William Nevins Armstrong (March 10, 1835 – October 16, 1905), akaNevins Armstrong and akaW. N. Armstrong, was theAttorney General of Hawaii during the reign of King DavidKalākaua. He is most widely known outside of Hawaii for the bookAround the World with a King, his insider account ofKalākaua's 1881 world tour.
Young William was enrolled atPunahou School in Honolulu in 1842.[4] By the age of 12, he was already looking ahead to fund his college education and was working part-time as abookbinder.[5] In 1849, he and schoolmateCharles Hastings Judd, as children of ministers of the cabinet ofKamehameha III, attended theRoyal School. They formed a lifelong friendship with a younger schoolmate, future King of HawaiiDavid Kalākaua.[6] When he was 15 years old, his mother accompanied him to the mainland United States,[7] where he was enrolled in the university preparatoryPhillips Academy atAndover, Massachusetts.[8]
For the rest of his life, Armstrong lived in Hawaii for extended periods, but also spent extended periods with his family in Virginia. By 1880, he was again living in Hawaii. From November 29, 1880, to May 19, 1882, Armstrong was a member of the House of Nobles in thelegislature of the Kingdom of Hawaii.[12]
King Kalākaua appointed him Attorney General of the Kingdom of Hawaii in December 1880.[13] Shortly thereafter, he was invited to participate inKalākaua's 1881 world tour, an endeavor to encourage plantation labor immigration to Hawaii.[14] Before sailing, Kalākaua appointed him Royal Commissioner of Immigration to authorize him to negotiate with foreign governments.[15] It was his responsibility to compile a feasibility study of each country they visited, reporting back on which nations were likely to provide "a desirable population" for the Hawaiian labor force. Together with Chamberlain Colonel Charles Hastings Judd, and cook Robert von Oelhoffen, they circumnavigated the world from February 22 to October 29, visiting Asia, the Mideast and Europe. At the end, they took a railroad train trip from the east coast of the United States to California, and sailed back to Hawaii.[16]
Upon their return, he resumed the position of Attorney General and held it until May 1882.[18] Concurrently in that year, Armstrong held the positions of president of the Board of Immigration,[19] president of the Board of Health, and Commissioner of Crown Lands.[20] He was Chairman of the Labor Commission in 1894-1885.[21]
In 1885 he returned to tend to the family oyster farming business in Virginia, helping organize the Oyster Convention inHampton to convince the state legislature to allow privatization of oyster beds.[22] He later served as a commissioner of the Massachusetts Supreme Court.
From 1897 through 1899, he was editor of the Honolulu daily newspaperThe Pacific Commercial Advertiser.[23] After returning to the mainland, he continued his reporting for the newspaper.[24]
The detailed journal he had kept of the world trip with Kalākaua was published asAround the World with a King in 1904, the year before Armstrong died.[25] This publication has been criticized for errors, inconsistencies and Armstrong's satirical writing style.
He wed Mary Frances Morgan on April 10, 1867. She predeceased him in 1903.[26] The couple maintained a home in Virginia, and were the parents of a daughter Dorothy, and three sons, Matthew, Richard and Kalani.
Armstrong had been suffering from liver disease for a few years, and succumbed tocatarrh at Garfield Hospital inWashington D. C. on October 15, 1905.[27] He was cremated, and his ashes were returned to Hawaii and buried along with his parents atKawaiahaʻo Church cemetery.[10][28]
^"William N. Armstrong". Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii: The Hawaiian Gazette. October 17, 1905. p. 4. RetrievedDecember 22, 2016 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
^"Finds by the Archivarian". Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii: The Hawaiian Gazette. November 10, 1905. p. 6. RetrievedDecember 22, 2016 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
^"City Directory: The Cabinet". Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands: The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. December 4, 1880. RetrievedDecember 22, 2016 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
^"Island Locals". Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii: The Hawaiian Gazette. January 19, 1881. RetrievedDecember 22, 2016 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.;"Proclamation". Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands: The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. February 5, 1881. RetrievedDecember 22, 2016 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
^"City Directory: The Cabinet". Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands: The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. December 4, 1880. RetrievedDecember 22, 2016 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.;Kuykendall 1967, pp. 252, 254;"Inspectors of Election". Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands: The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. December 24, 1881. RetrievedDecember 22, 2016 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
^Forbes 2003, pp. 36–37;"The Labor Commission". Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands: The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. November 2, 1894. p. 7. RetrievedDecember 22, 2016 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
^"The Succulent Oyster". Richmond, VA. The Richmond Dispatch. December 18, 1885. RetrievedDecember 22, 2016 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
^"Local Brevities". Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands: The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. August 3, 1897. p. 7. RetrievedDecember 22, 2016 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
^"Local and General News".The Independent. Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands. February 10, 1903. RetrievedDecember 22, 2016 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
^"W. N. Armstrong Dies at Seventy". Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii: The Evening Bulletin. October 16, 1905. pp. 1, 8. RetrievedDecember 22, 2016 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.;"Death of a Kamaaina". Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands: The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. October 17, 1905. pp. 1, 2. RetrievedDecember 22, 2016 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
^"Armstrong's Ashes Arrived". Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands: The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. December 23, 1905. p. 6. RetrievedDecember 22, 2016 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.;"Mr. Armstrong Had Disease of the Liver". Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands: The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. October 26, 1905. p. 1. RetrievedDecember 22, 2016 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
