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My Hawai'ian Ohana: Natives, Whalers, Sugar Plantations, and Leprosy [1]

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Date: 2022-11-25

Hawai'ian family history: in the 1970s a cousin of my Grandma Lum's sent us a brief family genealogy that focuses on Grandma Lum's maternal grandparents: Thomas Forbes Sr. and Makaoumi. Yesterday I dug out my copy and retyped it as-is. Then I updated it with the research I've done since 1996. I expect to get more info about Makaoumi, Milikaa, and Thomas Forbes, Jr. from the 'Ohana of Kalaupapa , whom I discovered and started corresponding with just last week, but this is what I know now. --- Very little is known about Thomas Forbes Sr. before he came to Hawai'i. We do know that he was born in Brooklyn, Queens, Nova Scotia, on October 3, 1858 and that his surname was Langille and not Forbes. He had taken the name Forbes after he ran away from home. Signing onto the 323 ton whaling barque SS Sea Breeze on October 2, 1875 in New Bedford MA as Thomas F. Langill, at some point he took his mother's maiden name, Forbes, so that his whereabouts could not be easily traced.

He remained a seaman for four years, reaching the Pacific Ocean by sailing around Cape Horn and earning his living by following and harpooning sperm whales as far north as Alaska. His ship often stopped in the Hawai'ian Islands to make necessary repairs and to obtain supplies.

In 1879 he decided to settle down in Hawai'i. He started working as a laborer at Waiakea Sugar Mill in Hilo on the island of Hawai'i. By 1884 he had become a locomotive driver and by 1888 an engineer. He later became chief engineer, a position he held until he retired in 1916.

It was through an advertisement in "The Friend," a newspaper put out by missionaries, that we were to learn more about the parentage of Thomas. Published in June 1882 the ad asked for information about Thomas Forbes who had been working at a sugar mill in Hilo. The inquirer's name was Mrs. Isabella Longill from a New Bedford address.

Although there was no documentation proving that Isabella was Thomas' mother, research showed that her maiden name was Forbes and that she was the wife of Jacob Longill. It was also learned that both Isabella and Jacob were born in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, Canada, and migrated to America in 1870 after Thomas was born.

While working in Waiakea, Thomas met Emele Makaoumi, b. 1866, a Hawai'ian girl who lived a short distance from the mill. Her home was on land that had been in her family since well before (pre-1819, while Kamehameha I still reigned) the Great Mahele in 1848 when her grandfather, Kuahopu, was officially granted this land . As of November 2022, it's bounded by Pauahi Street, Kilauea Ave, and the Waiakea Fish Pond. What isn't a park has government buildings on it.

Although Emele's family name was Holopina'i, in Hawai'ian traditional manner she was given the name of Kamakaoumi. This is a commemorative name, a type of name given to children if the family wants to honor a chief or perhaps to indicate relationship to him. The name "ka maka o umi" literally means the (ka) eye (maka) of (o) Umi, the great mythical chief as referred to in King Kalakaua's 1888 book " The Legends and Myths of Hawai'i ," in his chapter "Umi, the Peasant Prince of Hawai'i." She typically went by Makaoumi.

Thomas and Makaoumi were married and began raising a family. John was the first child, born in 1885. Mary was born in February 1886 and Emma in 1887.

In 1888, tragedy struck this little family. Makaoumi who was pregnant with a fourth child contracted leprosy, as did so many other Hawai'ians during this sad time in Hawai'ian history. The Bayonet Constitution the previous year had given haoles a much greater say in running the government, and they wanted to be more aggressive in exiling people — 90% were Native — who contracted leprosy. So as part of a surge of banishments she was forced at age 21 to leave her husband and children and to spend the remainder of her life in isolation at Kalawao (later Kalaupapa ), a leper settlement on Moloka’i.

It was here that the fourth child, Thomas Jr., was born on November 7, 1888. He was quickly taken from his mother and carried up the cliffs isolating the settlement, then taken to Hilo to be cared for by his mother's family until he was old enough to live with his father.

Makaoumi remained in Moloka’i until her death ten years later on January 9, 1898. Her brother Milikaa also contracted the disease and was sent to Kalaupapa to live out his remaining years.

Mary and Thomas Jr. were fortunate to reach adulthood, receive training in order to earn a living and to establish families of their own. John, however, died March 23, 1919 at Kalaupapa and Emma, the third child, contracted tuberculosis and died in Hilo on June 29, 1908.

After Makaoumi's death, Thomas Sr. married a woman much younger than himself — 24 years younger: Angeline Scarroa (10/1/1882-8/11/1960) by whom he had two more children, William (b. 1903) and George (b. 1904). The children from the first marriage could not get along with her, and as a result they left home and found a place where they could live together happily. Coincidentally, Angeline's family was from the Portuguese island of Madeira , which Grandpa Lum's maternal grandparents left in April 1883 for a sugar plantation on Kaua’i.

Thomas Sr. worked for Waiakea Sugar Mill until 1916 when he retired. He then worked for Hilo Electric Light for 3 years. In 1919, he and his wife and children moved to Oakland, California. Two years later, they were divorced. In 1921, he returned to the islands spending his retirement years with Tom's family, then Mary's family where he could reminisce with his grandchildren about his adventures at sea. He died at the age of 78 in Hilo on April 2, 1934. Note: This short biography has been written for those descendants of Thomas Forbes Sr. and Makaoumi who may be interested in learning a little more about these people than the facts in the pedigree charts

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