Samuel Parker, known as Kamuela Parker (June 23, 1853 – March 19, 1920) was a major landowner and businessman on the island of Hawaii, heir to the Parker Ranch estate. He was also a leading political figure at a critical time of the history of the Kingdom of Hawaii, serving in its last cabinet.
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Background and early life
Samuel Parker was born on June 23, 1853. His paternal grandfather, John Palmer Parker (1790–1868), was a member of the eponymous Parker House Hotel family. John Parker was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but settled in the Hawaiian Islands. He founded the Hawaiian branch of the family when he married Chiefess Kipikane (1800–1860), who was related to the high-ranking chiefs of the Big Island. John's younger son, and Samuel's father, was Ebenezer Parker (1829–1855). Ebenezer Parker also married a Hawaiian woman, Kilia Nahulanui, on June 7, 1849.
Despite his American-sounding name and upbringing, Samuel Parker was of three-quarters native Hawaiian ancestry.
Samuel Parker's life was influenced by some early deaths in the family. His father Ebenezer had died in 1855, when Samuel was only two years old. Samuel was the second son but his only brother, Ebenezer Christian Parker II, then died in 1860, at the age of ten. Samuel was educated at Oahu College, now known as Punahou School, on Oʻahu. There he made lasting friendships with his contemporaries among the Hawaiian nobility, a social connection that would prove very helpful in adulthood.
Grandfather John Parker died, in 1868, when Samuel was still only 15 years old. Samuel thus found himself the co-proprietor, with his father's elder brother, of the eponymous Parker Ranch.
The uncle was John Palmer Parker II (1827–1891), who was also married to a Hawaiian lady, Hanai. In 1879, they moved from the Ranch to a much larger and more accessible estate, more suited to their status as a wealthy and prominent couple who liked to entertain: Puʻu o Pelu. This left the Ranch house to Samuel and growing, new family.
The Parker Ranch began in 1847, with a small cottage called Mana Hale, in the remote uplands of Mauna Kea on Hawaiʻi island, at about 3,500 feet (1,100 m) elevation at 19°59′48″N 155°33′29″W, but was quickly built up into a profitable cattle-estate of 1 640 acres. However, when Samuel took over, he also left the cowboy work, and later the management, to others and was soon looking for further business opportunities.
Family life
Samuel married Harriet ("Hattie") Panana Kaiwaokalani Napela (1852–1901) on August 23, 1871. She was the daughter of Jonathan Napela who was an early convert to Mormonism, She was also three-quarters Hawaiian, and also known as Harriet Richardson, after her mother's maiden name.
Samuel and Harriet Parker had nine children.
Their first daughter was Mary Kihilani Parker (1871–1895). The second daughter, Eva Kalanikauleleiaiwi Parker (1872–1922), married her cousin James Frank Woods, the son of Parker's sister Mary. The third daughter, Helen Umiokalani Parker (1874–1929), married Carl Widemann, son of Hermann Widemann.
Samuel's fourth child, John Palmer Parker III (1875–1893), was adopted by John Palmer Parker II and married Elizabeth Jane Lanakila Dowsett,
known to later generations as "Aunt Tootsie", on April 18, 1893, at the Parker home in Honolulu. They had one daughter Annie Thelma Kahiluonapuaopiilani Parker March 17, 1894, who generally known by her second name, as Thelma; John III died less than two months later, on May 8, 1894. Thelma married Henry Gaillard Smart July 25, 1912 in Honolulu. and had one son Richard Palmer Smart, born on May 21, 1913. However, she also died soon afterwards, in 1914, aged only 20.
Other children were: Harriet "Hattie" Kaonohilani Parker (1876–1884), Palmer Kuihelani Parker (1878–1896), Samuel Keaoulilani Parker (1879–1934), Ernest Napela Parker (1884–1945) and James Kekoalii Parker (1886–1962).
Parker's uncle, John Palmer Parker II, died in November 1891.
Parker's wife, Harriet, died in 1901, but he did not remain a widower for long.
Sugar-plantations
The family business was the Parker Ranch, a huge and successful cattle-business in the interior. However, in the second half of the century, the sugar-industry was developing rapidly in Hawaii, and Parker saw a profitable business opportunity and a chance to diversify from reliance on livestock.
In 1878, he started the Paʻauhau Plantation with Rufus Anderson Lyman, about 50 miles north of Hilo at coordinates 20°5′9″N 155°26′6″W. Lyman was advisor to island governor, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani, the only land owner with holdings greater than those of the Parker Ranch. Her lands later became a major part of the Kamehameha Schools estate.
Parker enjoyed being at the heart of Hawaiian business and social life, and developing a new and powerful circle of friends and associates. He was often involved in real estate deals involving long-term leases from the Kamehameha estate, or buying them fee simple, and also enjoyed the Hawaiian tradition of lavish entertaining at his estates.
On August 19, 1879, Parker invested in the nearby Pacific Sugar Mill in Kukuihaele near Waipiʻo Valley. The Pacific mill had an abundant water supply, but eventually failed from mismanagement. In 1883 manager William H. Purvis introduced the mongoose, which became an invasive pest. Herds of cattle and sheep had to be destroyed later when a glanders epidemic broke out because of poor conditions in the stables. Parker was becoming involved in too many projects to concentrate on addressing any particular problems that developed in his growing personal and professional empire.
Politics
Royal household
In 1883, Parker took his first public role when he became a member of the Privy Council of King Kalākaua. In November 1884, he traveled abroad on official business, with the commission to the World Cotton Centennial in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1886, he was appointed to the office of royal Equerry, which supplied horses and arranged ceremonial occasions, and to the personal staff of Kalākaua with honorary rank of Major and Equerry in Waiting. Later, he was often addressed as Colonel, but this was also merely a courtesy and there is no record of his ever serving as a regular soldier. He was appointed to the House of Nobles in the legislature from 1886 to 1890.
In the meanwhile, the ranch had been mortgaged to finance the failed sugar business, and was taken over by trustees and managed by Paul Jarrett in 1888.
Minister of State
In early 1891 Kalākaua died, and Queen Liliʻuokalani became the new ruler. On February 25, 1891, Parker was appointed to his first cabinet post, Minister of Foreign Affairs, when John Adams Cummins was told to resign by the queen. On March 3 Parker was appointed to the Commission of Crown Lands. He was generally considered the most powerful member of the cabinet; sometimes called Prime Minister, or Premier, but there was no such official office.
The choice of Parker satisfied the people who wanted more native Hawaiians in the government, and he generally had favorable relations with the American interests at the time.
The first sign of trouble came a week later when Parker also became acting Minister of Finance, temporarily replacing Hermann A. Widemann who was also serving on the Supreme Court. The McKinley Tariff act had devastated the Hawaiian economy by making exports to the US much more expensive, undoing the effects of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875. It was not until July that former self-taught dentist John Mott-Smith would take over the Finance position, which he had taken earlier under Kamehameha V. However, by October Mott-Smith was sent to Washington, DC to negotiate a trade treaty, and Parker had to again take the Finance position until Widemann could resume his duties on January 28, 1892.
Territorial life
Parker supported Sanford Dole as the first governor of the Territory of Hawaii, even though he had some encouragement to seek that post himself.
In 1900 Parker attended the organizing convention of the Republican Party of Hawaii, and was chosen to attend the national convention in Philadelphia on June 19.
In September Parker was nominated without opposition by the Republicans for the first election of delegate to US Congress for the territory.
Prince David Kawānanakoa ran as a Democrat; they both lost. Parker came in a close second to Robert W. Wilcox of the Home Rule Party of Hawaii.
It is at this time that most townsfolk believe that the Postal Office in Waimea was renamed Kamuela in honor of Parker. This was to avoid confusion with the larger community of Waimea, Kauaʻi. This claim is supported by documentation within the records of the US Board of Geographic Names.
Parker's first wife died in July 1901.
His second wife was Abigail Kuaihelani Maipinepine (1859–1908), widow of industrialist James Campbell. They married January 3, 1902 at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco, with judge J. C. B. Hebbard officiating. This made him stepfather to Abigail Campbell and his second wife's other daughters. Parker had acquired a reputation as a notorious spendthrift. Even his supporters said:
The titled and the wealthy of all lands who have visited the islands know Parker and have partaken of his hospitality. Few men have bet more money at poker on small hands than has Colonel "Sam" Parker.
Three days later, his stepdaughter Abigail married Prince Kawānanakoa, who had been his opponent in the 1900 election.
This family and its descendants became known as the House of Kawānanakoa.