 1962. . ''American Heritage'' 14, no. 6 (October): 48-51, 81-85. *Dunford, Bruce. 2003
Seals, Boaters Threaten Niihau's Livelihood
''Los Angeles Times'', 1 June. *Harrington, Daniel. ''Hawaiian Encyclopedia'', s.v.

. Mutual Publishing. (accessed 8 September 2018). *Holt, Ida Elizabeth Knudsen Von and Harold St. John. 2005. ''Stories of Long Ago: Niihau, Kauai, Oahu''. Revised ed. N.p.: Daughters of Hawaii. . *Joesting, Edward. 1987. ''Kauai: The Separate Kingdom''. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. *Keale, Sr. Moses, and Rerioterai Tava. 1990. ''Niihau: The Traditions of an Hawaiian Island''. Honolulu: Mutual Pub Co. . *Laracy, Hugh. 2001. The Sinclairs of Pigeon Bay and the Romantic 'Prehistory' of the Robinsons of Niihau. ''Journal of Pacific History'' 36, no. 2 (September): 183-199. *Novitz, Rosemary. ''Dictionary of New Zealand Biography'', s.v.
Sinclair, Elizabeth - Biography
. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. (accessed 16 May 2012). *Peterson, Barbara Bennett, ed. 1984. ''Notable Women of Hawaii''. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. . *Stepien, Edward R. 1988. Niihau: A Brief History. Working Paper series. Honolulu: Center for Pacific Islands Studies, School of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa. . * Tabrah, Ruth M. 1987. ''Niihau, the last Hawaiian island''. Kailua: Booklines Hawaii Ltd. . * Wichman, Juliet Rice, and Harold St. John. 1994. ''A Chronicle and Flora of Niihau''. Lawai: University of Hawaii Press. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, Elizabeth 1800 births 1892 deaths New Zealand farmers New Zealand women farmers Scottish emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand horticulturists Niihau People from Hawaii Scottish Calvinist and Reformed Christians People from Kauai 19th-century New Zealand people Ranchers from Hawaii British expatriates in the Hawaiian Kingdom