Stephen Desha

Born: July 11, 1859, La­haina, Maui, Ha­wa­ii.
Died: July 22, 1934.
Buried: Ho­me­la­ni Me­mor­i­al Park, Hi­lo, Ha­wa­ii.

Son of John Rol­lin Lang­hern De­sha and Eli­za Brew­er De­sha, Ste­phen was ed­ucated in the Ha­wai­ian schools, the Roy­al School and North Pa­ci­fic In­st­itute in Hon­o­l­ulu. He out­lived four wives: Hat­ie Ka­ma­ka (1883), Mary Ka­a­ko­pua Ke­ku­ma­no (1884), Rose Ka­pu, and Ju­lia H. Ke­o­na­o­na (1913).

Desha was pas­tor of Na­poo­poo Church (1884-89) and Ha­i­li Church of Hi­lo (1889). He be­came su­per­vis­or of the Coun­ty of Ha­wa­ii when the coun­ty gov­ern­ment was inau­gu­rat­ed in 1905, and was elect­ed to the third Board of Su­per­vis­ors in 1909. In 1907, he be­came ed­it­or and bus­i­ness man­a­ger of the news­pa­per Ka Hoku o Ha­wa­ii. He served as a delegate to the second In­ter­na­tion­al Con­gre­ga­tion­al Coun­cil, Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts, in Sep­tem­ber 1899, and in the Ha­wa­ii­an ter­ri­tor­ial sen­ate, 1913-17. He was known as a Ha­wa­iian or­a­tor and au­thor­i­ty on Ha­wa­iian le­gends. He be­longed to the Ka­me­ha­me­ha, Kaui­ke­a­ou­li and Ha­waii Po­noi Lodg­es, Chiefs of Ha­wa­ii. De­sha’s works in­clude:

Kamehameha and His War­ri­or Ke­ku­ha­u­pi’o

--www.hymntime.com/tch/