Beschreibung:

Comprehensive family archive of over 50 pieces of ephemera, including 34 detailed letters describing the Hawaiian monarchy, the possibility of annexation by the United States, the Hawaiian Counter-Revolution, a smallpox outbreak, and general island life, 1873-1895. Also with pressed foliage, genealogical records, a CDV by Gurney of New York, and newspaper articles, including a letter to the editor of a Hawaiian newspaper attacking the overthrow of the monarchy by “Annexationists,” ca 1895. Correspondence is primarily between the Hawaiian branch of the illustrious Carter family to cousins in Massachusetts, where Puritan colonist and family progenitor Rev. Thomas Carter settled in 1635. Most of his descendants remained in Massachusetts, concentrated in Woburn, Lancaster, Leominster, and Charlestown, with the notable exception of Captain Joseph Oliver Carter (1802-1850), a trader of Chinese commodities to Hawaii and California. Captain Carter immigrated to Hawaii, where he married his wife, Hannah, another ex-patriot. The couple had six children, and two of their sons, Joseph Oliver Carter, Jr. (1835-1909) and Henry Alpheus Peirce (H.A.P.) Carter (1837-1891), would figure prominently into Hawaiian politics. The younger Joseph Oliver worked as a journalist, financier, and diplomat, serving in the Hawaiian legislature. H.A.P Carter was a partner at shipping firm C. Brewer & Co., working mainly with Hawaiian sugarcane plantations to refine and ship sugar to the United States. An outspoken advocate for free trade to reduce tariffs, H.A.P. became involved in island politics and was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by King David Kalakaua in 1876. His wife, Sybil Augusta (“Gussie”) Carter (1843-1906), daughter of American missionary Gerrit P. Judd (1803-1873), who later served as cabinet minister to King Kamehameha III. H.A.P and Gussie write the majority of the letters offered here to their distant cousins, Rev. George Leonard Chaney (1836-1922) and his wife, Caroline Isabel (Carter) Chaney (1845-1925). Other authors include Gussie’s brother Albert Francis Judd (1838-1900), who served as Chief Justice of the Hawaiian Supreme Court; missionary David Belden Lyman (1803-1884); and Charlotte Adelaide Carter (1860-1936), the daughter of Joseph Oliver Carter, Jr. Charlotte Carter writes what is arguably the most dynamic letter of the collection, in which she describes the wounding and death of her cousin Charles L. Carter, son of Gussie and H.A.P., in the Battle of Diamond Head on the first day of the Hawaiian Counter-Revolution, January 6-9, 1895. Charlotte writes to Cara Chaney just a few days later to share the unfortunate news: “What the trouble was we didn’t know, having no idea of the collection and preparation of armed forces for this revolt. . . after some talking among the men who had been called out on the veranda [at Charles’s house]. . . [they] rushed for their arms and started off. . . Charles was crouching with his rifle. . . ready to fire, when he was fired upon and struck, and his position explains the downward course of the ball that was. . . found later in the abdomen, the wounds being above. . . As yet the government troops have not succeeded in finding and routing the others, though they are reported to have seen them here and there.” Another fascinating letter from Charlotte details the life of a Royalist family living under the provisional government, written to Cara Chaney just prior to Charles’s death on the eve of the Counter-Revolution, January 6, 1895. Her brother, Oliver, worked at a bank, and Charlotte relates that “some people tried to make trouble for him. . . when the employees were notified of the wish of the manager that they should take the oath of allegiance to the ‘Republic’ (which included a promise never to assist or encourage the restoration of the monarchy), he didn’t take it. How could he?” She expresses frustration at the corruption of the provisional government or “P.G.” and writes ominously t