Prominent People | Page 93 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

June 24, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Shangri La

Doris Duke was the only child of tobacco and electric energy tycoon James Buchanan Duke.

She received large bequests from her father’s will when she turned 21, 25, and 30; she was sometimes referred to as the “world’s richest girl.”

She also acquired a number of homes. Her principal residence was Duke Farms, her father’s 2,700-acre estate in Hillsborough Township, New Jersey. Here she created Duke Gardens, 60,000-square-foot public indoor botanical display that were among the largest in America.

She spent summer weekends working on her Newport Restoration Foundation projects while staying at Rough Point, the 49-room English manor-style mansion that she inherited in Newport, Rhode Island; she also had a home at “Falcon’s Lair” in Beverly Hills, California, once the home of Rudolph Valentino.

She also maintained two apartments in Manhattan: a 9-room penthouse with a 1,000-square-foot veranda at 475 Park Avenue and another apartment near Times Square that she used exclusively as an office for the management of her financial affairs.

In the late 1930s, Doris Duke built her Honolulu home, Shangri La, on five acres overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Diamond Head. Shangri La incorporates architectural features from the Islamic world and houses Duke’s extensive collection of Islamic art, which she assembled for nearly 60 years.

It was a retreat and sanctuary for a woman who greatly valued her privacy; she typically spent winters there.

From its inception, Doris Duke’s estate was envisioned by its founder as a home of Islamic art and architecture. As early as 1936, Shangri La was shaped by a symbiotic relationship between the built environment and the collection.

For nearly 60 years, Doris Duke commissioned and collected artifacts for Shangri La, ultimately forming a collection of about 3,500 objects, the majority of which were made in the Islamic world.

In the same manner that her father transformed Duke Farms from flat New Jersey farmland into his ideal of a magnificently landscaped country estate, Doris Duke transformed her own private Shangri La into a haven from the unwanted publicity that came with being one of the wealthiest women in the world.

Through an Exchange Deed dated December 8, 1938 between the Territorial Land Board of Hawai‘i and Ms. Duke, two underwater parcels (totaling approximately 0.6 acres) were added to the Duke property.

The transfer gave the Territory a perpetual easement of a four-foot right-of-way for a pedestrian causeway along the coastline.

At water’s edge below the estate, Duke then dynamited a small-boat harbor and a seventy-five-foot salt-water swimming pool into the rock. The harbor was built to protect Duke’s fleet of yachts, including Kailani Lahilahi, an ocean-going, 58-foot motor yacht and Kimo, the 26-foot mahogany runabout that Duke sometimes used to commute into Honolulu.

Doris Duke died at her Falcon’s Lair home on October 28, 1993, at the age of 80. In her will, Duke set in motion plans to open Shangri La to the public as a place for the study of Islamic art and culture.

Doris Duke’s philanthropic work extended throughout her lifetime; her estimated $1.3-billion fortune was largely left to charity. Duke’s legacy is now administered by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, dedicated to medical research, prevention of cruelty to children and animals, the performing arts, wildlife and ecology.

Today, Shangri La is open for guided, small group tours and educational programs. In partnership with the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art – which owns and supports Shangri La – the Honolulu Museum of Art serves as the orientation center for Shangri La tours.

Education programs such as residencies, lectures, performances, panel discussions, among other special events with a focus on Muslim arts and culture are offered. The estate can also be visited by public tour and by virtual tour.

The public shoreline access and small basin is a popular swimming hole (which the State recently took over); in addition, the harbor’s jetty serves as a jump-off point to get to two nearby surf breaks, Cromwells and Browns.

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Doris Duke and husband James Cromwell vacationing in Hawaii (wsj-com) 1935

photograph by Cory Lum/Civil Beat

Sawing paving stones from sand stone taken from the yacht harbor (©Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. All rights reserved) -1937

French_Garden_at_Duke_Gardens-(Note-this is not at Shagri La)

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May 26, 2019 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Uncle George

George Lycurgus (1858–1960) was a Greek American businessman who played an influential role in the early visitor industry of Hawaiʻi.

He was instrumental in the development of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

In 1893, Lycurgus leased a small guest house on Waikīkī Beach. He expanded it and renamed it the “Sans Souci” (French for “without care” and named after the palace of Frederick the Great in Germany.)

It became one of the first Waikīkī beach resorts (that end of Waikīkī is still called “Sans-Souci Beach.”) Among its guests was Robert Louis Stevenson.

Stevenson wrote in the guest book: “If anyone desires such old-fashioned things as lovely scenery, quiet, pure air, clean sea water, good food, and heavenly sunsets hung out before their eyes over the Pacific and the distant hills of Waianae, I recommend him cordially to the Sans Souci.”

“In 1893 Sans Souci was a rambling hostelry, nestled among the coconut and palm trees of Waikiki Beach. The guests occupied small bungalows, thatched-roof affairs about ten by twelve, the bed being the principal article of furniture.”

“It was in one of these bungalows that Stevenson had established himself, propped up with pillows on the bed in his shirt-sleeves.” Scribner’s Magazine, August, 1926.

By 1898, the Spanish American War had increased American interest in the Pacific. Hawaiʻi was annexed as a territory of the United States and Lycurgus applied for American citizenship.

He opened a restaurant called the Union Grill in Honolulu in 1901. He later invested in a logging venture in 1907 and also bought the Hilo Hotel in 1908.

In 1903, when he returned to Greece to visit his mother, he met and married Athena Geracimos from Sparta. She was probably the first Greek woman in Hawaiʻi.

In December 1904, George and his nephew (Demosthenes Lycurgus) became principal stockholders of the Volcano House Company and took over the management of the Volcano House hotel on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.

His nephew always introduced him as “Uncle George” to the guests, which earned him his new nickname.

He worked with Lorrin Thurston and others for ten years, starting in 1906, to have the volcano area made into Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

In January 1912, geologist Thomas Jaggar arrived to investigate the volcano. A building for scientific instruments was built in a small building next to the hotel. Jaggar stayed in Volcano for the next 28 years.

In 1921, George Lycurgus sold the Volcano House to the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company and moved to Hilo. During the Great Depression the company was going bankrupt and Lycurgus bought it back.

A fire destroyed the hotel in 1940, ironically from a kitchen oil burner, not volcanic activity. Only a few artifacts, such as a koa wood piano, were saved.

At the age of 81, he traveled to Washington, DC to have the construction of the new park headquarters building farther back from the lip of the crater.

That allowed him, in 1941, to build a more modern hotel at the former Hawaiian Volcano Observatory site. He reopened the new Volcano House (designed by notable architect Charles William Dickey.)

After another eruption in 1952, at the age of 93, he arranged a publicity stunt involving riding a horse to the rim of the erupting vent and tossing in his ceremonial bottle of gin. (The offering of gin became a regular at Volcano after that.)

Uncle George died in 1960 at the age of 101.

The National Park recently announced that Hawaiʻi Volcanoes Lodge Company has been selected to operate the Volcano House Hotel, Nāmakanipaio cabins and campground and other commercial services within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. The facility is scheduled to reopen in late-2012.

Volcano has been a special place for me.

As a kid, our family often visited Volcano and regularly stayed at the Volcano House. I remember seeing and meeting Uncle George while he was sitting before the continuously-burning fireplace at the Volcano House.

Decades later, I purposefully went to Volcano to plan the formation of my first business; the initial planning was on cocktail napkins at the Volcano House bar (the business succeeded.)

Today, the Young siblings own a house at Volcano our mother built; I used to visit there once a month, but now get back to it less frequently.

The Volcano Art Center Gallery is located in the 1877 Volcano House Hotel (now adjacent to the Volcano Visitor Center) under a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service.

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Uncle George Lycurgus

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San Souci Beach Area – large house (Mitchell) is where Natatorium is now located-1886

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May 20, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Betsey Stockton

Betsey Stockton was born in about 1798; the exact year is not clear. Her mother was most likely an enslaved African-American woman in the Princeton household of Robert Stockton, one of New Jersey’s most politically-prominent families of the Revolutionary era. Her father may have been white.

“The Rev. Dr. Ashbel Green, later President of the (Princeton) College, (1812-’21) married Mr. Stockton’s eldest daughter, and Betsey became a part of his household at a time which cannot now be determined.”

“She became a thoroughly trained domestic nurse, seamstress and cook, acquiring an invaluable practical education so that she could do skilfully whatever was assigned her. It is understood that Mr. Green did not favor educating his servants in books, but she was so desirous to learn that his sons, who appreciated her natural intelligence and her merit, helped her in her study.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 12, 1906)

Her apparent religious conversion led to Stockton’s admission to full membership in Princeton’s First Presbyterian Church in September 1816, when the church records identified her as “a coloured woman living in the family of the Revd. Dr. Green.” Around 1817, Ashbel Green freed her, “and have since paid her wages as a hired woman.” (Nobles; Princeton)

Becoming an American Protestant Missionary

Stockton and Stewart were part of the Second Company (First Reinforcements) of American Protestant missionaries to Hawai‘i.

The Second Company destined for the Hawaiian Islands Mission assembled at New Haven for the purpose of taking passage in the ship Thames, captain Closby, which was to sail on the November 19, 1822. (Congregational Magazine)

“On the 11th (April, 1823) Mrs. Stewart presented us with a fine boy (Charles Seaforth Stewart), which I consider as my charge. The little fellow beguiles many of my lonely hours; and you must excuse me if my journal is now weekly instead of daily.”

“From the first moment that I saw the little innocent, I felt emotions that I was unacquainted with before. This, no doubt, arose from the peculiar situation in which I was placed, and from my attachment to his parents.”

“On the 24th (April 1823,) we saw and made Owhyhee. At the first sight of the snow-capped mountains, I felt a strange sensation of joy and grief. It soon wore away, and as we sailed slowly past its windward side, we had a full view of all its grandeur.”

Landing at Honolulu, O‘ahu – Assigned to Lahaina, Maui

They landed on Oʻahu. “The Mission is in prosperous circumstances, and the hopes of its supporters here were never brighter. Truly the fields are already ripe for the harvest, and we may add, ‘The harvest is great, but the labourers are few.’”

“We have been received with open arms by the government and people, and twice the number of missionaries would have been joyfully hailed.” (Charles Samuel Stewart)

“On Saturday, the 10th of May (1823), we left the ship, and went to the mission enclosure at Honoruru. We had assigned to us a little thatched house in one corner of the yard, consisting of one small room, with a door, and two windows—the door too small to admit a person walking in without stooping, and the windows only large enough for one person to look out at a time.”

“On the 26th of May we heard that the barge was about to sail for Lahaina, with the old queen and princes; and that the queen (Keōpūolani) was desirous to have missionaries to accompany her; and that if missionaries would consent to go, the barge should wait two days for them.”

Teacher of the Maka‘āinana on Maui

“It was there, as (Betsey said,) that she opened a school for the common people which was certainly the first of the kind in Maui and probably the first in all Hawaii; for at the beginning the missionaries were chiefly engaged in the instructions of the chiefs and their families.” (Maui News, May 5, 1906)

“After service the favourite queen (Ka‘ahumanu) called me, and requested that I should take a seat with her on the sofa, which I did, although I could say but few words which she could understand. Soon after, biding them aroha I returned with the family. In the afternoon we had an English sermon at our house: about fifty were present, and behaved well.”

“In the morning one of the king’s boys came to the house, desiring to be instructed in English. Mr. S(tewart) thought it would be well for me to engage in the work at once. Accordingly I collected a proper number and commenced. I had four English, and six Hawaiian scholars. This, with the care of the family, I find as much as I can manage.” (Stockton)

Stockton has asked the mission to allow her “to create a school for the makaʻāinana (common people.) Stockton learned the Hawaiian Language and established a school in Maui where she taught English, Latin, History and Algebra”. (Kealoha)

“She wrote to Ashbel Green in 1824: ‘I have now a fine school of the … lower class of people, the first, I believe, that has ever been established.’ Charles Stewart wrote that these Common folk had made application for books and slates and a teacher.”

“So, beginning with about thirty individuals, this school was formed in the chapel, meeting every afternoon under the supetintendence of Betsey, who, he said, ‘is quite familiar with the native tongue.’ Other missionaries had established the first schools in the islands, usually attended by the upper classes. Betsey, the former slave, was the first to organize a school for the disadvantaged.” (Moffett)

Leaving the Islands

“After only two and a half years in Hawaii, Mrs. Stewart became so ill that their whole family, including a new little daughter born to the Stewarts during that time, found it necessary to return to America … Betsey chose to leave with them. They were offered a gratuitous passage to England by Captain Dale of the English whaleship Fawn.”

“After a six-month voyage, from October 15, 1825, until April, 1826, they arrived at the English port of Gravesend. Following a layover of several months in London, they continued the return journey to America, arriving at New York in August.”

“Following her return from the Sandwich Islands, Betsey kept an infant school for black children for a while in Philadelphia. But because of Harriet Stewart’s continuing frail health, she stood ready and went on a number of occasions to help care for Harriet and the children. Charles Stewart had been forced to resign his missionary commission because of his wife’s health and had joined the navy chaplaincy.”

“When Harriet Stewart died in 1830, just four years after they had returned from Hawaii, ‘Aunt Betsey’ answered a call again and went to Cooperstown, New York, to care for the (by now) three motherless children. Their father soon had to leave again, as he so often did for long stretches of time when his ship was away at sea.”

“In 1833 Betsey decided to move the children and herself back to Princeton, even though Dr. Green and his household had been living again in Philadelphia for the past eleven years. Tames Green, her childhood family tutor, had married and established a notable law practice in Princeton.”

“Charles Stewart, the children’s father, remarried in 1835 and they went back with him to New York. But Betsey stayed on in Princeton. She was truly alone for the first time in her life and had some depressing bouts of illness.”

“She helped to found a Sabbath school for children and young people in connection with the church and was its most faithful teacher for twenty-five or thirty years. (Moffett)

She never married but stayed in touch with Stewart and his son, Charles Seaforth Stewart, the baby born at sea. In 1860 the son bought her a house in Princeton, “a one-story white cottage on a lot near the northeast comer of Green and Witherspoon, now built upon. The grounds and building were always neat and attractive and the interior of the house was a model of cleanliness and order.” (Dodd)

For people whose right to equal education, or education of any sort, had been so long questioned, denigrated, and disdained, this tribute to their teacher also served as a tribute to their own achievement. By giving Betsey Stockton a prominent place in the black community’s main church—her window in the Witherspoon Street Church is still visible today on walking tours of the town.

Betsey Stockton made pioneering endeavors as a missionary in Hawaii, but her legacy is not well known. Still, Stockton’s school “set a new direction for education in the Islands … (It) served as a model for the Hilo Boarding School.”

Her teaching program have influence Samuel C Armstrong, the founder of Hampton Institute, who also worked as a missionary in Hawaii during this period. After a full and productive life of service for the Lord, Betsey Stockton passed away in October of 1865 in Princeton, New Jersey. (Johnson)

Click HERE for more information on Betsey Stockton.

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April 23, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mayor of Pasadena

A severe Indiana winter during 1872-73 prompted a group of friends from Indianapolis to form an investment group with the purpose of moving to the warmer climate of Southern California. Sent to scout the area, D. M. Berry recommended purchasing a portion of the Rancho San Pasqual, which later became Pasadena.

The word Pasadena literally means “valley” in the Ojibwa (Chippewa) Indian language, but it has been interpreted to mean “Crown of the Valley” and “Key of the Valley,” hence the adoption of both the crown and the key in the official city seal.

Pasadena is home of the Rose Bowl, constructed in 1922. It originally had a seating capacity of 57,000 and currently seats 100,184 people. The Rose Bowl is home for the UCLA Bruins Football team.

The Tournament of Roses annual parade of flower covered floats has been held in Pasadena since January 1, 1890. It was patterned after a European festival of roses and was meant to show off Pasadena’s natural beauty and sunny climate while most of the nation lay buried beneath snow. (City of Pasadena)

Dr. James W Smith and his wife Melicent Knapp Smith arrived in the Hawaiian Islands aboard the Sarah Abigail along with fellow Kauai missionaries, Rev. and Mrs. George B. Rowell. Smith was 32, and Melicent was 26.

The couple would provide missionary, educational and medical help to the islands for the next 45 years, and establish a family dynasty of service to Kauai.

Dr. Jared K. Smith (1849-1897) carried on his father’s medical practice – his life ended tragically when he was murdered by a victim of leprosy. His sister, Juliette, ran the Koloa Industrial School for Boys.

Another son, William Owen Smith (1848-1929) would become a lawyer; he was an active participant in both the “Bayonet Revolution” and the Committee of Safety, which spearheaded the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani in 1893. WO Smith wrote the will for Princess Pauahi Bishop and the will for Queen Liliuokalani , creating those two trust estates.

His sister Lottie (Charlotte Lee Smith 1845-1896) married Alfred Stedman Hartwell, who was also involved with the political changes of the era. And another sister, Melicent Lena Smith (1854-1943), married William Waterhouse (1852-1942) (They married on February 24, 1876.) (Kauai Historical Society)

William Waterhouse’s father was John Thomas Waterhouse. William was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1852. He was educated in the schools of Hawaii and also in England; married to Melissa P. Smith on February 24, 1876;

When the elder Waterhouse “went across the United States on a trip back to England, he noticed that Chicago was a very booming town and Cedar Rapids was a very booming town.”

“He wanted to buy some property in one of the towns and he considered buying some property on Michigan Boulevard in Chicago but he couldn’t decide which town he should invest in, so he tossed a coin and it came out Cedar Rapids.” (Waterhouse)

He was “the owner of some of the finest blocks and most desirable property in and around Cedar Rapids, such as the ‘Waterhouse Block,’ ‘Grand Hotel,’ considerable residence property in the city, and residence with thirty-five acres northwest of city limits, etc.” (History of Linn County)

He owned several pieces of property in the downtown area, among them buildings on Queen Street, retail stores on King and Fort Streets, and a warehouse on Merchant Street. In addition, he was referred to as a “collector of halls,” being the owner of the Lyceum and Olympic Halls, which he lent for lectures and assemblies. (HABS)

William and Lena moved to Cedar Rapids where William managed “his father’s affairs, and conducts the leading hotel that flourishing city, which included his father’s possessions.” (Hawaiian Star, January 5, 1895)

After his father’s death, William and Lena moved to Pasadena, and the family business interests in Iowa were eventually sold. (Kauai Historical Society)

William was elected mayor of Pasadena in 1905 and served one term. Mr. Waterhouse’s administration was known for securing a municipal lighting system after complaints were made that the Edison Company was not living up to specifications in the quantity and quality of the light furnished.

The mayor and city attorney directed the holding up of warrants for contract payments by the auditor, and refusal to make payments, which ended up in the courts. The important outcome of this regime was a proposition to approve by vote to establish the first unit of a Municipal Lighting Plant.

Mr. Waterhouse and his wife helped to establish the Lake Avenue Congregational Church, and both of their families were an important part of the “upbuilding” of the modern civilization as missionaries in the Hawaiian Islands after his time in office. (Pasadena Library)

After serving one term as Mayor of Pasadena, the Waterhouses moved back to Hawaii and made their home there where family interests controlled several banks and sugar industries.

They frequently returned to Cedar Rapids, continuing his interest as did his father during his life in the extension of religious education and the establishment of churches to which he contributed substantial sums. (Annals of Iowa)

Their son, Dr. Alfred Herbert Waterhouse (1877-1948) became the third generation of the medical family serving Kauai, as company doctor for Koloa and McBryde Plantations, later going into private practice.

Dr. Waterhouse is also known for his efforts to develop affordable housing and educational opportunities for sugar plantation workers and their children. (Kauai Historical Society) William Waterhouse passed away on December 18, 1943 at the age of 91.

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William Waterhouse

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Rose Bowl

April 19, 2019 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

Manini

“The number of foreigners residing at the islands is far greater than I supposed. Four American mercantile houses – two of Boston, one of New York, and one of Bristol, Rhode Island – have establishments at this port, to which agents and clerks are attached.”

“Their storehouses are abundantly furnished with goods in demand by the islanders; and, at them, most articles contained in common retail shops and groceries, in America, may be purchased.”

“There is another class, consisting of fifteen or twenty individuals, who have dropped all connexion with their native countries, and become permanent residents on different islands; and who hold plantations and other property under the king awl various chiefs.”

“Of these, Marini (Don Francisco de Paula y Marin) a Spaniard, interpreter for the government; … “Marini (has) been at the islands more than thirty years; and (was a companion and counsellor) of Tamehameha.”

Marin “accumulated much property, holds many plantations, and owns extensive flocks of goats, and herds of cattle; and is said to have money in fund, both in the United States and in England.”

“He has introduced the grape, orange, lemon, pine-apple, fig, and tamarind trees, but to a very limited extent; and seemingly from a motive entirely selfish: for he has perseveringly denied the seeds, and every means of propagation, to others, and been known even secretly to destroy a growth that had been secured from them without his knowledge.”

“A considerable quantity of wine is yearly made from his vineyard; and his lemons and pines, by sales to ships and in the town, bring quite an income.”

“He has a numerous breed of mules; and several horses, some twenty or thirty of which have within a few years been brought from the coast of California, and are now rapidly increasing.”

“Flocks of beautiful doves, also an importation, are domiciliated at his establishment; and some few miles from the town, along the coast, there is an islet, covered with the burrows of English hares, belonging to him.” (CS Stewart.)

Don Francisco de Paula Marin (known to the Hawaiian as “Manini”) was a Spaniard who arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1793 or 1794 (at about the age of 20.) Manini’s nickname appears to be the closest way that the Hawaiians could pronounce his name.

His knowledge of Western military weapons brought him to the attention of Kamehameha, who was engaged in the conquest of O‘ahu. Marin almost immediately became a trusted advisor to Kamehameha I.

Marin spoke four languages (he arrived fluent in Spanish, French and English, and learned Hawaiian) and was employed by Kamehameha as Interpreter, Bookkeeper and part time Physician (although he had no formal medical training, he had some basic medical knowledge.) He also served as purchasing agent for the arms that proved decisive to Kamehameha’s victory of the Battle of Nu‘uanu (1795.)

Kamehameha granted Marin a couple acres of land Ewa of the King’s compound on the Honolulu waterfront (near Nu‘uanu Stream.)

Marin then proceeded over the next several years to erect the first stone house built in Hawai‘i on the property, pre-fabricated wooden houses imported from New England, a cut coral breakwater wall, a wharf, storehouses, bullock pen and stone perimeter fencing.

Kamehameha also rewarded him with large tracts of land, including Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, which Marin used to raise cattle.

He was known for his interest in plant collecting and brought in a wide variety of new plants to Hawai‘i. His gardens were filled with trees, vines and shrubs.

He turned this hobby into a “ship supply” business and provided fresh fruits and vegetables to the crews of ships docked at Honolulu Harbor.

Marin was responsible for introducing and cultivating many of the plants commonly associated with the Islands. To name only a few, here are some of the plants he introduced and/or cultivated in Hawai‘i: pineapple, coffee, avocado, mango and grape vines.

He also successfully cultivated and raised oranges, figs, roses, beans, melons, turnips, tobacco, wheat, barley, cloves, tomatoes, saffron and cherries.

Marin also planted lots of potatoes, yams, breadfruit, melons, cabbage, onions, celery, and garlic, as well as wheat, rice and Indian corn. He made castor oil, soap, molasses, pickles, sugar, butter, cigars, coconut oil, candles and hay.

Hawai‘i’s first accommodations for transients were established sometime after 1810, when Marin “opened his home and table to visitors on a commercial basis … Closely arranged around the Marin home were the grass houses of his workers and the ‘guest houses’ of the ship captains who boarded with him while their vessels were in port.”

He fermented the first wine in Hawai‘i and distilled brandy. He also made rum from sugarcane and brewed beer, all of which he sold at his boarding house-saloon near the waterfront.

Marin Street near Honolulu Harbor was named for him and the Marin Tower, built in 1994, occupies the site of his boarding house.

His “New Vineyard” grapevines were located Waikiki side of Nu‘uanu Stream and makai of Vineyard Street; when a road was cut through its mauka boundary, it became known as Vineyard Street.

In April of 1819, Marin was summoned to the Big Island of Hawai‘i to assist Kamehameha, who had become ill. Marin was not able to improve the condition of Kamehameha, and on May 8, 1819, King Kamehameha I died. Marin died in Honolulu on October 30, 1837.

Marin’s contributions are best noted by Robert C. Wyllie, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, when addressing the Royal Agricultural Society of Hawai‘i in 1850, saying:

“From the brief accounts of the life and works of the don in 1809 to 1820, few of you will doubt that most of the present wealth of these islands is owing to the seeds, roots and plants introduced by Francisco de Paula Marin, and to whom the Hawaiian people are so greatly indebted.”

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