Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Smith, William Owen 
************************************************
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 January 5, 2012, 3:43 pm

Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders, Honolulu Star Bulletin, Ltd. Territory of Hawaii, 1925
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist

WILLIAM OWEN SMITH, Lawyer and Trustee. As a lawyer, legislator, and leader in 
the movement which brought Hawaii from monarchial rule to its present 
political status as a Territory of the United States, William O. Smith, now 
virtually retired, occupies a permanent place on the pages of Hawaiian history 
for the past half century.
  Closely identified with the affairs of the Hawaiian Kingdom during its last 
years, Mr. Smith, despite his prominence in the revolution, was so highly 
regarded by the royal family that at present he is carrying out plans for the 
disposition of the estate of the late Queen Liliuokalani. According to plans 
outlined by the late Queen, an orphanage is to be established when sufficient 
funds have accumulated from her properties, left in trust with Mr. Smith and 
others.
  Speaking of his relations with the royal house, Mr. Smith said 
recently: “One of the gratifying experiences of my life was that after the 
trying period which led up to the overthrow of the monarchy and the withdrawal 
of Queen Liliuokalani, the queen sent for me to prepare a will and deed of 
trust of her property and appointed me one of her trustees, together with Hon. 
C. P. Iaukea and Hon. A. S. Cleghorn.”
  During the revolutionary period, Mr. Smith was one of the thirteen members 
of the committee of safety which finally took the decisive step of 
establishing the provisional government. Of the conditions which led up to 
this event, Mr. Smith, through his intimate acquaintance with political 
affairs of the time, is best fitted to speak:
  “During the reign of King Kalakaua and later Queen Liliuokalani there was a 
gradual and increasing conflict between occupants of the throne and the 
judgment of responsible elements of the community. Leading citizens, both men 
and women, endeavored to exercise a restraining influence, but there seemed to 
be determination on the part of the rulers toward more centralized power 
invested in the reigning sovereign. The session of the 1892 legislature, of 
which I was a member, continued in session from March to December with an 
intermission of only three weeks. During this session three cabinets were 
removed by acts of legislature. Both King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani had 
many estimable qualities and it was with a feeling of deep regret that the 
community was finally confronted with the issue which resulted in the 
termination of the Monarchy.”
  After the overthrow of the Monarchy on January 17, 1893, a Provisional 
Government was established, which administered the affairs of the government 
until July 4, 1894, when the Republic of Hawaii was established and continued 
until August 12, 1898, when the Islands were finally annexed to the United 
States under an Act of Congress. When the proposed Organic Act for the 
Government of Hawaii was pending before Congress Mr. Smith was sent to 
Washington, and from December, 1893, to May, 1894, attended many meetings of 
the Committee of Congress to whom the proposed Act had been submitted. At the 
meetings of this Committee and a sub-committee every provision of the Act was 
fully considered, which involved the careful examination of all of the 
existing Hawaiian laws.
  On the day of the raising of the American flag, August 12, 1898, Mr. Smith 
resigned his position in the cabinet.
  Born at Koloa, Kauai, Mr. Smith is the son of Dr. James William and Melicent 
(Knapp) Smith. He was educated at Rev. D. Dole’s school at Koloa, later 
attending Punahou School in Honolulu, leaving that institution to go to work 
on a sugar plantation for three years to learn the sugar industry, working in 
the boiling house in winter and in the fields in summer. Later he went to 
Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst, taking a course in chemistry, 
and returning to Honolulu in 1870.
  Before studying law and entering the profession which had been his life 
work, Mr. Smith was sheriff of Kauai for two years and of Maui for two years. 
He later read law in the office of the late Judge A. S. Hartwell and was 
admitted to practise before the Supreme Court in 1875. He was deputy attorney 
general for nearly seven years.
  He served in the Hawaiian legislature intermittently for a period of 20 
years, from 1878 to 1899. He became attorney general in January, 1893, and 
served during the period of the provisional government, resigning when Hawaii 
became a Territory. During the same period he acted as president of the board 
of health and was ex-officio member of the legislature. He was a territorial 
senator from 1907 until 1911, and President of the Senate the last two years. 
When not filling public office, Mr. Smith has been engaged in private 
practice, and has been affiliated with various law firms during his long 
career. While not now in general practice, Mr. Smith is still affiliated with 
the law firm of Smith, Warren, Stanley & Vitousek, and handles important trust 
matters.
  Mr. Smith served for several years as President of the Guardian Trust 
Company and later as President of the Bishop Trust Co., Ltd., he is a trustee 
of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association, the Bishop Estate, Alexander 
Young Estate, Lunalilo Estate, Queen Liliuokalani Trust and the Children’s 
Hospital, and is a director of the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co., Ltd., 
Alexander & Baldwin, Ltd., and other corporations.
  He married Mary Abbey Hobron, March 23, 1876, at Honolulu. They had five 
children, Clarence Hobron, Ethel Frances, Pauline Melicent, Anna Kathrine and 
Lorrin Knapp Smith. He is a member of the Pacific, University and Oahu Country 
Clubs.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/bios/smith553bs.txt

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

File size: 6.2 Kb