Zephaniah Swift Spalding

Commonly known as Col. Spalding, or as Z. S., Zephaniah Swift Spalding was born in Warren, Ohio, on September 2, 1837, the fifth of seven children of Lucretia A. Swift Spalding and Rufus Paine Spalding. As a young lawyer, Rufus had apprenticed under Lucretia's father Zephaniah Swift.{{cite web |title=Colonel Zephaniah Swift Spalding |url=http://imagesofoldhawaii.com/colonel-zephaniah-swift-spalding/ |website=Images of Old Hawaiʻi |access-date=January 17, 2020 |date=February 3, 2015}} Two years after son Zephaniah's birth, Rufus entered politics, as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, and later as a member of the US House of Representatives.{{cite web |title=Rufus Paine Spalding (1798–1886) |url=https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=S000697 |website=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress |publisher=United States Congress |access-date=January 17, 2020}}

In the American Civil War, Z. S. was a Union Army lieutenant colonel in the 27th Ohio Infantry.{{harvnb|US Government|1895|p=234}}

During the reign of Kamehameha V, debates heated up in both Honolulu and Washington D. C. over a proposed sugar tariff reciprocity treaty between the United States and the Kingdom of Hawaii, versus outright American annexation of the island nation. Secretary of State {{nowrap|William H. Seward}} enlisted Spalding in an 1867 clandestine mission to Hawaii as a go-between observer accompanying United States Ambassador to Hawaii Edward M. McCook. Spalding would later testify that Seward's verbal directives were to gather intelligence on the kingdom's perspectives of Hawaii's ties to America, but was unwilling to put his directives in writing. His father Congressman Spalding received his son's missives, and forwarded them to Seward. Following the defeat of a proposed reciprocity treaty in the United States Congress, Spalding was named the United States Consul to Hawaii for twelve months during 1868–1869.{{harvnb|Kuykendall|1953|pp=37, 209–224}}; {{harvnb|US Government|1895|pp=233–234}}

Spalding eventually relocated to San Francisco, California. With the passage of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875, he returned to Hawaii as an agent for the "Sugar Refineries of the city of San Francisco" bidding for the total year's crop. The planters rejected the proposition, and Spalding re-approached them as an independent buyer.{{cite news |title=Circular |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015418/1875-01-30/ed-1/seq-5/ |work=The Pacific Commercial Advertiser |date=January 30, 1875|access-date=January 17, 2020 |page=Image 5}}; {{cite news|title=editorial |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015418/1875-05-01/ed-1/seq-2/ |work=The Pacific Commercial Advertiser |date=May 1, 1875|access-date=January 17, 2020 |page=Image 2, col. 3}} He along with John Smith Walker and William G. Irwin organized William G. Irwin & Co.{{cite web |title=William G. Irwin |url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/bios/irwin32bs.txt |website=The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders |publisher=Honolulu Star Bulletin, Ltd|access-date=January 19, 2019 |date=1925}}

He began investing in the sugar industry, as owner of the Kealia Plantation on Kauai.{{harvnb|US Government|1895|pp=233–234}} He married Wilhelmina Makee, daughter of James Makee, owner of the Makee Sugar Company at Kapaa. Upon Makee's 1879 death, Spalding inherited all of his father-in-law's business investments.{{harvnb|Scharnhorst|2007|p=70}}; {{harvnb|Dole|1929|pp=10–15}} As the 1883 renewal, or termination, of the reciprocity treaty neared, the previously independent planters saw it in their best interests to organize. Spalding was one of the founders of the Planters Labor and Supply Company when it was chartered in March 1882. In October, he was elected president.{{harvnb|Kuykendall|1967|p=75}}; {{cite news |title=Charter Granted to "The Planters Labor and Supply Company |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015418/1882-03-25/ed-1/seq-9/ |work=The Pacific Commercial Advertiser |date=March 25, 1882 |page=9, cols 1–2|access-date=January 17, 2020}} The Makee Company was sold in 1916 for an undisclosed sum, but speculators at the time believed the sale price was in the area of $2,000,000 ({{Inflation|US|2,000,000|1916|fmt=eq}}).{{cite news |title=Lihue Plantation Closing Deal for Makee |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014682/1916-08-22/ed-2/seq-1/ |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=August 22, 1916|access-date=January 17, 2020 |page=Image 1, col. 1}};{{cite news |title=Big Plantation Deal Reaches Final Stages |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014682/1916-08-22/ed-2/seq-2/ |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=August 22, 1916|access-date=January 17, 2020 |page=Image 2, col. 1}}

Several individuals over the decades put forth proposals to lay a telegraph cable from San Francisco to each of the Hawaiian islands. The Republic of Hawaii contracted with Spalding in 1895, allotting a modest annual subsidy for the project, with a stipulation of a {{nowrap|November 1, 1898}} completion deadline. Additional funding was needed from the US government, but Congress failed to act on Spalding's request, and the terms of the contract could not be met.{{harvnb|Lydecker|1918|p=245}}; {{cite news |title=Colonel Spalding Four Million Dollar Cable to Honolulu |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/41970843/colonel_z_s_spaldings_four_million/ |work=The San Francisco Call|access-date=January 17, 2020 |date=August 24, 1895 |pages=7}}{{free access}}; {{harvnb|Republic of Hawaii|1894–1898|pp=101–102}} It was not until 1900 that the US Senate allocated money for a cable, which was laid by the Commercial Pacific Company in 1902.{{cite web |title=The House and the Pacific Telegraph |url=https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1901-1950/1903_01_02_Pacific-Telegraph/ |website=History, Art & Archives|access-date=January 17, 2020}}

Spalding was appointed to represent Hawaii at the 1889 Universal Exposition (World's Fair) in Paris.{{cite news |title=Z. S. Spalding appointed Hawaiian Commissioner to the Universal Exposition at Paris |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42468116/z_s_spalding_appointed_hawaiian/ |access-date=January 17, 2020 |work=www.newspapers.com}}; {{cite news |title=Letters from Col. Spalding |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85047084/1892-01-05/ed-1/seq-5/ |access-date=January 17, 2020 |work=The Pacific Commercial Advertiser |date=January 5, 1892}}

On July 18, 1871, he married Wilhelmina Harris Makee (1847–1908).{{cite news |last1=Taylor |first1=Clarice B. |title=Little Tales About Hawaii: Colonel Spalding Courts a Makee Girl |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42349622/little_tales_about_hawaii_colonel/ |access-date=January 17, 2020 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=April 18, 1949}} They had five children: Rufus Paine Spalding (1875–1946), Catherine Lucretia “Kitty” Spalding Clearwater (1875–1965), Julia Makee Spalding Senni (1876–1949), Alice Makee Spalding Bonzi (1879–1949) and James Makee Spalding (1880–1954). The children were educated in Europe.{{cite news |last1=Taylor |first1=Clarice B. |title=Little Tales All About Hawaii: More About the Spalding Family |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42349918/little_tales_all_about_hawaii_more/ |access-date=January 17, 2020 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=April 20, 1949}}

The family maintained homes in both Hawaii and California. Spalding's 50th birthday celebration on Kauai in 1887, drew an estimated attendance of 1,000 to 1,400 guests. Mrs. Spalding was primarily based in California, and had been in ill health for years, prior to her 1908 death.{{cite news |title=Mrs. Z. S. Spalding Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42435946/mrs_z_s_spalding_dies/ |work=The San Francisco Call |access-date=January 17, 2020 |date=January 20, 1908}}{{free access}}; {{cite news |title=Jubilee Birthday of Colonel Spalding |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025121/1887-09-06/ed-1/seq-6/ |work=The Hawaiian Gazette |date=September 6, 1887 |page=5, col. 3 |access-date=January 17, 2020 }} Z. S. died June 19, 1927, at his home in Pasadena, California.{{cite news |title=Col. Spalding, Cable Sponsor, Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42435267/col_spalding_cable_sponsor_dies/ |access-date=January 17, 2020 |date=June 21, 1927}}{{free access}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite journal |last1=Dole |first1=Charles S. |title=Papers of the Hawaiian Historical Society number 16: The Hui Kawaihau |date=1929 |hdl=10524/978}}
• {{cite book|last=Kuykendall|first=Ralph Simpson|author-link=Ralph Simpson Kuykendall|title=The Hawaiian Kingdom 1854–1874, Twenty Critical Years|url=http://www.ulukau.org/elib/cgi-bin/library?c=kingdom2&l=en|volume=2|year=1953|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-0-87022-432-4|oclc=47010821}}
• {{cite book |last=Kuykendall |first=Ralph Simpson |author-link=Ralph Simpson Kuykendall |title=The Hawaiian Kingdom 1874–1893, The Kalakaua Dynasty |url=http://www.ulukau.org/elib/cgi-bin/library?c=kingdom3&l=en |volume=3 |year=1967 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |location=Honolulu |isbn=978-0-87022-433-1 |oclc=500374815 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Lydecker |first1=Robert C. |title=Roster legislatures of Hawaii, 1841–1918.: Constitutions of monarchy and republic, speeches of sovereign and President. |date=1918 |publisher=Hawaiian Gazette Co. |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001150072|via=HathiTrust}}
• {{cite journal|last=Republic of Hawaii |title=Constitution of the Republic of Hawaii and laws passed by the Executive and Advisory Councils of the Republic. |journal=Vols. For 1895-1898 Have Title:laws of the Republic of Hawaii |pages=4 v |date=1894–1898 |publisher=Hawaiian Gazette Company |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100575828 |series=Laws, etc. (Session laws : 1894-1898) }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Scharnhorst |first1=Gary |title="I Wish to Know More About the Islands": Kate Field in Hawaii, 1895–1896 |journal=Hawaiian Journal of History |volume=41 |date=2007 |hdl=10524/12228}}
• {{cite book|last=US Government |title=United States Congressional serial set |date=1895 |publisher=United States Government |location=Sworn Statement of Zephaniah Swift Spalding |pages=233–261 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=34A3AQAAIAAJ&q=%22Zephaniah+Swift+Spalding+%22&pg=PA233 }}

• {{Find a Grave|id=163383964|name=Zephaniah Swift Spalding}}

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Category:People from Kauai

Category:Hawaiian Kingdom people

Category:Businesspeople from Hawaii

Category:Sugar plantation owners

Category:1837 births

Category:1927 deaths

Category:People from Warren, Ohio

Category:Union army officers

Category:American sugar industry businesspeople