Charles Reed Bishop Information & Charles Reed Bishop Links at HealthHaven.com

A philanthropist and businessman, Charles Reed Bishop founded the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Kamehameha Schools, and Hawaii's first successful bank.

Charles Reed Bishop (January 25, 1822 – June 7, 1915) was a businessman and philanthropist in Hawaii. Born in Glens Falls, New York, he sailed to Hawaii in 1846 at the age of 24, and ended up making his home there.

Bishop was one of the first trustees of and largest donors to the Kamehameha Schools, the founder of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, the founder of Hawaii's first successful bank, a consultant and Privy Councilor to five generations of Hawaiian monarchs (1859 – 1892), a legislator and government official of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and one of Hawaii's greatest philanthropists. He was the husband of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, descendant of the royal Kamehameha line.^[1]

[edit] Early life

On January 25, 1822, Charles Reed Bishop was born to Maria Reed Bishop and Samuel Bishop. His father was a toll collector who worked on a toll booth in the middle of the Hudson River near Glens Falls, New York. Charles' mother died two weeks after giving birth to her next son, Henry. His father died when he was four, and Charles went to live with his grandfather on his 125-acre farm in Warrensburg. He worked on his grandfather's farm, learning how to care for sheep, cattle, and horses. While at his grandfather's house, he went and got baptized in a Methodist church.

Bishop spent his early years of education at a village school, and his 7th and 8th grade years completed his formal schooling. Bishop was then able to get a small job as a clerk, and was soon hired by Nelson J. Warren, who headed the largest mercantile company in Warrensburg.

[edit] In Hawaii

In 1858 he founded Bishop & Co., a bank in Honolulu. Over time the bank grew and today is First Hawaiian Bank, the oldest bank in Hawaii, and the second oldest bank west of the Rockies.