Mystic ties of brotherhood: Freemasonry, ritual, and Hawaiian royalty in the nineteenth century

Pacific Historical Review

Volumn 69, Issue 3, 2000, Pages 357-397

  Karpiel Jr , Frank J ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK; NINETEENTH CENTURY; SOCIAL HISTORY;

HAWAII; UNITED STATES;

EID: 0033790370     PISSN: 00308684     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3641714     Document Type: Article

References (144)

1. Three degrees (Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason) are the foundations of "Blue Lodge" Masonry, the home of most Freemasons. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, Masonic innovators in France, England, and America developed higher degrees and accompanying rituals as part of a movement toward increasingly esoteric interpretations of Masonry. Two main traditions form the system of high rank: the Scottish Rite, which includes twenty-nine additional grades (and an honorary thirty-third degree), and the York Rite, having nine additional degrees.
2. Mary Ann Clawson's work is a valuable resource in analyzing the role of nineteenth-century Masonic lodges. Mary Ann Clawson, Constructing Brotherhood: Class, Gender and Fraternalism (Princeton, N.J., 1989).
3. The queen's autobiography and other biographies of her contain an abundance of references to her regard for the Masonic order, her husband's connections at the highest levels of international Masonry, and her efforts to enlist Masonic leaders to help her regain the throne. Queen Lili'uokalani, Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen (Boston, 1898); Helena G. Allen, The Betrayal of Liliuokalani: Last Queen of Hawaii, 1838-1917 (Honolulu, 1982). This close association and mutual regard led the author of a recent history of the overthrow of the monarchy to conclude that Lili'uokalani was a Mason, despite the fact that women are not eligible for membership in the Masonic order. Tom Coffman, A Nation Within: The Story of America's Annexation of the Nation of Hawai'i (Kaneohe, 1998), 3.
4. The queen's autobiography and other biographies of her contain an abundance of references to her regard for the Masonic order, her husband's connections at the highest levels of international Masonry, and her efforts to enlist Masonic leaders to help her regain the throne. Queen Lili'uokalani, Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen (Boston, 1898); Helena G. Allen, The Betrayal of Liliuokalani: Last Queen of Hawaii, 1838-1917 (Honolulu, 1982). This close association and mutual regard led the author of a recent history of the overthrow of the monarchy to conclude that Lili'uokalani was a Mason, despite the fact that women are not eligible for membership in the Masonic order. Tom Coffman, A Nation Within: The Story of America's Annexation of the Nation of Hawai'i (Kaneohe, 1998), 3.
5. The queen's autobiography and other biographies of her contain an abundance of references to her regard for the Masonic order, her husband's connections at the highest levels of international Masonry, and her efforts to enlist Masonic leaders to help her regain the throne. Queen Lili'uokalani, Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen (Boston, 1898); Helena G. Allen, The Betrayal of Liliuokalani: Last Queen of Hawaii, 1838-1917 (Honolulu, 1982). This close association and mutual regard led the author of a recent history of the overthrow of the monarchy to conclude that Lili'uokalani was a Mason, despite the fact that women are not eligible for membership in the Masonic order. Tom Coffman, A Nation Within: The Story of America's Annexation of the Nation of Hawai'i (Kaneohe, 1998), 3.
6. On February 11, 1843, Lord George Paulet, commanding the frigate Carysfort, arrived in Honolulu to resolve grievances by British citizens against the Hawaiian government. When Kamehameha III and his administration did not immediately acquiesce to Paulet's numerous and intemperate demands, the British commander threatened military force and the king ceded the islands to Great Britain on February 25, 1843. Five months later, Rear Admiral Richard Thomas, commander of the British Pacific fleet, formally restored sovereignty to the kingdom after finding that Paulet's actions recklessly exceeded his orders. For a detailed narrative of the episode, see Ralph S. Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1778-1854: Foundation and Transformation (Honolulu, 1938), 206-226.
7. Mark C. Carnes, Secret Ritual and Manhood in Victorian America (New Haven, Conn., 1989), 3, 28-29, 30-31, 48-49.
8. For a good description of how Masonic rituals served as a source for other fraternal groups, see ibid.
9. It is difficult to find any mention of Freemasonry or the many other fraternal groups active in published histories of Hawai'i. The only exceptions are the pamphlets and booklets published by Masons themselves, such as Harold Winfield Kent, Masonry and Royalty in Hawaii (Washington, D.C., 1968), which was originally published in the Masonic journal The New Age. A generally reliable but sketchy work by Kent is One Hundred Years of Scottish Rite Masonry in Hawaii, 1874-1974 (Honolulu, 1974). Another good source is Cletus F. Chaussee, "Centennial History of Hawaiian Lodge No. 21 F. & A.M., 1852-1952," in Souvenir Program of the Centennial Year of Hawaiian Lodge (Honolulu, 1952). Many of the works by Masonic authors contain inaccurate information, a prime example being Roy Clemens, "Captain James Cook - Freemason" (Honolulu, 1980). No evidence exists for Cook being a member of the fraternity. For a more recent examination of the order in Hawai'i, see Frank Karpiel, "Mystic Ties of Brotherhood: Freemasonry, Royalty, and Ritual in Hawaii, 1843-1910" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Hawai'i-Manoa, 1998).
10. It is difficult to find any mention of Freemasonry or the many other fraternal groups active in published histories of Hawai'i. The only exceptions are the pamphlets and booklets published by Masons themselves, such as Harold Winfield Kent, Masonry and Royalty in Hawaii (Washington, D.C., 1968), which was originally published in the Masonic journal The New Age. A generally reliable but sketchy work by Kent is One Hundred Years of Scottish Rite Masonry in Hawaii, 1874-1974 (Honolulu, 1974). Another good source is Cletus F. Chaussee, "Centennial History of Hawaiian Lodge No. 21 F. & A.M., 1852-1952," in Souvenir Program of the Centennial Year of Hawaiian Lodge (Honolulu, 1952). Many of the works by Masonic authors contain inaccurate information, a prime example being Roy Clemens, "Captain James Cook - Freemason" (Honolulu, 1980). No evidence exists for Cook being a member of the fraternity. For a more recent examination of the order in Hawai'i, see Frank Karpiel, "Mystic Ties of Brotherhood: Freemasonry, Royalty, and Ritual in Hawaii, 1843-1910" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Hawai'i-Manoa, 1998).
11. It is difficult to find any mention of Freemasonry or the many other fraternal groups active in published histories of Hawai'i. The only exceptions are the pamphlets and booklets published by Masons themselves, such as Harold Winfield Kent, Masonry and Royalty in Hawaii (Washington, D.C., 1968), which was originally published in the Masonic journal The New Age. A generally reliable but sketchy work by Kent is One Hundred Years of Scottish Rite Masonry in Hawaii, 1874-1974 (Honolulu, 1974). Another good source is Cletus F. Chaussee, "Centennial History of Hawaiian Lodge No. 21 F. & A.M., 1852-1952," in Souvenir Program of the Centennial Year of Hawaiian Lodge (Honolulu, 1952). Many of the works by Masonic authors contain inaccurate information, a prime example being Roy Clemens, "Captain James Cook - Freemason" (Honolulu, 1980). No evidence exists for Cook being a member of the fraternity. For a more recent examination of the order in Hawai'i, see Frank Karpiel, "Mystic Ties of Brotherhood: Freemasonry, Royalty, and Ritual in Hawaii, 1843-1910" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Hawai'i-Manoa, 1998).
12. It is difficult to find any mention of Freemasonry or the many other fraternal groups active in published histories of Hawai'i. The only exceptions are the pamphlets and booklets published by Masons themselves, such as Harold Winfield Kent, Masonry and Royalty in Hawaii (Washington, D.C., 1968), which was originally published in the Masonic journal The New Age. A generally reliable but sketchy work by Kent is One Hundred Years of Scottish Rite Masonry in Hawaii, 1874-1974 (Honolulu, 1974). Another good source is Cletus F. Chaussee, "Centennial History of Hawaiian Lodge No. 21 F. & A.M., 1852-1952," in Souvenir Program of the Centennial Year of Hawaiian Lodge (Honolulu, 1952). Many of the works by Masonic authors contain inaccurate information, a prime example being Roy Clemens, "Captain James Cook - Freemason" (Honolulu, 1980). No evidence exists for Cook being a member of the fraternity. For a more recent examination of the order in Hawai'i, see Frank Karpiel, "Mystic Ties of Brotherhood: Freemasonry, Royalty, and Ritual in Hawaii, 1843-1910" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Hawai'i-Manoa, 1998).
13. It is difficult to find any mention of Freemasonry or the many other fraternal groups active in published histories of Hawai'i. The only exceptions are the pamphlets and booklets published by Masons themselves, such as Harold Winfield Kent, Masonry and Royalty in Hawaii (Washington, D.C., 1968), which was originally published in the Masonic journal The New Age. A generally reliable but sketchy work by Kent is One Hundred Years of Scottish Rite Masonry in Hawaii, 1874-1974 (Honolulu, 1974). Another good source is Cletus F. Chaussee, "Centennial History of Hawaiian Lodge No. 21 F. & A.M., 1852-1952," in Souvenir Program of the Centennial Year of Hawaiian Lodge (Honolulu, 1952). Many of the works by Masonic authors contain inaccurate information, a prime example being Roy Clemens, "Captain James Cook - Freemason" (Honolulu, 1980). No evidence exists for Cook being a member of the fraternity. For a more recent examination of the order in Hawai'i, see Frank Karpiel, "Mystic Ties of Brotherhood: Freemasonry, Royalty, and Ritual in Hawaii, 1843-1910" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Hawai'i-Manoa, 1998).
14. A number of excellent works on Freemasonry and fraternalism have appeared since the late 1970s including: Dorothy Ann Lipson, Freemasonry in Federalist Connecticut (Princeton, N.J., 1977); Margaret C. Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons, and Republicans (London, 1981); Lynn Dumenil, Freemasonry and American Culture, 1880-1930 (Princeton, N.J., 1984); Clawson, Constructing Brotherhood; R. William Weisberger, Speculative Freemasonry and the Enlightenment: A Study of the Craft in London, Paris, Prague, and Vienna (Boulder, Colo., 1993); Steven C. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order; 1730-1940 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1996); William L. Fox, Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle: Two Centuries of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in America's Southern Jurisdiction (Fayetteville, Ark., 1997).
15. A number of excellent works on Freemasonry and fraternalism have appeared since the late 1970s including: Dorothy Ann Lipson, Freemasonry in Federalist Connecticut (Princeton, N.J., 1977); Margaret C. Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons, and Republicans (London, 1981); Lynn Dumenil, Freemasonry and American Culture, 1880-1930 (Princeton, N.J., 1984); Clawson, Constructing Brotherhood; R. William Weisberger, Speculative Freemasonry and the Enlightenment: A Study of the Craft in London, Paris, Prague, and Vienna (Boulder, Colo., 1993); Steven C. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order; 1730-1940 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1996); William L. Fox, Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle: Two Centuries of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in America's Southern Jurisdiction (Fayetteville, Ark., 1997).
16. A number of excellent works on Freemasonry and fraternalism have appeared since the late 1970s including: Dorothy Ann Lipson, Freemasonry in Federalist Connecticut (Princeton, N.J., 1977); Margaret C. Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons, and Republicans (London, 1981); Lynn Dumenil, Freemasonry and American Culture, 1880-1930 (Princeton, N.J., 1984); Clawson, Constructing Brotherhood; R. William Weisberger, Speculative Freemasonry and the Enlightenment: A Study of the Craft in London, Paris, Prague, and Vienna (Boulder, Colo., 1993); Steven C. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order; 1730-1940 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1996); William L. Fox, Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle: Two Centuries of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in America's Southern Jurisdiction (Fayetteville, Ark., 1997).
17. A number of excellent works on Freemasonry and fraternalism have appeared since the late 1970s including: Dorothy Ann Lipson, Freemasonry in Federalist Connecticut (Princeton, N.J., 1977); Margaret C. Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons, and Republicans (London, 1981); Lynn Dumenil, Freemasonry and American Culture, 1880-1930 (Princeton, N.J., 1984); Clawson, Constructing Brotherhood; R. William Weisberger, Speculative Freemasonry and the Enlightenment: A Study of the Craft in London, Paris, Prague, and Vienna (Boulder, Colo., 1993); Steven C. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order; 1730-1940 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1996); William L. Fox, Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle: Two Centuries of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in America's Southern Jurisdiction (Fayetteville, Ark., 1997).
18. A number of excellent works on Freemasonry and fraternalism have appeared since the late 1970s including: Dorothy Ann Lipson, Freemasonry in Federalist Connecticut (Princeton, N.J., 1977); Margaret C. Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons, and Republicans (London, 1981); Lynn Dumenil, Freemasonry and American Culture, 1880-1930 (Princeton, N.J., 1984); Clawson, Constructing Brotherhood; R. William Weisberger, Speculative Freemasonry and the Enlightenment: A Study of the Craft in London, Paris, Prague, and Vienna (Boulder, Colo., 1993); Steven C. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order; 1730-1940 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1996); William L. Fox, Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle: Two Centuries of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in America's Southern Jurisdiction (Fayetteville, Ark., 1997).
19. A number of excellent works on Freemasonry and fraternalism have appeared since the late 1970s including: Dorothy Ann Lipson, Freemasonry in Federalist Connecticut (Princeton, N.J., 1977); Margaret C. Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons, and Republicans (London, 1981); Lynn Dumenil, Freemasonry and American Culture, 1880-1930 (Princeton, N.J., 1984); Clawson, Constructing Brotherhood; R. William Weisberger, Speculative Freemasonry and the Enlightenment: A Study of the Craft in London, Paris, Prague, and Vienna (Boulder, Colo., 1993); Steven C. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order; 1730-1940 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1996); William L. Fox, Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle: Two Centuries of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in America's Southern Jurisdiction (Fayetteville, Ark., 1997).
20. A number of excellent works on Freemasonry and fraternalism have appeared since the late 1970s including: Dorothy Ann Lipson, Freemasonry in Federalist Connecticut (Princeton, N.J., 1977); Margaret C. Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons, and Republicans (London, 1981); Lynn Dumenil, Freemasonry and American Culture, 1880-1930 (Princeton, N.J., 1984); Clawson, Constructing Brotherhood; R. William Weisberger, Speculative Freemasonry and the Enlightenment: A Study of the Craft in London, Paris, Prague, and Vienna (Boulder, Colo., 1993); Steven C. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order; 1730-1940 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1996); William L. Fox, Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle: Two Centuries of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in America's Southern Jurisdiction (Fayetteville, Ark., 1997).
21. Gavan Daws's doctoral dissertation does include a one-sentence (incorrectly dated) mention of Freemasonry that subsequently disappeared in Shoal of Time, the published version of the dissertation. Gavan Daws, "Honolulu - The First Century: Influences in the Development of the Town to 1876" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Hawai'i-Manoa, 1966), 503.
22. Ralph S. Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1778-1854; Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1854-1874: Twenty Critical Years (Honolulu, 1953); Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1874-1893: The Kalakaua Dynasty (Honolulu, 1967); Harold Whitman Bradley, The American Frontier in Hawaii, 1789-1843 (1942; Gloucester, Mass., 1968); Gavan Daws, Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands (Honolulu, 1974); Sylvester K. Stevens, American Expansion in Hawaii, 1842-1898 (Harrisburg, Pa., 1945).
23. Ralph S. Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1778-1854; Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1854-1874: Twenty Critical Years (Honolulu, 1953); Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1874-1893: The Kalakaua Dynasty (Honolulu, 1967); Harold Whitman Bradley, The American Frontier in Hawaii, 1789-1843 (1942; Gloucester, Mass., 1968); Gavan Daws, Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands (Honolulu, 1974); Sylvester K. Stevens, American Expansion in Hawaii, 1842-1898 (Harrisburg, Pa., 1945).
24. Ralph S. Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1778-1854; Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1854-1874: Twenty Critical Years (Honolulu, 1953); Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1874-1893: The Kalakaua Dynasty (Honolulu, 1967); Harold Whitman Bradley, The American Frontier in Hawaii, 1789-1843 (1942; Gloucester, Mass., 1968); Gavan Daws, Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands (Honolulu, 1974); Sylvester K. Stevens, American Expansion in Hawaii, 1842-1898 (Harrisburg, Pa., 1945).
25. Ralph S. Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1778-1854; Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1854-1874: Twenty Critical Years (Honolulu, 1953); Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1874-1893: The Kalakaua Dynasty (Honolulu, 1967); Harold Whitman Bradley, The American Frontier in Hawaii, 1789-1843 (1942; Gloucester, Mass., 1968); Gavan Daws, Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands (Honolulu, 1974); Sylvester K. Stevens, American Expansion in Hawaii, 1842-1898 (Harrisburg, Pa., 1945).
26. Ralph S. Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1778-1854; Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1854-1874: Twenty Critical Years (Honolulu, 1953); Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1874-1893: The Kalakaua Dynasty (Honolulu, 1967); Harold Whitman Bradley, The American Frontier in Hawaii, 1789-1843 (1942; Gloucester, Mass., 1968); Gavan Daws, Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands (Honolulu, 1974); Sylvester K. Stevens, American Expansion in Hawaii, 1842-1898 (Harrisburg, Pa., 1945).
27. Ralph S. Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1778-1854; Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1854-1874: Twenty Critical Years (Honolulu, 1953); Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1874-1893: The Kalakaua Dynasty (Honolulu, 1967); Harold Whitman Bradley, The American Frontier in Hawaii, 1789-1843 (1942; Gloucester, Mass., 1968); Gavan Daws, Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands (Honolulu, 1974); Sylvester K. Stevens, American Expansion in Hawaii, 1842-1898 (Harrisburg, Pa., 1945).
28. Lilikalā Kame'eleihiwa, Native Land and Foreign Desire: Pehea Lā E Pono Ai? (Honolulu, 1998), 198.
29. Marshall Sahlins, Anahulu: The Anthropology of History in the Kingdom of Hawaii, Vol 1. Historical Ethnography (Chicago, 1992).
30. William D. Moore, "The Masonic Lodge Room, 1830-1930: A Sacred Space of Masculine Spiritual Hierarchy," in Elizabeth Collins Cromley and Carter L. Hudgins, eds., Gender, Class, and Shelter: Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture (Knoxville, Tenn., 1995).
31. Relevant documents for this article were found in the Archives of Hawaiian Lodge #21 F. & A.M., Honolulu: Bylaws, Letters received, Letterpress books, Minutes, Tylers Records; Archives of Lodge Le Progrès de l'Océanie, Honolulu: Bylaws, Minutes, Rollbooks. Manuscripts relating to Hawaiian secret societies were consulted at the Hawai'i State Archives, Hawaiian Mission Childrens' Society, and the Bishop Museum.
32. David Malo, Hawaiian Antiquities: Moolelo Hawaii, trans. Nathaniel B. Emerson (Honolulu, 1951), 180-181; Valerio Valeri, Kingship and Sacrifice: Ritual and Society in Ancient Hawaii, trans. Paula Wissing (Chicago, 1985), 294-295.
33. David Malo, Hawaiian Antiquities: Moolelo Hawaii, trans. Nathaniel B. Emerson (Honolulu, 1951), 180-181; Valerio Valeri, Kingship and Sacrifice: Ritual and Society in Ancient Hawaii, trans. Paula Wissing (Chicago, 1985), 294-295.
34. Marshall Sahlins, "The Return of the Event, Again; With Reflections on the Beginnings of the Great Fijian War of 1843 to 1855 Between the Kingdoms of Bau and Rewa," in Aletta Biersack, ed., Clio in Oceania: Toward a Historical Anthropology (Washington, D.C., 1991), 64.
35. In order to establish kingship in Hawai'i prior to Western contact, one had to obtain support from a wide faction "who believe their interests coincide with those of the leader." Valeri, Kingship and Sacrifice, 159-160.
36. See Margaret C. Jacob, Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Europe (New York, 1989), 56-69.
37. Early lodges in Asia and Oceania, established well before those in Honolulu, remained bastions of white colonial officials and traders throughout the nineteenth century, although a few Parsees, descendants of Persian Zoroastrians, joined lodges of their own in India. Henry Wilson Coil, Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia (New York, 1961), 77-78.
38. Hawaiian Lodge was formed in May 1852. The Grand Lodge of California was established in 1850, the same year California was admitted to the Union. Minutes, June 10, 1853, Hawaiian Lodge Archives, Honolulu.
39. For a good review of primary sources relating to the epidemic, see Richard A. Greer, "Oahu's Ordeal - the Smallpox Epidemic of 1853," in Richard Greer, ed., Hawaiian Historical Review: Selected Readings (Honolulu, 1969), 45-65.
40. Minutes, Jan.-Feb. 1854, Hawaiian Lodge Archives.
41. Lodge Le Progrès was a branch of the Supreme Council of France. Robert G. Davis, "Initiation of the King of the Sandwich Islands," Freemason's Monthly Magazine (Boston), 16 (June 1857), 234.
42. R. C. Wyllie to King Kamehameha IV, Feb. 21, 1857, Local Officials, Foreign Office and Executive file (hereafter FO and EX file), Hawai'i State Archives. Lodge Le Progrès de l'Océanie was founded in Honolulu in April 1843, during the British occupation of the kingdom. Its founding membership included an international roster of mariners, shopowners, and craftsmen. A fire in late 1845 destroyed lodge records for the first two years of its existence, so no meeting minutes or tyler's logs (lists of meeting attendees) exist for those years.
43. Wyllie originally joined the Union and Fraternity lodge of Mazatlan, Mexico, in 1826.
44. Wyllie to James Sawkins, Master of Hawaiian Lodge, May 14, 1852, Hawaiian Lodge Archives.
45. Charles W. Vincent to Most Worshipful Grand Master, Grand Lodge of California, July 14, 1853, ibid.
46. Fornander subsequently embarked on a notable government career under successive Hawaiian monarchs, finally serving as a Supreme Court justice. He also collected folklore and ethnological data, becoming an authority on Hawaiian genealogies. Much of his work was published between 1878 and 1885 and has been reprinted several times. See Abraham Fornander, An Account of the Polynesian Race: Its Origins and Migrations (Rutland, Vt., 1969).
47. Helen Geracimos Chapin, Shaping History: The Role of Newspapers in Hawai'i (Honolulu, 1996), 50.
48. Hawaiian Lodge Archives do not explain the failure to initiate Kamehameha III into the order, other than to refer the initial request to the California Grand Lodge. No reply is indicated.
49. Wyllie to Fornander, Secretary, Hawaiian Lodge, Dec. 25, 1854, Hawaiian Lodge Archives
50. Jacob Adler, ed. The Journal of Prince-Alexander Liholiho (Honolulu, 1967), 13.
51. Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1854-1873, 35.
52. Lorrin Andrews, Sr., had been made an honorary member of Confidence Lodge #52, in Marysville, Kentucky, before coming to Hawai'i. In 1852 he was made an honorary member of Hawaiian Lodge #21 in Honolulu. Rollbook; Minutes, May 10, 1852, Hawaiian Lodge Archives. Lorrin Andrews, Jr., a clerk in Honolulu, joined Hawaiian Lodge in 1853 at age twenty-six. The younger Andrews died three years later after a protracted illness; Hawaiian Lodge came to the aid of his wife and children, paying educational and other expenses for many years afterward.
53. Honolulu New Era and Argus, June 29, 1854.
54. Bernard E. Jones, Freemasons Guide and Compendium (London, 1959), 338.
55. New Era and Argus, June 29, 1854.
56. Ibid.
57. Ibid.
58. Ibid.
59. Minutes, Jan. 14, 1857, Lodge Le Progrès Archives, Honolulu.
60. After the completion of his term as chief American representative to the kingdom, David Gregg stayed on in Hawai'i and joined the cabinet as Minister of Finance.
61. Minutes, Feb. 8, 1857, Lodge Le Progrès Archives.
62. Davis, "Initiation of the King of the Sandwich Islands," 235.
63. Ibid.
64. Sahlins, Anahulu, 1:68.
65. Gregg to Thomas Campbell, Feb. 19, 1857, Gregg Collection, vol. 4, Hawaiian Historical Commission.
66. Pauline King, ed., The Diaries of David Lawrence Gregg: An American Diplomat in Hawaii, 1853-1858 (Honolulu, 1982), 286.
67. Minutes, Feb. 11, March 11, June 3, July 8, 1857, Lodge Le Progrès Archives.
68. Minutes July 8, 1857, Jan. 8, 1858, ibid.; Annual Report to Grand Lodge, Hawaiian Lodge, 1857, Hawaiian Lodge Archives.
69. Wyllie to King Kamehameha IV, Feb. 21, 1857, Local Officials, FO and EX file, Hawai'i State Archives.
70. Minutes, Sept. 9, 1858, Lodge Le Progrès Archives.
71. Upon initiation, Freemasons were presented with a white lambskin apron, symbolizing innocence, and a host of other symbolic attributes.
72. The Polynesian was the official government newspaper during this period. The Friend, also known as the Temperance Advocate and Seaman's Friend was founded in 1843 by Rev. Samuel Chenery Damon, a liberal Protestant minister but not a missionary. Later in the century, The Friend, under the leadership of Sereno Bishop, became a vocal opponent of the Hawaiian monarchy and an advocate of annexation to the United States.
73. Minutes, May 26, 1858, Lodge Le Progrès Archives.
74. Ibid.
75. Ibid.
76. Jones, Freemasons Guide and Compendium, 270.
77. Ibid.
78. Kamehameha IV's longest-lasting cabinet consisted of Prince Lot Kamehameha, Minister of the Interior; R. C. Wyllie, Minister of Foreign Relations; and David Gregg, Minister of Finance. Other important officials include successive Postmasters General Joseph Jackson and Alvah Clark, Probate Court Judge Lorrin Andrews, Sr., Circuit Judge Stafford Austin, Collector of Customs Warren Goodale, Superintendent of Government Dredging Samuel James, Queens Hospital Chief Physician Robert McKibben, and Marshal of the Kingdom William Parke.
79. Kamehameha IV to Wyllie, Aug. 19, 1859, Local Officials, FO and EX File, Hawai'i State Archives.
80. Sahlins, Anahulu, 1: 118, 126. In the latter passage, Sahlins, referring to the period after 1840, states "the ancient Hawaiian kingship was dead. In its place a 'civilized' king reigned - but did not govern."
81. D. Knoop and G. P. Jones, The Genesis of Freemasonry (London, 1978), 178-180; Coil, Masonic Encyclopedia, 480-481. As Coil recognizes, however, the injunctions against all political discussions within the lodge and involvement in rebellions was quite frequently ignored on the European continent during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Republicans and anti-monarchists including Giuseppe Garibaldi, Simon Bolivar, and many American revolutionaries were Freemasons. After the American Revolution, the charge against political conspiracies has been generally respected in American Lodges.
82. D. Knoop and G. P. Jones, The Genesis of Freemasonry (London, 1978), 178-180; Coil, Masonic Encyclopedia, 480-481. As Coil recognizes, however, the injunctions against all political discussions within the lodge and involvement in rebellions was quite frequently ignored on the European continent during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Republicans and anti-monarchists including Giuseppe Garibaldi, Simon Bolivar, and many American revolutionaries were Freemasons. After the American Revolution, the charge against political conspiracies has been generally respected in American Lodges.
83. King, Diaries of David Lawrence Gregg, 332.
84. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood, 164. Bullock uses the phrase to describe the evolving role of the fraternity in post-Revolutionary America. Evangelical Christians, non-Biblical rationalists, nonsectarian Christians, and others vied for influence during the early Republic.
85. A kahuna is a Hawaiian priest, sorcerer, or expert in a particular field.
86. Minutes, March 26, 1859, Lodge Le Progrès Archives.
87. Fornander to Kamehameha IV, Sept. 17, 1861, Manuscript Group 336, Box 1, Bishop Museum.
88. Minutes, Dec. 1861, Lodge Le Progrès Archives.
89. Esther K. Mookini, The Hawaiian Newspapers (Honolulu, 1974), vii, 16.
90. Ibid., vii.
91. Sheldon Dibble, A History of the Sandwich Islands (Honolulu, 1909), 153.
92. In the 1850s and 1860s the younger generation of Hawaiian leaders, including Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V as well as "progressive" foreigners such as Fornander, believed that English should be the primary language of education for Hawaiians so that they could better adapt to changing economic conditions. Missionary educators stood opposed to this policy. See Elias Bond to Dr. Rufus Anderson, March 24, 1865, Manuscript Group 336, Bishop Museum.
93. The right hand and right side represent truth, honesty, and faithfulness in Masonic tradition. Raising or joining right hands is considered particularly sacred and binding. Coil, Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, 528.
94. The building still stands on the opposite side of King Street from 'Iolani Palace. It now houses offices for the State of Hawai'i's Judiciary Department.
95. Statutes of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I (Honolulu, 1874).
96. "Members of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I," Hawaiian Almanac and Annual for 1880.
97. Kalākaua is widely known in Hawai'i as the Merry Monarch. The king drank prodigiously, loved women, was an avid student of the hula (he had his own troupe), and hosted numerous parties - hence his nickname.
98. Another Hawaiian who joined Lodge Le Progrès under Liholiho's sponsorship was William Hoapili Ka'auwai, a kinsman of Kalākaua and son of a powerful Maui political figure who had been a justice of the Supreme Court of the kingdom in the 1840s. Andrew Forest Muir, "William Hoapili Kaauwai: An Hawaiian in Holy Orders," Sixty first Annual Report of the Hawaiian Historical Society (1952), 5-13.
99. Queen Emma to Peter Kaeo, July 29, 1873, in Alfons L. Korn, ed., News From Molokai: Letters between Peter Kaeo and Queen Emma, 1873-1876 (Honolulu, 1976), 39.
100. Queen Emma to Kaeo, Sept. 26, 1873, in ibid., 119.
101. Minutes, Dec. 1860-Jan. 1861, Lodge Le Progrès Archives; the Junior Deacon was charged with introducing visitors and receiving candidates for degrees. Albert G. Mackey, A Manual of the Lodge (New York, 1894), 156.
102. Minutes, Dec. 1, 1864, Lodge Le Progrès Archives; Mackey, Manual, 155.
103. Minutes, Nov. 30, 1865, Lodge Le Progrès Archives.
104. A. Grove Day, ed., Mark Twain's Letters from Hawaii (Honolulu, 1975), 110-140, passim.
105. Minutes, Dec. 1873, Lodge Le Progrès Archives.
106. Minutes, Jan.-June 1874, ibid.
107. Hawaiian Lodge Rollbook, Minutes, Hawaiian Lodge, 1870-1879, Hawaiian Lodge Archives.
108. Kent, One Hundred Years of Scottish Rite Masonry in Hawaii, 2-16.
109. Mary Kawena Pukui and Alfons L. Korn, trans. and eds., The Echo of Our Song: Chants and Poems of the Hawaiians (Honolulu, 1973), 136-137.
110. New York Times, Nov. 30, 1874.
111. Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1874-1893, 23.
112. New York Times, Dec. 30, 31, 1874; a report from the U.S. Secretary of State, Hamilton Fish, details the Kalākaua entourage's expenses paid by the U.S. government. (His traveling party consisted of three aides.) The total for the king's hotel stay in Washington, train travel throughout the country, and a few incidentals (engraving cards, photographs) came to $19,979.96. U.S. Department of State, Report of the Secretary of State, by Hamilton Fish, Dec. 7, 1875.
113. "King Kalakaua," The New England Freemason, 2 (Jan. 1875), 43-44.
114. Ibid., 44.
115. Albert Pike to John Dominis, Oct. 28, 1877, A.A.S.R. (Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite) Correspondence, Masonic Public Library, Honolulu.
116. Ibid.
117. Built on the site of the original 'Iolani Palace (1843-1879), the new palace was labeled "American Florentine" in architectural style by reporters. Although intensely criticized by his political opponents for his extravagance in building the rococo edifice, the king was proud of his new home and installed electric lights and telephones during the mid-1880s. Today the restored palace is at the heart of downtown Honolulu's historic district and is an important site for Hawaiian cultural activities.
118. Minutes, Jan. 29, 1883, Lodge Le Progrès Archives; Chaussee, "Centennial History," 92-106.
119. Ibid.
120. See William N. Armstrong, Around the World with a King (1903; Rutland, Vt., 1977), as well as FO and EX file, Kingdom of Hawaii, King's Correspondence, 1881, Hawai'i State Archives.
121. Pike to Dominis, Feb. 16, 1881, A.A.S.R. Correspondence, Masonic Public Library.
122. Many of the king's letters from his around-the-world journey illustrate his fixation on aristocratic rank and ceremony. Several are included in Richard Greer, ed., "The Royal Tourist - Kalakaua's Letters Home from Tokio to London," Hawaiian Journal of History, 5 (1971), 75-109.
123. Kent, One Hundred Years of Scottish Rite Masonry in Hawaii, 24.
124. See "Kalakaua's Hawaii, 1874-1891," Pamphlet Collection, Microfilm 3138, Hamilton Library, University of Hawai'i. Many of the charges against the king were exaggerated or false. Government budget figures (compiled by one of his diehard opponents, publisher Thomas Thrum) reveal relatively small deficits for several years during Kalākaua's reign, in relation to the rapidly expanding economy and growing government revenues. Government deficits and long-term funded debt expanded considerably after the overthrow of the monarchy by the king's adversaries in 1893. None of the histories of Hawai'i referenced earlier in this article mentions these facts, although each spends a considerable amount of space detailing the anti-Kalākaua accusations. See Robert C. Schmitt, Historical Statistics of Hawaii (Honolulu, 1977), 611-647.
125. King, Diaries of David Lawrence Gregg, 114; William C. Parke, Personal Reminiscences of William Cooper Parke, Marshal of the Hawaiian Islands from 1850 to 1884 (Cambridge, Mass., 1991).
126. King, Diaries of David Lawrence Gregg, 114; William C. Parke, Personal Reminiscences of William Cooper Parke, Marshal of the Hawaiian Islands from 1850 to 1884 (Cambridge, Mass., 1991).
127. When Parke died, the Pacific Commercial Advertiser observed that his removal from office "was a gross injustice and insult which received the prompt condemnation of the Judges of the Supreme Court and the members of the bar." Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 30, 1889.
128. Ibid.; Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1874-1893, 266.
129. Ibid.; Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1874-1893, 266.
130. Minutes, Dec. 27, 1884, Hawaiian Lodge Archives; Robert Macoy, General History, Cyclopedia and Dictionary of Freemasonry (New York, 1869), 235.
131. Honolulu Daily Bulletin, Sept. 19, 1884.
132. For more on the Hale Naua Society, see Karpiel, "Mystic Ties of Brotherhood," 216-256 . Also see Frank Karpiel, "Kalākaua's Hale Naua," Hawaiian Journal of History, 33 (1999).
133. For more on the Hale Naua Society, see Karpiel, "Mystic Ties of Brotherhood," 216-256 . Also see Frank Karpiel, "Kalākaua's Hale Naua," Hawaiian Journal of History, 33 (1999).
134. G. W. Woods, "Medical Report on the Last Illness and Death of King Kalakaua," to Honorable John A. Cummins, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Printed Aboard U.S. Flagship U.S.S. Charleston, Jan. 26, 1891.
135. Ibid.; The Mystic Shrine Illustrated (Kila, Mont., n.d.), 14-39.
136. Ibid.; The Mystic Shrine Illustrated (Kila, Mont., n.d.), 14-39.
137. Woods, "Medical Report on the Last Illness and Death of King Kalakaua."
138. Clawson's Constructing Brotherhood contains a thorough analysis of the fra" ternal model of association and the purposeful re-creation of cultural traditions. For more on the Hale Naua Society, see Karpiel, "Kalākaua Hale Naua."
139. In Washington, D.C., on her way to England for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887, Lili'uokalani had been reminded of her husband's stature in a meeting with Albert Pike. "Next to the courtesies extended by the President," she wrote of her experience at a state dinner at the White House, "perhaps the consideration shown to us by dignitaries of the Masonic order most deserves my notice. General Albert Pike, accompanied by thirteen members of the Supreme Council, thirty-third degree, Scottish Rite, called on the Queen [Kapi'olani] and myself." At the meeting, she added, Pike gave her and Kapi'olani "written evidences of the consideration with which we were regarded by his order." Weeks later in England for the Jubilee, the princess was astonished to find herself sitting very near Queen Victoria and Prince Edward at a large outdoor Masonic gathering celebrating the Jubilee. Lili'uokalani, Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen, 122-123; 162-163.
140. After the queen ascended to the throne, a group of American businessmen living in the islands and missionary descendants conspired to overthrow the monarchy with the covert assistance of the American minister to Hawai'i, John L. Stevens. They succeeded in doing so on January 14, 1893. A century later, President William Jefferson Clinton and the U.S. Congress officially apologized to the Hawaiian people for the actions of the American government. On January 14, 1993, more than 15,000 supporters of Hawaiian sovereignty rallied at 'Iolani Palace, sparking a new phase of indigenous activism in the islands. For more on the overthrow, see Coffman, A Nation Within.
141. Kuhio's brother, Prince David Kawanakoa, was accepted into Lodge Le Progrès in 1900. The two princes would have been second and third in the line of succession to the throne had Lili'uokalani not been overthrown.
142. The Royal Order of Jesters was founded in 1911 during a Shriner "pilgrimage" to Hawai'i and would eventually become a national organization. The Ka'ahumanu Society was founded in 1863 by Chiefess Victoria Kamamalu (the sister of Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V), Chiefess Bernice Pauahi Bishop and Chiefess Lydia Kamaka'eha Dominis (who would become Queen Lili'uokalani). Dedicated to assisting sick and needy Hawaiians and to providing for a decent burial, the society was described by Mark Twain as "an organization partaking of the benevolent character of Freemasonry but without its secrecy." Day, ed., Mark Twain's Letters from Hawaii, 124-125.
143. The Hawaiian Kingdom was not the only example of Masonry's connection to anticolonial resistance in the Pacific. Filipino Freemasons such as Jose Rizal actively appropriated Masonic philosophy and the resources of local lodges to organize anti-Spanish resistance during the 1890s. For further information, see Reynold S. Fajardo, The Brethren: Masons in the Struggle for Philippine Independence (Manila, 1998). Moreover, in the mid-1880s, Kalākaua's Hale Naua upset Masonic gender conventions by welcoming women as well as men into full membership and allowing numerous women to serve as officers (including as president of the society).
144. Clawson, Constructing Brotherhood, 88, 109.