Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
IOSEPA, Tooele County — Tucked in a place you might never visit, and in a place you might have never heard of, there is an important new memorial in Utah.
You can't hear tropical music or see big ocean waves, but you can find plenty of aloha in Iosepa, in Tooele County. Settlers traveled from Hawaii to a place west of Tooele and south of I-80.
"They were LDS so they wanted to be here, help build the temple," Charmagne Wixom, president of the Iosepa Historial Association, said.
One of those ancestors was Noe Poulsen's great grandmother — Makanoe Kahluhilaau Kaaepa — who arrived in 1898 with her daughter Hannah Kaaepa. After arriving, Hannah Kaaepa was invited by the national chairman of the National Council of Women to attend a women's suffrage meeting in Washington, D.C.
Other suffragists like Susan B. Anthony spoke while Hannah Kaaepa represented the Pacific Islanders.
The Utah State Historical Society says Kaaepa gave a speech during the meeting, urging "national women's leaders to support Queen Lili'uokalani's efforts to secure suffrage for Hawaiian women."
"She was a dedicated person who loved the Lord and served her people and loved her people," Poulsen said. Kaaepa returned to Hawaii, but her mother Makanoe Kahluhilaau Kaaepa is buried in the cemetery near Iosepa and now a memorial stands there for Hannah, too.
"We are just so proud of her," Wixom said.
Poulsen will share Hannah's story as part of a memorial celebration, and she will clean off Hannah's mother's grave as well as a way to say "aloha" to the ancestors.
"People say nothing comes from Iosepa," Wixom said. "But a lot comes from this; a lot comes from this place."
Contributing: Ashley Imlay
