Nationality Kingdom of Hawaii Children 9 | Name Hermann Widemann | |
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Born December 24, 1822 ( 1822-12-24 ) Hanover, Germany Occupation Judge, Businessman, Politician Died February 7, 1899, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States Similar People John Mott‑Smith, Gerrit P Judd, Oliver G Traphagen, Neal Blaisdell, Jules Tavernier | ||
Hermann Adam Widemann (December 24, 1822 – February 7, 1899) was a businessman from Germany who was a judge and member of the cabinet of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Life
Hermann Adam Widemann was born in Hanover, Germany on December 24, 1822. As a teenager he went to work on a whaling ship. He came to live in the Hawaiian Islands in 1846, after stopping in 1843. He came briefly to the California Gold Rush in 1849, but returned after his companion John von Pfister was murdered. He married a native Hawaiian Kaumana "Mary" Kapoli in 1854 and lived in Līhuʻe. He became sheriff of the island of Kauaʻi in 1854, was elected to the house of representatives in the legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1855, and in 1863 appointed its circuit judge. He started one of the first sugarcane plantations in Hawaii known as Grove Farm. During the American Civil War he supported the Confederate States.
After selling Grove Farm to its manager George Norton Wilcox, in 1865 he moved to Honolulu to work in the capital. On July 10, 1869 he was appointed to the kingdom's supreme court, despite never having any formal law school training. On February 18, 1874 he was appointed to the cabinet as minister of the interior until May 28, 1874, as well as on the Privy Council, the board of education, commissioner of crown lands, president of the bureau of immigration, and board of health. In 1878 he started the Waianae Sugar Company in the Waiʻanae district of Oʻahu island.
On February 25, 1891 he was appointed as Minister of Finance to Queen Liliʻuokalani, but had to resign two weeks later on March 10. He was temporarily replaced by Samuel Parker, and then John Mott-Smith. After Mott-Smith was sent to Washington, DC to attempt to negotiate a trade treaty, Parker served again briefly until Widemann resumed his duties as minister of finance. He also filled in briefly as Attorney General from July 27, 1892 to August 29, 1892. After the 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, Widemann was sent with Parker and John Adams Cummins to Washington, DC, in an attempt to get international support for its restoration He then continued to London, and Berlin but was never successful.
Widemann was interviewed by US Commissioner James H. Blount in preparing his Blount Report on May 20, 1893. He was the first to experiment with the Guatemalan variety of coffea tree, which turned out to be well-adapted to higher elevations; it became the most popular variety through modern times.
He died February 7, 1899. After a funeral in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, he was buried in Oahu Cemetery. He was survived by two sons and seven daughters.
His daughter Wilhelmina Widemann organized the first women's suffrage club in the Territory of Hawaii in 1912. His son Carl Widemann married Helen Umiokalani Parker, daughter of Samuel Parker in July 1899. A street is named for him in Mākaha at 21°28′15″N 158°13′1″W.