Keawemauhili was joint chief of Hilo with his wife, first wife 'Ululani.

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This chief was the product of a father/daughter "naha" marriage, with the same daughter already being the product of a full brother-full sister "niau pio" marriage. By marrying his own daughter from his own sister, Kalaninuiamamao passed to his son a very high kapu rank, based on his "multiple" or "entwined" kapus. His name means "entwined", referring to his compound lineage and his subsequent high status. The noted genealogist, S.L.K. Peleioholani says Keawemauhili was "iwiiapuu and iwilakee due to his kapu". He was said to be the sacred one of the twisting, turning and doubling back.

(NOTE: We see the same twisting, turning and doubling back in the Maui royal family genealogy occurring at the same time as this same generation. See the lineage of Kamehamehanui Ailuau-to- Kalanikauiokikilo-to-Kalaniulumoku I-to-Kalaniulumoku II and his brothers. By noticing and considering this similarity, we understand why we see the kapu chiefess Kalanikauiokikilo mating with Keawemauhili's son Keaweokahikona. This is also why we see her son Kalaniulumoku II mating with I-kanaka, her daughter of from Keawekahikona. It is a merging and amplification of the two powerful iwiiapuu and iwilakee kapu bloodlines of the chiefs. - Dean P. Kekoolani, Feb. 12, 2010)
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From the "Ancestry of John Liwai Ena":

HAWAIIAN:
Kalaninuiamamao (k) hoao i kana kaikamahine ponoi, Kekaulikeikawekiuonaiani (w) hanau o Keawemauhili, iwiiapuu, iwilakee i ke kapu.

ENGLISH:
Kalaninuiamamao (k) married his own daughter, Kekaulikeikawekiuonaiani (w), born was Keawemauhili, who was iwiiapuu and iwilakee due to his kapu.


Keawemauhili was reknown because he possessed many intertwined kapus. His name means "intertwined or knotted". His wife's father Mokulani was a ninau-pio chief (the highest god-like rank for a sacred chief because his mother and father were full-blooded brother and sister).

This is why his son Keaweokahikona was of judged to be of sufficiently high rank to marry and sire children with the great chiefess Kalanikauiokikilo of Maui, the highest ranking sacred ninau-pio chief alive, and the last ever of that rank to live. The next closest ranking chief was her niece Keopulani, wife of Kamehameha the Conqueror and mother of Kamehameha II and Kamehameha III.

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ABOUT ULULANI (THE WIFE)
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(From JOHN ENA genealogy)
Kalanikumaikiekie (w) niaupio married her brother Keaweikekahimakaoi; born was Mokulanl (k), high chief governing Hilo; Mokulani married Papaikaniaunui (w), wife of Kaulahea. King of Maui; born was Ululaninui (w), who married Keawemauhili (k); born was Keaweokahikona (k), grandfather of S. L. K. Peleioholani, first son.

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ABOUT THE KALANIOPUU LINEAGE
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(From JOHN ENA genealogy)
Look at the chief Kalaniopuu (k), he is the own grandson of Umiulaikaahumanu (w) (true chiefly class) and Kuanuuanu (k) of Waianae, Oahu. Look closely at Kalaninuiiamamao, the own father of Kalaniopuu (k). A high chief. And here are the chiefly descendants that are seen in the broad daylight.

Look at Kalaniopuu (k) and his
2. Younger brother Keoua (k), father of Kamehameha I.
3. Sister Kekaulikeikawekiuonalani (w), grandmother of L. M. kekupuohi.
4. Sister Kahiwaokalani (w). Grandmother of the Princes.
5. Sister Ahia (w).
Here is the (wohi) son of Kalaninuiiamamao (k), namely
6. Keawema'uhili (k), he is the own grandfather of
7. S. L. Kalaniomaiheuila Peleioholani (k), own father of
8. A. Kahalelehua Kaonohiulaokalani Notley.***

** (nee Annie Kahalelehua Peleioholani, daughter of Solomon Peleioholani and Elizabeth Kekumano)


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ABOUTY HIS SONS WHO FOUGHT FOR KAMEHAMEHA

FORNANDER:
"Certain it is that during the summer of this year (1790), Kamehameha, assuming the style of " Moi" of Hawaii, sent to Keawemauhili of Hilo and Keoua-Kuahuula of Kau to furnish him with canoes and troops for a contemplated invasion of Maui. Keawemauhili complied with the summons of Karnehameha, and sent a large force of men and canoes under command of his

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ABOUTY HIS CHIEFLY RANK

FORNANDER:
"The result of the battle of Mokuohai was virtually to rend the island of Hawaii into three independent and hostile factions. The district of Kona, Kohala, and portions of Hamakua acknowledged Kamehameha as their sovereign. The remaining portion of Hamakua, the district of Hilo, and a part of Puna, remained true to and acknowledged Keawemauhili as their Moi ; while the lower part of Puna and the district of Kau, the patrimonial estate of Kiwalao, ungrudgingly and cheerfully supported Keoun Kuahuula against the mounting ambition of Kamehameha.

In order to properly understand the political relations and rival pretensions of these three chiefs, and to disillusion oneself from certain impressions obtained from those who in the earlier days wove the history of Kamehameha into legend and song, or from those who in after years kept up the illusion from force of habit or from interested motives, it may be well to " take stock," as it were, of the political capital with which each one supported his claim to supremacy.

Keawemauhili was undoubtedly the highest chief in rank, according to Hawaiian heraldry, of the three. He was the son of Kalaninuiamamao and Kekaulikelikawekiuokalani, the latter being the half-sister of the former and daughter of Kauhiokaka, one of Keaweikekahialiiokamoku's daughters. Hence he was also called Keawe-Wililua."

He is believed to be either a son or grandson of Kaolahaka-a-Keawe.