Tui Manu'a Matelita

Matelita
Tui Manu'a
Reign1891–1895
PredecessorAlalamua
SuccessorElisala
BornMargaret Young
(1872-12-31)31 December 1872
Died29 October 1895(1895-10-29) (aged 22)
Burial
FatherArthur Paʻu Young
MotherAmipelia

Tui Manu'a Matelita, born Margaret Young, and also known as Makelita, Matelika or Lika (31 December 1872 – 29 October 1895) was the Tui Manu'a (paramount chief or queen) of Manu'a, a group of islands in the eastern part of the Samoan Islands (present day American Samoa), from 1891 to 1895. During her tenure, she served largely a ceremonial role at her residence on Ta'ū where she received British writer Robert Louis Stevenson. Matelita never married, because she would not marry any of the eligible native chieftains and no other men were regarded as having the proper rank to marry her. She died of illness in 1895, although later reports claimed she died by a more violent means.[citation needed] She was buried in the Tui Manu'a Graves Monument.