In the mid-1800s, the Hawaiian kingdom upended the traditional system of land management in which the ruler of an island would choose supporters of high rank (alii and konohiki) to manage the various land divisions, with the land redistributed on the ascension of a new ruler.
This changed in the 1840s and 1850s, when a series of processes allowed individuals to acquire parcels of land, establishing the concept of private property in the islands. There were three separate paths to ownership: Mahele awards (land grants to alii and konohiki who had historical claims to parcels), Land Commission awards (free land grants to makaainana, or commoners, with a historical claim to parcels) and royal patent grants (purchases of government land).
Mahele awards
From January to March 1848, Hawaii's alii and konohiki appeared before King Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) regarding lands that they had traditionally controlled and managed.
These alii and konohiki presented claims to ahupuaa and ili land divisions and were granted the right to keep a portion of their lands. King Kauikeaouli retained some of the alii and konohiki lands for himself as his own private land and gave the rest to the government. The process became known as the mahele (division), and the claims were recorded in the "Buke Mahele".
Based on the claims in the "Buke Mahele", five individuals controlled the land in Kaupo just prior to the mahele:
| Name | Rank | Land |
|---|---|---|
| William Charles Lunalilo | High-ranking alii. Grandnephew of King Kamehameha I. King of Hawaii after Kamehameha V | 66 unnamed ahupuaa |
| Keahikuni Kekauonohi | High-ranking alii. Granddaughter of Kamehameha I | 19 unnamed ahupaa and all ili kupono (independent ili) in Kaupo |
| Analea Keohokalole | High-ranking alii. Great-grandaughter of important supporters of Kamehameha I | Alaakua ahupuaa and Puulani ahupuaa |
| Kalaimoku | Konohiki | Nuu ahupuaa |
| Hikiau | Konohiki | Kou ahupuaa |
As recorded in the "Buke Mahele", these lands were redistributed as follows:
- Lunalilo gave up his 66 ahupuaa to King Kauikeaouli.
- Kekauonohi kept her 19 ahupaa but gave up all her ili kupono to Kauikeaouli.
- Keohokalole kept Alaakua ahupuaa but gave up Puulani ahupuaa to Kauikeaouli.
- Kalaimoku kept Nuu ahupuaa.
- Hikiau gave up Kou ahupuaa to Kauikeaouli.
In turn, Kauikeaouli conveyed to the government the 66 ahupuaa he received from Lunalilo and the ili kupono from Kekauonohi. Thus, the ownership of Kaupo at the end of the mahele process had changed dramatically, mostly owned by the government, as shown below:
| Name | Land |
|---|---|
| Government | 66 ahupuaa formerly controlled by Lunalilo All ili kupono |
| Keahikuni Kekauonohi | 19 unnamed ahupaa |
| Kauikeaouli | Puulani and Kou ahupuaa |
| Analea Keohokalole | Alaakua ahupuaa |
| Kalaimoku | Nuu ahupuaa |
Importantly, the mahele awards to the alii and konohiki did not immediately grant them immediate ownership of land but rather gave them the right to claim the lands assigned to them by presenting petitions to the "Land Commission" described below. Alii and konohiki mahele awards, which were for large land divisions such as ahupuaa, were also subject to claims from makaainana, who could present petitions to the Land Commission for lands within those larger land divisions. Successful claims from makaainana would remove that smaller portion from ownership by the alii and konohiki in favor of the makaainana claimant.
Land Commission awards
On December 10, 1845, legislation established the Board of Commissioners to Quiet Land Titles, commonly known as the Land Commission. It allowed makaainana to request ownership of parcels of land that they had been actively cultivating in the years before the legislation.
However, the process of obtaining ownership was lengthy and cumbersome, consisting of the following steps :
- Present a claim to the Land Commission between 1846 and 1848.
- Hire a surveyor to survey the property boundaries.
- Provide personal testimony and witnesses to the Land Commission between 1850 and 1855 supporting the claim.
- Submit the Land Commission award to the Minister of the Interior for a "royal patent", the document granting title to the land.
As can be seen, the timeline for Land Commission awards overlapped with the 1848 mahele process described above.
Not all claims to the Land Commission resulted in claims. For successful claims, the government did not charge the makaainana for the land, but the cost of surveys for the Kaupo awards ranged from $5 to $12 (equivalent to about $200 to $500 today).
In all, 20 such individuals received Land Commission awards in Kaupo. However, only 18 of these were awards to makaainana. The other two awards were confirmation of mahele awards, being the ahupuaa of Nuu to Kalaimoku and the 19 ahupuaa of Kekauonohi (reduced to 5 ahupuaa in the Land Commission award).
As far as land size, the 18 Land Commission awards to makaainana ranged from 1.5 acres at the smallest end to 145 acres at the largest. The median size was just under 9 acres.
The paperwork required for a Land Commission award was formidable, typically consisting of six documents: The formal petition of the claimant, testimony from others in support of the claimant, a property survey, the surveyor's notes, the Land Commission award, and the royal patent.
Ironically, this bureaucratic burden is now a treasure trove of information. As an example, take this testimony from Kahoouluwaa in support of the claim of Ekikalaka (Land Commission Award 823):
Kahoouluwaa Hoohikiia. Ua ike au i kona apana pahale ma ke Ahupuaa o Kumunui, Kaupo.
Mauka, aina o Konohiki. Hana, aina o Wm Harbottle. Makai, Ala Aupuni. Kahikinui, aina o Kepio.
Ua loaa ia ia keia wahi no Manono mai i ka M H 1843, ma ke ano kumu kula, a kukulu i ka hale kula malaila, a nana no i hoolimalima i ka pa a puni—a malaila ka hale kula i ku nei a hiki i keia wa, aka, ua lawe ia ka pa a pau i ke Aupuni, o ka hale kula i ku mua malaila na ke Aupuni no i hana, a o ka pa ua hoolimalima ia me ka waiwai ponoi o Ekikalaka a puni, a holo Manono hiki mai o Keliiahonui nonoi maoli oia, a lilo loa ia ia keia aina, aka, o ke Aupuni ka mea keakea, a ke manao nei oia e hoihoi i kona poho no na kala he $25.00 a e lilo ka aina no ke Aupuni.
Note by E. Bailey, Clt. relinquished his claim on the above lot in consideration for a lot surveyed for him in another place.
[Kahoouluwaa, sworn. I know his house lot in Kumunui ahupuaa, Kaupo.
Bordered mountain side by konohiki's land, Hana [east] side by William Harbottle's land, ocean side by government trail, Kahikinui [west] side by the land of Kepio.
He [or she] received this property from Manono in 1843 as a teacher and built a schoolhouse there. He took a lease out on the entire enclosed yard. That is where a schoolhouse has stood up to this time. However, the walls were taken away by the government. The first schoolhouse that stood there was built for the government, while Ekikalaka leased the enclosed yard for his personal use. After Manono came Keliiahonui. He [Ekikalaka] requested the land, and it became his own. However, the government is disputing this, and he would like to abandon his claim in return for $25.00 and give the land back to the kingdom.
Note by E. Bailey: Claimant relinquished his claim on the above lot in consideration for a lot surveyed for him in another place.]
As mentioned, Ekikalaka requested and was given a different parcel. Kahoouluwaa, who provided the testimony in support of Ekikalaka's claim, was also granted a Land Commission award.
Manono, who gave Ekikalaka the right to use the original parcel from the claim, is referenced in a number of Land Commission petitions. Keliiahonui was a husband of Keahikuni Kekauonohi, who controlled 19 ahupaa and all ili kupono in Kaupo at the time of the mahele.
Royal patent grants
As a result of the mahele, the Hawaiian government owned nearly 1.5 million acres of land across Hawaii by the 1850s. This included most of Kaupo, specifically the 66 ahupuaa and all ili kupono lands that King Kauikeaouli gave to the government.
There was immediate interest in these lands. In December 1850, a tax assessor wrote a letter to the Interior Office on behalf of a number of a number of Hawaiians seeking to buy parcels in Kaupo.
However, it was not until 1853 that the first sale was recorded. On Aug. 31, 1853, the government issued a royal patent grant—the document granting title—to Kahalewai for a 3.75-acre lot in Maalo ahupuaa. The price was $3.45. Below is a map depicting the approximate location and boundaries of the grant, No. 1250.
By the end of the 1850s, the government, eager for revenue, had sold nearly 80 lots in Kaupo. From the 1860s until the overthrow of the kingdom in 1893, the government sold another 80 or so lots in the district.
Importantly, like land granted to alii and konohiki in the mahele, land sold by the government was "subject to the rights of native tenants", meaning Land Commission awards. In practice, this means that someone could purchase property from the government and get a royal patent grant, then have a portion or the entirety of that property transferred to a Land Commission claimant who could prove historical use of the land.
Government land was typically sold at auctions like the one described in this announcement from April 1890:
On MONDAY, May 19, 1890, at 12 o'clock noon, at the front entrance of Aliiolani Hale, will be sold at Public Auction the following Government Lots in Kaupo, Maui: Lot 10—In Kakio, 12 acres; upset price $60.00. Lot 12—In Puukaaahuhu, 39 3/4 acres; upset price $10.50. Lot 13—In Puukaauhuhu, 3.5 acres; upset price $10.00. Lot 14—In Kulanamoa, 13.8 acres; upset price $10.00. Lot 15—In Puukaauhuhu, 9.2 acres; upset price $10.00. Lot 19—In Pakuku, 35.7 acres; upset price $107.00. Lot 20—In Mamala, 50 acres; upset price $150.00. Maps can be seen and full particulars obtained of these lands upon application to Christian Andrews, Government School Teacher at Kaupo, Maui, or the Land Office, Honolulu. L. A. THURSTON, Minister of the Interior. Interior Office, April 9, 1890.
Like Kahalewai's purchase, land typically sold for about $1 per acre, though prime lands could fetch much more. Philip Kamai, a member of the kingdom's House of Representatives, bought 24.61 acres near St. Joseph Church for $260.00 in 1883, equaling $10.56 an acre.
The costliest purchase based on price per acre occurred in 1888. At an auction on February 22, Antone Sylva, the son of an immigrant from Pico Island in the Azores, bought 116.2 acres in Puu Maneoneo for $3,250.00, an eye-watering $27.97 per acre. Unsurprisingly, he defaulted on his mortgage, and was foreclosed on in 1891.
In 1889, a year after Sylva's ill-fated purchase, another auction of Kaupo government land was held, featuring another Antone associated with Pico Island: Antone Marciel. At the 1889 auction, Marciel bought three lots in Naholoku after winning a bidding war against Sun Mei, brother of Sun Yat-Sen. Marciel would go on to establish a ranch that is now Kaupo Ranch.
Land grants after the Hawaiian kingdom
By the time the 1893 coup dismantled the Hawaiian kingdom, much of the government land in Kaupo had been conveyed, either as Land Commission awards or royal patent grants. However, some land grants continued after the coup.
Under the Republic of Hawaii, which ruled from 1894 to 1898, a number of parcels were created upland of Mokulau, in the ahupuaa of Kahuai, Maalo and Mikimiki. On January 7, 1896, the Evening Bulletin reported on the sale of many of these lots:
At the Judiciary building on Saturday the following sales of lands and leases were made at auction: ... Kaupo lots in Maui. One of 75 1-10 acres, to D. B. Murdock for upset price, $225.30. One of 52 25-100 acres, to E. E. Paxton for upset price, $156.75, and another of 58 2-100 acres to the same purchaser at the upset price, $174.05. One of 54 92-100 acres to T. J. Leary for $164.75, the upset price.
By the 1920s, the tap was running dry for land in Kaupo owned by the government of the islands, then a U.S. territory. The following excerpt of an announcement in the March 5, 1925, issue of Nupepa Kuokoa illustrates the limited value and size of the remaining land:
HOOLAHA KUAI O NA APANA AUPUNI.
Ma keia ke haawiia aku nei ka hoolaha akea, ma ka hora 10 a. m. Poakahi, Aperila 6, 1925, ma ke Keena o ka Hope-akena, Mr. F. K. Kalua, Wailuku, Maui, T. H., malaila e kuai hoolilo ia aku ai ma ke kudala akea i ka poe koho kiekie loa malalo o na manao o ka Pauku 73 o ke Kanawai Kumu o Hawaii na Pauku 348 ame 358 o na Kanawai Hooponopono Hou ia o 1915 ame ke Kanawai 148 o na Kanawai Ahaolelo o 1917, na apana Aupuni mahope ae nei no na hana home noho.
1. Koena Aina Aupuni ma Niumalu, Kaupo, Maui, nona ka iliaina o 1.72 eka, oi aku a emi mai paha; kumukuai haahaa $35.00. E hooliloia keia apana me ka hoomaopopo maoli ia aole ia i hoolakoia me ka ponoalahele, a aole i hoopaaia ke Teritore nona iho e hoolako ia mea. E hookomoia ana he mahele pauku no keia mea maloko o ka palapala sila e hoopukaia ana e apo ana i keia apana mamuli o keia kuai. …
[NOTICE OF SALE OF GOVERNMENT LAND.
This serves as a public announcement that at 10 a.m. Monday, April 6, 1925, at the office of deputy agent Mr. F. K. Kalua, Wailuku, Maui, Territory of Hawaii, shall be sold at public auction to the highest bidders, in accordance with the provisions of Section 73 of the Hawaiian Constitution, Sections 348 and 358 of the 1915 Amendment Act, and Act 148 of the Legislative Assembly of 1917, government lands for homesteads.
1. Government remainder land at Niumalu, Kaupo, Maui, a parcel of 1.72 acres, more or less; upset price, $35.00. This parcel shall be so conveyed with the understanding that it does not include access rights, and that the Territory itself is not bound to provide such. A provision on this matter shall be inserted in the deed issued accepting this parcel in accordance with the sale. … ]