Humehume

Humehume
Engraved Portrait by Samuel Morse, 1816
Born	c. 1798 Kauaʻi
Died	May 3, 1826 Honolulu
Spouse	Elizabeth Peke Davis
Issue	Harriet Kawahinekipi Kaumualiʻi
Full name George Prince Kaumualiʻi Humehume
Father	King Kaumualiʻi of Kauaʻi
Mother	unknown

Humehume (c. 1798–1826), known by many different names during his time, such as George Prince, George Prince Kaumualiʻi, Tamoree or Kumoree by American writers, was a son of the king of part of the Hawaiian Islands. He traveled widely, served in the U.S. military, and led a failed rebellion on the island of Kauaʻi.

He was born in the late 1790s with the name Humehume. His father was King Kaumualiʻi, ruler of the islands of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau. His mother was a commoner, of whom not much is known. This might explain an important event that happened when he was a young boy.

In January 1804 the American trading ship Hazard arrived at Kauaʻi. Since the landing of Captain James Cook in January 1778, the port of Waimea had been a known stop for European and American ships in the Pacific. King Kaumualiʻi paid Captain James Rowan of the American trading ship Hazard to take his son aboard, ostensibly to get an education in America. A more believable theory is that Kaumualiʻi's Queen did not want any competition for the future throne with her own son who had the better royal pedigree. His father suggested the name "George" after the Prince of Wales at the time (later George IV of the United Kingdom).

The ship sailed to the Pacific Northwest, then across the Pacific to China, through the Indian Ocean, around Africa, and finally a year and a half later, back to New England. The Hazard finally arrived at Providence, Rhode Island on June 30, 1805. King Kaumualiʻi had provided Rowan some compensation to support his son, probably in the form of valuable sandalwood, estimated to be worth seven to eight thousand dollars. George traveled with Captain Rowan to Boston and then to Worcester, Massachusetts, where he was put into the house of his teacher Samuel Cotting in 1813 when Rowan's property had run out. Rowan tried to get George an apprenticeship as a joiner, but George was now a restless young man.