Samuel Mills Damon | |
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Minister of Finance | |
In office July 22, 1889 – June 17, 1890 |
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Monarch | Kalākaua |
Preceded by | William Lowthian Green |
In office May 29, 1893 – September 12, 1896 |
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Succeeded by | James A. King |
In office August 11, 1897 – November 13, 1899 |
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Succeeded by | Henry E. Cooper |
In office December 21, 1899 – June 14, 1900 |
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Personal details | |
Born |
Honolulu |
March 13, 1845
Died | July 1, 1924 | (aged 79)
Spouse(s) | Harriet Melinda Baldwin |
Children | 4 |
Occupation | Businessman, Politician |
Signature |
Samuel Mills Damon (March 13, 1845 – July 1, 1924) was a businessman and politician in the Kingdom of Hawaii, through the Republic of Hawaii and into the Territory of Hawaii.
Samuel Mills Damon was born in Honolulu on March 13, 1845. His father was early missionary Samuel Chenery Damon (1815–1885) and his mother was Julia Sherman Mills (1817–1890). They arrived in Honolulu in 1842. His maternal great-uncle was minister Samuel John Mills (1783–1818), who took part in the Haystack Prayer Meeting which led to the formation of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the group that sent the first American missionaries to Hawaii.
He was educated at Punahou School from 1856 to 1863. On September 5, 1872 he married Harriet Melinda Baldwin (1846–1932), daughter of missionary Dwight Baldwin (1798–1886).
The Damons had four children: Samuel Edward Damon (born June 1, 1873), Mary Mills Damon (born November 23, 1877), Henry Fowler Damon (born January 16, 1883) and Douglas Wilfred Damon. His wife's brother Henry Perrine Baldwin (1842–1911) founded Alexander & Baldwin. This was one of the "Big Five" corporations that dominated the economy of territorial Hawaii.
Damon started work as a clerk in the W. N. Ladd store in Honolulu, run by the son of the founder of ill-fated Ladd & Co. In 1871 he went to work for the bank of Charles Reed Bishop, the only one in the Hawaiian Islands at the time. By 1881 he became a full partner in Bishop's bank. He invested in and served on the board of directors of sugarcane plantations and the Oahu Railway and Land Company, and was vice president of his brother-in-law's Hawaiian Sugar Company.