was the living promise of the Calvinist mission and an exemplar of that mission's contradictions. He was a Christian Native who was, nevertheless, a firm and lifelong opponent of annexation." Historian Noenoe K. Silva noted that "Nawahi retained his Kanaka identity while assimilating Christianity into his life and philosophy." Continuing his intellectual pursuits, Nāwahī became a self-taught lawyer and surveyor, gaining the skills of these professions without formal instruction. By the time he was thirty years old, he had earned the license to practice law in the courts of the kingdom. It was his legal career which would gain him entrance into politics. Personal life Nāwahī married twice. On January 17, 1862, he married a Hawaiian woman named Meleana Keakahiwa, who died shortly after their marriage. His obituary in the Hawaiian language newspaper Ka Makaainana claimed this first marriage ended in divorce and his first wife survived him. He married secondly Emma ʻAʻima Aʻii in Hilo on February 17, 1881. She was half-Hawaiian and half-Chinese, being the daughter of a Hilo chiefess and Tong Yee, a Chinese businessman and founder of Paukaʻa Sugar Plantation. In later life, Emma would become an important political leader in her own right. They had three sons including Albert Kahiwahiwa Nāwahī (1881–1904), Alexander Kaʻeʻeokalani Nāwahī (1883–1942) and Joseph Nāwahī, Jr. (1885–1888). Through his sons, he currently has descendants living to this day. They also adopted a daughter named Emmeline Kaleionamoku "Kalei" Nāwahī (1877–1901), who died while attending school at St. Andrew's Priory in Honolulu. Political career Nāwahī first entered politics during the last year of the reign of King Kamehameha V. His election as a member of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Hawaiian legislature, for the district of Puna, was reported on February 14, 1872. During this first term, Kamehameha V died without naming an heir and he and his fellow legislators unanimously elected the popular Lunalilo to the throne. The new king died in 1874 after a short reign, also without naming a successor, causing the legislators to convene and elect a new monarch again. Nāwahī, now in his second term, became one of the six legislators who cast their votes in favor of the defeated Queen Emma of Hawaii. Kalākaua, who won the legislative election, ascended the throne as Hawaii's second elected monarch in the wake of the Honolulu Courthouse riot led by Emma's defeated supporters. After the controversial