Macfarlane & Co. Honolulu

Macfarlane & Co. Honolulu

(MCo Monogram)

George Walter Macfarlane, Clarence William MacFarland & Henry R. MacFarlane, Honolulu, Hawaii

Amber Cylinder Fifth

Provenance: Richard T. Siri Collection

George Walter Macfarlane, Henry R. Macfarlane, and Commodore Clarence William Macfarlane were three of four brothers living and working in Honolulu, Hawaii. George was a financier, merchant, and statesman while his brother Clarence, among other things, founded the Transpacific Yacht Race in 1906 by sailing from San Pedro/Los Angeles, California to Honolulu, Hawaii. The three brothers were merchants engaging in importing and selling wholesale liquor. They also had a whiskey bottle with their company name embossed on it.

George W. Macfarlane would start this company in 1879. We are fortunate to have an outstanding example of a red-amber “Macfarlane & Co. Honolulu” bottle in our museum. The bottle was made in the mid-1890s. We will look at two historical sketches of the brothers in order to get a glimpse of the life and times in Hawaii and the story behind this bottle.

George Walter Macfarlane, financier, merchant, and statesman, was born in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, March 17, 1847, son of Henry and Eliza (Elliott) Macfarlane. His father was a direct descendant of the Macfarlane Highland-Scottish clan, and at the age of twenty-one left Perth, Scotland, for New Zealand, settling in Honolulu in 1845.

The son was educated at Punahou College, and when quite a lad entered the establishment of A. S. Cleghorn, a Scotch merchant. Later he acquired his first practical knowledge of cane culture and sugar making as assistant manager of the sugar estate of Capt. James Makee, on Maui. He was afterward engaged in the mercantile business with Janion, Green & Co., and later with Theophilus H. Davies & Co., English importers, with the latter firm being a managing clerk for five years.

In 1877 with W. L. Green, Hawaiian minister of finance, he established the importing house of Green, Macfarlane & Co., and in 1879 purchased Mr. Green’s interest in the business, and with his brother, Henry, started the firm of G. W. Macfarlane & Co.

When King Kalakaua ascended the throne he appointed Mr. Macfarlane on his personal staff with the rank of colonel, and in 1888 made him chamberlain, which position he held until the king’s death. He was also appointed by the king a privy councilor, and a member of àe house of nobles; as a member of this house being entrusted with the important mission of floating Hawaii’s first foreign loan of $2,000,000 in London, on the open bonds of the Hawaiian government. Later he successfully floated the Hawaiian Sugar Co. in London, with a capital of $2,000,000; the Hawaiian Street Railroad Co., and the bonds of the Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Co., known as the Spreckles sugar estate, the largest in the world.

His latest financial achievement was in 1899, when he organized the First American Bank of Hawaii with a capital of $1,000,000, and succeeded in interesting the great financial house of Seligman & Co., of New York, and the Anglo-California Bank of London and San Francisco in this enterprise. The title of the bank was afterwards changed to the First National Bank of Hawaii when it became the fiscal agent and depository of the U. S. government.

When King Kalakaua made his journey around the world, Col. Macfarlane accompanied him, and during that trip was decorated by a number of the rulers of the countries visited. He was with the king at the time of his death in San Francisco, Cal.

When only twenty-nine years of age the government entrusted him with an extensive immigration scheme and under a treaty and labor convention with the king of Portugal, Mr. Macfarlane introduced into Hawaii, by chartered ocean steamers, some 20,000 Portuguese immigrants, the adults, and heads of families being provided with profitable employment under the protection of the board of immigration of Hawaii. He was married in San Francisco, April 23, 1894, to Julie Albu, of London, England.

Clarence William Macfarlane, Importer. A native of Hawaii and descended from early settlers in Honolulu, Clarence W. Macfarlane early in his business career became identified with the sugar industry, entering the employ of F. A. Schaefer & Co., Ltd., in 1889. He later went to Waikapu, Maui, to take up sugar boiling under the instruction of his brother-in-law, Col. W. H. Cornwell who, with his brother, G. W. Macfarlane, were the owners of Waikapu Sugar Co. He followed this occupation for five years and then filled a similar position as assistant to W. H. Blaisdell at Ulupalakua Sugar Co.

Mr. Macfarlane organized the Oceanic Gas & Electric Co. in the late 80’s and introduced the first acetylene gas plants and vapor gasoline lighting plants into Hawaii. He disposed of this business after two years. In the early 90’s he became associated with his brother in the firm of Macfarlane & Co., engaged in the wholesale liquor business in Honolulu.

After five years with this firm, Mr. Macfarlane became associated with his brother, Geo. W. Macfarlane, in the management of an exporting and importing firm, plantation agencies, and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and Seaside Hotel. Later Mr. Macfarlane became manager of the Seaside Hotel. At present, he is an importer of machinery and fire appliances.

During the last days of the Hawaiian Monarchy, Mr. Macfarlane was a supporter of the throne, participating in the revolution of 1893 as a royalist. In those days he was a turf enthusiast, maintaining a string of blooded horses. He later became interested in aquatic sports and was captain of the Healani Yacht and Boat Club and commodore of the Hawaii Yacht Club.

Hawaii was indebted to Mr. Macfarlane in 1906 when his efforts made the first trans-Pacific yacht race possible. He took his yacht, “La Paloma” to the Pacific Coast, arriving in San Francisco a few days after the earthquake and fire. The trip to the coast was made in 28 days, while the return voyage, at racing speed, was accomplished in 14 days. Aside from his interest in yachting, Mr. Macfarlane is credited with being the first white man in Honolulu to master the sports of surf-boarding and canoeing in outriggers. He still retains his enthusiasm for boating and assisted in the organization of the Kaneohe Yacht Club in 1924.

Mr. Macfarlane was born in Honolulu, March 6, 1868, the son of Richard R. and Eliza Macfarlane. His father settled in Hawaii in 1849, coming from Scotland by way of Australia. He received his education in Honolulu schools, going later to San Francisco where he attended a number of institutions. He studied also at St. Augustine Military Academy, Benicia, Cal. Mr. Macfarlane and Julia Kitchen (deceased) were married in Honolulu in 1899. He has one child by a former marriage. He is a member of the Sons of Kamehameha and has participated extensively in Democratic politics. In 1919 and 1920, he was chairman of the Civil Service Commission.

Primary Image: Macfarlane & Co. Honolulu bottle imaged on location by the FOHBC Virtual Museum midwest studio led by Alan DeMaison.

Support: Reference to The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, George Walter Macfarlane, J. T. White, 1904

Support: Reference to The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Clarence William Macfarlane. Published by the Honolulu Star Bulletin Ltd., Territory of Hawaii, 1925. Author: Edited by George F. Nellist

Support: Whiskey Bottles of the Old West by John L. Thomas, 2002

Support Images: Norman Heckler and Heckler C. Heckler & Co., Auctions

Support Images: Jeff Wichmann and American Bottle Auctions

Support: Reference to W. C. Peacock: The Whiskey Man Who Made Waikiki by Jack Sullivan

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