Kealiʻiahonui | |||||
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Born |
Kauaʻi |
August 17, 1800||||
Died | June 23, 1849 Honolulu, Oʻahu |
(aged 48)||||
Burial | at sea | ||||
Spouse |
Kapule Kaʻahumanu Kekauʻōnohi |
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House | Kingdom of Kauaʻi | ||||
Father | King Kaumualiʻi of Kauaʻi | ||||
Mother | Kaʻapuwai Kapuaʻamohu |
Full name | |
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Aaron (Aarona) Kealiʻiahonui |
Aaron Kealiʻiahonui (1800–1849) was member of the nobility of the Kingdom of Kauaʻi and the Kingdom of Hawaii. He is often called Keliʻiahonui, a contraction of Kealiʻiahonui.
Kealiʻiahonui was born August 17, 1800. His father was Kaumualiʻi, the last ruling King of Kauaʻi. His mother was Kaʻapuwai Kapuaʻamohu. His father agreed to become a vassal to Kamehameha I in 1810, so he would never become a ruling monarch. In 1821 his father was forced into exile, and to emphasize the submission, marry Queen Regent Kaʻahumanu.
After his father died in 1824, and his half-brother Humehume led a failed rebellion, Queen Kaʻahumanu forced Kealiʻiahonui into a similar relationship. Kealiʻiahonui gave up his first wife, Kapule, symbolically married Kaʻahumanu, and there were no more rebellions from Kauaʻi. The missionaries disliked these forced marriages, and hoped education would convert them. Kealiʻiahonui was described as "...handsome, and naturally and usually more interesting at that period than most of the nobility". Physically he was 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) tall "...considered to be the handsomest chief in the Islands, and was proficient in all athletic exercises". On December 5, 1825, he was part of a royal baptism ceremony where he took the Christian name "Aaron". His name is sometimes also spelled without the first "a" as Keliʻiahonui, which is what was used for his namesake grandnephew, Edward Abnel Keliʻiahonui (1869–1887). After Kaʻahumanu died in 1832, he married for a third time, to Kekauōnohi, a granddaughter of Kamehameha I and former Queen Consort. He had no children that lived to adulthood.
In 1840 he was finally allowed to participate in leadership positions. It was his wife Kekauʻōnohi, however, who was officially made Royal Governor of Kauaʻi at this time. He was named in the 1840 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii as one of the founding members of the upper house of the legislature, the House of Nobles. He served in the 1842 through 1848 sessions of the legislature. In 1845 he served as royal chamberlain, and from 1845 to 1847 he was included in the Privy Council of King Kamehameha III.