:Isaac Davis (advisor)

Isaac Davis was born about 1758 in Milford Haven, Wales.{{Cite web |url=http://www.kekoolani.org/Pages/9053%20Kekoolani%20Genealogy%20Database/pafg18.htm#86 |title=Hawaiian Genealogy of Kekoolani and Other Families – pafg18 – Generated by Personal Ancestral File |access-date=27 March 2008 |archive-date=30 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080330232609/http://www.kekoolani.org/Pages/9053%20Kekoolani%20Genealogy%20Database/pafg18.htm#86 }} He was a seaman on the American schooner Fair American, commanded by Thomas Humphrey Metcalfe, engaged with a larger companionship, the Eleanora, in the maritime fur trade between the Pacific Northwest and China.

In 1790, the Eleanora was under Captain Simon Metcalfe, when one of his skiffs was stolen by chief Ka{{okina}}ōpūiki at Honuaula on Maui. Metcalfe nevertheless invited the locals to trade with him, only to fire his cannons at the approaching canoes with unarmed traders, killing more than 100 Hawaiians at Olowalu.

Metcalfe also once mistreated Kame{{okina}}eiamoku, a high chief on the island of Hawaii, and one of the sacred pio twins, by whipping him. The humiliated Kame{{okina}}eiamoku swore vengeance on the next ship to arrive. He attacked Fair American at Ka{{okina}}ūpūlehu, which was under the command of Metcalfe's 18-year-old son, Thomas. Thomas and all of Fair American{{'s}} crew were killed, except for Isaac Davis, the sole survivor of the attack, who was tied to a canoe and left nearly dead. It is said that Davis's life was spared because of his brave fighting.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} An alternative historical account that originated in a Hawaiian language newspaper in the early 20th century states that Kamehameha did not kill the crew of Fair American.Kanaiolowalu And Other Peoples' Credibility, http://kanaiolowalu-myths.blogspot.com/2013/06/kanaiolowalu-and-credibility.html. (citing Desha, Stephen, Kamehameha And His Warrior Kekuhaupio, 237, Kamehameha Schools Press (May 2000).

In March 1790, Simon Metcalfe left his boatswain, John Young, ashore and sailed away from the Hawaiian Islands without knowing that his son had been killed. Fair American was taken over by Kamehameha. Davis was nursed back to health by an American beachcomber named Isaac Ridler. Like his friend Young, Davis assisted Kamehameha in his dealings with foreigners and in wars of conquest.[http://www.hawaiianencyclopedia.com/part-1-complete-timeline-of-ha.asp Hawaiian Encyclopedia : Part 1: Complete Timeline of Hawaiian History]

Davis was known as {{okina}}Aikake, the translation into Hawaiian, of his given name Isaac—from /ˈaɪzək/ to /ˈaɪzɑkɛ/, Isaac"eh", to /ˈaɪkəkɛ/ ({{okina}}Aikake). He was given the status of a high chief and married a relative of King Kamehameha I. He was appointed Governor of O{{okina}}ahu, and owned estates on O{{okina}}ahu, Maui, Moloka{{okina}}i, and the Big Island.

File:George Hueu Davis, frameless.jpg

Davis first married Nakai Nalima{{okina}}alu{{okina}}alu,{{cite web |title=Nakaiakalimaalualu, (w) |work=Our Family History and Ancestry |publisher=Families of Old Hawaii |url=http://familiesofoldhawaii.com/getperson.php?personID=I4054&tree=Ano |access-date=2010-02-16 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} a chiefess with whom he had one daughter in 1797, Sarah (Sally or Kale) Kani{{okina}}aulono Davis, named after his sister Sarah in Wales. Kale Davis lived in Honokaula, Maui, had six children and died in 1867.

After Nakai died in the uku{{okina}}u plague, Davis married Kalukuna,{{cite web |title=Kualukuna, (w) |work=Our Family History and Ancestry |publisher=Families of Old Hawaii |url=http://familiesofoldhawaii.com/getperson.php?personID=I4067&tree=Ano |access-date=2010-02-16 |archive-date=2 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102191528/http://familiesofoldhawaii.com/getperson.php?personID=I4067&tree=Ano }} a relative of Kamehameha, in Honolulu, and founded a prominent family in the islands. They had two children. His son George Hueu Davis was born on 10 January 1800. His daughter Elizabeth "Betty" Peke Davis was born on February 12, 1803. His son married Kahaanapilo Papa and Kalapuna and had many descendants; among them was his son Isaac Young Davis who was the second husband of Princess Ruth Ke{{okina}}elikōlani and his granddaughter Lucy Kaopaulu Peabody who served as a maid of honor and lifelong companion to Queen Emma of Hawaii. His daughter Betty married George Prince Kaumuali{{okina}}i (also known as Humehume), the son of King Kaumuali{{okina}}i of Kaua{{okina}}i.{{cite book|last=Day|first=Arthur Grove|title=History Makers of Hawaii: a Biographical Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wkp0AAAAMAAJ|year=1984|publisher=Mutual Publishing|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-0-935180-09-1|page=32}}

After his death, his companion John Young looked after his children. Two of them were living with him in 1807, and after Davis's murder in 1810 Young continued to care for them. In Young's will, dated 1834, he divided his lands equally between both his own and Davis's children.Campbell, Ian Christopher (1998) "Gone Native" in Polynesia: Captivity Narratives and Experiences from the South Pacific Greenwood Publishing Group {{ISBN|0-313-30787-3}}. p.46

File:OahuCemetery-IsaacDavis-descendants.JPG]]When King Kaumuali{{okina}}i agreed to cede Kaua{{okina}}i to Kamehameha and become a vassal ruler, the chiefs became angry. A plan was made to kill Kaumuali{{okina}}i, while he was on O{{okina}}ahu. During a council of the other chiefs, Kamehameha's high priest Kalaiku{{okina}}ahulu helped persuade Kamehameha not to kill Kaumuali{{okina}}i.

However, the other chiefs secretly continued the plan to poison King Kaumuali{{okina}}i. Isaac Davis, learning of the plot, warned Kaumuali{{okina}}i. Not waiting to attend the feast which was planned in his honor, Kaumuali{{okina}}i slipped away and sailed for Kaua{{okina}}i. The poison which was probably intended for Kaumuali{{okina}}i was given to Isaac Davis, and he suddenly died in April 1810.{{cite book|author=John Papa Ii|title=Fragments of Hawaiian History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cuCAAAAAMAAJ|year=1983|publisher=Bishop Museum Press|page=83|isbn=978-0-910240-31-4}} He was buried in Honolulu, in "The Cemetery for Foreigners". On his tombstone was placed the inscription:

{{poemquote|The remains of

Isaac Davis

who died on this Island

April, 1810

Aged 52 years}}

This cemetery is located near the Hawaii State Library in Honolulu.{{cite book |title=Hawaiian Journal of History |hdl=10524/238 |chapter=The Cemetery for Foreigners |year=2000 |volume=34 |publisher=Hawaiian Historical Society |pages=63–67 |author=Robert C, Schmitt }}

Isaac Davis had been one of Kamehameha's closest friends and advisors. His death was a great shock to Kamehameha and cast a dark shadow over the satisfaction which the King must have felt with the peaceful settlement with the king of Kaua{{okina}}i.

His nephew John Davis came to Hawaii in 1810 trying to find his uncle. John stayed and married a Hawaiian noble woman named Kauweʻa kanoaʻakaka wale no haleakala kaʻuwe kekiniʻokoolau (Daughter of Chief Kaukamoa and Chiefess Nahulanui). They had a son named Charles Kapuainahulu Davis who married Hannah Kuloloia Davis (maiden Kupaka 1826–1936), and had issue Tammer Keopualani Davis (Born 1856). John and "Kauwe" also had a daughter named Eliza Davis (1821–1912) who had daughters Hannah (1855–1938) and Mary with husband William Johnson (?–1863). Eliza later married William Roy (?–1905).{{cite web |url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/hawaii/cemeteries/lanakila.txt |title=Lanakila Congregational Church cemetery |access-date=2009-10-17 |publisher=USGenWeb Archives |author=Geoff Stafford |date=July 3, 2002}} Hannah Johnson would marry son of missionary John Davis Paris (1809–1892), and Mary would marry Hilo businessman William Herbert Shipman (1854–1943).

{{chart top| Isaac Davis (Hawaii) family tree |width={{{width|100%}}}|collapsed={{{collapsed|yes}}}}}

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{{commons category|Isaac Davis (Hawaii)}}

• {{cite book |title=Captain Simon Metcalfe: pioneer fur trader in the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii and China, 1787-1794 |publisher=Limestone Press |year=1991 |first1=Rhys |last1=Richards |first2=Richard Austin |last2=Pierce |oclc=26373766 |isbn=978-0-919642-37-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8WS2AAAAIAAJ |location=Kingston, Ont.}}

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Category:1750s births

Category:1810 deaths

Category:People from Milford Haven

Category:Governors of Oahu

Category:Hawaiian Kingdom people of Welsh descent

Category:Royalty of the Hawaiian Kingdom

Category:Hawaiian nobility

Category:Hawaiian Kingdom politicians

Category:Hawaiian Kingdom people

Category:Sole survivors

Category:Prisoners and detainees of the Hawaiian Kingdom

Category:People murdered in Hawaii

Category:British murder victims

Category:British expatriates in the Hawaiian Kingdom

Category:18th-century Welsh people

Category:19th-century Welsh people