Joseph Heleluhe

He was born on June 2, 1855, on the island of Hawaiʻi. English language newspapers claimed he was a native of Kaʻū while the Ke Aloha Aina, a Hawaiian language newspaper, claimed he was born in Kapoho, Puna.[1][2] His parents were Heleluhe and Kanoa. He had four known sisters: Keoki, Kaioewa, Kanoa, and Ana. From his mother Kanoa, he descended from Alapaʻinui and his son Keaweʻōpala, the kings of the island of Hawaiʻi prior to the accession of Kalaniʻōpuʻu.[1] His father was possibly the same individual as J. H. Heleluhe, who served in the legislature of the kingdom as a member of the House of Representatives for the district of Puna during the legislative assembly of 1855, 1862, 1864, 1866 and 1867.[3]

He attended the local schools in the Puna district and later studied at the Hilo Boarding School under American missionary David Belden Lyman. After finishing his education, he did physical labor in the district of Kaʻū for a time before going to Honolulu to serve King Kalākaua.[1][2]

After coming to Honolulu, Heleluhe worked as a retainer for the royal family. He served King Kalākaua as an under-secretary. He also worked as a steward for Kalākaua's sister and successor Liliʻuokalani, and accompanied her to the leper settlement at Kalaupapa on Molokai in 1891. He steadily rose in rank until he was appointed her private secretary in 1896.[1][2][4] In 1892. Heleluhe was nominated as a National Reform Party candidate for the House of Representatives for Oʻahu's first ward. He lost this election.[5] After the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893, Heleluhe and his wife Wakeke Ululani remained loyal to the royalist cause and supported the deposed Queen Liliʻuokalani.[6] Following the outbreak of the unsuccessful 1895 Counter-Revolution, Heleluhe was arrested, held as a political prisoner, and temporarily imprisoned by forces loyal to the Republic of Hawaii in order for him to "disclose the queen's treachery."[2][7] Queen Liliʻuokalani, who was also imprisoned in the former ʻIolani Palace, described the ordeal Heleluhe had to endure in her 1898 memoir Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen:

Mr. Heleluhe was taken by the government officers, stripped of all clothing, placed in a dark cell without light, food, air, or water, and was kept there for hours in hopes that the discomfort of his position would induce him to disclose something of my affairs. After this was found to be fruitless, he was imprisoned for about six weeks; when, finding their efforts in vain, his tormentors released him. No charge was ever brought against him in any way, which is true of about two hundred persons who were similarly confined.[8][7]

The Queen with Joseph Heleluhe and her lady-in-waiting Elizabeth Kia Nahaolelua, c. 1896–97

Between 1896 and 1900, Heleluhe accompanied Queen Liliʻuokalani on her many trips abroad to the United States and Washington, D.C., to campaign against the American annexation of Hawaii and then assisted her in her attempts to reclaim the crown land after 1898. Initially, Elizabeth Kia Nahaolelua was chosen to be her lady-in-waiting but after the trips were extended, Heleluhe's wife Wakeke replaced her in the royal party as lady-in-waiting to the queen.[2][9] From 1897 to 1898, Heleluke was also actively involved in rallying Hawaiians in signing the Kūʻē Petitions and petitioning against annexation. In 1897, he wrote to US President William McKinley and Secretary of State John Sherman with the petitions collected by Hui Aloha ʻĀina (Hawaiian Patriotic League) and Hui Kālaiʻāina (Hawaiian Political Association).[10]

Following Liliʻuokalani's return to Hawaii in 1900, the 45-year-old Heleluhe succumbed to tuberculosis, on July 8, 1900. When it became evident his death was near, his final request was to die at Washington Place. Although he expired before arrival at the queen's residence, his funeral was held there. He was buried at the Kawaiahaʻo Church cemetery.[2]