Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Dowsett, James Isaac December 15, 1829 - June 14, 1898 ************************************************ 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@hawaii.com September 9, 2009, 1:37 pm Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Published by Honolulu Star Bulletin, Ltd., Territory of Hawaii, 1925 Author: Edited by George F. Nellist JAMES ISAAC DOWSETT, Pioneer Capitalist. On June 1, 1834, the ship “Victoria,” commanded by Captain Samuel James Dowsett who, six years before, had settled in Hawaii, sailed from Honolulu on a pearl fishing expedition to the Pescadores Islands. A year passed and the mariner had not returned to his wife and four small children, left alone with comparative strangers in the “Sandwich Islands.” Alarmed by his absence, the Hawaiian government, in 1835, sent the brig “Waverly’ on a search for the missing captain. But the “Waverly,” also, was fated never to return. The brig was seized by natives at Strong’s Island, captain and crew were murdered and the ship burned. No trace was ever found of Captain Dowsett. Such was the final tragic chapter in the life of the British seafarer, first of his line in Hawaii, and although his stay in Honolulu was brief, his descendants have remained here for a century of progress in the islands. Of the arrival of Captain Dowsett in Hawaii, little has been recorded. Research by members of the present generation of the Dowsett family has established the fact that Captain Dowsett first saw the islands in 1822, when, as first officer of the “Mermaid,” his vessel accompanied the “Prince Regent,” a gift-ship from King George IV of England to King Kamehameha, and he returned with the crew of the “Prince Regent” to Sydney, N.S.W., his colonial station. Available records show that Captain Dowsett served in the British Colonial Navy, although his various ranks have not been definitely established, but it is believed he joined the Colonial service in the capacity of a chief officer or mate. His history in Australia subsequent to his first trip to Hawaii on the “Mermaid,” shows that he was made a captain before leaving the service and that he purchased the “Wellington” in 1827 or thereabouts from Mr. Joseph Underwood of Sydney. Upon his resignation from the British service, Captain Dowsett, commanding the “Wellington,” sailed from Sydney, April 8, 1828, for the “Sandwich Islands,” arriving in Honolulu, July 27, 1828. With him came his wife, Mary (Bishop) Dowsett, and infant daughter, Deborah Melville Dowsett (Mrs. Howland), who was born at Melville Island. Captain Dowsett was a native of Rochester, Kent, England, born Dec. 11, 1794, the eldest of twenty-one brothers and one of twenty-three children. His wife also was of English birth. Established in Honolulu, Captain Dowsett engaged in trading. When he embarked on his tragic voyage his family had grown to four children, James Isaac, Elizabeth Jane (Mrs. M. C. Monsarrat), and Samuel Henry Dowsett having been born in Honolulu. James Isaac Dowsett, the sea captain’s eldest son and the principal subject of this sketch, had a long and eventful career in his native city. Born in Honolulu, Dec. 15, 1829, the late Mr. Dowsett is said to have been the first Anglo-Saxon child, not of missionary parentage, born in Hawaii. Not quite five years of age when his father sailed away to his death, young James Isaac was looked upon almost from that early day as the head of the family. He received his education at the Johnstone School in the early 40’s and when hardly more than twelve years of age entered the employ of the Hudson Bay Company, continuing his schooling while working until fourteen years of age when he became breadwinner for his widowed mother. Mrs. Dowsett, devoted to the memory of her lost husband, refused numerous offers of marriage and remained a widow until her death, in 1860. During this youthful period, young James Isaac Dowsett was a playmate of Kamehameha IV, Kamehameha V and Lunalilo, future kings of Hawaii. In his school days Mr. Dowsett was associated with former Governor Pacheco of California, who was sent to Hawaii from California to be educated in the islands, a custom followed extensively in early days by parents who sought the best schools for their children. Remaining with the trading company, and in spite of his many family responsibilities, James Isaac Dowsett prospered. With his early savings he made small investments in business projects of the time, and these yielded excellent returns. The early 60’s saw him actively engaged in the whaling business and he was one of the leaders in the development of an industry which created considerable wealth in Hawaii. He owned a fleet of whaling ships which made annual trips into the Artic. Among these, remembered by his children, were the “R. B. Wood,” the “Yankee,” the “W. B. Allen,” and the “Harvest,” the last-named being captured and destroyed by the Confederate commerce raider “Shenandoah” during the Civil War. Besides his whaling activities, Mr. Dowsett engaged in the lumber business and owned a fleet of schooners and small steamers operating between the islands. The crack two-masted schooner “Haleakala” was one of his ships. He had extensive ranching interests, holding leases on properties now occupied by Schofield Barracks, and the present sugar cane fields of the Honolulu Plantation, as well as the land of Mauna Loa and Kahauiki, now Fort Shafter, Nanakuli, Mikilua and Lualualei were once pastures for Mr. Dowsett’s cattle and horses. He was engaged in ranching as early as 1850, and a medal was awarded him at the Agricultural Fair at the time for the best pair of “working oxen.” Mr. Dowsett was the first rancher to import Aberdeen Angus stock to Hawaii. The famous Ulupalakua ranch on Maui, now owned by Frank F. Baldwin, was one of Mr. Dowsett’s properties. He founded the Puuloa salt works. Active in political affairs of the 80’s and 90’s, Mr. Dowsett was created a noble and was a member of the House of Nobles during the reigns of King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani. He supported the Provisional Government after the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893, and in the subsequent counter- rebellion of 1895 was an avowed champion of law and order. He died June 14, 1898, shortly before the annexation of Hawaii by the United States, death preventing him from automatically becoming an American citizen. Mr. Dowsett married Annie Green Ragsdale of Honolulu and they were the parents of thirteen children, James Isaac, Jr. (deceased), Alexander (deceased), Phoebe K. (Dowsett) Raymond, Edward Ragsdale (deceased), Mary K. (Dowsett) Parish, Alexander Cartwright, Annie K. (Dowsett) Kirklady, Elizabeth Jane (Dowsett) Knight, David A. (deceased), Rowena N. (Dowsett) Turner, Samuel Henry K. (deceased), Marion C. (Dowsett) Worthington and Genevieve N. (Dowsett) Dunbar (deceased). The late Mr. Dowsett was one of the founders of the British Club, now the Pacific Club of Honolulu, and was a trustee of The Queen’s Hospital from its establishment until his death. For many years he was one of the principal supporters of the Sailors’ Home Association, now the Seamen’s Institute, serving as its president in 1893 and was a member of the board of trustees at the time of his death. Mrs. Dowsett was also widely honored for philanthropic works. With Queen Kapiolani, Mrs. Dowsett was one of the founders of the Kapiolani Maternity Home, the Queen and Mrs. Dowsett planning the establishment of the home while visiting London in 1887 and 1889, where similar works had been undertaken by English social service institutions. Additional Comments: **Note-a handwritten notation indicates that the daughter Phoebe K. was “first wife of Charles Makee whom she divorced and remarried Dr. J. H. Raymond. Children are Violet Makee and Harvey Raymond.” File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/bios/dowsett22bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/hifiles/ File size: 8.2 Kb