Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 8, 1 August 2004 — Na Wai ʻOe? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Na Wai ʻOe?

Whose child are you?

Part 2

By Lueille Meyer & Albert Tiberi

In April, Ka Wai Ola ran the first installment of "Na Wai 'Oe — Whose ehilā are you?"— a series of introductory articles on the resources and research methods needed to establish Hawaiian heritage and to trace your family genealogy. In the first article, we provided some guidelines within whieh you could begin to develop a kumu 'ohana, or family record. (If you missed that article, you ean find it online at www.oha.org, in the "Resources" section.) The intent of this second article is to identify some of the more accessible genealogical resources here in Hawai'i and to familiarize you with some of the various records that may be useful. As we mentioned previously, the information you will be looking for is often categorized by location and date. Hopefully, your family knew enough names, dates and locations, and had some documentation to give you a decent foundation so that you are now ready to look to outside resources to fill in the missing pieces. A comprehensive listing of all resources within Hawai'i is too mueh to list here, so this article focuses on several of the main ones. A more complete listing of available resources may be found in the " Hawaiian GeneaIogy Project, Directory of Secondary Resources," published by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Please eheek your nearest puhlie library for availability). Department of Health, Office of Health Status Monitoring 1250 Punchbowl St. Honolulu, Hl, 96813 www.hawaii.gov/doh/records/index.html This office receives and preserves vital records (birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates) for events that occurred in Hawai'i. The DOH maintains vital records that date back to 1841. For records that are less than 75 years old, certified copies will be issued to you only if you are the registrant (the person named in the record), the registrant's spouse or parent(s); a descendant of the registrant (e.g., a child or grandchild); a person having a eommon ancestor with the registrant (e.g., a sibling, grandparent, aunt/uncle, or cousin); a legal guardian of the registrant; or an authorized agent of the registrant. Records of events that occurred more than 75 years prior to the current year are available for access by any person working on a genealogy project. State of Hawai'i Archives, 'lolani Palaee Grounds, Kekāuluohi Bldg. Honolulu, Hl 96813 (586-0329 The State Archives collection includes a wide variety of 19th century government records. Documents that may be useful include birth records, individual census records, church records, court

documents, death records, immigration records, land records, marriage records, military records, change of names records, naturalization records, Chinese entry permits and taxes. Many of the records provide information including names, birth dates, plaee of residence, citizenship, military service and former names - any of whieh may lead to other valuable family information. A note regarding census information: censuses are useful for finding information about individuals who were alive prior to 1933. By law, individual records cannot be released to the puhlie until 72 years after the census in whieh they were collected. As such, individual records are accessible only for the 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 federal censuses. Census records from the Kingdom of Hawai'i are also available and date back to 1840. Information may include names of household members, places of birth, the location of a family residence, ages of family members, occupations and school information. Bureau of Conveyances 1151 Punchbowl St., Honolulu, Hl. 96813 587-0148 The Bureau of Conveyances has records of land titles and related documents, as well as maps from 1845 to the present. The information you find varies from record to record, but may include the name of the seller (grantor), the name of the buyer (grantee), the date and plaee of the land transaction, size of the pieee of land being granted, price of the pieee of land, and where the grantee (buyer) eame from. Hawai'i State Library, main branch 478 South King St. , Honolulu, Hl 16813 586-3535 Microfilm copies of selected vital records and indexes are available in the Hawai'i and Pacific Collection at the main branch of the Hawai'i State Library, located at 478 South King St. in Honolulu. Call for further information. They also have microfilm available of old newspapers and the U.S. Census for 1900, 1910, and 1920. A note regarding newspapers: newspapers are valuable in that they often include notices of births, marriages, deaths, obituaries, etc. To find newspapers, you need to know the plaee and an approximate date of an event.

Hamilton Library University of Hawai'i at Mānoa 2250 The Mall, Honolulu, Hi 96822 948-8264 The Hawaiian/Pacific Collections at UH Mānoa's Hamilton Library contain copies of selected birth records occurring between 1896 and 1909, the U.S. Census for 1900, 1910, and 1920, indexes to the cemeteries of O'ahu and Maui county and microfiche of loeal newspapers. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints LDS maintains several Family History Research Centers throughout the state for the purpose of providing a plaee for genealogical research. Eaeh of the various centers have mueh of the same research material and may be an excellent starting point if one is located in your community. Available materials may include: various church records, Department of Health Vital Records, census records, cemetery directories and some land records. LDS temples are located throughout the state and on the continent. Call your loeal LDS for more information. This is just a sampling of the many resources that you may wish to visit in an effort to complete your kumu 'ohana. In future articles, we will introduce other sources of genealogical information. If you are just starting or are continuing the research process, the following suggestions may be helpful: • Trace only one line at a time. • Make copies of all documents whenever possible. • Include photographs when available. • Use a research log. The documents you find will help substantiate your genealogy and likely will be passed on to other family members. The research log will ensure that no information is lost and no effort duplicated. The log will document your research efforts, it will identify where the document was obtained, and it will help you categorize, file and locate the documents you accumulate. Lueille Meyer is coordinator of OHA's Hawaiian Registry Program; AIbert Tiberi is an advocate in the Hawaiian governance division. M

Read the "Na Wai 'Oe" series on the web at WWW.Ohā.Of^, eiiek on the "Resources" and then the "Genealogy research" links.