John Palmer Parker, I
Year Inducted: 2001
Parker Ranch | Hawai'i
The son of a Massachusetts ship owner, John Palmer Parker arrived at Kawaihae in 1809 after sailing around the Horn from New England. He was just 19 years old and was a captain’s clerk on a merchant ship. Only 16 years earlier, Captain George Vancouver had introduced the first five head of cattle to these islands, and already they were roaming in the plains and valleys by the thousands. Young John Parker jumped ship and the rest is history. He built one of the largest cattle ranches in the world – still known today as Parker Ranch. It eventually covered more than a half a million acres and had a purebred herd of 30,000 Hereford cattle. This may not have happened if Kamehameha the Great had not taken a liking to him. He let John be one of the first to break the kapu on the wild herds of cattle roaming the countryside and before long, John was bartering their beef, tallow and hides for other goods. But it was his marriage to Kipikane, the daughter of a high-ranking chief, that was the beginning of an island ranching dynasty that reaches down to the present day. The last decendant of John Palmer Parker I to run the ranch was Richard Smart, who became the sole heir at age 3 and its sole owner at age 20. Many of his ranch employees were decendants of the paniolo who worked for John Palmer Parker a century before. Richard Smart died in 1992 and left the ranch in trust for the people of Parker Ranch.