Tuesday, December 4, 2012

I'm Related by Marriage to Hawaiian Royalty

I love finding relationships with famous and important people - historical or living.  I can't help it.  My children, siblings and cousins love it too.  My Seaver aunts and uncle really loved it!!

Thanks to Heather Wilkinson Rojo, who wrote Tombstone Tuesday ~ Seen in Honolulu today on her Nutfield Genealogy blog, I now know that I have a somewhat distant relationship to Hawaiian Royalty!

As stated in Heather's post, the epitaph on the gravestone of Elizabeth Kekaaniau Laanui Pratt reads:

High Chiefess
Elizabeth Kekaaniau Laanui Pratt
Longest Royal Survivor
Born September 11, 1834
Died December 20, 1928
Elizabeth Kekaaniauokalani Kalanijuiohilaukapu
Laanui was a favorite at the royal courts of King's 
Kamehameha III, IV, Lunalilo and Kalakua. The
latter four were her schoolmates at the Royal Boarding
School, founded by Kamehameha III for the preparation
of Hawaii's future Rulers. Kekaaniau was the last
surviving member of it's original 16 royal students.  In
1864, She married Franklin Seaver Pratt of Boston, who 
served as Consul General and Minister of Finance to the
Hawaiian Kingdom.  In 1920, she published memoirs of
the illustrious Kamehameha dynasty and collateral
branches of the Keoua lineage in
"Keoua Nui - Father of Kings"


Here is Franklin Seaver Pratt's ancestry from Robert Seaver (1608-1683), the immigrant to Roxbury, Mass. in 1634:

1)  Robert Seaver (1608-1683) and Elizabeth Ballard (1616-1657)
2.  Joshua Seaver (1641-1730) and Mary May (1657-????)
3)  Joshua Sever (1679-1707) and Mercy Cooke (1679-1759)
4)  William Sever (1721-1782) and Patience Trescott (1723-1799)
5)  Jonathan Sever (1753-1820) and Margaret Harris (1759-1826)
6)  Catherine Seaver (1797-1880) and Joseph Pratt (1791-1873)
7)  Franklin Seaver Pratt (1829-1894)

I am the 12th generation from Robert Seaver through:

1)  Robert Seaver (1608-1683) and Elizabeth Ballard (1616-1657)
2)  Shubael Seaver (1640-1730) and Hannah Wilson (1647-1722)
3)  Joseph Seaver (1672-1754) and Mary Read (1680-????)
4)  Robert Seaver (1702-1752) and Eunice Rayment (1707-1772)
5)  Norman Seaver (1734-1787) and Sarah Read (1736-1809)
6.  Benjamin Seaver (1757-1816) and Martha Whitney (1764-1832)
7.  Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825) and Abigail Gates (1797-1867)
8.  Isaac Seaver (1823-1901) and Lucretia T. Smith (1828-1884)
9.  Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922) and Hattie Hildreth (1857-1920)
10.  Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942) and Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962)
11.  Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983) and Betty V. Carringer (1919-2002)
12.  Randall Jeffrey Seaver (1943-....)

The common Seaver ancestors are the immigrants, Robert and Elizabeth (Ballard) Seaver.  Franklin Seaver Pratt was a fifth cousin to my 3rd great-grandfather, Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825), and that makes Franklin Seaver Pratt a 5th cousin 5 times removed to me.  Of course, I am a cousin by marriage to Princess Elizabeth...not by blood, as far as I know!  But this still counts in my book!

Just wait till my cousins hear about this!  My aunts would have embraced it, and my father and uncle would have said "so what?"

Thank you, Heather, for all of your information about Franklin Seaver Pratt and his sister, Maria (Pratt) Brewer.  


Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

3 comments:

Heather Wilkinson Rojo said...

It's fun isn't it, Randy, to be related to Hawaiian history? My first cousin 4 generations removed, John Owen Dominis, married a Hawaiian princess, too! She became Queen!

Mel said...

My Portuguese relatives came to Hawaii in 1882. As yet, no royal connections. I'll have to keep trying :D

Unknown said...

My name is david pratt a decendent of joseph pratt . Franklin seaver pratt is a 4th great uncle. My e mail is david.pratt1957@yahoo.com. i sm from Big Island Hawaii. Would like u to contact me to share family history