Territorial life
Parker supported Sanford Dole as the first governor of the Territory of Hawaii, even though he had some encouragement to seek that post himself.
In 1900 Parker attended the organizing convention of the Republican Party of Hawaii, and was chosen to attend the national convention in Philadelphia on June 19.
In September Parker was nominated without opposition by the Republicans for the first election of delegate to US Congress for the territory.
Prince David Kawānanakoa ran as a Democrat; they both lost. Parker came in a close second to Robert W. Wilcox of the Home Rule Party of Hawaii.
It is at this time that most townsfolk believe that the Postal Office in Waimea was renamed Kamuela in honor of Parker. This was to avoid confusion with the larger community of Waimea, Kauaʻi. This claim is supported by documentation within the records of the US Board of Geographic Names.
Parker's first wife died in July 1901.
His second wife was Abigail Kuaihelani Maipinepine (1859–1908), widow of industrialist James Campbell. They married January 3, 1902 at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco, with judge J. C. B. Hebbard officiating. This made him stepfather to Abigail Campbell and his second wife's other daughters. Parker had acquired a reputation as a notorious spendthrift. Even his supporters said:
The titled and the wealthy of all lands who have visited the islands know Parker and have partaken of his hospitality. Few men have bet more money at poker on small hands than has Colonel "Sam" Parker.
Three days later, his stepdaughter Abigail married Prince Kawānanakoa, who had been his opponent in the 1900 election.
This family and its descendants became known as the House of Kawānanakoa.
As part of their honeymoon, in early 1902 the Parkers traveled to Washington, DC, where he visited Theodore Roosevelt.
They returned to California February 2, 1902; it was rumored that Parker would be appointed as the next governor of the Territory of Hawaii. However, George R. Carter was appointed instead, descended from American missionaries. It would not be until John D. Waihee III in 1986 that an ethnic native Hawaiian would become governor.
Parker's wife was a target of a jewel theft when they returned in 1903.
Although Parker stayed active in the Republican party, he was never elected or appointed to a territorial office. He was able to convince Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, brother of his stepson-in-law Kawānanakoa, to run as a Republican in the 1902 election of congressional delegate; Kalanianaʻole won, and was reelected until his death.
Parker served as the first territorial representative on the Republican National Committee.
In 1904 he partnered with Kohala Plantation owner John Hind on the irrigation project known as the Kohala Ditch and hired Michael O'Shaughnessy to help engineer the project.
He invested in the Hawaiian Irrigation Company of John T. McCrosson, originally called the Hamakua Ditch company, but changed to avoid confusion with the earlier project of a similar name on Maui by Henry Perrine Baldwin. It was intended to build another irrigation system for Parker's Paʻauhau Plantation. Although Parker arranged various leases for ranch land, these projects fell into turmoil over contractual disputes.
Parker was often at odds with Parker Ranch manager Alfred Wellington Carter (cousin of governor George Carter). Carter was steadily investing in enlarging the ranch, while Parker was more interested in using its profits to support his lifestyle. Carter was appointed guardian of Annie Thelma Parker, heir of her adoptive grandfather John Parker II's half interest in the ranch. Carter proposed mortgaging that half to buy out Parker. Parker claimed he rightfully owned the entire ranch and started a lawsuit to remove Carter as guardian and ranch manager. Annie Thelma Parker's mother, who had remarried to Frederick S. Knight of San Francisco in October 1900, publicly attacked Parker saying she "had personal knowledge of the extravagance of said Samuel Parker and of his inability to manage his own property affairs in a discreet and prudent manner". Although the court battles dragged on for years, eventually Parker accepted $600,000 and a few small parcels in exchange for his share in the ranch, finalized on September 20, 1906.
After his wife Abigail's death in 1908, the Campbell Estate, one of the largest private landholdings in Hawaii, was left in trust to her children from her first marriage.
Parker spent more time in the US, including visiting his distant Boston relations. The press liked to call him the "King of Hawaii". His health started to fail, and he headed back to Hawaii in November 1913 on a new steamship of the Matson Navigation Company line.
Parker died March 19, 1920, after a heart illness. He and many family members are buried at the original Parker family cemetery near Hale Mana.
The Parker Ranch, estimated worth about $6 million at the time, was left in trust to his six-year-old great-grandson Richard Smart. Parker's personal estate went to five surviving children. When Smart died in 1992 the ranch passed to a non-profit trust.
Parker's nephew James Frank Woods (1872–1930), widower of daughter Eva, in 1923 married Elizabeth Kahanu Kalanianaʻole (1879–1932), who was the widow of Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole.
