Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 6, 1 June 1993 — B.C. native searches for kin of Mahoe [ARTICLE]

B.C. native searches for kin of Mahoe

Editor's note : The foliowing articte was submitted by Operatiott 'Ohana \>olunteer, Larry Bell, of Abbotsford, British Cotumbia, Canada. He writes about hīs great-grandfather, William Mahoe ( possibly Mahoi or Mahoy), who left Hawai'i in the early I830s to work for Hudson Bay Co. at Fort Vancouver in what is now Washington state, h is estimated that between 300 to 500 Hawaiians left for North America in the 1800s and settled in British Coiumbia and Washington. Loeal archivai recards documenting the flow of Hawaiian men and women tofor - eign continents are lacking for that period. Hudson Bay Co. records and the 1880 and 1890 U.S. census records were helpful in identifying Bell's ancestory. His story reflects the paignaney of the search for his Hawaiian ancestor that is shared by many maintand Hawaiians,

by Larry Beil Before the shores of North America were filled with the history of Europeans, Hawaiians eame by ship to the green northwest coast of North America. They eame with the tide of a new world order. For better or worse, they were part of change. They helped reshape mana from horizon to horizon. But Hawaiians tread soft!y. They Ieft no print, save for the term "kanaka" on some occasional creek, bluff or bay. My great-great-grandfather, William Mahoe, was part of that change. Today, 1 am the first blood descendant to know his name. While the void of the unknown events of his life is large, at !east now he ean s!eep, becau.se the ears of the living have heard his pain. Wiliiam Mahoe speaks, "My voice has been heard. It has carried across the waters and cut through the limitless time of the dead. ī was a kanaka when I left Hawai'i, the piaee of my birth, in 1833 to work at Ft. Vancouver, a time long before you were bom. Later, I worked at Ft. Rupert on the north end of Vancouver īsland. Surviving Ft. Rupert was hard. It was cailed the asylum and we were called devils. And, yes, we were ali mad, and yes, there were times when ī hung my head in sorrow. The nights were long. Only the company of stars and my native wife kept me sane." "My name has been found and now l rest. My name is said in Hawai'i and on the northwest coast of North America. My bloodlines are tied to both and I live in my 'ohana's thoughts. Oh Hawai'i, do not forget me! Though 1 died many days and many miles from my piko, I remained Hawaiian to the bone."