Read this article in ʻOlelo Hawaiʻi
Queen Emma was born on Jan. 2, 1836, in Honolulu. Nāʻea and Fanny Kekelaokalani Young were her biological parents but she was taken as a hānai by Fanny’s younger sister, Grace Kamaʻikuʻi Young and Doctor Samuel Rooke. She was much loved and called “the horse-riding woman,” “the mountain-climbing royal,” and Kaleleonālani (The flight of the chiefs) for the passing of the passing of her son, the Prince of Hawaiʻi, and her husband, King Liholiho ʻIolani, Kamehameha IV.
ʻEmalani was raised at Rooke House. This house was on the corner of Beretania and Nuʻuanu streets on the Waikīkī-ma kai side – where Mark’s Garage is now. The family lived on the second floor and the offices of the doctor and patients were on the first. Her true mother, Fanny, lived at Polihale House on plains of Kaukeano near Alakea Street. After the death of her child and husband, ʻEmalani returned to live at Rooke House. That is where she left the earth to join her son and husband in heaven. ʻEmalani passed on a Saturday, on April 25, 1885.
When the queen was tired of the heat of Honolulu and the dust of the streets she could escape to her home at Hālawa Kai, Oʻahu, on the current Hickam military base. The Moaʻe breeze made it comfortable and it was near Pearl Harbor as well as the large fishpond, Lelepaua, in the ahupuaʻa of Moanalua. The queen delighted in planting things like flowers and various trees such as oranges, avocados, and mangoes. Whenever ʻEmalani visited Kauaʻi, horticulture was her favorite pastime.
The most famous home of ʻEmalani was Hānaiakamalama (a.k.a Queen’s Summer Palace), the home gifted to ‘Emalani by her uncle, John Young II. Because of the pleasantness of Nuʻuanu during the summers, it was a place of residence while she was queen from 1855-1863.
‘Emalani was a beloved aliʻi because of her great compassion for her people that fell victim to the smallpox epidemic of 1853. Because of this disease, the Legislature was urged by King ʻIolani and Queen ʻEmalani to build a hospital and they raised about $13,000. Both of them donated $2,000 each (about $82,000 today). They then built Queen’s Hospital at Manamana, a parcel of land belonging to Kapaʻakea. “Queen’s Hospital” is what it is called still.
ʻEmalani truly loved her people. During her time as a widow, she was sent by her brother-in-law, King Lot Kapuāiwa, to Europe and America to assuage her grief. While she was in London, Great Britain, she raised money to purchase plans for an Anglican cathedral called the Church of Hawaiʻi.
Of the homes that ʻEmalani lived in, only Hānaiakamalama remains on Oʻahu. There is a home on Kauaʻi at Lāwaʻi that still stands. However, the hospital and Episcopalian cathedral are what ʻEmalani built for her people and they continue to stand.
