Hermann A. Widemann

Hermann A. Widemann
In the late 1890s
Born	(1822-12-24)December 24, 1822 Hanover, Germany
Died	February 7, 1899(1899-02-07) (aged 76) Honolulu
Nationality	Kingdom of Hawaii
Occupation	Judge, Businessman, Politician
Spouse(s)	Mary Kaumana Pilahiuilani
Children	13

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.

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.