Mauna Kea Oral History Appendix - Office of Mauna Kea Management

KM: How did you end up being in Kapa‘au
DW: My father was an engineer in the Hö‘ea Sugar Mill.
KM: Yes.
DW: There were five sugar mills in Kohala.
KM: Yes.
DW: But he left the plantation when they incorporated the mills.
KM: When they joined together
DW: Yes.
KM: Häwï became the primary or
DW: No more. No, they built the new mill at Kapa‘au.
KM: At Kapa‘au, okay.
DW: Häwï was a small mill.
KM: Yes.
DW: And he was apparently a junior…they didn’t need five engineers, they only needed one
engineer so he left Kohala.
KM: Where did your father come from then
DW: [thinking] Pennsylvania. (Though he was born in Bucyrus, Ohio, he came to Hawai‘i from
Pennsylvania)
KM: Okay. Your mom and dad came...papa was an engineer
DW: My mother was in Hilo, she was born in Hilo.
KM: Who was your mom
DW: Mildred Luscomb.
KM: Luscomb
DW: Uh-hmm.
KM: Okay.
DW: Her mother was born in Hilo, was a Wilhelm.
KM: Ah…so Wilhelm family, is that also with Keli‘ipio them Was Wilhelm in the mill also
DW: No, no. Wilhelm was a baker. It’s a big family that Wilhelm in Hilo.
UW: In the old Hilo Bay Map [Register Map No. 1561], you’ll see a Wilhelm Bakery, I think.
KM: That’s the 1891 or something Baldwin map
UW: Yes.
DW: My mother was born in 1893.
KM: Oh, okay.
LW: Was it your great-grandparents, came from Germany
DW: Yes. But her mother was, my mother’s mother was born in Hilo in 1870-something and…I
don’t know, it’s in the book.
KM: Yes. Now, küpuna you
Mauna Kea– “Ka Piko Kaulana o ka ‘Äina”
Kumu Pono Associates LLC
A Collection of Oral History Interviews (HiMK67-050606) A:315