KALBFLEISCH, MARTIN. 



393 



resent the King, but soon resigned his office 

 when he found the commission bent on abro- 

 gating the salutary laws restraining licentious- 

 ness and crime, which had lately been estab- 

 lished. When Admiral Thomas restored the 

 sovereignty to Kamehameha III., July 31, 1843, 

 Dr. Judd was invited by the King to organize 

 a ministry, which he did by selecting K. 0. 

 Wyllie to be Minister of Foreign Affairs, him- 

 self Minister of the Interior, and John Ricord 

 Attorney-General. This was the first cabinet 

 the Hawaiian Government ever had. In the 

 following year, 1844 or 1845, the cabinet was 

 increased to four ministers, and he took the 

 portfolio of the Finance Department, which he 

 held till 1853. In 1849 lie accompanied the 

 then Princes Liholiho and Lot Kamehameha to 

 Europe to make new treaties, and to endeavor 

 to settle the difficulty which occnrred with 

 France in that year. The ten years during 

 which he held office were probably the stormiest 

 decade in the modern political history of Ha- 

 waii, and it required a man of the firmness of 

 Dr. Judd to steer the frail ship of state, which 



had been launched on a stormy sea. To his tact 

 and wisdom, aided by his associates, Wyllie, 

 Richards, Lee, Ricord, and Andrews, were the 

 Hawaiian people indebted for the admirable 

 system of constitutional government then estab- 

 lished, and which has secured peace and quiet 

 to them for over thirty years. When he en- 

 tered the service of the King and organized for 

 him a government, he found him encumbered 

 with a load of debt, paying exorbitant inter- 

 est. By a system of prudent economy and 

 rigid circumspection he paid off these debts, 

 and established for the Hawaiian Government 

 an enviable financial reputation, whicli it has 

 preserved to this day. To him, more than to 

 any other man, living or dead, belongs what- 

 ever honor is due for its present national credit, 

 as well as for many of the substantial improve- 

 ments in the city of Honolulu. But it was as 

 a citizen and a warm friend of the Hawaiians 

 that his influence for good was most deeply 

 felt. Among the older natives, who knew him 

 best, he was looked up to as a faithful coun- 

 selor, and loved as a father. 



K 



KALBFLEISCH, MARTIN, a manufacturer 

 and political leader in Brooklyn, N. Y., three 

 times mayor of the city ; member of Congress 

 from Second District, New York, 1863 to 1865 ; 

 born in Flushing, Holland, February 8, 1804; 

 died in Brooklyn, February 12, 1873. When 

 very young he was sent to one of the excellent 

 schools of his native city, and prosecuted his 

 studies till he had received a very thorough 

 education. At the age of eighteen, finding 

 few opportunities for business in Flushing, he 

 determined to seek his fortune elsewhere, and, 

 with that end in view, took passage in the 

 American vessel Ellen Douglass, for Padang, 

 on the coast of Sumatra. He arrived safely at 

 his destination, bat found cholera raging fear- 

 fully, and, as the captain of his vessel thought 

 it unsafe to remain, Kalbfleisch decided not to 

 run any risk himself. He went, accordingly, 

 with the American captain to Antwerp, and 

 then, at the request of the latter, proceeded to 

 France, where they engaged in commercial 

 operations for four years. At Havre the young 

 man married, and soon after determined to 

 emigrate to America. In 1826 he sailed for 

 the United States, and settled in Harlem. For 

 several years he was obliged to work under 

 great disadvantages, having only a few ac- 

 quaintances, bnt he finally accumulated enough 

 to enable him to engage in the selling of paints 

 in a small way. He started an extensive color 

 establishment at Harlem in 1835, bat high 

 prices made it for his interest to remove his 

 factory to Norwalk, Conn. Unfortunately, on 

 the eve of ultimate success, his establishment 

 was horned to the ground. Disgusted by the 

 turn affairs had taken, Mr. Kalbfleisch returned 



to New York, and settled at Grcenpoint, L. I., 

 in 1842. His family was large, and, there 

 being no school in the vicinity where his chil- 

 dren could be educated, he immediately applied 

 himself to the task of supplying the want. He 

 procured the use of a dilapidated school-house 

 near Bushwick Church, and the services of a 

 teacher ; and, afterward, through his efforts, 

 a new house was built by the authorities, and 

 a school district permanently established. 

 Meanwhile, the chemical manufactory which 

 he had established needed enlargement on ac- 

 count of increased business, and he removed 

 it to a more desirable site in Brooklyn. Al- 

 though Mr. Kalbfleisch had always been inter- 

 ested in politics, it was not until 1851 that he 

 became a candidate for office, being elected 

 supervisor of the old town of Bnshwick, and 

 holding the position until the consolidation of 

 the cities of Williamsburgh and Brooklyn. 

 He was appointed one of the commissioners to 

 draw up a charter for the consolidation of the 

 two cities in 1853, acting as president of the 

 hoard. In the following year he was a candi- 

 date for Mayor of Brooklyn, and was defeated 

 by George Hall. In 1855 he was elected al- 

 derman of the Eighteenth Ward of that city, 

 and served in that capacity until May, 1861, 

 when he was again placed at the head of the 

 city ticket, and this time elected. While 

 mayor, he was chosen, in 1862, as representa- 

 tive in Congress from his district. He was 

 reelected to the office of chief magistrate of 

 Brooklyn in 1867, and, by virtue of his office, 

 was a member of various commissions and 

 trustee of several institutions, besides being a 

 director in two banks, and president of the 



