Samuel Mills Damon, son of noted longtime O'ahu Bethel Church pastor Samuel Chenery Damon, was one of the first people to fully realize the commercial potential of sugar in the Islands — eventually becoming a director of several large sugar plantations.
Born in Honolulu in 1845 and educated at Punahou School, Damon had a remarkable business career that began as a store clerk at W.N. Ladd & Co. He married Harriet Baldwin of Lahaina and the couple raised 10 children.
At age 26, Damon was employed with the only bank in the Islands, the Bank of Bishop & Co. By 1881, he was a partner in the firm, and four years later, when company founder Charles Reed Bishop moved to California after the death of his wife, Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Damon took over as head of the institution.
He became the kingdom's minister of finance under King Kalakaua and remained in that position through the end of the monarchy, the provisional government and finally the republic.
It was during the tension-filled overthrow of the government that Damon counseled Queen Lili'uolakani to relinquish power to the revolutionary forces.
Yet Damon was asked to represent the former queen in 1897 at the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in London.
