Lydia Kaʻonohiponiponiokalani Aholo (February 6, 1878 – July 7, 1979) was the namesake and ''

hānai ''Hānai'' is a term used in the Hawaiian culture that refers to the informal adoption of one person by another. It can be used as an adjective, such as "''hānai'' child", or as a verb to ''hānai'' someone into the family. In the Hawaiian cultu ...

'' daughter of Queen

Liliʻuokalani Liliʻuokalani (; Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Kamakaʻeha; September 2, 1838 – November 11, 1917) was the only queen regnant and the last sovereign monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, ruling from January 29, 1891, until the overthrow of the Haw ...

Hawai'i 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 ...

. She became an educator and was the first to formally teach Hawaiian language at Kamehameha Schools.Biodata
kaiwakiloumoku.ksbe.edu. Accessed May 11, 2022.

Biography

Aholo was born on February 6, 1878, in

Lahaina Lahaina ( haw, Lāhainā) is the largest census-designated place (CDP) in West Maui, Maui County, Hawaii, United States and includes the Kaanapali and Kapalua beach resorts. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a resident population of 12,702. Lah ...

, Maui. Her parents were Keahi Aholo, who died shortly after the birth, and Luther Aholo, who would become a leading politician in the Kingdom of Hawaii and secretary at the time to Governor of Maui John Owen Dominis, husband of the future Queen

. The girl was the Aholos' third child, and there were many siblings from her father's previous marriage. Dominis and Liliʻuokalani's marriage had been childless, and she had decided to adopt the newborn child as her own under the Hawaiian tradition of ''

'' despite the disapproval of her husband, her mother-in-law and her brother King

Kalākaua Kalākaua (David Laʻamea Kamananakapu Mahinulani Naloiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua; November 16, 1836 – January 20, 1891), sometimes called The Merrie Monarch, was the last king and penultimate monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, ...

. She named her Lydia Kaʻonohiponiponiokalani Aholo. Besides Lydia, Liliʻuokalani also adopted Joseph Kaiponohea ʻAeʻa and John ʻAimoku Dominis. She grew up in the royal household with her ''hānai'' mother and ''hānai'' brothers. She attended Kawaiaha‘o Female Seminary and graduated from the Kamehameha School for Girls in 1897. Aholo also attended Oberlin College, where she studied music. In Queen Liliʻuokalani's old age, Aholo became a confidante to her ''hānai'' mother. She worked with Principal Ida May Pope at Kamehameha School and taught Hawaiian language until her retirement at the age of 75. Never marrying or having children, she was devoted to her extended family. In later life, she became a mother figure to her grandniece and grandnephews who called her ''Aunty Tūtū.'' She had a strong influence on her grandnephew Alfred Apaka, a baritone singer who popularized romantic Hawaiian ballads during the 1950s. In 1969, Helen G. Allen interviewed Aholo at the Maunalani Hospital in

Kaimuki Kaimukī is a residential neighborhood in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. History In the 19th century the area was a farm of King Kalākaua, where ostriches roamed wild over the mountain side. It later became the site of a carnation farm f ...

. Allen would use the tapes from the interviews to write her 1982 book ''The Betrayal of Liliuokalani''. Parts of the tapes were rediscovered in 2008 by historian Sandra Bonura. Aholo died on July 7, 1979, at the age of 101. She was buried at Nuʻuanu Memorial Park.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aholo, Lydia Kaonohiponiponiokalani 1878 births 1979 deaths People from Maui Native Hawaiian people Hawaiian Kingdom people Educators from Hawaii American women educators Kamehameha Schools alumni Oberlin College alumni Hawaiian nobility Hawaiian adoptees (hānai) American centenarians Burials at Nuʻuanu Memorial Park Women centenarians Nobility of the Americas