Biography
Archibald Douglas Augustine Stevenot (1882-1968) was a mine manager in Tuolumne County and a Merced hotel proprietor (1924-40). Stevenot managed the Carson Hill Mine (1919-1924) and other California mining properties. He was deeply involved in community affairs of the Mother Lode region, was a member of the State Chamber of Commerce for many years and was President of the Mother Lode Highway Association, an organization created to improve transportation to remote Sierra mining towns. The latter association merged with the Golden Chain Council of the Mother Lode (1950), an organization devoted to the promotion of Mother Lode tourism that Stevenot chaired for many years. ADS was also an avid amateur historian and belonged to various societies---notably E Clampus Vitus---whose concern was to promote interest in local history.
There were three other Stevenot brothers, Joseph Emile Hamilton Stevenot, Frederick G. Stevenot and Cassimir M. Stevenot. All were involved in mining activities both in California and in the Philippine Islands between about 1929 and 1941 through the Stevenot Corp. Joseph E.H. Stevenot lived for much of his adult life in the Philippine Islands. There he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Philippine Trust Co., Vice President & General Manager of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Director of the Bank of the Philippine Islands, Director of the Philippine Milling Co., Director of the Philippine Realty Corp., and Director of the Fidelity & Surety Co. of the Philippine Islands. He was a Colonel in the United States Army during World War II and was killed in a plane crash in the South Pacific in 1943. Following Joseph E.H. Stevenot's death, the remaining three brothers continued their mining and other financial activities. Ferdinand Gabriel Stevenot served in the California State Legislature from 1911 to 1913 and again from 1924 to 1926. In 1927 the Governor appointed him Director of Natural Resources. Later, Governor Young appointed him to the State Public Utilities Commission. He was a Vice President of the Bank of America, then President of the Bankamerica Agricultural Credit Corp. until 1942. Later, He was President of the Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Co. and the Portland Transit Co. FGS spent much of these years in San Francisco. He died in 1963.
From the guide to the Stevenot Family Papers, 1918-1966, (University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections)
