Lahilahi Webb
Elizabeth Lahilahi Napuaikaumakani Rogers Webb (1862–1949) was the last lady-in-waiting and companion of Queen Liliuokalani during the final years of her life around the time of her death. She also worked for the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.
Life
She was born in 1862 with the surname Rogers. Her name Lahilahi means "thin as beaten gold" in the Hawaiian language.[1] According to historian Helena G. Allen, she was an adopted granddaughter of Don Francisco de Paula Marín, an influential figure during the reign of King Kamehameha I.[2] Hawaiian businessman and politician John F. Colburn was also her cousin.[3] As a young girl in 1875, she witnessed the funeral procession of King Lunalilo to the newly built Lunalilo Mausoleum at Kawaiahaʻo Church including the famous twenty-one rapid thunderclaps which echoed across Honolulu in place of the 21-gun salute denied to him by King Kalākaua.[4][5] She became an attendant of Queen Liliuokalani.[6] She married to Captain Harry H. Webb (born 1846 in Bangor, Maine), who had settled in the Hawaiian Islands during the reign of King Kamehameha V and lived at Washington Place where he was an assistant of Colonel Curtis P. Iaukea and also a close friend of the queen.[7]
Even after the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893 and annexation to the United States in 1898, Lahilahi Webb continued serving as lady-in-waiting to the former queen. She remained one of the only confidante of the queen for most of Liliuokalani's later life. She was present at her deathbed when the queen died on November 12, 1917, at Washington Place. She also stood vigil at the vigil by the queen's casket while her body laid in the Royal Mausoleum prior to her final interment in the vault of the Kalākaua Crypt.[8] After her death, she was given ownership of the queen's dog Poni, who was named after the Hawaiian word for "coronation". This dog had been Liliuokalani's constant companion up till her final illness and death.[2][9] The Honolulu Star-Bulletin wrote:
Poni, small treasured descendant of many canine tribes, banished from the beloved presence of the queen by her death, has found a comforter in Mrs. Lahilahi Webb, who, through the expressed wish of Her Majesty a few weeks before her death, is now Poni’s mistress. The dog was the queen’s constant companion to her death[9]
During the early 1900s and 1910s, she became involved in the Kaahumanu Society and was an elected secretary and assistant secretary for the organization.[10] For the latter part of her life, after the queen's death, Lahilahi Webb worked for many years with the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum and became a respected authority figure in the Hawaiian community.[1][6] She died in 1949.[4] Webb Lahe and Lahilahi Lane in Honolulu were named after her.[1]
References
- 1 2 3 Clark 1939, p. 20.
- 1 2 Allen 1982, pp. 384, 391, 395, 397.
- ↑ "Pa`au`au Hula". huapala.org. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
- 1 2 "2008 Programs". Distinctive Women in Hawaii History. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
- ↑ Galuteria 1993, p. 62.
- 1 2 Kuykendall 1967, p. 62.
- ↑ "Long-Time Friend Of Queen Was 71 Yesterday". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu. November 16, 1917. p. 2. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
- ↑ "Death Comes to Hawaii's Queen in Calm of Sabbath Morning". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu. November 12, 1917. p. 2. Retrieved September 29, 2016.' "Body of Queen Is Sealed Away In Royal Crypt". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu. November 26, 1917. p. 4. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
- 1 2 "Poni, small treasured descendants...". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu. November 14, 1917. p. 2. Retrieved November 14, 2016.; "No Hope For Her Majesty Says Doctor". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu. November 10, 1917. p. 1. Retrieved November 14, 2016.; Silva, Carol. "Hawaiian Histories – Royal Pets". Perfect Days Hawaii. Retrieved November 14, 2016.; Manalo-Camp, Adam Keawe (February 24, 2014). "The Royal Pets". A Hawaiian Historian. Retrieved November 14, 2016.; Young, Peter T. (November 10, 2015). "Poni". Image of Old Hawaiʻi. Hoʻokuleana LLC. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
- ↑ "Ka Halawai Makahiki A Ka Ahahui Kaahumanu". Ka Nupepa Kuokoa. LXI (25). Honoulu. p. 6. Retrieved November 14, 2016.; "Local Brevities". The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu. October 21, 1908. p. 7. Retrieved November 14, 2016.; "Kaahumanu Society Elects New Officers". Evening Bulletin. Honolulu. June 15, 1907. p. 12. Retrieved November 14, 2016.; "Local and Generals". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu. June 17, 1913. p. 6. Retrieved November 14, 2016.; "Untitled". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu. June 16, 1914. p. 9. Retrieved November 14, 2016.; "Hui Kaahumanu Elects Officers". The Hawaiian Gazette. Honolulu. June 22, 1915. p. 6. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
Bibliography
- Allen, Helena G. (1982). The Betrayal of Liliuokalani: Last Queen of Hawaii, 1838–1917. Glendale, CA: A. H. Clark Company. ISBN 978-0-87062-144-4. OCLC 9576325.
- Clark, T. Blake (March 1939). "Honolulu's Streets". Papers of the Hawaiian Historical Society. Honolulu: The Bulletin Publishing Company (20): 5–25. hdl:10524/967. OCLC 1773152.
- Galuteria, Peter (1993) [1991]. Lunalilo (Revised ed.). Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools/Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate. ISBN 978-0-87336-019-7. OCLC 32857010.
- Kuykendall, Ralph Simpson (1967). The Hawaiian Kingdom 1874–1893, The Kalakaua Dynasty. 3. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-87022-433-1. OCLC 500374815.