Koakanu was the son of Namaile and the influential High Chiefess Kuini Liliha, who served as Governor of Oahu from 1829 to 1831 and was also the hānai (adoptive) daughter of Hoapili, a confidante of King Kamehameha I.
[1][2][3] His full siblings were Abigail Maheha and Kailinoa while his half-siblings were Jane Loeau, Aberahama Kaikioewa Palekaluhi, and Mary Ann Kiliwehi.
In order to quell the civil disruption, American and British troops were landed with the permission of the Hawaiian government, and the rioters were arrested.
[16] In 1877, he and Kalākaua became one of the twelve charter members of the Hui Kawaihau, a business group involved in sugar cultivation near Kapaʻa in eastern Kauai.
[19] His obituary in the English newspaper The Pacific Commercial Advertiser noted his fail attempts at overturning the Bishop Estate and stated "his death being caused, as his acquaintance report, by remorse and fear.
"[20] Koakanu and his wife Peke had one daughter named Lanihau, who succeed him as Kahu of Mauna ʻAla and later became the last female Governor of Kauai from 1886 to 1888.