Malo was associated with the chief Kuakini, who was a brother of Queen Kaʻahumanu, during this time of great change, probably serving as oral historian and court genealogist.

He was ordained into the Christian ministry and settled down in the seaside village of Kalepolepo on South/West Maui where he remained until his death on October 25, 1853.

[3] When Queen Kaʻahumanu died in June 1832, Malo composed a grief chant in her honor titled He Kanikau o Ka'ahumanu.

From about 1835 he started writing notes on the Hawaiian religion and cultural history, along with members of the school and instructor Sheldon Dibble.

David Malo was part of the class that conducted research into Hawaiian history and published their findings in the work Ka Mooolelo Hawaii, 1838 (a facsimile of this original has been recently reprinted).

[9] All of Maloʻs writing, his intellectual production and the moʻokūʻauhau (genealogies), kanikau (laments), letters and published works were all composed in the Hawaiian language.