[HI-FOOTSTEPS] Hi-Statewide Co. Bios (Makee)

[Archives]

Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Makee, James November 24, 1812 - September 16, 1879
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
J. Orr orr at hawaii.com October 5, 2009, 7:53 pm

Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Published by The Honolulu Star Bulletin, Territory of Hawaii, 1925
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist

JAMES MAKEE, Early Industrial Builder. While the whaling ship “Maine” lay in 
the roadstead off Lahaina, Maui, one morning in 1843, it was learned that her 
master, Captain James Makee, had been attacked by the ship’s cook, brutally 
cut with a hatchet or cleaver, and left for dead. His would-be murderer was 
never seen again and it is believed that he jumped overboard and was drowned 
in an attempt to reach land. Medical aid was given Captain Makee by surgeons 
of an American warship, anchored at Lahaina, and through whose efforts his 
life was saved. This unfortunate incident, however, resulted in Captain Makee 
abandoning his seafaring career, for, during a somewhat protracted 
convalescence he became interested in Hawaii and decided to locate in 
Honolulu, sending for Mrs. Makee, then living in Massachusetts. Thus, Captain 
Makee, then only thirty-one years of age and founder of the Makee family in 
Hawaii, remained in the islands to become a distinguished pioneer builder, 
first in the whaling industry and later as a rancher and sugar planter.
  As a trader in Honolulu, Captain Makee met with success in his first venture 
and formed the firm of Jones and Makee, ship chandlers, the partnership later 
becoming Makee, Anthon & Co. The company did a flourishing business and in 
1850, according to old records, Makee, Anthon & Co. were agents for some fifty 
out of seventy whaling ships in port on October 18 of that year. The following 
year marked the first entry of Honolulu men into the whaling industry as ship 
owners, when Captain Makee, with a group of other local merchants as minority 
shareholders, acquired the “Chariot” and sent her into the Artic in April, 
1851.
  With the expansion of business in Honolulu, Captain Makee in 1853 financed 
the erection of the Makee & Anthon block on Queen Street, the first three-
story brick building in Honolulu, materials for which were imported from 
Boston. In the following year a second ship, the bark “Black Warrior,” was 
acquired by Makee & Anthon, and operated as a whaler for three years.
  Captain Makee on Jan. 23, 1856, purchased at auction “Torbert’s Plantation” 
at Ulupalakua, Maui. The extensive estate had some limited facilities for 
raising and milling sugar cane and was developed both as a cattle ranch and 
sugar plantation by Captain Makee. He sold his Nuuanu resident to the King in 
1856, thereafter making his home at Ulupalakua. He took a deep interest in the 
upbuilding of the property and was one of the first to import thoroughbred 
stock on a large scale. He also engaged in dairying and in 1858 began planting 
sugar cane, rehabilitating the abandoned Torbert enterprise. The sugar crop of 
1861 was marketed in Honolulu and by 1862 the plantation had been greatly 
improved, according to the accounts of Rev. S. C. Damon, who visited 
Ulupalakua in that year.
  During the Civil War Captain Makee won wide attention by a patriotic gift of 
two consignments of molasses, of one hundred barrels each, which he sent to 
San Francisco to be sold for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission at 
Washington, D.C. Later, a shipment of sugar and island produce was sent by 
Parker N. Makee, a son, as an additional contribution to the Union cause. 
Throughout his residence at “Rose Ranch,” Ulupalakua, Captain Makee was noted 
for his hospitality, visitors from all parts of the world being entertained 
there.
  Appointed a commissioner to aid in the development of the resources of the 
Kingdom of Hawaii in 1877, Captain Makee in that year launched a breakwater 
project at Makena, Maui, developing a harbor to facilitate the shipment of 
sugar. Two years later he engaged in a sugar growing venture with King 
Kalakaua at Kappa, Kauai, a part of the present Makee Sugar Co. He had a part 
in the establishment of the Kealia Plantation and Makee Sugar Co., the latter 
corporation being in course of organization at the time of his death, and when 
his estate was liquidated the property was acquired by Z. S. Spalding, his son-
in-law. Captain Makee also owned the Waihee Plantation, Maui, of which his 
son, Parker, was manager. His interests in the Ulupalakua ranch were divided 
to members of his family in Jan., 1878.
  Captain Makee was born at Woburn, Mass., Nov. 24, 1812. He married Catherine 
McNiven in New York in 1836. Upon his death in Honolulu, Sept. 16, 1879, 
Captain Makee was survived by his widow and eight children, Charles and Parker 
N. Makee, Mrs. Z. S. Spalding, Mrs. M. L. W. Kitchen, Mrs. D. Noonan, Mrs. 
George Herbert, Mrs. E. D. Tenney and Mrs. F. P. Hastings.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/bios/makee49bs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/hifiles/

File size: 5.3 Kb