After his death the island erupted into civil war and Alapainui, a chief of Kohala, gained the upper hand and dispossessed his father of his lands.
As stated by Hawaiian historian Samuel Kamakau: "There was no sugar cane broken off, no potatoes dug up, no pigs roasted."
The historian, John Papa ʻĪʻī, Keliʻimaikaʻi's mana (spiritual power) was so great that "whatever he dedicated became very kapu", two examples were the bathing pools in Kawaihae, called Keliʻialalahoʻolaʻawai and Alawai.
[4]: 37 By Kalikoʻokalani, he had Kaʻōanaʻeha (1780–1850) who married John Young Olohana, a former British sailor and trusted advisor of Kamehameha, and mother a dynasty of Hapa-Haole nobility.
During the 1880s, King Kalākaua had his own genealogist publish an article denouncing Samuel M. Kamakau's genealogy linking Queen Emma to Keliʻimaikaʻi.
The genealogist argued that Keliʻimaikaʻi "himself denied publicly that he had a child named Kaoanaeha" and "that it was accepted by the chiefs of that time...[So] how can SMK [Samuel M. Kamakau] turn the truth into a lie, when he knows the true genealogy of the Queen?"
Even ten years after the accession of Kalākaua, the genealogy battle continued because there were still threats that Queen Emma's supporters, called Queenites or Emmaites, would place her on the throne.
[11]: 404 This and other claims may have intended to belittle Queen Emma because the House of Kalākaua lacked the lineage and support of the Hawaiian people that she possessed.