was an American inventor and politician who served as the mayor of

Edmonston, Maryland Edmonston is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 1,445. The community is located from Washington, D.C. Edmonston's ZIP code is 20781. History The area of present-day Edmon ...

in 1927 and 1943.

Biography

Matsudaira was born in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

on September 13, 1885, as the son of a Japanese father, Tadaatsu, and an American mother, Carrie Sampson. He was a descendant of the Fujii-Matsudaira clan. After his father's death, he lived with his maternal grandparents in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. On May 1, 1912, Matsudaira filed fo
U.S. Patent 1,111,912
concerning the functions of a thermometric fire-detector. The patent was granted to him on September 29, 1914. In 1925, Matsudaira sent a letter to the

Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C. is the diplomatic mission of Japan to the United States. It is located at 2520 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, D.C., in the Embassy Row neighborhood. In addition to serving as Japan's diplomatic mission in the United States, the embassy pro ...

, asking whether he was related to

Tsuneo Matsudaira was a Japanese diplomat of the 20th century. Diplomatic and political career The son of Lord Matsudaira Katamori of Aizu, Tsuneo served as Japanese Ambassador to the United States. In 1929–1935 served as Ambassador to Britain, and in that ...

, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States at the time. Matsudaira was elected as the mayor of

, in the summer of 1927. The election reportedly made him the first Japanese American mayor in the United States. He was re-elected as mayor of Edmonston in 1943.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matsudaira, Kinjiro 1885 births 1963 deaths 20th-century American politicians American inventors American mayors of Japanese descent American politicians of Japanese descent Asian-American people in Maryland politics Fujii-Matsudaira clan