Hawaii Research Helps

Resources Available
Hawaiian Cemetery Records,

An index is located in the FamilySearch Centers and Nanett Purnell has written guides for Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and Lanai. Phone numbers for some of the Hawaiian FamilySearch Centers:


 * On Oahu:
 * Honolulu 808-955-8910
 * Kalihi 808-835-9701
 * Kaneohe 808-247-3134
 * Laie 808-293-2133
 * Makakilo 808-j672-5971
 * Mililani 808-623-1712
 * Waipahu 808-678-0752
 * On Maui: Kahului 808-877-0586
 * On Hawaii:
 * Kau 808-929-7123
 * Kona 808-329-4469

The FamilySearch Centers on Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii have specialized information and help. An updated list of FamilySearch Centers and their hours are on the internet.

Hawaii State Archives (located behind Iolani Palace in Honolulu)


 * Iolani Palace Grounds Honolulu, HI 96813 Phone: 808-586-0329 www.state.hi.us/dags/archives/

Hawaii State Dept. Of Health

Mailing address to request records for genealogical purposes:


 * Office of Health Status Monitoring
 * Issuance/Vital Statistics Section
 * P. O. Box 3378
 * Honolulu HI 96801

Physical location:


 * 1250 Punchbowl St., Room 103 Honolulu, HI 96813 Phone: 808-586-4533 www.state.hi.us/health/records/genealogy.html

Bishop Museum Library (has many Hawaiian oral genealogies of the ali`i)


 * 1525 Bernice Street
 * Honolulu HI 96817
 * Phone: 808-848-4148
 * www.bishopmuseum.org

Hawaii Historical Society


 * 560 Kawaihao Street Honolulu HI 96817 Phone: 808-537-6271

Hawaii State Library


 * 478 South King St. Honolulu HI 96817 Phone: 808-j586-3500

Aloha Chapter House of the Daughters of the American Revolution 


 * 1914 Makiki Heights Dr. Honolulu HI 96817

Filipino American Historical Society of Hawaii [http://www.fahsoh.org!! website]

Preserves, enhances and promotes an appreciation of Filipino heritage and the experiences of Filipino Americans in Hawai

University of Hawaii


 * Hamilton Library, Hawaii Collection 2550 The Mall Honolulu HI 96817 Phone: 808-956-7214 or 956-7205

National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (veterans buried in Hawaii


 * 2177 Puowaina Drive Honolulu HI 96817 Phone: 808-541-3546

BYU Hawaii Joseph Smith Library Archives.


 * 200 South High Street Wailuku, HI, 96793 Phone: 808-243-7825

For adoption, divorce, naturalization, and probate records, contact the county court house of the county where your ancestor lived:

Hawaii County:


 * Hawaii County Clerk 25 Aupuni St.. Room 209 Hilo, HI 96720 Phone: 808-961-8255

Honolulu County:


 * Honolulu County Clerk, City Hall Honolulu HI 96813 Phone: 808-586-4533

Kauai County 


 * Kauai County Clerk 4396 Rice Street Lihue, HI 96766

Maui County 


 * Maui County Office of the County Clerk 200 High St. Wailuku, HI 96793 Phone 808-243-7825

Other Resources

The FamilySearch Library has a large collection of records and books from the Hawaiian Islands.

On the Internet, go to Familysearch.org and choose the Library tab and then FamilySearch Catalog. Type in Hawaii to get records that are made on an Island Group-wide basis and print the items of interest. Then type in the name of the  island where an ancestor lived to get a list of records made on that level.

Next, type in the name of the district where the ancestor lived to see if any records were made on that level and print out any lists, then click on the record types of interest.

Also use a Film/Fiche Number Search and look at the descriptions of these microfilms, all of which contain information about Hawaii: 1031511, 1031512, 1031513, 7194117, 1675576 Item 2, 1675265 item 4, 1308916, 1308917, 1308918, 1308919, and 1014417.

The Cole Jensen collection

These genealogies were gathered from the Islands between 1930 and 1970. Hawaiian genealogy microfilms are:

1358001: Family Group Records and Pedigree charts of Hawaiian families in alphabetical order by surname, starting with A and ending with Kalou.

1358002: Continuation of FGRs and Pedigrees starting with Kalua and ending with Wahiawa. 1358003:Continuation up to Yuzuki. Hawaiian Legends of Hawaii Loa; The Kumulipo;, D. McAlister Writing;, Israelite Similarities; Kuauhau Alii; Kuauhau o Wakea; Kumuhonua Genealogy, Pedigree charts, AbelI Matoon;, Newspaper clippings, Hawaiian and Samoan; Hawaiian Chronology by Stokes; Misc. Polynesian Genealogies; William Waddoups Collection, Hawaiian Historical Items, Hawaii and New Zealand Maori Genealogies. 1358004:  More Hawaiian genealogies, the Puku Collection, Census 1926, Topolinski Pedigree records, part of Kumuhonua, Lindsay pedigree charts, part of Kamakau, Cemetery records of Jessie Lindsay for Oahu, Maui,Hawaii, Molokai, and Kauai.

1358006:Over a thousand pedigree charts and other records, listed in alphabetical order with names, dates, and places.

Family pedigree chars from Tahiti, French Polynesia, China, Japan, Samoa, Tonga, Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Philippines in alphabetical order. Also collections of Hawaiian genealogies, including the Clinton Kanahele collection;.

1358007: Family pedigree charts from Samoa, Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti, Japan, China, Tonga, and the Philippines.

1358008: Genealogy of Liliiuokalani;, pedigree charts, and family group records by Albert Like and Clinton Kanahele; The Abel Matoon collection of family lineages, 500 families from Hawaii, Samoa, and French Polynesia. They are not in alphabetical order.

Oral genealogies collected in the 1970s 

The table below is a sample of the information to be found regarding the tapes that were made by the Genealogical Society of Utah. Interviewers recorded family history information on tape for the older people on many of the Pacific Islands. These tapes were then transcribed by typing the interview. These typed transcripts were later microfilmed, so if you look under Transcript, you can see the microfilm number to use in locating the film at a FamilySearch Center. The tapes have been transferred onto Compact Discs, so they are in a digital format. When they have been put up on the Internet, a link will be made to the actual recording so you can hear the voice of the person who was interviewed.

See also Hawaii in FamilySearch Research Wiki.