“During [WW I], Richard Henderson Trent was the local representative of the Alien Property Custodian and his responsibility, of course, was to take over property owned by German interests here in the Islands.” (Theodore Frederick Trent, oral history)
“Ready to stir the cauldron which was now bubbling nicely was Dixie Doolittle, whose paid advertisements appeared from November, 1917, to February, 1918. Dixie made it his practice to attack Germanism wherever he found it.”
“One day he found it in the Elks Lodge, and the ensuing libel trial unveiled Dixie Doolittle as none other than Richard H. Trent, president of Trent Trust Company, of whom more will be said later.”
“Trent had attacked the Elks, because their club served liquor, and he considered liquor a German weapon. … The editorial response of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin drove home the point that ‘nothing but the most ceaseless vigilance will serve to protect Hawaii . . . from the ceaseless conspiracies of the enemy.’”
“Everyone now knew the ‘faithlessness of the German word.’ “J. F. Brown in a letter to the Bulletin added the thought that ‘Americans must regard every German as a potential spy unless loyalty proven beyond doubt.’” The court acquitted Trent of the charges, but the advertisements did not reappear.” (Wagner-Seavey)
Born September 11, 1867, in Somerville, Fayette County, Tennessee, Richard Henderson Trent was the son of William Clough and Mary Virgin (Bonner) Trent.
Trent only attended public school until he was 12-years of age, and was a self-educated and self-made man. He arrived in the Islands in 1901, and almost immediately joined the staff of the Evening Bulletin, but left after several months to become bookkeeper for Henry Waterhouse & Co., and later treasurer of the Henry Waterhouse Trust Co., Ltd. (Men of Hawaii)
Trent Trust Company, Ltd was formed on June 20, 1907 (Hawaiian Star, Jul 1, 1907); Town and Country Homes was formed by Trent and others in November 1924, “the purpose of which is to acquire and develop lands and build houses and roads”. (SB, Nov 13, 1924)
“With the Incorporation came an even greater growth, both in the amount, of business and in the number of departments handled by the concern. … Trent Trust Company handles real estate, insurance, stocks and bonds, renting, building, loans and mortgages, and its trust department has well equipped safe deposit vaults.”
“Every department has men who are experts in their line, as efficiency is the keynote of the firm and to which it owes Its rapid growth. It has a very loyal body of clients and good will is one of its biggest assets.” (SB, Jun 30, 1917)
Charles Russell Frazier (the head of Town and Country Homes, Ltd., which was the real estate division of the Trent Trust Co.) was primarily a marketing man, but was also developer and chief promoter).
In 1924, Harold Kainalu Long Castle sold land on the Windward side to Trent and Frazier and they developed what we call “Lanikai”. As a marketing ploy to entice wealthy buyers looking for a vacation home at the development they also referenced is as the “Crescent of Content”.
In naming it Lanikai they believed it translated ‘heavenly sea;’ however, they used the English word order. In Hawaiian the qualifier commonly follows the noun, hence Lani-kai means ‘sea heaven,’ ‘marine heavenʻ. (Ulukau)
Trent’s company was publisher of TrenTrusTics, a financial journal much in demand by investors and others interested in Hawaiian industries and securities; was first treasurer of County of Oahu and twice re-elected, serving three terms from 1905-1910; president Honolulu Y. M. C. A., 1908-1915, member Territorial Board of Public Lands, 1910-1914. (Men of Hawaii)
Trent was a member of the Board of Regents, University of Hawaiʻi, for several years, as well as served as a trustee of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate and the Bishop Museum.
In 1928, while Trustee of the Kamehameha Schools (1917-1939,) a junior division was created for the Kamehameha School for Boys annual song contest; Trent donated the contest trophy. The original school for boys contest cup, the George A Andrus cup, was designated as the trophy for the senior division winner and the Richard H Trent Cup for the junior division winner.
Trent was also owner of the only private zoo in the Territory. (Men of Hawaii) “Mr. Trent’s zoo is practically a public institution, maintained at his personal, private expense for the public’s pleasure.” (PCA, 8/21/1916) At one point, it appears the zoo was a little too ‘open.’
“Dogs frightened the two animals brought from Australia for Trent’s private zoo and they jumped against their cage with enough force to break through it … A young one, thrown from its mother’s pouch, was killed by the dogs, but the pair of old ones managed to get away and have not been seen since.” (Star-Bulletin, August 21, 1916)
“Richard H. Trent, Honolulu’s animal impresario, issues a call to all citizens of Oahu today to join in a mammoth, personally conducted wallaby hunt, the first of its kind ever held in the Hawaiian archipelago.”
“Two of the three small kangaroos which he obtained last week from Australia, at great trouble and expense, escaped from the Trent zoological gardens on Alewa Heights Saturday night and at latest reports last night were roaming at will in the Oahu forests.”
“Inhabitants are warned hereby that the animals positively are not dangerous; will not bite anything more meaty than grass, leaves or succulent forest shrubbery. The unfortunate owner offers a reward of twenty-five dollars for their capture and return alive.”
“Unless the animals are caught they may be come permanent denizens of the mountain districts and, like their distant cousins, the Australia rabbits, may propagate and produce eventually a breed of Hawaiian wallabies.”
“But meantime the public would be deprived of gazing upon them at close range and observing the peculiarities of the unusual, antipodean animals. … The wallabies are perfectly harmless, it is said, but they may prove exceedingly difficult to capture.” (PCA, 8/21/1916)
While the wallabies once roamed from Nuʻuanu to Hālawa, they are now known to live in only one valley, the ʻEwa side of Kalihi Valley, which has a series of sheer cliffs and narrow rocky ledges. (earlham-edu)
The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DLNR-DOFAW) no longer keeps track of the population, since they believe the animals are nonthreatening.
Wallabies are designated as protected game mammals by DLNR (§13-123-12,) which means no hunting, killing or possessing, unless authorized. (The same rule applies to wild cattle.) In 2002, a wallaby was captured in Foster Village; DLNR released it back into Kalihi Valley.
The last state survey of Kalihi wallabies was in the early-1990s; at the time, the estimated population was as high as 75-animals.
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