Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Duncan, Rudolph Meyer May 7, 1876 - 
************************************************
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 jessicanorr@gmail.com June 2, 2011, 9:38 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

RUDOLPH MEYER DUNCAN, Rehabilitation Executive. The most important and 
significant public movement yet inaugurated in Hawaii, the rehabilitation of 
the Hawaiian race by its restoration to the soil, is now proceeding under the 
direction of Rudolph M. Duncan, executive officer and secretary of the 
Hawaiian Homes Commission.
  Himself a part-Hawaiian, and always keenly interested in the welfare of his 
people, Mr. Duncan was appointed a member of the commission immediately upon 
its organization in 1921, and in Sept., 1924, was chosen for his present 
position. He previously had been connected with the Honolulu Rapid Transit Co. 
for twenty-two years as foreman and superintendent of construction.
  The Hawaiian Homes Commission, composed of four members appointed by the 
Governor, with the latter as chairman ex-officio, has charge of the 
rehabilitation project, with its first field of endeavor a land colony on the 
Island of Molokai.
 Mr. Duncan was born in Honolulu, May 7, 1876, the son of James D. and Emma 
Amelia (Meyer) Duncan, and a descendant of Scotch and Hawaiian stock. He 
attended St. Louis College, was graduated from the Kamehameha School in 1896 
and became a clerk in the police department. A few months later he entered 
business as part owner of the Union Express Co. Selling his interest in this 
concern in 1898, he organized the Hawaiian Ballasting Co. In 1900 he joined 
the Honolulu Rapid Transit Co. as foreman and five years later became 
superintendent of construction. He inaugurated the party pole system which 
provides for the conveyance of all light and power service by a single pole 
line.
  Mr. Duncan once served as commissioner of public health. He is a Forester, 
prelate and one of the founders of the Supreme Council of Native Sons and 
Daughters of Hawaii, a member of the Order of Kamehameha, the Daughters and 
Sons of Hawaiian Warriors, the Kamehameha Alumni Association and the Hawaiian 
Civic Club. He has been vice-chairman of the Republican County Committee, and 
has always been active in Republican affairs.
  In 1896 Mr. Duncan married Sarah E. Peterson of Honolulu and they have six 
children, Rudolph E. Duncan, cashier in the freight department of Castle & 
Cooke, Ltd.; Mrs. Lowell Verble, Mrs. W. L. Bartels, Thelma Laura Duncan, now 
teaching in the Kauilani School; Juliet Duncan, a student at McKinley High 
School, and James Austin Wilder Duncan, a student at the Marion Scott School.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/bios/duncan311bs.txt

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

File size: 3.1 Kb