Elizabeth Peke Davis | |||||
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Born | 1803 Waimea, Hawaii Island |
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Died | 1860 | ||||
Spouse |
Humehume Antone Sylva |
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Issue | Harriet Kawahinekipi | ||||
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House | Kekaulike | ||||
Father | Isaac Davis Aikake | ||||
Mother | Kalukuna |
Full name | |
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Elizabeth Peke Davis |
Elizabeth Peke Davis or sometimes Betty Davis (1803–1860) was a Hawaiian high chiefess, being the hapa haole daughter of Isaac Davis, the Welsh advisor of Kamehameha I, who helped him unify the island in 1810. She was the wife of George Prince Kaumualiʻi, also known as Humehume.
Betty was born on February 12, 1803 or December 24, 1803, at Waimea, Hawaii Island. Her 45-year-old father, Isaac Davis from Milford Haven, Wales, known as ʻAikake by Hawaiians, was one of Kamehameha's closest friends and advisors. He was given vast tracts of land and treated like nobility due to his service. Her mother was the chiefess Kalukuna, a distant relative of Kamehameha I, and her father's second wife. She was given the name of Elizabeth and often referred to as Betty or Peke, the Hawaiian version of Betty. She was the youngest sister of Sarah Kaniaulono Davis and George Hueu Davis.
Tragedy would strike her father in 1810. ʻAikake was poisoned by the chiefs who disliked the peaceful capitulation of the Kingdom of Kauaʻi, under King Kaumualiʻi, into a vassal state of King Kamehameha. After his death, his companion, John Young, looked after Betty and her brother and sister. Two of them were living with him in 1807, and after Davis's murder Young continued to raise them along with his five children James, her future-brother-in-law; Fanny, mother of Emma Rooke; Grace, hānai (foster) mother of Emma; John, future premier or kuhina nui; and Jane, mother of Peter Kaeo and Albert Kunuiakea, at his homestead at Kawaihae. In his will, dated 1834, Young divided his lands equally between all his and Davis's children.