Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Horner, John Mears June 15, 1821 - 1907
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
J. Orr orr@hawaii.com September 9, 2009, 2:55 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

JOHN MEARS HORNER, Pioneer Farmer. “The Pioneer Farmer of California,” they 
called the late John M. Horner back at the first agricultural fair held in 
California, in the days of the gold rush.
  Always a tiller of the soil, John M. Horner established himself in 
California and won a noteworthy competence before removing to the Hawaiian 
Islands, where he became one of the great sugar cane raisers on the island of 
Maui, and founded the Horner family in Hawaii.
  Mr. Horner, a man of broad vision and accurate foresight, was quick to 
appreciate the possibilities of the sugar industry and was a big factor in its 
development. At a meeting of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association in the 
early 80’s he declared that Hawaii eventually would produce 600,000 tons of 
sugar a year. His prediction was ridiculed then, but in 1924 the Territory’s 
output was more than 700,000 tons.
  Over 30 years ago, Hawaiian planters were heavily interested in a refinery 
at San Francisco, operated in competition with the then powerful sugar trust 
dominated by the Havermeyers. Under pressure, the Hawaiian planters decided to 
dispose of their refinery to the trust. Mr. Horner fought this move at every 
stage, asserting that Hawaii should refine its own produce and remain 
independent, and was the last man to transfer his holdings in the California 
enterprise. Today, Hawaii has many millions invested in the California-
Hawaiian sugar refinery, having found it necessary to return to the policy 
that was advocated by Mr. Horner long ago.
  Mr. Horner was born on a New Jersey farm June 15, 1821. He attended the 
public schools and later worked on farms in the summers and taught school in 
the winters. In 1846 he married a neighbor’s daughter, Elizabeth Imlay, and 
set sail with his bride on a most unique wedding journey. San Francisco was 
their destination, and they arrived there by way of New York, Cape Horn, Juan 
Fernandez Island and the Hawaiian Islands. Six months the cruise took and 
18,000 miles were covered.
  The young couple found forty white persons residing in San Francisco, so 
their company of 168 men and women add 400 per cent to the population. Life in 
such a straggling village as Yerba Buena, as San Francisco was then called, 
had no charm for Mr. Horner, and he began his agricultural career by planting 
grain on forty acres of land in the San Joaquin valley. In 1847 he moved to 
San Jose and planted wheat, barley, peas, potatoes and a truck garden.
  Then came ’49 and the gold rush. Mr. Horner responded to the gold lure, but 
a year later was back at his farm. From this small beginning he prospered 
until he became one of the richest farmers in California. He established his 
own commission house in San Francisco under the firm name of J. M. Horner & 
Co., equipped and ran a stage line in connection with the steamer to Union 
City, where his largest holdings were, and opened miles of public road, still 
in use in California as part of the highway system.
  In 1879 Mr. Horner and his brother made a contract with Claus Spreckels of 
San Francisco to come to Hawaii and cultivate sugar cane for him on shares. 
They sold their California farms, chartered a schooner and, together with 
their families, household effects, horses and farming tools, came to the 
islands, arriving on Maui, December 25, 1879.
  Mr. Horner and his brother, William Y. Horner, later acquired large holdings 
on the island of Maui and later moved to the Island of Hawaii and raised sugar 
cane, built a mill, made roads, started a cattle and horse ranch, and invested 
in the cultivation of coffee. Public duties also called Mr. Horner and he 
served at two sessions as a Noble in the Hawaiian legislature.
  Mr. and Mrs. Horner had a large family of children, of whom but five are 
living. They are William Horner of Oakland, Mrs. Josephine (Horner) Blacow, of 
Alhambra, Cal.; Albert Horner of Honolulu, Mrs. Anna (Horner) Taylor of 
Oakland, and Robert Horner of Honolulu.
  Mr. Horner died at his home on Hawaii in 1907, at the age of 86 years.


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