Her mother was High Chiefess Charlotte Halaki Cox, whose father lent his name to Keeaumoku II, the Governor of Maui.

[citation needed] Her father and uncle Hoapili were chosen to conceal the bones of Kamehameha I in a secret hiding place after his death.

[5][6] King Kamehameha III granted her control of the ahupuaʻa of Hilo, thereby making her high chiefess.

[6] This is one of the remnant traces of the kapu system which gave the noble class special privileges and sacredness.

They built a beautiful two-story house named Waialeale ("rippling water") at the corner of Alakea and Beretania Streets, which later became the site of the Honolulu Gas Company office.

[1] However, later reports claimed she was buried on the Island of Hawaii, her ancestral home, and her remains were taken to Hilo with a large entourage of relatives and friends.

The people of Hilo, reportedly, swam out in great numbers to the boat and bore the casket on their shoulders.

[31][32] In 1851, Benjamin Pitman bought the "Post Boy", a 44-ton topsail schooner built in Auckland, New Zealand that had arrived from San Francisco on November 22, 1850.

[35] Their son Benjamin remained in Massachusetts where he married Almira Hollander Pitman; they visited Hawaii in 1917.