His father was early missionary Samuel Chenery Damon (1815–1885) and his mother was Julia Sherman Mills (1817–1890).

[9] He successfully appealed a lawsuit to the supreme court to demand exclusive fishing rights to the area offshore of Moanalua.

[10] In an even more unusual case, Charles Brenig, who had come to Hawaii under the name Simeon Weibert, died and left much of his estate to Damon.

[12] On August 12, 1884, King Kalākaua made Damon a member of the Privy Council, where he served until March 7, 1891.

He was appointed minister of finance on July 22, 1889, replacing amateur geologist and businessman William Lowthian Green.

Since he knew people on both sides, he helped negotiate a peaceful outcome, where Liliʻuokalani surrendered under protest to the US Government.

When it was apparent that the United States was not going to annex the islands immediately, he continued in the Republic of Hawaii government to September 12, 1896.

He was made a special envoy to attend the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria in London.

[16] After S. M. Damon died July 1, 1924, his estate (then estimated worth over US$250 million) was left in trust to his grandchildren.

[19] Trustees of the estate included retired General Frederick C. Weyand, great-grandson David M. Haig, former bank president Walter Dods, and local attorney Paul Mullin Ganley.

[22] The US Supreme Court refused to hear the case, so the estate, estimated worth $900 million in 2006, was distributed with half to descendants of each son.

[24] It is located on the southwest rift zone of Mauna Loa volcano, with headquarters at 19°3′17″N 155°41′29″W / 19.05472°N 155.69139°W / 19.05472; -155.69139 (Kahuku Ranch).

[25] The estate sold about 116,000 acres (47,000 ha) of the ranch in 2003 to the US Government (with financing from the Nature Conservancy) to expand Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for $22 million.