A vaccination administered by a Honolulu physician failed to save the child, and he died at Lahaina after bathing in the sea to alleviate the malignant case of smallpox.

[9] Kekaulahao was one of the first generation of Hawaiians to receive a western education by the American missionaries who arrived in Hawaii in 1820.

Some of his classmates included writer S. N. Haleole, historian Samuel Kamakau and future royal governor George Luther Kapeau.

[15][16][17] On April 24, 1855, Kekaulahao was appointed Circuit Judge for Oʻahu succeeding his cousin John Kalili, who died in office.

[3] Two years later in 1858, he and five members of his family including his younger brother, father, son, sister, and cousin John Kalili were buried in the cemetery of the Kawaiahaʻo Church in a ceremony which included the use of Niihau mats as burial goods.