Nakuina was born March 5, 1847, at her family's homestead in Kauaʻala in the Manoa Valley, at what is now the campus of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Her father Theophilus Metcalf, originally from Ontario County, New York, arrived in Hawaii on May 19, 1842, and was naturalized as a citizen on March 9, 1846.
He worked as a sugar planter and government land surveyor during the Great Mahele.
Her mother, Kaʻilikapuolono, was a descendant of the aliʻi lineages of Oahu, which was traditionally associated with the Kūkaniloko Birthstones, where the highest-ranking chiefs of the islands were once born.
Her maternal great-grandfather was Nahili, a chief from the island of Hawaii and one of the generals of King Kamehameha I during his conquest of the Hawaiian Islands.
Her maternal family was considered to be of the Hawaiian kaukau aliʻi class, or lower ranking chiefs in service to the royal family.

Nakuina was educated at Sacred Hearts Academy and Punahou School in Honolulu.
She was later sent to the Young Ladies Seminary in Benicia, California, and was also privately tutored in many languages by her father including Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French, German, English, and Hawaiian.
According to later biographies, King Kamehameha IV ordered her to be trained in traditional water rights and customs.

On December 3, 1867, she married Frederick William Beckley Sr. (
1845–1881), a part-Hawaiian noble like herself.
She served as the lady-in-waiting of Queen Kapiʻolani, the wife of King Kalākaua, while her husband served as the Chamberlain of the Royal Household and in the Hawaiian government as a member of the House of Representatives and as the Royal Governor of Kauai.
They had seven children, including son Frederick William Beckley Jr. (1874–1943) and daughter Sabina Beckley Hutchinson (1868–1935).
Beckley Sr.
died in 1881, leaving Nakuina a widow.
In 1887, she remarried to the Reverend Moses Kuaea Nakuina (1867–1911).
A nephew of Minister of Finance Moses Kuaea, he was twenty years her junior and also a descendant of Hawaiian nobility.
They had two children: a short-lived son named Irving Metcalf Nakuina, who was born and died in 1888, and a daughter who contracted leprosy and was sent to the Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement.
Nakuina was born March 5, 1847, at her family's homestead in Kauaʻala in the Manoa Valley, at what is now the campus of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her father Theophilus Metcalf, originally from Ontario County, New York, arrived in Hawaii on May 19, 1842, and was naturalized as a citizen on March 9, 1846. He worked as a sugar planter and government land surveyor during the Great Mahele. Her mother, Kaʻilikapuolono, was a descendant of the aliʻi lineages of Oahu, which was traditionally associated with the Kūkaniloko Birthstones, where the highest-ranking chiefs of the islands were once born. Her maternal great-grandfather was Nahili, a chief from the island of Hawaii and one of the generals of King Kamehameha I during his conquest of the Hawaiian Islands. Her maternal family was considered to be of the Hawaiian kaukau aliʻi class, or lower ranking chiefs in service to the royal family.
Nakuina was educated at Sacred Hearts Academy and Punahou School in Honolulu. She was later sent to the Young Ladies Seminary in Benicia, California, and was also privately tutored in many languages by her father including Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French, German, English, and Hawaiian. According to later biographies, King Kamehameha IV ordered her to be trained in traditional water rights and customs.
On December 3, 1867, she married Frederick William Beckley Sr. (1845–1881), a part-Hawaiian noble like herself. She served as the lady-in-waiting of Queen Kapiʻolani, the wife of King Kalākaua, while her husband served as the Chamberlain of the Royal Household and in the Hawaiian government as a member of the House of Representatives and as the Royal Governor of Kauai. They had seven children, including son Frederick William Beckley Jr. (1874–1943) and daughter Sabina Beckley Hutchinson (1868–1935). Beckley Sr. died in 1881, leaving Nakuina a widow. In 1887, she remarried to the Reverend Moses Kuaea Nakuina (1867–1911). A nephew of Minister of Finance Moses Kuaea, he was twenty years her junior and also a descendant of Hawaiian nobility. They had two children: a short-lived son named Irving Metcalf Nakuina, who was born and died in 1888, and a daughter who contracted leprosy and was sent to the Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement.
Emma Kaili Metcalf Beckley Nakuina