Born in circa 1814,[4][1] her father was High Chief Nāhili and her mother was High Chiefess Kauwaʻa.[5] Nāhili was the sailing master for Kamehameha I and considered one of his most brilliant generals, instrumental in the latter's victory at the Battle of Nuʻuanu.[6][7] During the last days of the wars of unification, he was sent along with Keaweopu and Isaac Davis to Kauaʻi where they successfully convinced King Kaumualiʻi to surrender control of the island in 1819. [8] Her mother was the youngest daughter of King Alapaʻinui and his wife Kamaua. Alapaʻinui was the king of the island of Hawaiʻi prior to the accession of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who, fearful of the prophecy of the birth of a "killer of chiefs", had tried to kill the baby Kamehameha at his birth.