Samuel Alexander “Sam” Baldwin
1885-1950
Haleakalā Ranch | Hawai'i
Samuel Alexander Baldwin was born on August 30, 1885, the youngest of H.P. and Emily Baldwin’s eight children. After graduating from Yale University, Sam worked initially for Alexander & Baldwin, headquartered in Honolulu, but for health and personal reasons, he left A&B in 1916 to take up the position of Ranch Manager, succeeding Louis Von Tempsky. Sam married Anna Kathrine Smith in 1909 while his oldest brother, Harry married Kathrine’s sister, Ethel in 1897. On Maui, Sam and Kathrine built their home at Kapalaea, adjacent to the present-day ranch office, where they raised their five children.
Sam played a pivotal role in the development of Haleakalā Ranch. He refined the cattle operation, improving the quality of the stock and planting more productive pasture grasses. He expanded the dairy operation and was instrumental in judiciously experimenting with diversified agricultural initiatives long before the concept and value of diversification were fully appreciated. Over the course of the more than 30 years of management, he was a prudent steward of the Ranch and the dairy. He was committed to developing and caring for the Company, his employees and their families, and he truly loved the ʻāina.
From Sam’s diary, spanning the 17 years he managed Haleakalā Ranch, we know details of his day to day activities: he assiduously rode the ranch to rotate pasturing, drive, round up, and brand cattle and organize livestock shipments to Honolulu. He continually assessed water resources, checked fencing and supervised the fence gang. He surveyed and documented the land and its condition, rainfall and weather patterns. He worked to cull gorse, guava, and other invasive species. He met with his brother, Harry, ranch president. He organized family reunions, trips into the crater and Wai’ōpai. He documented mundane responsibilities such as equipment purchases and repair, office work, letter writing, paydays, and bill paying. His diary captures many of the day to day activities that continue to consume a ranch manager of today.
There are many accounts of Sam Baldwin and all attest to the affection and respect people held for him. Grandson, Peter Baldwin, described him as “soft-spoken and compassionate.” Harold Amoral, former ranch cowboy and foreman, described Sam as “an easy-going man, very quiet. If you grew up on the Ranch, he’d let you go with the working men. I learned ranch life that way.” Sam always encouraged the Ranch kids to follow in their family footsteps. Ranch employee Kenneth “Blackie” Freitas recalls: “He’d say, give the young kids horses to go brand, ride from headquarters, go up to Olinda, Castle, or wherever they’re branding, that’s the way you make cowboys.”
Sam Baldwin retired as ranch manager in 1947 and took the role of ranch president until he died in 1950.