Joseph Heleluhe
| Joseph Heleluhe | |
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| Born |
Joseph Hewahewa Kaimihakulani Heleluhe June 2, 1855 Kapoho, Puna, Hawaiʻi, Kingdom of Hawaii |
| Died | July 8, 1900 (aged 45) Honolulu, Oʻahu, Territory of Hawaii |
| Resting place | Kawaiahaʻo Church |
| Nationality | Kingdom of Hawaii |
| Alma mater | Hilo Boarding School |
| Occupation | Secretary of Liliʻuokalani |
| Spouse(s) | Wakeke Ululani Heleluhe |
| Children | Jack Heleluhe Myra Heleluhe Iona |
| Parent(s) | Heleluhe and Kanoa |
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Joseph Hewahewa Kaimihakulani Heleluhe (June 2, 1855 – July 8, 1900) was a member of the Hawaiian nobility who served as a retainer and private secretary of Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and accompanied her on her trips to the United States and Washington, DC from 1896 to 1900 to prevent the American annexation of Hawaii.
He was born in June 2, 1855, on the island of Hawaiʻi. English language newspapers claimed he was a native of Kaʻū while the Ke Aloha Aina, a Hawaiian language newspaper, claimed he was born in Kapoho, Puna. His parents were Heleluhe and Kanoa. He had four known sisters: Keoki, Kaioewa, Kanoa, and Ana. From his mother Kanoa, he descended from Alapaʻinui and his son Keaweʻōpala, the kings of the island of Hawaiʻi prior to the accession of Kalaniʻōpuʻu. His father was possibly the same individual as J. H. Heleluhe, who served in the legislature of the kingdom as a member of the House of Representatives for the district of Puna during the legislative assembly of 1855, 1862, 1864, 1866 and 1867.
He attended the local schools in the Puna district and later studied at the Hilo Boarding School under American missionary David Belden Lyman. After finishing his education, he did physical labor in the district of Kaʻū for a time before going to Honolulu to serve King Kalākaua.
After coming to Honolulu, Heleluhe worked as a retainer for the royal family. He served King Kalākaua as an under-secretary. He also worked as a steward for Kalākaua's sister and successor Liliʻuokalani, and accompanied her to the leper settlement at Kalaupapa on Molokai in 1891. He steadily rose in rank until he was appointed her private secretary in 1896. In 1892. Heleluhe was nominated as a National Reform Party candidate for the House of Representatives for Oʻahu's first ward. It did not seem that he won this election. After the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893, Heleluhe and his wife Wakeke Ululani remained loyal to the royalist cause and supported the deposed Queen Liliʻuokalani. Following the outbreak of the unsuccessful 1895 Counter-Revolution, Heleluhe was arrested, held as a political prisoner, and temporarily imprisoned by forces loyal to the Republic of Hawaii in order for him to "disclose the queen's treachery." Queen Liliʻuokalani, who was also imprisoned in the former ʻIolani Palace, described the ordeal Heleluhe had to endure in her 1898 memoir Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen:
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