George Charles Beckley

George Charles Beckley (March 5, 1787 – April 16, 1826) was an

In 1801, Beckley arrived in Honolulu, in what was then known to him as the Sandwich Islands. He sold his ship to local chiefs and took up residence in the kingdom.^[4][5] During his early years in the islands, Beckley acted as a privateer; he waylaid ships on the high seas and sold many of them to King Kamehameha I, who was attempting to consolidate his control over the kingdom. The Englishman eventually rose to some prominence in the court of Kamehameha, and Beckley became one of the king’s foreign advisors.^[6][7] On the occasion of the birth of the Princess Nāhiʻenaʻena at Keauhou, Kona, Hawaii, in 1815, Beckley was made a high chief by Kamehameha I so that he might, with "impunity enter the sacred precincts of the grass house". Beckley "present[ed] the royal infant with a roll of China silk, after which he went outside and fired a salute of thirteen guns in her honor.".^[5][8][9]

American missionary

In 1816, Beckley became the first commander of Honolulu Fort, a military garrison erected on the waterfront of Honolulu by King Kamehameha I and Prime Minister

Beckley died on April 16, 1826, in Honolulu. According to the journals of American missionary Levi Chamberlain:[9]

He was buried agreeably to his wish within his own enclosure. A vault was dug within the walls of an unfinished house; and inclosed [sic] with bricks & lined with mats. A part of the church buryal [sic] service was read by Mr. Bingham, who afterwards made a short address to the bystanders both in English & Hawaii & closed with prayer.

His remains were later removed to the Oahu Cemetery where many of his descendants are also interred.^[4] A gravestone corresponding to Beckley's lifespan, although not his most recognized name, bears the inscription "Fredrick Beckley March 5, 1787 Died 1827".^[1]

Creation of the Hawaiian flag

In 1801, the modern

In 1813, he married Elizabeth Ahia (1797–1854), a Hawaiian high chiefess. She was the daughter of Kahakuʻi-i-ka-waiea, high priest of the heiau of Puʻu o Maneʻo at Honokane, Kohala, and was granddaughter of Kahānui who with his twin sister Kahaʻopulani hid and reared Kamehameha during his infancy,^[15] When her father was charged with building Kamehameha's war canoes, Ahia served as the religious moa (mascot) for the blessing of the fleet. Known to be a haughty woman, she accompanied Beckley on his many trips to sea and dressed in both Spanish and Hawaiian fashions.^[16] She was required to "kolokolo" or crawl in the presence of her husband after Beckley's royal elevation in 1815.^[17][18] Their hapa-haole (part-Hawaiian) descendants were regarded as members of the aliʻi (noble) class during the Hawaiian monarchy; they went on to intermarry and form different families of their own. Their six^[19] or seven children included:

1. William Charles Malulani Beckley (1815–1871), who was brought up alongside Kauikeaouli, the future Kamehameha III. He married three times; his first wife was an unnamed pure Hawaiian chiefess who died childless, his second wife was Kahinu, daughter of Hoʻolulu. His third wife was Mary Ann Kameʻehiwa Tressilyan Beckley, considered "The Rose of the Pacific".^[20][21] His children with Kahinu included Frederick William Kahapula Beckley Sr., Maria Beckley Kahea, and George Charles Moʻoheau Beckley, and their grandson was Frederick William Kahapula Beckley Jr.^{[17][22][23][24]} Beckley Street in Kalihi, Honolulu is named after Frederick (William’s son).^[25]
2. George Frederick Hoapili Beckley (1822–1868).^[8]
3. Maria Kaiponui Kaipoliilii Beckley, (1817–1887), who married to Kamakahonu and later Edmund (or Henry) Kistler, who married her on her deathbed. Kistler ran off to San Francisco, stealing her fortune including Captain Beckley's diary and personal records.^[2][26]
4. Localia Beckley, born 1818.^[8]
5. Mary Kekahimoku Kolimoalani Beckley (1820–1850), who married Abram Henry Fayerweather. Their two daughters were
   Emma Ahuena Davison, wife of Albert Pierce Taylor (mentioned above).^[8][27]
6. Hannah Beckley.[8]
7. Emmeline Maria Guadaloupe Beckley (1825–1850), who was named in honor of Guadalupe Victoria by the Mexican president's daughter. She married on July 23, 1842, to American ship chandler George Ward Punchard (1816–1852) and had descendants.^[8][28]

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