Does your family have any roots/ties to Hawaii’s historic sugar industry?
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A. Yes, via immigration or job (646 Votes)
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C. No (421 Votes)
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B. Only via summer job (52 Votes)
This is not a scientific poll — results reflect only the opinions of those voting.
21 responses to “Does your family have any roots/ties to Hawaii’s historic sugar industry?”
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BTW, summer job at cannery is the “Pineapple” industry.
Makes you wonder crafted the question. Goes to show how a question embedded in survey or poll can be used to predisposed a bias reply. I attempted to bring this to the attention of a survey used in one of the Civil Beat articles. We need to be careful when begin fed survey / polling results…beware.
My dad worked as a cane haul driver. It provided for my family. My mom stayed at home to manage the kids. One income family was difficult but doable.
My summer job was tending the field irrigation system. Walking miles of lines repairing broken lines and weeding at the same time. The most boring assignment was to work “shotgun” for the tractor drivers who would drive through the fields to look for large boulders that surfaced from time to time after plowing. We had a sled attached to the tractor and when we found a boulder, I hopped off, unhitched the sled and the driver would push the boulder on to the sled and we’d take it to the “rock pile” to unload.
Although I just road around all day, the slow moving and dusty ride made it “hard work”.
Not sure about this “crafted” question you object to. Seems straight forward to me. Either you have ties or not.
I picked pine for three summers. My sisters worked at the cannery and one worked in the pine fields. We all had to work.
Cannery, how is sugar cane canned. Seems like the last option refers to the wrong industry—-good grief, lose credibility.
IRT Sandi, a few of the sugar plantations diversified into pineapple production.
Mother was picture bride while Dad started out in the fields as a irrigator,then a cane loader in the field, a mill hand and plumber, and finally saved enough money to invest in a wholesale/retail store, Kapaa Trading Store, Ltd, Yes my 3 older brothers and a sister were born in plantation camps and delivered by a midwife. I was born in town and so were my3 younger brothers who were born in ahospital.
IRT Cojef, thanks for sharing. My mom’s side is similar to your family, for my grand-mother was a picture bride arriving on Kauai in 1913 and raised eight successful children. Kapaa Trading Store, Ltd, interesting. Mr. William Yamanaka, retired professor from Washington State has written about Kipu and the families from there, including our family.
Sugar cane or pineapples, it was a growing up experience, and a first time job, for many locals. There were lots of fond memories for many.
Now, it is a local history, that will not be shared, with future generations. Something similar, to experiencing the old International Market Place. It is a feeling, that most locals will remember.
Keonimay, there are some very good local writers who have shared in print their experiences from those days. Lee Cataluna is just the tip of an iceberg that goes way back. Perhaps she’ll be kind enough to pass along a few of the names she enjoys. Bamboo Ridge Press is a good place to startenjoying your memories.
What I was really referring to, was the first hand experience. Anyone can read a book. It is like my experience, with a hukilau. How many people, can still remember that moment ?
IRT Hilo, talk about memories, Ms Lee Cataluna’s dad, Donald, was one of my summer work Luna’s on the sugar plantation. He and wife were close friends of my parents.
Sugar and pineapple shaped the modern culture of Hawaii. It is also an example, of how poor immigrants worked their way to the top– many by heroic service in WWII, but mostly by back breaking labor. Sugar and Pineapple would have left for cheaper labor and land earlier than it did if not for government support and things like protective zoning for agriculture (it blocked housing though), and infrastructure and water rights for plantations. Much like Trump is doing to keep US companiess from leaving.
My dad worked in the sugar fields in his youth. “Hoe hana” for a penny a row. Those were the days.
My parents’ and we lived in a plantation house for a while but when they were finally able to afford a home in a nearby up and coming neighborhood, their mortgage was $90/month. They got a new car for $1500. But of course, it’s all relative based on the wages they received. It was BIG money back then. Imagine one day we can tell our grandchildren how our mortgage was less than $2500 and a new car was only $30,000. And we actually drove the car ourselves!
My great-grandparents arrived in Hawaii on April 7, 1891 from Kumamoto, Japan to work on a Kauai sugar plantation.
Only connection I Have/Had is via My “Sweet Tooth”! Tee Hee Hee
In that case, we ALL have a “connection!”
Dole sugar cannery; those good old days.
My grandfather immigrated to Hawaii and worked on a plantation before starting his own farm. My father worked in sugar mills as an engineer and we lived in quite a few plantation towns. I played in the fields when I was a kid and worked in the fields during the summers when I was older. Yeah, sugar was part of our lives. Sorry to see it end, but not to see the end of plantations.
My father came in 1950 looking for a job as a field engineer. Met my mother in a boarding house in Makiki while going to HSPA. I grew up and worked in the fields (and papaya as well on the Big Island). My closest friends were all plantation kids. We all instinctively knew, no matter what our fathers, sometimes even mothers, did, we were all “in it together” because of the company. Even wanted to get an engineering degree to come back and work in the mill. Didn’t work out, but still miss those days and the sense of community.