User:Kuauli/Oliver Holmes (Hawaii)

Oliver Holmes was an early white settler in Hawaii in the time of Kamehameha I, who became a governor of Oahu.

Holmes was born on November 2, 1777 in Plymouth, Massachusetts to Simeon Holmes of Mercy Weston, he was the seventh child out of his parents' eight. On his maternal side, he was the great-great-greatgrandfather of John Alden, a signer of the Mayflower Compact, and said to be the first off the Mayflower and onto Plymouth Rock. He is also descended from many other early American settlers.

Oliver eventually moved to New Bedford and signed himself onto the Margaret and came to Oahu in 1793. On Oahu, he befriended Kamehameha and became absorbed into his court, along with the handful of other haoles at that time, such as John Young, Alexander Adams, and Isaac Davis, who he succeeded as Governor of Oahu after his death in April of 1810.

After Kamehameha's success on Oahu in 1795, he married a niece of Kamehameha, Mahi Kalanihoouluikekai, either the daughter of Kalaniulumoku and an unknown (thus making her a granddaughter of Kamehamehanui Ailūau and Manuhaaipo) or Koolau, a soldier who died at Nuuanu in 1795.

Although said to be related to the prominent Holmes family of New England, he was content with living in the ancient Hawaiian style, where he worked provisioning and refurbishing visiting ships.

From his married to Mahi, he had 7 kids:

1. Hannah (1800-1847), first married to Captain William Heath Davis in May 1817, with whom she had two kids, Robert Grimes Davis and William Heath Davis Jr. After his death, she had an affair with his business partner, John Coffin Jones Jr., and had one daughter, Elizabeth Jones who married J. H. Brown.

2. George, married a native Hawaiian woman named Kaiwi and had to children, also possibly, a Miss Pale and had a daughter that married John Palu.

3. Sarah Pauline "Polly" married four times, the first to Capt. Isaiah Lewis and had three kids, John, Isaac Lewis (Aikake Lui), and John George Lewis (Keo Lui). The second time was to Rev. Sam "Palu" F. Mills and a boy, William was born. She also married Washington Crocker and had Thomas, and lastly to George Colman.

4. Charlotte married Capt. Charles Hammett (Hemmett) and one daughter, Harriet was born.

5. Mary Helen married twice, first to a man named Cornett (no issue) and second, to Capt. Bancroft and had one daughter Helen who married a Hardwick.

6. Jane married Nathan Spear and had one child, William.

7. Benjamin (died young).

In 1809, he started a distillery in Kewalo, and later worked with David Laha-lao distilling rum at Makaho. Around 1811, King Kamehameha gave Holmes land holdings in Kumuula in Kapālama, Oahu, Kuliula on Molokai, Makeanuehu, Kohala and Haukalua in Kona on the Big Island, though his primary estate was Kumuula. He became close friends with Don Francisco de Paula Marín, who also had property in Kapālama. After the death of Isaac Davis in April, 1810, Kamehameha appointed him as the new governor, till around 1824, when his health started to fail. Holmes was a Protestant and supported the first company that came to the Islands in 1820.

When Holmes died on August 6, 1825, he had no will, and there was a dispute among his descendants, mainly his children and some of his grandchildren. His son, George, inherited the Kapālama property and then sold it to Jose Nada. Hannah, who got another property, died there in April, 1847, and the Globe Hotel was started on that property. Sarah "Polly" also got a piece to property, and her husband, Rev. Mills, started the Hill and Robinson Coffee House in November of 1837 (the same year as Polly's death).