Ancestry and Succession
Tui Manu'a Elisara was born on the island of Ta'u as the second son of Tui Manu'a Alalamua and Sofe, a daughter of Matiu of Ta'u island. Tui Manu'a Alalamua (of the female branch called the Avaloa clan in the Tui Manu'a family) was the successor of Tui Manu'a Tauveve, also from the Avaloa clan. Shortly after the death of Tui Manu'a Alalamua a vigorous debate ensued among potential heirs. From the three main branches of the Tui Manu'a family, three candidates emerged from each clan as each endorsed by their own branches of the Tui Manu'a family and their political allies: Alalamua's own son, Elisara (from the Avaloa clan) was named as an obvious contender although Elisara himself refused the title in lieu of his religious calling. The other two claimants were Taofi (from the female branch called the Falesoā clan of the Tui Manu'a family) and a young woman named Matelita (a descendant of Tui Manu'a Taliutafa Tupolo, son of Tui Manu'a Moaatoa of the Anoalo clan). With Elisara temporarily out of the succession, Taofi remained as one of the lesser direct heir and his party named him Tui Manu'a. Matelita's party, however, was able to amass even more support for her campaign (mainly through her male-side lineage of the Anoalo clan of the Tui Manu'a family and Eastern and Western Samoan relatives of her half-caste father Arthur Stephen "Pa'u" Young); Taofi capitulated to her sovereignty and she held the title until her death in 1895. As there were no other available family member of the male branch from the Anoalo clan after Tui Manu'a Matelita to take the title, in 1899 chiefly assembly of the Faletolu and Anoalo appointed the title to one of the female branches the Avaloa clan from Alalamua's line by persuading Elisara to take the throne.
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