Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Hedemann, Christian J. May 25, 1852 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
J. Orr jessicanorr@gmail.com September 13, 2011, 6:47 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

CHRISTIAN J. HEDEMANN, Mechanical Engineer. Christian J. Hedemann, vice-
president and director, and for many years manager of the Honolulu Iron Works, 
has been associated with that firm in responsible executive positions for 
forty years, a period which has marked its development into one of the largest 
concerns of the kind in the world, manufacturing sugar mill machinery and 
equipment for Hawaii, Cuba, the Philippines, Porto Rico, Mexico, Santo Domingo 
and elsewhere.
  When Mr. Hedemann joined the Honolulu Iron Works, in 1884, it was little 
more than a repair shop. With the development of the sugar industry on a large 
scale in Hawaii, the plant began the manufacture of sugar mill machinery and 
the furnishing of complete sugar factories. It has constructed most of the 
modern sugar mills in the Territory.
  In 1905, Mr. Hedemann realized the need for a New York branch and, against 
the advice of many leading business men of Honolulu, an office was opened in 
small quarters at No. 11 Broadway, New York City. All purchasing for the iron 
works was then done directly through this office, thus dispensing with Eastern 
agents, and contracts for the furnishing of sugar factories and equipment in 
Porto Rico, Cuba, Mexico and Louisiana were obtained. One of these was for the 
largest sugar factory in the world, located in Cuba, having a daily grinding 
capacity of 9,000 tons of cane.
  Mr. Hedemann also went to Japan and Formosa and secured contracts for the 
building of seven large sugar mills, all of the machinery being built at the 
Honolulu works, and later fifteen sugar factories were constructed in the 
Philippines. The Honolulu Iron Works now has a new plant in Manila where the 
requirements of the Philippines are met, and two drydocks for the repairing of 
local ships. The New York office of the Honolulu Iron Works Co. has now become 
a large division and occupies a large portion of two floors in the famous 
Woolworth Building, besides operating a branch engineering office in Havana, 
Cuba.
  Mr. Hedemann was educated in the primary school of Nestved, Denmark, the 
Herlufsholm Latin Academy, and as a mechanical engineer at the Polytechnic 
College in Copenhagen. He then passed as a first-class marine engineer in 
Copenhagen and served the regulation apprenticeship in a machine shop, after 
which he became a designer in the office of Burmeister & Wain in Copenhagen. 
While engaged there he designed sugar machinery for the Virgin Islands, West 
Indies, and was awarded a medal by the Mechanics’ Guild of Copenhagen.
  In 1878 he came to Hawaii and became factory manager and engineer on the 
Hana plantation, Maui. In 1884 he came to the Honolulu Iron Works ass 
draughtsman, became superintendent shortly afterwards, was assistant manager 
from 1890 to 1893, and manager until Jan. 1, 1917, when he became third vice-
president and technical director. He retired in 1920, but still serves the 
corporation as vice-president and director and in an advisory and consulting 
capacity. About ninety complete sugar factories were designed, contracted for 
and built by the Honolulu Iron Works during Mr. Hedemann’s administration.
  For 16 years Mr. Hedemann has served his native Denmark as consul in Hawaii, 
and for two and a half years has also been consul for Sweden. In March, 1917, 
he was decorated by the King of Denmark as a “Knight of Dannebrog.” He is a 
member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Engineers’ Club of New 
York, Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association, American Scandinavian Foundation 
of New York, and is an honorary member of the Hawaiian Engineering 
Association, etc. He is a member of the Pacific and Oahu Country Clubs. He 
became an American citizen in 1903.
  Born in Flemsborg, Denmark, May 25, 1852, Mr. Hedemann is the son of 
Christian August Hedemann, an eminent physician and ranking surgeon in the 
Danish Army, and Caroline Amalie (Cloos) Hedemann. In 1877 he married Meta 
Marie Magdalena Nissen and they have had seven children, Ferdinand Frederick, 
Johannes Christian, Carl Steen Kalani, Howard, Edmund (deceased) Erling, 
Wilhelm and Mrs. Harold K. Castle.


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