George Norton Wilcox
| George Norton Wilcox | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
August 15, 1839 Hilo, Hawaii |
| Died | January 21, 1933 (aged 93) Honolulu |
| Nationality | Kingdom of Hawaii, United States |
| Occupation | Planter, Businessman, Politician |
| Parent(s) |
Abner Wilcox Lucy Eliza Hart |
George Norton Wilcox (August 15, 1839 – January 21, 1933) was a businessman and politician in the Kingdom of Hawaii and Territory of Hawaii.
George Norton Wilcox was born in Hilo August 15, 1839. His father was Abner Wilcox (1808–1869) and mother was Lucy Eliza Hart (1814–1869). His parents were in the company of missionaries to Hawaii for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, sailing in 1836. His parents taught at the Hilo Mission boarding school founded by David Belden Lyman and his wife. He had one older brother and two younger ones born while at Hilo. In 1846 the family moved to teach at a similar school at the Waiʻoli Mission near Hanalei, Hawaii on the northern coast of the island of Kauaʻi. There he had four more brothers, although one died young.
He graduated from Punahou School 1850–1860, and worked for Samuel Garner Wilder loading a shipload of guano from Jarvis Island. He then attended Yale from 1860 to 1862 where he studied civil engineering in the Sheffield Scientific School.
When he returned, he and his younger brother Albert worked for Robert Crichton Wyllie on his Princeville Plantation. Albert would later buy the Princeville Plantation near Hanalei. George leased and then bought Grove Farm from Hermann A. Widemann (1822–1899) starting in 1864. Using his engineering training, he designed an irrigation system to bring water from the wet mountains to the sugarcane fields, an idea later copied by many other planters. He continued to grow the farm, and invest in related enterprises, such as other plantations on other islands, a guano fertilizer company of his own, and the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company.
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