George Washington Pilipō

The Honourable George Washington Pilipō
Member of the House of Representatives from North Kona
In office 1860, 1868–1870, 1876–1884
Succeeded by	J. K. Nahale
Personal details
Born	(1828-02-22)February 22, 1828 Holualoa, North Kona, Hawaii, Kingdom of Hawaii
Died	March 27, 1887(1887-03-27) (aged 59) Pālama, Honolulu, Oahu
Political party	Queen Emma Party Kuokoa
Alma mater	Hilo Boarding School Lahainaluna Seminary
Occupation	Politician, Reverend

George Washington Pilipō (February 22, 1828 – March 27, 1887) was a politician of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He served as a member of the House of Representative from North Kona (1860–1884) and Reverend of Kaumakapili Church. Considered one of the leading Hawaiian politicians of his generation, he was known as "Ka Liona o Kona Akau", or "The Lion of North Kona".

Early life

Pilipō was born, on February 22, 1828, in Holualoa, North Kona, on the island of Hawaii. He had eleven siblings but only himself and another sibling survived to maturity.^[1] He was educated at the Hilo Boarding School and Lahainaluna School. After graduating in 1857, he worked as teacher and established a school in his home district for a time.^[2] One of his pupils was George W. Kanuha, who translated Jules Verne's 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas into the Hawaiian language.^[3]

Pilipō was ordained in 1864 at the Mokuaikaua Church at Kailua-Kona and worked there for seven years as the assistant of Reverend Asa Thurston, who came to Hawaii with the first company of ABCFM missionaries in 1820. In 1871, he was appointed the pastor of Kaumakapili Church, the church for common people in Honolulu, succeeding Reverend Anderson Oliver Forbes. He served as a pastor until 1874 when he was succeeded by Moses Kuaea.^[4][5]

Political career

Between 1860 and 1884, Pilipō was elected to serve as the House for his district in North Kona with a few non-consecutive gaps. He sat in on the legislative assemblies of 1860, 1868, 1870, 1876, 1878, 1880, 1882, and 1884.^[6][7] In his long political career, Pilipō served under the reigns of four monarchs: Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V, Lunalilo and Kalākaua. During the 1874 election, following the death of Lunalilo, Pilipō, although not serving on the legislature at the time, actively supported and campaigned for the candidacy of Queen Emma of Hawaii against Kalākaua.^[5][8][9] He was suspected of being involved with the 1874 Honolulu Courthouse riot which occurred after Emma's defeat.^[10]

After the controversial election, Pilipō became a member of the Queen Emma Party and joined with Representative Joseph Nāwahī of Hilo in forming the native opposition against Kalākaua.^[11][12] In 1876, he and Nāwahī led the opposition to the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875, which they viewed as a step towards American annexation and only beneficial to the elite number of Euro-American businessmen at the expense of Native Hawaiian subsistence farmers.^[13][14] He was influential in bringing down the appointment of the Italian adventurer Celso Caesar Moreno as a cabinet minister in 1880.^[15] In the election of 1886, Kalākaua personally journeyed to the districts of Pilipō and Nāwahī, on Hawaii, and John William Kalua, on Maui, to sway the vote against these three politicians. This resulted in the electoral defeat of Pilipō in his home district of Kona.^[16]

According to the later testimony of Charles T. Gulick in the Blount Report, Pilipō and his contemporary Luther Aholo were considered "some of the brightest [native leaders] then living ... in the house".^[17] His prowess as a politician gained him the epithet of "Ka Liona o Kona Akau", "The Lion of North Kona".^[1][18][19] Pilipō and Nāwahī were given the moniker of "Nā Pū Kuni Ahi o ka ʻAhaʻōlelo" (the Cannons of the Legislature) for their steadfast defense of Hawaiian sovereignty.^[20]

Death

Pilipō died on March 27, 1887, at his residence in the Pālama neighborhood of Honolulu. The cause of death was brain fever; he was fifty-nine years old.^[1][21] He was buried from the Kaumakapili Church and a memorial service was held at Kawaiahaʻo Church.^[22] Joseph Oliver Carter, who later became the personal secretary of Queen Liliuokalani, praised Pilipō as "one of the Hawaii's truest and stanchest friends."^[23]

References

1. "The Late Hon. G. W. Pilipo". The Hawaiian Gazette. Honolulu. March 29, 1887. p. 1.; "Death of George W. Pilipo". The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu. March 26, 1887. p. 3.; "Death of Mr. Pilipo". The Daily Herald. Honolulu. March 26, 1887. p. 3.; "By the death of George W. Pilipo". The Hawaiian Gazette. Honolulu. March 29, 1887. p. 4.; "Monthly Record of Events". The Friend. Vol. 45, no. 4. Honolulu. April 1, 1887. p. 32.
2. Damon 1957, p. 187.
3. "He Eehia, he Welina Aloha no G. W. Kanuha". Ka Nupepa Kuokoa. Vol. XV, no. 26. Honolulu. June 24, 1876. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2017-02-03. Retrieved 2017-02-01.
4. Frear 1938, p. 17.
5. Kanahele 1999, p. 285.
6. Hawaii & Lydecker 1918, pp. 81, 113, 117, 136, 139, 143, 147, 152
7. "Pilipo, George Washington office record" (PDF), state archives digital collections, state of Hawaii, archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-02-05, retrieved February 3, 2017
8. Dabagh, Lyons & Hitchcock 1974, pp. 80, 82, 88.
9. Hawkins 2011, pp. 5, 7, 198.
10. Rossi 2013, p. 180; Kaeo & Queen Emma 1976, p. 176
11. Osorio 2002, pp. 159–162.
12. Van Dyke 2008, pp. 108–109.
13. Osorio 2002, pp. 159–173.
14. Silva 2004, p. 90.
15. Andrade 1996, pp. 34, 38.
16. Hawaii & Lydecker 1918, p. 156; Kuykendall 1967, p. 282; Earle 1993, p. 27; "VICTORIOUS! – The Nationalists Win all Along the Electoral Line – The Opposition Hopelessly Beaten and Discouraged – The Independence of the Hawaiian Kingdom Guaranteed – An Era of Industrial Development Assured". The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu. February 8, 1886. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2017-12-26. Retrieved 2017-02-01.; "The Election – Triumph Of The Government Party". The Daily Bulletin. Honolulu. February 11, 1886. p. 6. Archived from the original on 2017-12-26. Retrieved 2017-02-01.
17. Blount 1895, p. 289.
18. Rossi 2013, p. 83.
19. Young, Peter T. (March 25, 2015). "The Lion of North Kona". Image of Old Hawaiʻi. Hoʻokuleana LLC. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
20. Williams, Ronald Jr. (April–May 2010). "Freedom Fighter". Hana Hou!. Vol. 13, no. 2. Honolulu. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
21. Hawaiian Evangelical Association (June 1887). Twenty-Fourth Annual Report Of The Board Of The Hawaiian Evangelical Association. Honolulu: Published By The Hawaiian Board. pp. 9–10. OCLC 243888970.
22. "Special Service at Kawaiahao Church". The Daily Herald. Honolulu. April 2, 1887. p. 3.; "G. W. Pilipo Memorial Services". The Daily Herald. Honolulu. April 5, 1887. p. 2.; "Memorial Services". The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu. April 4, 1887. p. 3.; "Local News". The Daily Herald. Honolulu. April 4, 1887. p. 3.
23. "One of Nature's Noblemen". The Daily Herald. Honolulu. March 29, 1887. p. 3.

Bibliography

• Andrade, Ernest (1996). Unconquerable Rebel: Robert W. Wilcox and Hawaiian Politics, 1880–1903. Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado. ISBN 978-0-87081-417-4. OCLC 247224388.
• Blount, James Henderson (1895). The Executive Documents of the House of Representatives for the Second Session of the Fifty-Third Congress, 1893–'94 in Thirty-One Volumes. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. OCLC 191710879.
• Dabagh, Jean; Lyons, Curtis Jere; Hitchcock, Harvey Rexford (1974). Dabagh, Jean (ed.). "A King is Elected: One Hundred Years Ago" (PDF). The Hawaiian Journal of History. 8. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society: 76–89. hdl:10524/112. OCLC 60626541.
• Damon, Ethel Moseley (1957). Sanford Ballard Dole and His Hawaii: With an Analysis of Justice Dole's Legal Opinions. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society. OCLC 1633596. Archived from the original on 2017-12-22.
• Earle, David Williams (December 1993). Coalition Politics in Hawaiʻi· 1887–90: Hui Kālaiʻāina and the Mechanics and Workingmen's Political Protective Union (PDF) (Thesis). Honolulu: University of Hawaii at Manoa. hdl:10125/21097.
• Frear, Mary Dillingham (1938). "A Brief Record of Kaumakapili Church" (PDF). Forty-Sixth Annual Report of the Hawaiian Historical Society for the Year 1937. 46. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society: 14–26. hdl:10524/82.
• Hawaii (1918). Lydecker, Robert Colfax (ed.). Roster Legislatures of Hawaii, 1841–1918. Honolulu: Hawaiian Gazette Company. OCLC 60737418.
• Hawkins, Richard A. (2011). Pacific Industry: The History of Pineapple Canning in Hawaii. London: I. B.Tauris. ISBN 978-0-85772-042-9. OCLC 772844818.
• Kaeo, Peter; Queen Emma (1976). Korn, Alfons L. (ed.). News from Molokai, Letters Between Peter Kaeo & Queen Emma, 1873–1876. Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii. hdl:10125/39980. ISBN 978-0-8248-0399-5. OCLC 2225064.
• Kanahele, George S. (1999). Emma: Hawaii's Remarkable Queen. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-2240-8. OCLC 40890919.
• Kuykendall, Ralph Simpson (1967). The Hawaiian Kingdom 1874–1893, The Kalakaua Dynasty. Vol. 3. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-87022-433-1. OCLC 500374815.
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• Rossi, Pualiʻiliʻimaikalani (December 2013). No Ka Pono ʻOle O Ka Lehulehu: The 1874 Election of Hawaiʻi's Moʻi And The Kanaka Maoli Response (M.An thesis). Honolulu: University of Hawaii at Manoa. hdl:10125/100744. Retrieved July 6, 2024.
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• Van Dyke, Jon M. (2008). Who Owns the Crown Lands of Hawaiʻi?. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-6560-3. OCLC 257449971 – via Project MUSE.