Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1899-12-18

liams that in 1857 he was admitted to
the bar after passing Almost credltable
examination. A very short time after
acquiring the privileges of barrister
he was induced to accept the important
post CT District Magistrate at Hilo. He
presided. with signal ability over the
court for eighteen years. resigning In
1876 on account of falling health.
nile District Magistrate at Hilo he
had often visited Honolulu to repre-
sent clients having cases in the Su-
preme Court of the Islands. and he was
known at the capital as a well equip
ped attorney. careful and capable.
The retired magistrate wishing the
healthful profits of outdoor life. took
up surveying, he having studied civil
engineering at Williams. He and the
late Judge Il. G.. Hitchcock and Dr.
', gilmore formed a sugar producing
partnership, establishing the Papaikou
estate, which afterwards was merged
into Onomea plantation. David
Howard Hitchcock acquired lands.
He had always been a good business
man, frugal in his affairs and he pros
pered materially. 1t was ever his
thought to improve the condition and
enlarge the chances of those who look
ed to the generous soil for livelihood
and he was the promoter Of much tree
planting, importing many fruit trees.
He was one of the first men to reach
the conviction that coffee could be
grown commercially on Hawaii and he
invested large sums of money In the
industry. He contributed more than
IL. - - H..
country agriculturally and 1t was
steadily his first thought to enable ma
tive people to hold iand and to get the
best uses from their acres.
Such a marked individuality as that
of David Howard Hitchcock made its
impress on the public business of the
country, for he was ever figure on
the higher, self-sacriflcing political
plane. AS late as the year 1895 his
voice was heard urging for the great
est good for the greatest number and
for the making of representative
citizenship and all its attributes, bene-
fits or results. This was as a member
o. the convention framing the consti-
tuition for the Republic of Hawaii. He
was a member of the lower branch of
the monarchical legislature as early as
vice president for the representatives
and happened to occupy the chair
when Lunalilo was elected King. He
was, as a member of the convention,
one of the delegates in opposition to
the famous constitution which Kane
hameha V proclaimed simply by au-
tnority of the throne, after arbitrarily
proroguing the convention. After the
governmental upheaval of 1887 David
Howard Hitchcock was elected u no
bic, or member of the senior house of
the assembly at Honolulu and sat two
terms. He had lived in n grass house
when he first went to Hilo, because
,nere was none other. For long time.
up to a few years ago. he published
re Hilo Record" newspaper, with an
edition of four copies-typewritten.
He saw Hilo become splendid modern
town with two newspapers. He had
even known the whaling business, for
he one time did some trading with the
visitors at Lahaina, Maui. He saw
thousands of the natives come into the
church, where the sight of a foreign
person was a sensation among the Ha-
wailans.
The year 1857 was one of the pleas
ATTEST as well as one of the most
eventful in the life of David Howard
Hitchcock. In that year Almeda e.
Widger, whom he had wooed and won
during his school Gays, became his
wife and was a true helpmeet. Their
pet was Miss Almeda Hitchcock, who
became an attorney by taking the full
course at Ann Arbor Law School and
who practiced with her father up to
the time Of her death. Another daugh-
ter rs Mrs. A. b. Loebenstein of Hilo
and a third Mrs. II. S. Townsend,
whose husband Is inspector general of
schools for the Islands. One son is a
business man and the other the well
known artist, d. Howard Hitchcock,
whose great success was extremely
pleasing to the father in his old age.
And of all the work placed at the home
shrine, deceased most appreciated the
little things hung on the walls or made
a part of the main buildings in the
manor at Hilo or the lodge In Olaa
Hawaii is worthy yet when she pro-
duces such men as was David Howard
Hitchcock