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Bro. Curtis Piʻehu ʻIaukea: Chief Diplomat of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi
Brother Curtis Piʻehu ʻIaukea (1855–1940) served as the chief diplomat of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi during the reigns of King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani. As the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, ʻIaukea was the most travelled member of the Hawaiian administration after Kalākaua. He served as the administration’s envoy to the coronation of Tsar Alexander III of Russia and accompanied Queen Kapiolani to Washington, DC to meet with President of the United States Grover Cleveland. He accompanied her again to the United Kingdom to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. Having developed a close friendship with the British Crown, he returned to the United Kingdom to celebrate Queen Victoria’s… Read more
Bro. James C. McCandless: Imperial Potentate & Sixth Deputy
James “Sunny Jim” Sutton McCandless, born in Indiana, Pennsylvania September 20, 1855. He moved to Hawaii on December 30, 1880 at the age of 25. His profession was that of artesian well driller and he and his brother accounted for over 600 wells enabling operation of Ewa, Oahu, Kahuku and Wailua sugar plantations. McCandless was raised a Master Mason on February 14, 1903 in Pacific Lodge No. 822 (now Honolulu Lodge F&AM). In 1922 the delegates of the Order of the Mystic Shrine A.A.O.N.M.S. (now Shriners International) elected him as Imperial Potentate, to date the only such officer from Hawaii. The Shriners Hospitals for Children in Honolulu, second in the list of such institutions, claims McCandless as a founder and member. Read more
