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No. 38, E. & H. Grimes, claimants
F.R. 50-53v1
Letter addressed to Secretary to land Commission, May 4th 1846
We herewith hand you a claim and plan of our premises which we beg leave to lay before your Honorable body, and pray that you will grant us a patent or title for the same.
Signed, E & H. Grimes
Register page 51 & 52
Know all men by these presents that I, Stephen Reynolds, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oahu, for and in consideration of six thousand dollars to me in hand wall & truly paid, the receipt whereof I hereby acknowledge, have bargained, granted, and sold to Eliab Grimes and Josiah Thomson, citizens of the United States, residing at Oahu, all the estates, buildings, premises in Honolulu, lately belonging to William S. Hinkley, bounded as follows:
Beginning at the public road, running by land of Peter A. Brinsmade, William Ladd & William Hooper, North thirty-six degrees west, two hundred & sixteen feet to land of Paulo Francisco de Marin; thence by said Marini's land, north fifty-two degrees east, seventy-five feet, thence by the road round to the first-mentioned bound; also one undivided half of the land & wharf, bounded northerly by land occupied by the Government as a market place, beginning at the land of the aforesaid Brinsmade, Ladd & Hooper, running by the said market place to the sea, again from said corner bound running southeasterly, by the southwest side of the land of the above-named Brinsmade, Ladd & Hooper, to the corner
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[DIAGRAM b]
of their premises by the aforesaid public road from said corner to the stern of the vessel forming corner of the wharf along the Hotel premises, the said land, buildings and premises are intitled to the privilege of a passage and cart-way at all times through the land of Brinsmade, Ladd & Hooper aforesaid, from and to the wharf & land pertaining to the wharf, unto and out of the premises hereby granted and sold.
To have and to hold the said estates and premises with all the privileges thereunto belonging unto the said Eliab Grimes and Josiah Thomson, their heirs & assigns forever.
And further I, the said Stephen Reynolds, do hereby covenant & agree for myself, heirs & a assigns forever to warrant & defend the premises aforesaid against the lawful demands of all persons, claiming by or under me, unto the said Eliab Grimes & Josiah Thompson [sic], their heirs & assigns forever, excepting only such claims as the government of the Sandwich islands may make on the land.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand & seal at Oahu, this first day of April, one thousand eight hundred & thirty-seven
Stephen Reynolds
John R. Vonpfister, Hiram Grimes
F.T. 41-43v1
Claim No. 38, E. & H. Grimes, June 24, 1846
Mr. Brinsmade, witness, sworn deposed, I and my partners took possession of the whole of the premises now in possession of Grimes & Co. and of premises occupied by themselves in August 1833, renting them for the time being through Mr. Reynolds. In early part of autumn 1833 Mr. Hinckley returned from the coast, where he left Mr. Jones; with whom he has made arrangements for the purchase of the whole premises. He thought the terms which Mr. Jones had proposed to him would be more favorable than any terms we should be likely to make with Mr. Jones on his return. Mr. Hinckley proposed to us that he would purchase on the best terms he could get with Mr. Jones, the whole premises; that the premises should then be divided as nearly as possible, and we might have our election of the parts; the taking the wooden & grass buildings in the premises at two fifths of the purchase money; this proposition of Mr. Hinckley was left to our rejection or reception, until Mr. Jones should arrive, or until we should have secured a lot that would suit us better before that time. When Mr. Jones returned the ba ....
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.... ated by Lanai, but toward the end of the year Capt. Hikale (Hinckley) came back from Paniola (Boston) while Aluli (Jones) was residing there.
Capt. Hikale (Hinckley) leased Aluli's (Jones) entire property and I thought the lease was favorable for we had spoken harshly with Aluli (Jones) upon his return.
Capt. Hikale (Hinckley) told us it was he who leased the entire property reasonably, after which it was distributed equally. We were to have the portion we wanted while he would have all the houses. We would also receive two fifths for accepting the property. We were granted the time to think about it until Aluli came when we may perhaps receive a better deal. A discussion followed between Capt. Hikale (Hinckley) and Aluli (Jones) upon the latter's return. At this time Aluli (Jones) displayed a document which his assistant (haole) from Boston drafted to enable him to sell the property. He also made known a bill of transfer to Kalanimoku which mentioned the houses, the property and all rights adjacent to the property. Capt. Hikale (Hinckley) bought one half of a frame house from us and took the frame house in which lives Mr. Lemi (Grimes) at present. He also took a grass hut. I have not seen anyone else on Mr. Lemi's (Grimes) rights, however, we built the wharf together with the approval of Kinau and the King. It was started at the old and worn-out ship in the year 1837. The old ship was removed and we together with Mr. Lemi (Grimes) built the wharf. I met the King when he had come to see us about the work and during the time we were joining together the measured lumber. He said that he was pleased with our work and remarking,
"The work is for you and the sea is mine." With this statement the King approved of the work at this time.
In May of 1840, the King issued an announcement about the lands held by the haole, which i have at this time. The King said, "It is not the intent of the kings to relinquish the right to a property, however, it is not their feeling also that it (property interest) be retained by the government, instead a reasonable annual payment should be made to the government."
In the beginning of the year 1842 I asked Mr. Webster of Washington on his opinion about the estate of an American as contained in the proclamation. Here is his writing:"Do not cause to dissolve this issue. This proclamation has become valuable to the government also it should be binding for all times. Your estate should be governed by taxes and laws."
Reynolds sworn and he testified:
I first saw Mr.. Pako (Babcock) living on the property in the year 1820. In 1823 Kalanimoku approved of the work and lived there personally to watch this work. When both Aluli (Jones) and Mika Pako (Mister Babcock) went on a trip the work fell to Thomas Clark and when Aluli (Jones) returned in 1825, he (Aluli) (Jones) did work for Ohule (ma) to the year 1834 when the property was sold to Capt. Hikale (Hinckley) and he in turn sold to Mr. Ladd & Co. the place where they now reside and it has been their property since that time. At the end of the year 1836 Capt. Hikale (Hinckley) sold the land Mr. Grimes is living now to me, and in April 1837, I sold it to Mr. Grimes.
At the time we were transacting with Capt. Hikale (Hinckley), we went to see the King at which time he approved of the transaction and instructed that the approval statement be written on the face of the document. Charles Smith did write it and gave it to the King. The King asked me not to sign until Capt. Hikale (Hinckley) returned. I did not see Smith and Capt. Hikale {Hinckley) go but I saw the following words, "I have consented." That is all I have seen, but for Ladd and Grimes authority in constructing the wharf, is not the same portion.
[Award 38; R.P. 5726; Nuuanu St. Honolulu Kona; 1 ap.; .5109 square feet.; R.P. 5727; Nuuanu St. Honolulu Kona; 1 ap.; 5109 square feet.; R.P. 5728; Marine St. Honolulu Kona, 6822 square feet; R.P. to Grimes & Thompson]