Remembrances of Mary Walsh and Josephine Jones

The History of the de Harne Family in Hawaii

by Mary de Harne Walsh and Josephine de Harne Jones
updated March 1, 2010

The following history of the de Harne family in Hawaii is made up of remembrances by Mary Walsh and Josephine Jones about their parents, Emil and Frances de Harne. The original story was written by Josephine in her diary, between 1916 and probably 1922. Parts of Josephine's account then appear to have then been transcribed by Mary into a much longer history, which was handed out at a family reunion held at Eleanor Dwyre's house in California in the mid-1960s. The words in this version are rearranged and edited for the sake of continuity by their nephew Mike Clark with some additional information added in italics.

Papa, Emile Antoine Marie Ghislain de Haerne, was born in Echlo, Belgium on October 17, 1847. He was the son of Ludovicus (Louis) Henricus Longius de Haerne and Mathilde Marie Ghislain Rooman. At the time, Louis was 30 years old, having been born in 1817 at Ieper (Ypres), and he occupied the position of the king’s district commissioner of Echlo. Mathilde was 21, having been born in 1825 at Drongen. The family moved from Echlo to Turnhout, Belgium on May 27, 1849.

Papa was well educated. He attended Louvain University and the University of Brussels. He was a bookkeeper and is believed to have participated in the start up of a bank in 1870, which resulted in the financial ruin of the family and the loss of a magnificent house that the family owned in Belgium. Sometime later he left Belgium, possibly in disgrace. When he arrived in the United States in 1881, he lived in Ohio; and it was there that he was robbed of his watch, stickpin (with coat of arms), and papers pertaining to the family. He moved to Portland, Oregon. He had friends there, but when his classmate, Father Sylvester, invited him to Hawaii, he accepted. He came to the Hawaiian Islands in 1882 and went to Halawa, North Kohala where he taught English at a private school run by Father Sylvester (this was the first English-speaking school in the district). Apparently, he changed the spelling of his name about this time from the Belgian (Flemish) version of "de Haerne" to the French version of "de Harne".

Emil married Francisco de Jesus Camacho^* on August 28, 1886. Her brother Manuel attended private school where Emil taught, and it was thus that he made her acquaintance. Frances was almost 18 at the time, and Emil was 40. About two years after their marriage, Emil and Frances moved to a homestead at Hualua, near Hawi and about nine miles from Frances' parents at Halawa. Here they lived until Aug. 15, 1914, when they moved to Honolulu.

^*Mary Walsh always gives her mother's Portuguese name as Francisco, and her mother's name appears as Francisco on the passengers manifest, and arrival records for the British ship Ravenscrag. However, Francisco is the masculine form of the name, whereas Francisca is the feminine form. Thus, Francisca is probably more correct.

Mother, Frances (Francisca) de Jesus Gomes Camacho, was born on December 24, 1868 in the Lovada Cruzeira (louvado means praise, and cruzeira is a giant cross in Portuguese), in the parish (frazazia) of Monte in the Madeira Islands. Francisca's father Clement Gomes Camacho was an orphan who had been raised by a priest. His grandson Maurice de Harne told us in 1978 that his grandfather had been a foundling, given up to the church by his mother, and that since Clement had no name of his own, the priest who raised him gave his name to the child. Clement's 1879 passport filed in the Madeira Government Archives lists his father as Manuel Gomes Camacho, his mother as Senhorinha da Conceição, and his baptism date as June 20, 1839. Whether Manuel was his birth father or the priest, we do not know, but as his mother is called Senhorinha and not Senhora, it would appear that she was unwed. Clement had two sisters in Madeira who were government teachers. They taught hand work, embroidery, and lace making. The latter is still an important industry in Madeira. Of course, they were orphans also.

Mama had a faint remembrance of Funchal, the capital of Madeira. From her birthplace in Monte, which was on a hill, she could see Funchal lying below. From the home, it was not visible, but from the terraces around the home it could be seen. She remembers Funchal extending far out into the bay, where many fishing boats tossed about in the sea. The name Monte is actually Portuguese for mountain and derives from the fact that this parish is located in the high hills on the north side of Funchal. A winding road beside her home led to several hills. On one of them there was a road to a church named "Nosa Senora da Monte", which impressed her as being very large. There was a life-sized statue of the Savior lying in a tomb, and many other statues. There were no seats and people sat on the floor, which was made of square, colored marble. The men stood at the back of the church, which was the 'Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Monte' (Church of Our Lady of the Mount) and was built in 1818 over the ruins of an earlier church. It is one of the most-visited sites in Funchal.

Frances' parents Clemente Gomes Camacho and Ana de Jesus Ferreira had been married in Monte in 1866, as recorded in Book 1608, Leaf 5 v.^o of the Monte parish register. They may very well have been wed in the Church of Our Lady of the Mount that Francisca remembered so well, as it is the main church of the parish.

On the way to this church, there was a small, miraculous statue, "Nosa Senora da Monte" near a pond. People believed that the waters were healing. There were many trees, birds, and running water near the statue, which gave a child an awesome feeling. This pond is probably in the nearby town of Terreira da Luta where a shepherd girl in the 1400s found a tiny statue of the virgin said to have miraculous powers. Today this shepherd girl is venerated as the Lady of the Mount, the patron saint of Madeira, and the tiny statue she found sits high above the altar of the church that bears her name.

Mama’s home was near the main highway, which apparently was in the parish of São Roque on the west side of Monte. It was made of stone. The house was very large and had been purchased from priests by her maternal grandfather and grandmother, John (João) Ferreira and Maria Luisa Ferreira, who had been married in Monte in 1819 . The house had two floors. The lower floor was once used as a store by her grandfather. At the back of the store was the kitchen with stairs leading to the second floor where the family lived. There was a balcony in front of the second floor with stairs leading to it. There was a library. It is believed to have been a priest’s home. Before her father left for Hawaii, he sold the place; and the man who purchased it, rebuilt it. In the garden, there was a majestic oak tree, as well as a chestnut and a pear tree, many plum trees, red rose bushes, and many other plants. Also, there were jack rabbits who used to hop out from under rocks and bushes and frighten mama.

Her father, Clemente Gomes Camacho, somehow did not cultivate this land. He farmed on his brother-in-law’s property, which was three miles away. This uncle, Augustine (Agostinho) Ferreira, owned a large piece of land. He was seldom home since he spent most of his time in the West Indies where he owned a store. He traded with the natives in a place named Marira (most likely Demerara, Guyana), which was somewhere near South America.

When Mama was about ten, her parents, Clement Gomes and Anna Ferreira Camacho, sold their bakery and winery near Funchal and left Madeira. Most likely Clement tended grape vines grown on his brother-in-law Agostinho's land, but a blight in the mid 1870s decimated the vinyards of Madeira, which left little incentive for Clemente and Agostinho to stay.

Clement and Anna and their four children--two boys and two girls--sailed for Hawaii on the British ship Ravenscrag. Mama remembers that the Ravenscrag had 419 souls on board: 176 were children. The family is listed in ship passenger arrival records stored at the archives in Honolulu, Oahu (Card no. 137, Draiver Indicator - Portuguese Arrivals).

RAVENSCRAG - sailed from Funchal, Madeira on April 22, 1879 and arrived in the whaling port of Honolulu, Hawaii on August 23, 1879. This British sailing vessel was reported in the local newspaper, the Pacific Commercial Advertizer to have 423 immigrants, but the ships manifest lists 421, and Frances remembered 419, which matches the official report of the Harbor Master (133 men, 110 women, 176 children).

NATURALIDADE - Ilha da Madeira

PROFISSAO - Trabalhador

OBSERVACOES - Clemente Gomes Camacho 39 annas, Maria de Jesus 48 annas, filhos: Maria 12, Francisco 10, Manuel 7, e João 4 annas.

There were many relatives with them. Grandfather Camacho had three persons under his care. One was a woman whose husband abandoned ship when it left the harbor of Funchal, Madeira, and her son. She was related to grandfather by marriage. These relatives were probably 20-year old Amelia Augusta Pereira of São Roque and her infant son João (John), as they are the only mother and son pair listed on the ships passenger manifest. Also, the passport of Amelia's husband Manuel Joaquim Correia, on file in the Madeira Government Archives, indicates that he was supposed to be on board but was absent when the ship arrived in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). Another was the 18-year old daughter of his sister Luisa de Jesus Gomes. This beautiful girl, whose name was Francisca Gomes, had a stepfather who made the child’s life miserable. So her mother asked her brother Clement to take her with him to Hawaii. Mama and the other children loved this "red head" because she kept them amused on board. The Portuguese counsel, Jacinto Perreira (Jason Perry), took her to his home to help with the housework, and later this beauty married the counsel’s nephew, Manual Perreira Mendonça (Mendosa) in Wailua on Jan 31, 1880. The couple sailed to Half Moon Bay, California the next year and had several children, Francisca passing away in Milpitas, California on Feb. 8, 1919.. Another relative on the voyage was Clemente's brother-in-law and Ana's older brother Agostinho Ferreira, whose land Clemente had farmed in Madeira. Agostinho brought with him his wife Maria Augusta and their three children. As with Clemente, his 1879 passport, with baptism date and parents, is on file in the Madeira Government archives.

The following is a description of the voyage of the Ravenscrag made up of excerpts (in italics and quotes) from a 1946 article by Elma Cabral that appeared in Paradise of the Pacific Magazine (v. 58, n. 12, p. 17-19), along with remembrances that Frances told to her daughters.

"It was on the twenty-second day of April 1879, that the Ravenscarg, an English sailing vessel left Funchal in the Madeira Islands with 423 emigrants for the Sandwich Islands--135 of whom were men, with 110 women and children."

"Like a toy in a rushing stream, the Ravenscrag was at the mercy of the elements when they crossed the broad Atlantic. Sometimes, the wind became stubborn, and the ship was in the clutches of the currents which drove her from her course. In her hold, the Ravenscrag carried a small cargo of flour, corn meal, canned milk, onions, dried fish, dried fruit, and legumes; but the passengers never had access to these luxuries. The food was very poor. There was little variety in their daily diet. Each family had a large soup tureen which was filled with a thin soup made from salt pork and beans by the ship’s cook. Corn mush was served for breakfast. Hard tack was rationed at each meal."

"They were always hungry, especially the children. The corn meal and flour became mealy, and the rations were more meager so that resentment kept pace with more hunger. A few of the more aggressive passengers organized a food riot, dumping the mealy cereals overboard. When the Captain appeared they threatened him at the point of a gun. The crew quickly overpowered them. The instigators were tied to the mast of the ship where the cold winds whipped them cruelly. This was the first penal sentence administered at sea."

"It was strange that they did not stop at Rio de Janeiro on the coast of Brazil for the change of diet and the sight of Rio’s beautiful panorama would have done much to lift their moral. But neither grandma or her oldest girls have any recollection of any stop on the eastern coast of South America. Recreational facilities were as meager as their diet. The children were left to their own diversions. Their elders indulged in playing bisca (whist) and singing fados."

They stopped at the southern tip of Argentina, where savages surrounded the ship. Men on board brought out arms and then fed these hairy, big-toothed people crackers, after which they peacefully sailed away in their canoes. Papa said they must have been Patagonians.

"As the Ravenscrage neared the Horn, fierce tropical storms arose, and the cold weather became unbearable to these semi-tropical inhabitants. The days grew shorter and the nights longer. Snow whitened the sails, and the waves rose dangerously high."

The Ravenscrage ran into a storm and a mast smashed. When the ship neared the Horn, Captain Biggam (British) and the first mate had a fight about whether to sail the Straits of Magellan or around Cape Horn. (To a ten-year old it was an awful fight, with blood shed.) They sailed around Cape Horn.

"On the morning of August 23rd, exactly four months (123 days) after her departure, the tired little Ravenscrag entered Honolulu harbor."

The following excerpts from the August 1879 issue of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser, a predecessor of the Honolulu Advertiser, describe the arrival of the Ravenscrag in Honolulu - as preserved on microfilm in the Hawaii State Archives, and the Hawaii State Library.

"The British ship Ravenscrag sometimes spelled 'Ravenscraig', arrived from Madeira to the port of Honolulu on Saturday, August 23, 1879, from Madeira Islands. She brought a total of 423 souls - 135 men, 115 women, and 178 children."

"The immigrants are all healthy, hearty-looking people and will prove a valuable acquisition to our population, a “real hoonui lanui”, [a very important day] for they have come to stay. During the passage, 5 children were born and 3 children died. We understand that about all the male immigrants have been engaged as laborers on the plantations or otherwise."

"The Board of Immigration, of which the Minister of the Interior is President, has had its time and attention quite fully occupied during the past week, in providing for the wants of these people and in arranging for their future settlement."

"It will be noticed that considerable more than the stipulated proportion of women and children [40 per cent] composed this lot of immigrants. This may be somewhat embarrassing in the contract, but will be in the end, we are persuaded, prove advantageous to the country. The people are nearly all poor, but thrifty. We have reason to doubt the tales that are told of the $7000.00 and $4000.00 solid cash men, amongst them. Such men would not readily leave Madeira."

"The immigrants of the S.S. Ravenscrag are engaged readily as house servants and plantation hands, generally for 2 years, with wages averaging $12.00 per month for men, and $6.00 per month for women, and with advances varying from 2 to 4 months wages."

Frances' family worked on sugar plantations, of which there were five, in the North Kohala district of the big island. Most likely, they were at the Halawa Plantation, which was owned by Charles Brewer and Company. Although later Portuguese immigrants had to sign contracts before they left their homeland, which meant they arrived in the islands bascally as indentured servants, those who came on the Ravenscrag were free men and women who had paid $80, probably per family, for their passage and were under no obligations. Nonetheless, most were ultimately persuaded to sign contracts. An example of an immigrant workers contract of the times indicates that Clemente would have worked long hours for low wages in order to pay back an advance he probably received upon signing a contract.

Frances’ brother Manuel attended a school where Emil de Harne taught, most likely the school at the Halawa Plantation, and it was there that Frances and Emil met. They were married on August 28, 1886 when Frances was almost 18 years old.

Emil and Frances had several children, all of whom were born in the North Kohala district of the island of Hawaii. The first child, Mary, was probably born on the Halawa Plantation, and the others were probably all born at the Kahei homestead in Hualua Gulch, near the town of Hawi.

MARY (1888-1980), who married Joe Walsh and had two children.

LOUISE (1891-1942), who married Jim Clark and had one son.

JOSEPHINE (1894-1957) who married Tom Jones and had two children.

JOSEPH (b. 1895), who died an infant.

JOSEPH (1896-1897), who died an infant.

FRANCES (1897-1971), who married Frank Betz and had four children.

CLEMENT (b. 1899), who died an infant.

PAUL (1900-1981), who married Emma Davis and had seven daughters.

MAURICE (1902-1982), who married Helen Nichols and adopted twin daughters.

EDWARD (1904-1982), who married Edna McNicoll and had two sons.

ALICE (1906-1969), who married Ulysses Chelli and died without issue.

AN UNNAMED CHILD (b. 1908), who died an infant.

HELEN (1909-1991), who died single.

ELEANOR (1911-1995), who married Colonel Douglas Dwyre and had five sons.

Emil, his wife and daughter Mary, who was about two years old then, moved to a homestead they bought at Hualua gulch, which is just west of Hawi and about nine miles from Halawa where Frances’ family lived. Their home was located in a part of Hawi that today is known as the Kahei homesteads. The house had been torn down, and the land around it returned to jungle, when some of their descendants visited the site in 1978. Emil was offered a job (principalship?) at Sprecklesville, Maui. Frances had to stay on their homestead for several years or forfeit it . Emil was finally transferred to Honomakau Public School, a short distance east of Hawi, where he was principal for many years. Papa was very much liked as a teacher and there is an old pupil of his who always tells me what a very good teacher he was; and another pupil who tells me what a fine family we were, and he wants to hear news of us.

During this time Emil de Harne served in numerous official capacities:

JULY, 1890 - Emil de Harne - Granted Commissioner of Agriculture for Port and Collection District of Mahukona, Hawaii.

SEPTEMBER 1894 - Emil de Harne - Appointed teacher at the Honomakau School in the North Kohala District.

OCTOBER 1894 - Emil de Harne - Granted commission as an agent to grant marriage licenses in the district of North Kohala, Hawaii.

NOVEMBER, 1895 - Emil de Harne - Asked for a license to distill spirituous liquors at the intersection of Mahukona, Hanoipy and Government main roads in North Kohala. Refused. The terms and conditions are such, that in the near vicinity of a Port of Collection or a Custom House, would be of doubtful propriety. The restrictions are such that unless conveniently located, the establishment of such a distillery might prove costly if not a failure.

MARCH, 1897 - Emil de Harne - Asked to canvas orders for portable railroads in Hawaii. The soliciting of orders to furnish goods, wares, or merchandise of any description by the agent of a firm abroad, would be classed under the heading "commercial agents" and would require a license fee of $250 for the island of Hawaii.

OCTOBER 11, 1899 - Application for appointment as commissioner to the Paris Exposition.

Photo of the de Harne family taken in 1906 at the Hualua homestead near Hawi on the Big Island.
(Back Row, l-r) Louise, Mary, Josephine; (Middle Row, l-r) Emil (father), Frances (daughter), Frances (mother);
(Front Row, l-r) Eddie, Paul, Alice, Maurice. Mising are Helen and Eleanor, who had not been born yet.

After Mother’s marriage, she worked hard on the homestead supervising the planting of sweet potatoes, all sorts of vegetables, and fruit trees. Josephine kept house. She loved to make pies: mulberry, papaya, etc. I helped Mama kneed the bread and bake it in our wood stove. Sometimes, she used the Portuguese oven which was at the back of the kitchen. She usually had a poor neighbor bake the read for her as it was very hard work. We had pigs and chickens to feed, and a cow and horses. The hired hand did this hard work. Mama made good money from the farm. The laborer took the produce to Hawi plantation, and he always came back with an empty cart and cash.

Papa bought the seed from different seed farms in the mainland--kept track of the seasons in which to plant the seeds, etc. He also kept the books. He was not a well man, and he became deaf in his old age. He had a very serious accident when they were married. The roads were very, very poor in Kohala. While driving to Halawa down a steep gulch, the horse stumbled--Mama jumped out, but papa tried to prevent the horse from breaking its legs by holding the horse back. He saved the horse, but he was badly hurt and became deaf later on - and had to retire from teaching.

Afterwards, he opened up the Hawi Post Office. Paul and Josephine ran it for him.

Paul was given a calf by grandfather Camacho. the calf was put into a ranch (Maulio) near our home. Every time it had a calf, cowboys brought it home, and Paul and Mother milked it. This happened three times. It was sold when the family moved to Honolulu.

Grandfather Camacho died in 1906 and is buried in the old Catholic Cemetery in Halawa. The old Halawa Church has been torn down, but the cemetery remains. His tombstone is a white cross with an inscription that reads "Clemente Gomes 1839 1906". The U.S. Census of 1900 indicates that neither he nor his wife could speak English or Hawaiian.

After grandfather Camacho died, grandmother Camacho came to live with us. She was very old, and had several strokes. In the last months, she was bed fast--an awful burden on mother. She died in 1913 or 1914, about 80 years old. She was a "holy soul" and sang religious songs and poems. Paul still remembers some of the poems she used to recite. I learned to understand Portuguese from her but never to speak it. She learned to read as a girl so she could read her prayer book in Portuguese. She was short, plump, and dark complexioned. She said her ancestors came from Castile. Her people were wealthy and important.

Grandmother Camacho died in 1914 and is buried in the old Catholic Cemetery in Halawa beside her husband Clement. Her tombstone is a white cross, similar to her husband's. The inscription on it reads "Anna F. Clement Born 1832 Died 1914". The U.S. Census of 1900 indicates that she was born July, 1829, but the date on her tombstone is probably more reliable.

On August 15, 1914, the whole family of ten children moved to 1245 Wilder Avenue, Honolulu. Mother decided the children had to be educated, and the only good schools were in Honolulu. It was a good move, but she missed her homestead and all of its beauty--the fields of corn, vegetables, and hundreds of trees, bushes, flowers, etc.

For the sake of her three sons, Mama gave up her farm as she decided that they had to have an education. Of course, Papa was very ill, and she was getting old and wanted to have her daughters settled. Papa was one of the first teachers to be pensioned. He received thirty dollars per month, but that stopped when he died. So we had some very lean years. (Emil de Harne was voted a pension by the Hawaii State Legislature in Act 113, which was passed March 17, 1915. Subsequently, an amount of $720 is reported to have been paid out for said pension in the state budget report of 1917.)

On November 10, 1918, the day before World War I ended, Emil died after a long illness. He was buried on Armistice Day at the old Catholic Cemetery on South King Street. Frances died on December 22, 1957 and was buried near daughter Louise at Diamond Head Cemetery, when she was about 90 years old. Her sister Mary Clement Gomes is buried nearby. Mary was born on May 12, 1866. She never married, and died on July 14, 1937.

REFERENCES:

1. Jones, Josephine de Harne, written 1916-c.1922, Diary: family papers, 3 p.
2. Madeira Government Regional Archives
3. Ship passengers manifest and arrival records (Card no. 137) for HMS Ravenscrag (on file at the Hawaii Historical Society and Hawaii State Digital Archives).
4. Walsh, Mary de Harne, written in the early 1960s, Historae de Harne: family papers, 5 p.