Circa 1840
Belonging to
Charlotte Close Knapp Dole
Hawaiian missionary
Charlotte Close was born 26 May 1813 in Greewich, Connecticut. She married Horton Owen Knapp on 24 November 1836, and within a month they had left for Hawai'i on the ship Mary Frazier as missionaries sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM).
They disembarked at Honolulu on 9 April 1837. Horton Knapp died on 28 March 1845, and Charlotte married Daniel Dole—a widower with two small boys—on 22 June 1846. The seal can thus be dated to between 1837 and 1846 when Charlotte's initials were CCK.
Charlotte acted as mother to George Hathaway Dole (1842-1912) and Sanford Ballard Dole (1844-1926), who became president of the Republic of Hawaii and first governor of the Territory of Hawaii. Charlotte died in Honolulu on 5 July 1874.
Daniel and Charlotte Dole circa 1853
The fish wax seal is carved out of a single piece of mother of pearl. It measures 6cm long x 2.1 cm high x 1.5 cm deep (2-3/8" long x 3/4" high x 5/8" deep). The impression made by the sealing wax seal is shown considerably larger than lifesize. It reads: "Sand. Islands, CCK, Gen. 31:49, ALOHA".
Hawai'i was previously known as the Sandwich Islands. CCK were the initials of Charlotte Close Knapp. Genesis 31:49 reads "And Mizpah; for he said, the LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from the another." Aloha is a Hawai'ian greeting.
Another wax seal from the estate of Margery Dole Banwell, the Dole wax seal consists simply of the initial "D". It is considerably smaller than the fish seal, meauring 4.2 cm long x 1.1 cm in diameter (1-5/8" long x 7/16" diameter). The handle is a very delicately turned piece of ivory, and the stamp end appears to be brass. We don't know who it belonged to, but presumably either Daniel, Sanford or George Dole. There is probably a letter in some collection that retains the wax stamp which would verify which Dole used it.
Both seals came from the estate of Margery Dole Banwell. They were probably passed from Charlotte and her husband Daniel Dole to his son Sanford Ballard Dole to his niece Clara Marie Dole to her niece Margery Dole Banwell.
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© Tom Banwell 2008