Samuel Mills Damon Samuel Mills Damon was a financial expert who funded agriculture and railway projects in Hawaiʻi. He was a trustee of Liliʻuokalani Trust from 1910 to 1918.Samuel Mills Damon was born on March 13, 1845, in Honolulu to the Rev. Samuel Chenery Damon and Julia Mills. His siblings were Edward Chenery, Francis Williams and William Frederick. He attended Punahou School (then known as Oʻahu College) from 1856 to 1863. On Sept. 5, 1872, he married Harriett Melinda Baldwin of Lahaina, also a descendant of a family of missionaries. They had four children: Samuel Edward, Mary Mills, Henry Fowler and Douglas Wilfred. Damon joined the Bank of Bishop & Co. (the predecessor to First Hawaiian Bank) in 1871, became a partner, and over the next few decades, positioned the financial institution to invest in Hawaiʻi's infrastructure. Major projects funded by the bank included Oʻahu Railway and sugar plantations. Under the reign of King David Kalākaua, he was a member of the Privy Council, Minister of Finance, Department of Health and Board of Education. Samuel continued to serve as finance minister through 1900 after the Territory of Hawaiʻi was established and was the Interior Minister of the Republic and an Advisory Council member for President Sanford B. Dole.After the death of King Kalākaua in 1891 and the accession of Queen Liliʻuokalani, he remained Minister of Finance through the Republic of Hawaiʻi. He also managed the monetary affairs for Liliʻuokalani Trust, as an appointed trustee from 1910 to 1918. Damon was a member of multiple organizations: the Society of Beaux Arts in Parks, Pacific Club of Honolulu and the Hawaiian Historical Society. He was given the Order of the Golden Reassures by Japan and was Knighted in the Order of Christ in Portugal. He also served as a trustee for Princess Bernice Pauahi’s estate. The princess passed away in 1884, and Damon inherited her land in Moanalua, some of which he cleared for Moanalua Gardens in 1898. The garden features tropical plants, trees and foliage from around the world. The “Hitachi Tree” is a well-known monkeypod tree at the gardens and has appeared in campaigns and TV commercials overseas. Moanalua Gardens remains open to the public. Damon passed away on July 1, 1924.