W. D. (William Drake) Westervelt

Born in Oberlin, Ohio, on December 26, 1849, William Drake Westervelt became a Congregational minister before settling in Hawaiʻi in 1899. He later became widely known as an author of books and magazine pieces on Hawaiian history, mythology, and traditional stories.

Westervelt wrote several well-known collections, including Legends of Maui (1910), Legends of Old Honolulu (1915), Legends of Gods and Ghost-Gods (1915), and Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (1916). His work drew on earlier Hawaiian historians and scholars such as David Malo, Samuel Kamakau, and Abraham Fornander, helping preserve and popularize these stories for English-speaking readers.

He remained an important literary and historical figure in Hawaiʻi into the 20th century and died in Honolulu on March 9, 1939. Today, he is remembered less as a novelist than as a devoted collector and reteller of Hawaiian tradition.