Family lore also conflicts over the exact nature of her relationship with Kawānanakoa. Kaʻiulani's niece Mabel Robertson Lucas (daughter of her sister Rose) said that the two cousins were close but only like siblings. Nancy and Jean Francis Webb's 1962 biography of Kaʻiulani says that Kawānanakoa's eventual wife, Abigail Campbell Kawānanakoa, told an unnamed biographer or close friend that "of course I never could have married David if Kaʻiulani had lived". The Bishop Museum collection has a number of jewels owned by Kaʻiulani, including a diamond and aquamarine necklace given to her by Queen Kapiʻolani in 1897, in honor of her engagement to an unnamed suitor. Kaʻiulani replaced the chain attaching the gems with strands of small pearls.