I’m still puzzling over the results of my DNA tests with two different companies that have identified hundreds of Maori “cousins” in New Zealand with a family connection about four generations ago. It’s a puzzle because no one in our family can recall any stories of relatives who went to the South Pacific. And I recently contacted one of those cousins, who responded that his DNA test shows many cousins in Hawaii, which are a puzzle to him as well.
So I was interested when I saw a mention of “Leaving Paradise: Indigenous Hawaiians in the Pacific Northwest 1787-1898.”
I quickly ordered a copy of the book, published by UH Press, and it arrived a couple of days ago. The first 200 pages are a narrative history, but the next 200+ pages are brief profiles of Hawaiians who worked in the northwest, apparently based on records of companies that employed them, ship records, census records, and records from Fort Vancouver and other outposts in the territory. I’ve just skimmed a number of these abbreviated profiles, and what an eye opener. There was much more mobility that you might imagine, given that travel was not a simple as it is goday. Hawaiians were being recruited to work in the fur trade, as well as to serve as crew on ships passing through Honolulu. Many appear to have traveled to Hong Kong, then back through Hawaii to the Northwest. It’s obvious that there were a lot of young men who likely left DNA traces throughout this part of the world. And I have to guess that many traveled to the South Pacific, and one or more of them left a record of his travels in this network of DNA cousins.
Anyway, if you spot this book in a library, check out these profiles.
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That’s probably why you eat so much lamb, Ian.
Ian, there were a number of Hawaiians in the Hudson Bay Company in Washington state and in Vancouver BC. If you go to Washington state digital archive website there are WA state census records that list a category called Kanakas in the census records. If you read the the Ft. Nisqually journals there is mention of various Hawaiians (their names are spelt phonetically) as workers there. Friday Harbor in WA was named after a Hawaiian ( check wikipedia). There’s a number of Canadians with Hawaiian roots in British Columbia Canada ( I don’t remember the blog but they described their roots and history in Hawaii and BC Canada). There’s a facebook page for Fort Nisqually in Tacoma WA they do reinactments from the 1800’s, they have had hula dancers there which if you read in the Ft. N journals where they describe the Hawaiian dances. If you and Meda ever go up to Tacoma in one of your NW travels you might check it out they have exhibits and events showing how it was back in the day. Better yet, check the Hudson Bay archives in Canada I’m sure they would be a treasure trove of information.
I’ve seen a plaque at Fort Vancouver attesting to the healthy diets enjoyed there because of the frequent availability of produce brought in by ship from Hawaii in the 19th century. Kalama, Washington is said to have been founded by a kanaka who married a local indian chief’s daughter, while the Owyhee River in Washington and Idaho, a well as Owyhee County in Idaho , are named for two kanakas who ventured down the river never to be heard from again. Captain Vancouver’s Hawaiians got around.
So interesting!
If you want to remain ignorant, don’t read “Biology as Ideology: The Doctrine of DNA” by R.C. Lewontin.