J. H. Keanu

1830– 1916

Born in Waikapu Valley, Maui; married Kanuiakalani, Jonathan Napela’s half-sister, while attending Lahainaluna Seminary; moved to Hakipu‘u, O‘ahu, with his wife; converted by the preaching of two former classmates, William Uaua and J. W. H. Kauwahi; baptized with his wife in April 1853; moved to Maui with his wife prior to July 1853, when he was ordained a teacher at Wailuku; served mission to Big Island, October 1853–April 1854; fulfilled another mission to Big Island following death of his wife; returned to Hakipu‘u, O‘ahu; appointed counselor to J. W. H. Kou in O‘ahu District presidency in April 1858, prior to closing of Hawaiian mission because of Utah War; served as counselor to Archbishop Kailihune during the time of Walter Murray Gibson; served as president of Honolulu Branch following Gibson’s excommunication in 1864; asked to be released from that assignment to serve as full-time missionary on O‘ahu and then on Big Island; assisted Benjamin Cluff, a former Latter-day Saint missionary in the islands, to fulfill U.S. government assignment to learn views of Hawaiians regarding annexation to the U.S. during the 1890s; died in La‘ie, O‘ahu. (See Spurrier, Sandwich Islands Saints, 127–30; GQC journal, July 3, 1853; Mar. 9, Apr. 6, 1854.)