John Mott-Smith
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The Honourable John Mott-Smith |
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| Minister of Finance | |
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In office December 21, 1869 – August 25, 1872 |
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| Monarch | Kamehameha V |
| Preceded by | Charles Coffin Harris |
| Succeeded by | Robert Stirling |
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In office July 28, 1891 – October 17, 1891 |
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| Monarch | Liliuokalani |
| Preceded by | Samuel Parker |
| Succeeded by | Samuel Parker |
| Minister of Interior | |
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In office December 5, 1876 – July 3, 1878 |
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| Monarch | Kalākaua |
| Preceded by | William Luther Moehonua |
| Succeeded by | Samuel Garner Wilder |
| Minister to the United States | |
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In office 1891 – January 17, 1893 |
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| Monarch | Liliuokalani |
| Preceded by | Henry A. P. Carter |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
November 25, 1824 New York City, New York, United States |
| Died | August 10, 1895 (aged 70) Honolulu, Oahu, Kingdom of Hawaii |
| Resting place | Oahu Cemetery |
| Nationality | Kingdom of Hawaii |
| Spouse(s) | Ellen Dominis Paty |
| Children | 7 |
| Occupation | Dentist, Diplomat, Politician |
John Mott-Smith (November 25, 1824 – August 10, 1895) was the first dentist to set up a permanent practice in the Kingdom of Hawaii. He was also a politician, newspaper editor, and diplomat.
John Mott-Smith was born in New York City November 13, 1824, His father was also named John Mott Smith (1795–1832), generally spelled without the hyphen, and mother was Amada Day. His father had trained as a physician, but became a Methodist minister instead, and was Principal of Wesleyan Seminary in New York in 1820. In 1826 the family moved to White Plains, New York with the school, and then in 1832 to Middletown, Connecticut where his father became a professor of classical languages at the new Wesleyan University. His father died in 1832 and was one of the first burials in the university cemetery. Subsequently, having attended Wesleyan, the young Mott-Smith borrowed a book from a friend who was attending dental school and passed the exams to set up a practice in Albany, New York. He moved to California as part of the California Gold Rush in 1849 and practised dentistry there for two years. He sailed to Hawaii in early 1851.
He was only the third Western-trained dentist in the Hawaiian islands and the first to set up a permanent practice. Two others, M. B. Stevens and George Colburn left after brief stays in the previous two years. For about 15 years he did most of the dental work in Honolulu. He shared an office building with physician William Hillebrand. In 1853 he had his first taste of politics when he was elected to the House of Representatives in the legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
In 1866 Mott-Smith gave up his dental practice to John Morgan Whitney, the first in Hawaii to actually graduate from a dental school. He became editor of the newspaper Hawaiian Gazette. He used the paper to defend the monarchy, which gained him favor with King Kamehameha V, who made it the official government publication. He returned to the legislature in 1866, and was elected Vice President of it in 1867. In 1868 he was sent to Washington, DC to help Elisha Hunt Allen negotiate a trade treaty, but was not successful. On December 21, 1869 he returned and was appointed to the powerful post of Minister of Finance in the cabinet. He served until August 25, 1872. With the king's influence, he was an investor with fellow American politician Charles Coffin Harris in the first Hawaiian Hotel. The government issued bonds to finance its construction. After Kamehameha V's death at the end of 1872, Mott-Smith was out of political power and resumed practising dentistry while he was on the Board of Education until 1874.
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