William Northey Hooper (1809–1878) was born in
Manchester, Massachusetts
Manchester-by-the-Sea (also known simply as Manchester, its name prior to 1989) is a coastal town on Cape Ann, in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is known for scenic beaches and vista points. According to the 2020 population ...
to the Massachusetts Hooper family of shipmasters and merchants. In 1835, with two other investors, he founded and operated
Ladd & Co., which operated the
Old Sugar Mill of Koloa
The Old Sugar Mill of Kōloa was part of the first commercially successful sugarcane plantation in Hawaii, which was founded in Kōloa on the island of Kauai in 1835 by Ladd & Company. This was the beginning of what would become Hawaii's larg ...
, the first large scale sugar producer in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
. It marked the birth of Hawaii's leading industry for 150 years. Hooper later served as
Consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...
to the
Kingdom of Hawaii
The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent island ...
,
[Pope and Hooper “Hooper Genealogy"] and was a founder of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.
Life
In 1832, the partners sailed from
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
for
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
, via
Valparaiso, on the ''Hellespont''. The ship was originally feared burnt at sea, but the voyagers arrived the following year. At about the age of 24, Hooper’s role was to establish and operate the plantations. Starting from this plantation on land leased from King
Kamehameha III
Kamehameha III (born Kauikeaouli) (March 17, 1814 – December 15, 1854) was the third king of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1825 to 1854. His full Hawaiian name is Keaweaweula Kīwalaō Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa and then lengthened to Keaweaweula K ...
, sugar became the
principal industry in Hawaii, surpassing whaling, and the driving force behind 350,000 people from all over the world immigrating to the islands to work in its plantations.
Sugar remained the leading industry in Hawaii until about 1960, when supplanted by tourism, but Hooper’s plantings were still in production in 1985.
The site of the Ladd plantation has been designated a National Historic Landmark, and sugar’s prominence in the island economy played a key role behind the U.S. annexation of the Hawaiian Islands.
[National Park Service a]
“Old Sugar Mill Of Koloa"
/ref>
Hooper was the son of William Hooper, sea captain of Manchester, MA, and Sally Northey. His brother was the Boston manufacturer Henry Northey Hooper
Henry Northey Hooper (1799 – 1865) was a preeminent 19th-century American manufacturer and merchant of decorative lighting, Civil War artillery, and bells and chimes. He was a Boston politician and foundry owner and in his firm he cast the ...
and his nephew was abolitionist Lewis Northey Tappan
Lewis Northey Tappan (June 15, 1831February 25, 1880) was an abolitionist, politician, and Colorado pioneer and entrepreneur. He was son of Colonel Ebenezer Tappan, a manufacturer and State Legislator of the prominent Tappan family of Massachu ...
. Hooper married Charlotte Augusta Wood, who sailed from Boston with her brother, Dr. Robert Wood, and the three Ladd partners. The couple eventually left Hawaii and settled in San Francisco in 1848, where he helped establish the first Chamber of Commerce, was a prosperous merchant in the firm of Cross, Hobson & Co., and served on the city’s debt committee.
Notes
References
*Pope, Charles Henry and Hooper, Thomas (1908). “Hooper Genealogy”, Charles Pope, Boston, MA.
*Paul T. Burlin (2006). “Imperial Maine and Hawai’i", Lexington Books, Lanham, MD
*Darlene E. Kelley (2008). “Keepers Of The Culture, A Study In Time Of The Hawaiian Islands”
External links
Koloa, Birthplace of the Hawaiian Sugar IndustryPlaque at Sugar MonumentThe Beginnings of Sugar Production in Hawai'iAccount of the Hellespont in the American Railroad Journal, 1833Keepers of the Culture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooper, William
Businesspeople from Massachusetts
1809 births
1878 deaths
Businesspeople from Hawaii
Sugar barons
People from Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts
19th-century American businesspeople