His family genealogy traces back to the time of King Kamehameha I, where one of his kūpuna (grandparent), Panila, was kahuna kālai waʻa (canoe carver) to the Naʻi Aupuni (kingdom), essentially bringing his 'ohana closer to governmental power.
Kamauoha was selected by Kalākaua to be a scholar in the Hawaiian Youths Abroad Program, sponsored by the Kingdom of Hawaii.
He was a serious student and quite shy as Hopkins indicates in his letter to Hawaii, "Kamauoha is prudent, studios and diligent; gives no ground for complaint in anyway, but rather dull in conversation; indeed speaks but little".
[2] Kamauohaʻs quiet, humble demeanor was further highlighted in an editorial found in The Globe, a London based newspaper, entitled, "A Modest Rescuer."
In the editorial, Hopkins shares a story about a young Hawaiian man who rescues two men who fell off a plank while loading a ship.