Whitmore - John Lawler Whitmore (1879-1933)

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Whitmore - John Lawler Whitmore (1879-1933)

John Lawler Whitmore was born on September 2, 1879 to William Holden and Lucy Ella (Lawler) Whitmore in Tremont, Maine. John married Edna May Thompson (1890-1978), daughter of Thomas and Rose (Rasmusen) Thompson, on June 15, 1910. John Lawler Whitmore died on April 30, 1933 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

“During the summer of 1900 or 1901 James [Drummond] Dole, [1877-1958)] went to Hawaii to visit his cousin Sanford [Ballard Dole (1844-1926), President of the Republic of Hawaii] and ended up buying a 60-acre homestead in Wahiawa on the island of Oahu… The red dirt of the Wahiawa plateau was just right for pineapples, but Jim Dole made the mistake of putting lime on the soil so had bad luck with his first crop. When that was corrected, Jim realized that any future of pineapples lay in canning them. The cost of packing and shipping the fresh fruit limited that market. The crop he was now planting would be ripe and ready to harvest eighteen months from planting.

“On his next trip east [the summer of 1902] Jim Dole approached John [Lawler] Whitmore’s uncle, Allen [J.] Lawler, who had the clam factory in Southwest Harbor, to see whether he would be interested in going to Hawaii with him to start and run a cannery… Allen didn’t hesitate to say he would not. He pointed at John: ‘My nephew there, he might help you out. He’s been running this outfit summers for quite a piece. We don’t can winters; so he took himself off to Portland business school this last winter. He’s go a good head on him and he gets along good with everyone. I’d miss him awful, but there’s not much here for a smart young fella like him. Try him, why don’t you?’

[John Lawler Whitmore was fifth cousin once removed to James Drummond Dole through James’ father, Charles Fletcher Dole. The Charles Fletcher Dole family summered in Southwest Harbor.]

“By November 14, 1902, John Whitmore was on his way across the continent by train headed for Hawaii… On December 3rd he got to Honolulu.

“[John Lawler Whitmore] was active in the Hawaiian Pineapple Company for over thirty years. He helped build the first cannery at Wahiawa and …expand the growth of pineapples. In 1903, when discouraged stockholders were selling, he bought stock. When the cannery was moved to Honolulu, John Whitmore was made Plantation Manager and Vice President of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company and was active in the Company until his death on April 30, 1933.” - “A Man From Maine: John Lawler Whitmore 1880-1933 - A Memoir” privately printed by Gladys W. Butler, not paginated. From the section titled, “Box of Letters: Wahiawa, 1902-1907”