LAND RECORDS – A MUST
Although records from the Department of Health started with marriage records in Honolulu and Hilo in 1841, and other records started at various times after that for different locations, vital records were not very consistent until 1909. It must be remembered that especially in rural areas, Hawaiian families had family plots for their burials. On early death certificates listed under undertaker will be “family,” and under cemetery will be “family plot.” Some of these burials were not recorded at the Department of Health and that is why some early 1900’s death certificates cannot be found.
When this happens, there are two resources to push back the genealogical chart. One is to turn to early church records. After the overturn of the kapu system, Hawaiians joined Christian churches. Hawaiians were mostly Mormon, Catholics and Congregationalists.
As early Hawaiians bought and sold land, much of the land was transferred between family members. At the time of the Great Mahele in 1848, the original owners of property were forced to explain their right to ownership. This Native and Foreign Testimony can be found at the Hawaii State Archives and on film at the LDS (Mormon) Family History Centers.
Usually when individuals sold property, they explained how they were entitled to be owners of the property. Sometimes they also explained their relationship to the person receiving the property when it was a family member.
The process of an owner selling his property to another and the second person selling it to the third, etc., is called the “chain of title.” Sometimes, grandparents will die, parents will die early, divorce, or move to Honolulu, and the family property is abandoned. Once this happens someone will step in to pay property taxes and live on the land. They may act as though the land is theirs and even sell the property. But because there is no deed granting them property rights they have what is called a “cloudy title.” In order to clear the title, a court case must be held to determine ownership. This is a civil case and is called a quiet action case.
By law, the plaintiff (the person who is initiating the quiet action case and trying to gain clear title and ownership to the property) is required to publish in the newspaper the names of all the people and corporations who are on the property’s chain of title. The names listed in the legal notice become the defendants and they are required to prove to the court their legal interest in the land. This is done by having land deeds (title) and proving the family genealogy to the family member named in the Legal Notice.
Many of these quiet action cases are settled every year. These legal notices are found in the classified section of the daily newspaper. For neighbor island residents, it is best to check the classified legal notice section of the Honolulu newspapers because chiefly families had property on more than one island. So another reason to do the Hawaiian genealogy is to learn all the old family names and to keep an eye on the legal notices in the newspaper.
If a family member’s name is found in a legal notice and it is planned to answer a quiet action notice, it will be necessary to either hire a lawyer who specializes in land cases or hire the services of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation. The services of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation will be cheaper than a private law firm but the client must be 50 percent Hawaiian to qualify for their services and go through the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to clear blood quantum.
If title to the property can be shown, there could be two choices. It can be attempted to get possession of the land or a cash payoff could be agreed to. As land is selling to foreign investors on all islands who want clear title, these quiet action cases are on-going and the settlements can be substantial.
There are Hawaiian families that are making land searches to see what properties their family owned. If they find the property has passed to owners under questionable circumstances, the family can initiate the quiet action case, become the plaintiffs and regain court title to their ancestral lands. Some families have incorporated the family land into corporations or trusts, built income property for the benefit of family members, and established loans, funds and scholarships for the children in the ohana.
Another method to securing land title is land court registration. This indemnifies the property against adverse possession and is discussed in the “Native Hawaiian Rights Handbook,” by Melody Kapilialoha Mackenzie, U.H. Press, 1991.
An excellent guide to read concerning how to do title searching is called “Title Searching for the Non-Professional” by Mahi Erickson.
Indexes to Bureau of Conveyance Records can be accessed at the LDS (Mormon) Family History Centers, on microfiche at the Hawaii State Library, Hawaii and Pacific Section and at the large neighbor island branch libraries for the convenience of searchers statewide.
