Here is my facebook post from today
even after all this history, some still have the nerve to ask me "where you're really from" after I tell them where I'm really from!
“Hispanic Firsts” in Hawaii:First Hispanic: Don Francisco de Paula Marin, a Spaniard, became a resident of Honolulu in 1794. He soon went to work for King Kamehameha I as his business manager, “doctor,” translator, and vintner (he made wine).First Mexicans: In 1830, King Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli) brought in 200 Mexican vaqueros (cowboys) from California to teach the Native Hawaiians the art of cattle ranching. The Hawaiian word for cowboy – paniolo – is believed to derive from the Spanish word for the kerchiefs the vaqueros wore – pañuelo.First Puerto Ricans: Between 1900–1901, the Hawaii Sugar Planters Association brought in 5,000 Puerto Ricans to work on Hawaii’s plantations. They came because in August 1899 a powerful hurricane – San Ciriaco – had devastated Puerto Rico and thousands of agricultural workers were unemployed.
Thanks to Hawaii Hispanic News for telling the world that Hispanics are NOT new to Hawaii, they've been around a long time.
It's just that they didn't come in with as big numbers like the Asians did!
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As for my German side, I remember in the LIS 663 class (Basic Database Searching), one classmate who was into genealogy research was trying to use the ancestry databases to find out who was the first Wegesend to come to Hawaii.
I did try Ancestry.com, but didn't want to continue after the Free-Trial period. And I got distracted by other things.
But with the LIS 693 class (Resources in Hawaiian and Pacific Librarianship) going over genealogy websites, my curiosity peaked again.
And then we took a field trip to the Hawaii State Archives
That's right, some of my ancestors were in Hawaii over a century ago!
Some of my ancestors were in Hawaii before the US took over!
My mom's side of the family is all locals. One of my uncles married a Native Hawaiian woman, and their kids are raised in Waianae! That's right, you can't get any more "local" than some of my cousins!
Yeah, my dad (who has a different last name from me) came from Mexico. He's been in Hawaii over 40 years already! Longer than I've been alive!
So who wants to continue insisting I came from somewhere else again?
