I thought I had a pretty darn good idea of the process Portuguese immigrants went through during the sugar plantation era. They signed a contact to work on a plantation while still at home. The applied for a passport. They got on the ship and were listed on the ship manifest. They arrived in Honolulu…
Category: Sugar Plantations
What We Get Wrong About the Portuguese Immigrants to Hawaii 140 Years After The First Contract Laborers Arrived
It is the 140 year anniversary of the first Portuguese contract laborers arriving in Hawaii to work on sugar plantations. After reading Portuguese celebrate 140 years since first immigrants arrive I realized that there’s a couple of things that they got wrong. In fact, these misrepresentations are things many people believe about their Portuguese immigrant…
Sugar Plantation Histories Updated at YourIslandRoutes
I’ve been busy this week. I have updated the links on the four sugar plantation histories articles on YourIslandRoutes.com. If you aren’t familiar with these articles, there is one for the islands of Hawaii, Kauai, Maui, and Oahu. Information varies by business, but some included information on the founders and when the operation ended. I’ve…
52 Ancestors: Women Worked on Hawaii’s Sugar Plantations, Too
This is the fifth entry in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge. The theme is Ploughing Through. I wonder how many researchers with Portuguese Hawaiian ancestry realize that their female ancestors were under contract, too? My great great grandmother was one of those women. This is the original sugar plantation contract that my great…
An Example of Sugar Plantation Employee Records
Several years ago, I contacted the Hawaiian Sugar Plantation Association to see if there were records for the Kilauea Sugar Plantation as well as others on Kauai that were of interest to me. At that time, the records were still held by the Association. I found that they had no records for Kilauea and scant…