Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Makee, James November 24, 1812 - September 16, 1879 ************************************************ 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 October 5, 2009, 7:53 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 JAMES MAKEE, Early Industrial Builder. While the whaling ship “Maine” lay in the roadstead off Lahaina, Maui, one morning in 1843, it was learned that her master, Captain James Makee, had been attacked by the ship’s cook, brutally cut with a hatchet or cleaver, and left for dead. His would-be murderer was never seen again and it is believed that he jumped overboard and was drowned in an attempt to reach land. Medical aid was given Captain Makee by surgeons of an American warship, anchored at Lahaina, and through whose efforts his life was saved. This unfortunate incident, however, resulted in Captain Makee abandoning his seafaring career, for, during a somewhat protracted convalescence he became interested in Hawaii and decided to locate in Honolulu, sending for Mrs. Makee, then living in Massachusetts. Thus, Captain Makee, then only thirty-one years of age and founder of the Makee family in Hawaii, remained in the islands to become a distinguished pioneer builder, first in the whaling industry and later as a rancher and sugar planter. As a trader in Honolulu, Captain Makee met with success in his first venture and formed the firm of Jones and Makee, ship chandlers, the partnership later becoming Makee, Anthon & Co. The company did a flourishing business and in 1850, according to old records, Makee, Anthon & Co. were agents for some fifty out of seventy whaling ships in port on October 18 of that year. The following year marked the first entry of Honolulu men into the whaling industry as ship owners, when Captain Makee, with a group of other local merchants as minority shareholders, acquired the “Chariot” and sent her into the Artic in April, 1851. With the expansion of business in Honolulu, Captain Makee in 1853 financed the erection of the Makee & Anthon block on Queen Street, the first three- story brick building in Honolulu, materials for which were imported from Boston. In the following year a second ship, the bark “Black Warrior,” was acquired by Makee & Anthon, and operated as a whaler for three years. Captain Makee on Jan. 23, 1856, purchased at auction “Torbert’s Plantation” at Ulupalakua, Maui. The extensive estate had some limited facilities for raising and milling sugar cane and was developed both as a cattle ranch and sugar plantation by Captain Makee. He sold his Nuuanu resident to the King in 1856, thereafter making his home at Ulupalakua. He took a deep interest in the upbuilding of the property and was one of the first to import thoroughbred stock on a large scale. He also engaged in dairying and in 1858 began planting sugar cane, rehabilitating the abandoned Torbert enterprise. The sugar crop of 1861 was marketed in Honolulu and by 1862 the plantation had been greatly improved, according to the accounts of Rev. S. C. Damon, who visited Ulupalakua in that year. During the Civil War Captain Makee won wide attention by a patriotic gift of two consignments of molasses, of one hundred barrels each, which he sent to San Francisco to be sold for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission at Washington, D.C. Later, a shipment of sugar and island produce was sent by Parker N. Makee, a son, as an additional contribution to the Union cause. Throughout his residence at “Rose Ranch,” Ulupalakua, Captain Makee was noted for his hospitality, visitors from all parts of the world being entertained there. Appointed a commissioner to aid in the development of the resources of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1877, Captain Makee in that year launched a breakwater project at Makena, Maui, developing a harbor to facilitate the shipment of sugar. Two years later he engaged in a sugar growing venture with King Kalakaua at Kappa, Kauai, a part of the present Makee Sugar Co. He had a part in the establishment of the Kealia Plantation and Makee Sugar Co., the latter corporation being in course of organization at the time of his death, and when his estate was liquidated the property was acquired by Z. S. Spalding, his son- in-law. Captain Makee also owned the Waihee Plantation, Maui, of which his son, Parker, was manager. His interests in the Ulupalakua ranch were divided to members of his family in Jan., 1878. Captain Makee was born at Woburn, Mass., Nov. 24, 1812. He married Catherine McNiven in New York in 1836. Upon his death in Honolulu, Sept. 16, 1879, Captain Makee was survived by his widow and eight children, Charles and Parker N. Makee, Mrs. Z. S. Spalding, Mrs. M. L. W. Kitchen, Mrs. D. Noonan, Mrs. George Herbert, Mrs. E. D. Tenney and Mrs. F. P. Hastings. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/bios/makee49bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/hifiles/ File size: 5.3 Kb