Kinjiro Matsudaira (松平 欽次郎, Matsudaira Kinjirō, September 13, 1885 – October 1963) was an American inventor and politician who served as the mayor of Edmonston, Maryland in 1927 and 1943.
Kinjiro Matsudaira | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 13, 1885 Pennsylvania, United States |
| Died | October 1, 1963 (aged 78) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | Matsudaira Tadaatsu Carrie Sampson |
Biography
editMatsudaira was born in Pennsylvania on September 13, 1885, as the son of a Japanese father, Tadaatsu,[1] and an American mother, Carrie Sampson. He was a descendant of the Fujii-Matsudaira clan.[2] After his father's death, he lived with his maternal grandparents in Virginia. On May 1, 1912, Matsudaira filed for U.S. Patent 1,111,912 concerning the functions of a thermometric fire-detector.[3] The patent was granted to him on September 29, 1914.[4]
In 1925, Matsudaira sent a letter to the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C., asking whether he was related to Tsuneo Matsudaira, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States at the time.[5]
Matsudaira was elected as the mayor of Edmonston, Maryland, in the summer of 1927.[6] The election reportedly made him the first Asian American mayor in the United States.[7][8][9][10] He was re-elected as mayor of Edmonston in 1943.[11][12]
References
edit- ^ Imada, Eiichi (2005). 日系アメリカ人と戦争: 六〇年後の真実: コロラド日本人物語 [Japanese-American War: The truth after sixty years: A Colorado Japanese Story] (in Japanese). Parade. p. 327. ISBN 9784434066252.
- ^ Lee, Jonathan H. X.; Adachi, Dean Ryuta (2017-11-30). Japanese Americans: The History and Culture of a People. ABC-CLIO. p. xxix. ISBN 9781440841903.
- ^ Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office. United States Patent Office. 1914. p. 1237.
- ^ Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents. United States Government Printing Office. 1915. p. 374.
- ^ Yasui, True (August 1988). "Mile-Hi Notes, Volume 4, Number 8". Auraria Library Digital Collections. Retrieved 2017-11-19.
- ^ Robinson, Greg (2021-05-05). "Kinjiro Matsudaira: Mayor of Edmonston, Maryland". Japanese American National Museum.
- ^ "Newsfaces". NewspaperArchive. The Anniston Star. 1927-09-06. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
- ^ ""East is East and West is West," But Edmonston's Mayor Is a Little of Each". Newspapers.com. The Culver Citizen. 1928-03-07. Retrieved 2017-11-19.
- ^ Yamaguchi, Yoji (1996). A Student's Guide to Japanese American Genealogy. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 50. ISBN 9780897749794.
- ^ "Edmonston: A bridge to the future". The Washington Examiner. 2010-04-15. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
- ^ Breningstall, Jeremy (2000-01-28). "Taking history into the future". Gazette.net. Retrieved 2017-11-19.
- ^ "History". Town of Edmonston. Retrieved 2017-11-19.