Colonel Curtis Piʻehu Iaukea (December 13, 1855 – March 5, 1940) served as a court official, army officer and diplomat of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He later became an influential official for the subsequent regimes of the Provisional Government and the Republic and the Territory of Hawaii.
Iaukea was raised from an early age to serve the Hawaiian royal family. He first gained prominence during the reign of King Kalākaua when he served as an important court official and an army officer in the volunteer army of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He held numerous significant positions including governor of Oahu and chamberlain to the Royal Household. He also served as Hawaii's ambassador to Europe and Asia, attending the coronation of Tsar Alexander III of Russia and the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Iaukea received numerous Hawaiian honors and foreign decorations during his service to the kingdom. Following the overthrow of the monarchy, he continued to work for the subsequent regimes of the Provisional Government and the Republic of Hawaii. He served as an officer on the military staff of President Sanford B. Dole and represented the Republic at the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
After Hawaii's annexation to the United States, he became a member of the Democratic Party of Hawaii and served in many official positions in the newly created Territory of Hawaii including sheriff of Honolulu County, senator of the Third District, secretary of Hawaii, and acting governor of Hawaii. As one of the last surviving representatives of the Hawaiian royal court, he served as business manager and private secretary to the deposed Queen Liliʻuokalani until her death in 1917.
Early life and family Curtis Piʻehu Iʻaukea was born December 13, 1855, in Waimea, on the island of Hawaii. Descended from the Hawaiian aliʻi (noble) class, his parents were John W. Iaukea and Lahapa Nalanipo. His father served as the district magistrate of Hamakua and their family were well-known on the island of Hawaii. From his paternal line, he descended from Namiki, a priest of the Pa‘ao order, and Kahiwa Kānekapōlei, a daughter of Kamehameha I. On his mother's side, he descended from Kalanipo or Nalanipo, a descendant of the ʻI clan of Hilo and the Mahi clan of Kohala. His mother's family were also related to Kekuʻiapoiwa II, the mother of King Kamehameha I. His family were considered to be of the Hawaiian kaukau aliʻi rank, or lower ranking chiefs in service to the royal family.
He and his sister Maraea were born in the family's home in Waimea, which stood across the Waikōloa Stream from the residence of early American Protestant missionary Lorenzo Lyons who was a close friend of the family. Iaukea was given the first name Curtis after Lyons' son Curtis Jere Lyons. When he was later presented to King Kamehameha IV as a young child, the king gave him the additional name Piʻehu in respect of his shyness and lighter skin complexion. At court, he was known and referred to by his Hawaiian name Piʻehu.
Shortly after birth, he was adopted by his maternal uncle Kaihupaʻa to be raised in the Hawaiian custom of hānai, an informal form of adoption between extended families practiced by Hawaiian royals and commoners alike. His uncle had been educated by the American Protestant missionary Levi Chamberlain and had served his entire life as a personal assistant and servant to King Kamehameha III and later his successor Kamehameha IV. Iaukea was taken to the kingdom's capital at Honolulu to live with Kaihupaʻa and his wife Keliaipala. They lived near the grounds of the old ʻIolani Palace, in the building of the former Royal School. Renamed Halepoepoe (meaning circular or round house), this building had been turned into a home for royal retainers and the kahu (caretakers) for the reigning King Kamehameha IV. Around the time he was five or six, Iaukea fell into a well and his uncle Kaihupaʻa broke his foot in the process of saving him, later dying from the injuries he sustained.
Childhood and education Iaukea was raised at the Hawaiian court to become a kahu and continue his family kuleana (responsibility) of serving the Hawaiian royal family. The young boy was intended to be raised as a page or valet, and companion for Prince Albert Edward Kamehameha, the only son and heir of Kamehameha IV and his wife Queen Emma. These plans were never realized because the prince died in 1862, at the age of four. In later life, Iaukea noted,
As a ward of the Hawaiian government, he was sent to an Anglican boarding school. Around 1862 or 1863, Iaukea was enrolled in St. Alban's College, founded by Bishop Thomas Nettleship Staley and his assistants Archdeacon George Mason and Rev. Edmund Ibbotson, which was located in the Pauoa Valley. Here he first developed a friendship with William Pitt Leleiohoku, the hānai son of Princess Keʻelikōlani. Their bond was later compared to the friendship of Damon and Pythias.
In 1863, the school was relocated and merged with the Luaʻehu School, in Lahaina, Maui, established by the Anglican Rev. William R. Scott and later administered by Archdeacon Mason who served as Iaukea's mentor. In 1870, he returned to Oahu when the school was again relocated back to its original site. These institutions were the precursors of the present ʻIolani School in Honolulu.; Some of his other classmates included Samuel Nowlein and Robert Hoapili Baker, both of whom were politicians in later life.
Service to the monarchy In 1871, before leaving Hawaii, Archdeacon Mason informed Iaukea that had Kamehameha IV still been living, he would have intended for him to continue his education in Europe, and eventually to groom him to become an ordained chaplain for the royal family. Iaukea was deeply touched by the high expectations of his deceased benefactor. After finishing his education, he served King Kamehameha V as a kāhili bearer and steward at the palace, awaiting an assignment from the king.
In 1872, the king sent Iaukea and William K. Hutchison, the son of Ferdinand William Hutchison, to Lahaina where they learned the art of sugar boiling in the growing sugar industry on Maui, and helped manage the West Maui Sugar Plantation, in which the king had a share. They were placed under the care of Governor Paul Nahaolelua. After the king's death in 1872, Iaukea briefly left his service to the royal court and moved to Hilo to live with his sister Maraea and her husband Charles Akono Nui Akau, a Chinese-Hawaiian manager of the Paukaʻa Sugar Plantation.; The listless Iaukea enjoyed his new-found independence, but he also felt unfulfilled. He later wrote: "I was dangling at a loose end. And even though I was enjoying my independence, I was aware that I did not know just where I was going or what I ought to do. I was frustrated without realizing it."
Reign of Kalākaua
Following the short reign of Lunalilo, King Kalākaua ascended to the throne of Hawaii in 1874. During a tour of the island of Hawaii, Iaukea caught the eye of the new king who commanded him to return to the royal court. He became a personal aide to the king's younger brother, and former schoolmate, Prince William Pitt Leleiohoku. Both men were of a similar age and shared the same interest in sports and music. He became a member of the Kawaihau Glee Club, sponsored by the Prince and his friends, which competed with the singing clubs of the king, Princess Liliʻuokalani and Princess Likelike.; Liliʻuokalani noted her brother's group "consisted in a large degree of the very purest and sweetest male voices to be found amongst the native Hawaiians". In later life, Iaukea recalled, "Happy days those were; the days when 'Wine, Women and Song' were the rule of the day." The Prince died on April 7, 1877.
On April 15, 1878, Iaukea was commissioned as captain of the Prince’s Own Artillery Corps, Company A. This unit was a voluntary military regiment reorganized in 1874 and originally headed by King Kalākaua.; ; At this time, the army of the Kingdom of Hawaii consisted of five volunteer companies, including the Prince's Own, and the regular troops of the King's Household Guard. Each unit was subject to being called for active service when necessary.
On November 29, 1878, Iaukea was also appointed to King Kalākaua's personal military staff, with the rank of colonel.; The reign of Kalakaua was characterized by his emphasis on military pomp. On October 4, 1886, Iaukea was created adjutant general to the Forces of the Kingdom, succeeding upon the resignation of Charles T. Gulick.; ; ; According to the military act of 1886, as adjutant general, he was the second-in-command after John Owen Dominis, who was appointed lieutenant general and commander-in-chief with the king as supreme commander and generalissimo.
At different times during the king's reign he held the important posts of tax collector for Koolaupoko, member of the Privy Council of State, commissioner to the Great International Fisheries Exhibition in London, member of the Board of Health, disbursing agent for the Royal Guard, collector general of Customs, commissioner of Crown Lands and land agent, and private secretary to the king, as well as other minor positions and appointments.; ; He served as chamberlain to the Royal Household from 1886 to 1888, succeeding to this post upon the resignation of Charles Hastings Judd. After Dominis' appointment as lieutenant general, Iaukea was appointed as his successor as the governor of Oahu. He served in this position from October 4, 1886, to August 5, 1887, when Dominis was reappointed to the post.
From 1880 to 1883 he served as the secretary of the Foreign Office. In this capacity, he worked as the chief clerk and secretary for Minister of Foreign Affairs William Lowthian Green and later Green's successor Walter Murray Gibson. After a period in the service of this new foreign minister, he was asked to resign by Gibson who appointed his friend Joseph S. Webb to the position instead. Iaukea returned to serve as a staff member of the king, fast becoming a favorite in the royal entourage. During Kalākaua's coronation ceremony in 1883, he played a large ceremonial role as the bearer of the Sword of State, while his wife served as one of the ladies-in-waiting to Queen Kapiʻolani.
Following the coronation ceremony, the king informed Iaukea that he and his cabinet had commissioned him as the head of a diplomatic trip around the world. Iaukea was taken aback by the honor since he had no experience in diplomacy and was only twenty-eight at the time. In this role, Iaukea would become the most traveled member of the Hawaiian administration after Kalākaua who had made a similar world tour in 1881. Commissioned as the kingdom's ambassador with the rank of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, he represented Hawaii at the coronation of Tsar Alexander III of Russia on May 27, 1883, and led a subsequent diplomatic tour of the courts of Europe and Japan. Traveling with his secretary, the part-Hawaiian Henry F. Poor, Iaukea made a favorable impression on the courts of Europe. In Russia, they had an audience with the new tsar and tsarina, met Russian Foreign Minister Nikolay Girs, and socialized on an equal footing with the other foreign dignitaries. Iaukea later noted, "the sight of my country's flag floating over the entrance to the Hotel Duseaux besides those of the United States and Japan, gave me an added incentive to meet the responsibilities that lay ahead and discharge them with honor". The two Hawaiians traveled to the courts of Berlin, Vienna, Belgrade, London, Rome, and India and Japan via the Suez Canal. In London, he visited the International Fisheries Exhibition. In Japan, he met with the Emperor Meiji and helped finalize an immigration plan between Japan and Hawaii previously negotiated by Kalākaua during his world tour.