Signatories of the Banco de Guanajuato
Gerente
Consejero
Ramón Alcázar Ibargüengoitia was born in 1874 in Guanajuato, the son of Ramón Alcázar Castañeda and Luisa Ibargüengoitia Sánchez del Villar. He married Elena L. Corcuera y Paloma, daughter of Manuel L. Corcuera y Luna and Concepción Palomar y García Sancho. Alcázar began as a businessman, but later concentrated on dealing in mining shares in Guanajuato, Tamaulipas and ZacatecasAlcázar’ shareholdings included Compañía Minera La Halagadora (Tamaulipas. 1880). Negociación Minera Angustias en Pozos (Pozos. 1886). Negociación Minera La Concordla (Guanajuato. 1886). Companla Minera El Refugio (Santa Rosa, 1890). Companra Minera San Miguel de los Santos (Santa Rosa. 1890). Negociación Minera Angustias en Pozos (Pozos. 1890). Sociedad Minera Providencia (Pénjamo. 1891). Negociación Minera de San Carlos. S A. (Rayas. 1892). Cornpanla Minera La Esperanza (Guanajuato. 1891). Sociedad Minera San Gonzalo (Santa Rosa. 1892). Sociedad Minera Explotadora de San Pedro y San Pablo (Pozos. 1895). Compañía Apartadora de Meteles Predosos. S.A. (Guanajuato. 1895), Compañía Minera de San Rafael de Chinindaro y Anexas (La Fragua. 1898). Companla Explotodora de Mina Grande y El Carmen (Pozos. 1902). Negociación Minera La Concordia (Guanajuato. 1905), and Cornpanla Minera La Halagadora (Tamaulipas. 1903), and was part of the Compañía Guanajuatense Zacatecana, which controlled the Guanajuato and Zacatecas mints at the end of the 19th century. His son, ingeniero Ramón Alcázar, also invested in various mining companies. He dealt in cattle with Antonio N. Hernández of Monterrey, a director of the Banco de Nuevo León. As a comisionista, Alcázar made mortgage loans in the 1890s in the name of Stallforth, Alcázar y Compañía, of which he was manager from 1895. This firm invested in the Banco Mercantil Mexicano, of Mexico City, in 1881, before it was a shareholder in the Banco de Guanajuato. Ramón Alcázar was consejero propietario in 1900, presidente from 1902 to 1905, and on the consejo consultivo from 1906 to 1912 (with Fernando Pimentel y Fagoaga and Ernesto SchroederErnesto Schroeder was a member of Bahnsen y Compañía, comisario of the consejo de administración of the Banco de San Luis Potosí from its creation in 1899, member of the consejo de administración of the Banco de Morelos and member of the consejo de administración of the Banco Central Mexicano) and in 1913 (with André Guier and Ernesto Schroeder) As well as being a director of this bank he was also a director of the Banco del Estado de México and of the Banco Central Mexicano, vice-president of the Mortgage and Credit Foncier Bank of Mexico and Director of the Almacenes Generales de Depósito de México y VeracruzThe Secretario de Hacienda Finance granted a concession for the formation of a bank to the Compañía Bancaria Anglo-Mexicana, the Banco Central Mexicano and the Banco Mercantil de Veracruz. In 1901 they created the Almacenes Generales de Depósito de México y Veracruz, unifying the interests of bank investors from the north of the country, the capital and the port of Veracruz. The main function of this company was to enable the exchange of the banknotes of the banks of these regions, so that these circulated more widely, thus breaking the monopoly of the Banco Nacional de México in the national financial market. The share capital of $2,000,000 was subscribed as follows: Banco Mercantil de Veracruz 6,060 shares of $100, $606,000; Banco Central de México 3,330; Compañía Banquera Anglo-Méxicana 1,380; Voiney W. Foster 1,900; Lyndon H. Stevens 1,000; Enrique C. Creel 1,000; Banco Oriental de México 500; Guillermo Landa y Escandón 500; José María Bermejillo 50; Andrés Bermejillo 250;. Emilio Mavran 250; Ramón Alcazar 250; Walter M. Brodie 250; Carlos Casasús 250; F. O. Lowden 250; E. Thompson 250; Joaquín D. Casasús 250; H.R. McCullouch 200; José Castellot 200; Hugo Scherer 150; Ges G. Wilcox 100; Hugo Scherer (Jr) 100; Augusto Genin 100; Manuel Araoz 100; Gustar Bauman 100; Eugenio Gabarrot 100; Ricardo Zaldo 100; Albert V. Foster 100; Esteban J. Pons 100; Manuel Rivero Collada 100; Palomo y Cía 100; Paul Guma 100; Armando Deschamps 100; Anselmo Villacieros 100; E.D. Kenna 50; F. de Pimentel v Fagoaga 45; Genaro Raigosa 25; and Lorenzo Ramírez y Borgas 10.. He signed notes throughout the lifetime of the bank, from 1900 to 1914. |
|
Jesús Fernández was consejero suplente in 1900 and from 1902 to 1907, and consejero propietario from 1908 to 1913. He signed notes from 1900 to 1914. |
|
Federico Saavedra Federico Saavedra was tesorero of the local Cámara de Comercio in Guanajuato in 1897Semana Mercantil, 5 April 1897. Saavedra was consejero suplente in 1900 and comisario propietario in 1903 to 1905. He signed notes dated from 1900 to 1903. |
|
Carlos Chico belonged to a family with heavy involvement in mining and political ambitions. He was a lawyer (abogado) and investor in mining companies. His son, Carlos Chico Ibargüengoitia, in 1907 was manager and general proxy (apoderado general) of the bank, representing its branch in Zamora, Michoacán. Chico was consejero propietario in 1900, 1902 and 1903. He signed notes dated from 1900 to 1903. |
|
Dwight Furness was born in 1861. He arrived in Guanajuato in 1887 to take charge of the interests that the Santana Mining Company of St. Louis, Missouri, had in the Negociación Minera La Esperanza. Owing to questions over the lease and the fact that the properties had been misrepresented, the business was dropped early in the following year but Furness then began buying ores for the Omaha & Grant smelter, through their representative, William Mathews, and he associated with himself in this business the then U. S. Consular Agent at Guanajuato, Edward Williams, so the firm became “Williams & Furness”: Williams then left the firm and the business was continued under the name of "Furness & Higby," until the end of 1889. Early in 1891 Furness resumed business in general merchandise, under the name of "Dwight Furness & Co." He shipped ores to Omaha and also to the Pueblo smelter, which was owned by the Guggenheims. In 1892 Furness organized his concern into a stock company called the "Furness & Lewis Co.", but sold out in 1896 to Lewis, keeping the rights to Guanajuato and continuing business under the name of “Dwight Furness & Co.” and later as "The Dwight Furness Co." In 1900 he transferred his properties to the Dwight Furness Company, of which he was representative, president, manager and treasurer, with the aim of avoiding tax and finding investors in the United States. He was a shareholder in various mining companies in Guanajuato, Jalisco and Nayarit The Huautla Santa Ana Mining Company (1896-97), Sociedad Minera San Bartolo (La Fragua. 1891), Sociedad Minera La Perseguida (La Fragua. 1892), Companla Apartadora de Metales Preciosos. S.A. (Guanajuato. 1895), Compañía Minera La Diamita, S.A. (La Fragua, 1899), Negociacion Minera del Cedro y Anexas (Guanajuato. 1900), the Magistral. Nuevo Magistral, and Magistral y Anexas mines in Ameca. Jalisco, and mines in Etzallán (Jalisco) and Tepic (Nayarit) and an intermediate between the mining companies in Guanajuato and the smelters in Aguascalientes and Mexico City. Furness was also an investor in the Grocery Company, in 1906, selling groceries, liquor, and Mexican and foreign goods. At times he was a shareholder in the Compañía de Alumbrado Eléctrico y Fuerza Motriz de Linares, S.A. (organised in Nuevo León), and held the concession to build a railway line between Guanajuato, Marfil and Salamanca. He was also the U. S. consul in Guanajuato from November 1889 through the first years of the twentieth century. Furness was consejero propietario in 1900, and 1902 to 1905. He signed notes dated from 1900 to 1903. |
|
Juan B. Castelazo was a lawyer by profession and a mining investor. He married Josefina Glennie, a member of another family involved in mining, industry and finance in Guanajuato. From the 1890s he was a shareholder in various mining companies and part of the Compañía Guanajuatense Zacatecana, which controlled the Guanajuato and Zacatecas mints at the end of the 19th century.. He represented members of the Alcázar family in their dealings with the Banco Mercantil Mexicano in 1881.
He was governor of Guanajuato from 4 June to 30 November 1911. Juan B. Castelazo was consejero suplente in 1900, and 1902 to 1905 and consejero propietario from 1906 to 1913. He signed notes from 1902 to 1911. |
|
Manuel Antillón was a millionaire, with interests in miningLa Central Compañía Minera y Beneficiadora de Metales S.A. (1900-1906) and owner of the hacienda “Dolores de Granaditas” in GuanajuatoLa Voz de México, 26 May 1891; Daily Anglo-American, 2 June 1891. He was the son of General Francisco Florencio Antillón Moreno, who in January 1868 had recovered Guanajuato from the imperial forces and had served as governor from 17 September 1867 to 31 December 1876. Manuel Antillón was consejero propietario from 1906 to 1911. He signed various high value denominations ($50, $100, $500 and $1,000) dated 1909. |
|
Mariano B. Taboada was consejero suplente in 1911 and 1912AGN, SC224, Antiguos Bancos de Emisión, caja 17, libro 55. He was also an alternate board member (vocal suplente} for the Banco de Querétaro in 1910Memoria de las Instituciones de Crédito correspondiente al año 1910 and 1914AGN, SC244 Antiguos Bancos de Emisión, caja 84, libro 238. He signed notes dated 1911 and 1912. |
|
Rodrigo Castelazo y Fuentes was consejero suplente in 1912 and 1913. He signed notes dated from 1912 to 1914. |
|
George W. Bryant came from Boston, Massachusetts, to Guanajuato in 1895 along with his partner, George W. McElhlney, of St. Charles, Missouri. Bryant was vice president and general manager of the Guanajuato Development Company, which installed modern equipment in several of the largest and most profitable mines in the district. Together with McElhlney, in 1904 he persuaded General Electric to install an electric power plant at a cost of $1,200,000 to supply cheap and permanent power to the mines and mills. The plant doubled its capacity in 1907, which made possible the building of more extraction mills and more extensive miningBaltimore Sun, 13 April 1908. Bryant was also president and general manager of the Mexican Milling and Transportation Company which built a mineral belt railroad. In 1907 it was proposed to sell the present street railway system of Guanajuato to the American interests represented by Bryant and McElhiney, who would rebuild the lines and install electric tractionSan Antonio Daily Express, 28 May 1907. Bryant was consejero suplente from 1907 to 1911 and consejero propietario in 1912 and 1913. He signed notes dated 1914. |
|
Carlos de Escurdia was a consejero suplente in 1913. He signed $50 dates dated 1 June 1914. |
|
Federico G. Kunhardt was a banker and commission merchant, his firm being F. Kunhardt & Sons, which had been established in 1850. He was the managing owner of the Tramway company of Mexicaltzingo and also a tobacco planterThe Evening Telegram, Mexico City, Vol. I, Number 6, 7 July 1907. Kunhardt was consejero suplente from 1908 to 1913. |
|
Manuel Balarezo Manuel Balarezo was consejero suplente from 1902 to 1910. [if same person] In 1918 he was in charge of important work in connection with reclamation and surveying projects around Mexicali, Baja California, and on 25 September 1920, at the age of 54, was appointed by Provisional President Adolfo de la Huerta as governor of Baja California, becoming the third man to occupy the governor’s chair within sixty daysCalexico Chronicle, Vol. XVII, No. 43, 1 October 1920. |
Interventor
Juan J. Farías was appointed interventor on 21 August 1900CEHM, Fondo CDLIV Colección José Y. Limantour, 2a. 1900, carpeta 8, legajo 17413. Juan Farías’s parents owned the Hacienda de Bocas, situated 40 kilometres north of San Luis Potosí, and in his youth he managed the hacienda on their behalf. However, the hacienda passed into the hands of Jesús García in 1900. Perhaps in anticipation in August 1897 Farias had the governor of San Luis Potosí, Carlos Díez Gutiérrez, ask Limantour to appoint him Interventor of the proposed Banco de San Luis PotosíCEHM, Fondo CDLIV Colección José Y. Limantour, 1a. 1883, carpeta 20, legajo 5222 and in September Farías had his parents’ friend, General Bernardo Reyes, governor of Nuevo León, write to Limantour with the same requestCEHM, Fondo CDLIV Colección José Y. Limantour, 1a. 1883, carpeta 43, legajo 11318. Farías was unsuccessful then, but he was appointed to this post a couple of years later. Farías signed notes dated 1900. |
|
Enríquez Baz Baz was interventor of the Banco de San Luis Potosí until 21 June 1901, when he moved to take up the position of interventor of the Banco de Guanajuatoinforme of interventor Baz, 31 August 1901 in Memorias de las Instituciones de Crédito correspondientes a los años 1900-1902. Baz signed notes dated from 1901 to 1911. Enrique Baz again took over the post of Interventor from Manuel Bauche Alcalde in November 1912AGN, SC224, Antiguos Bancos de Emisión, caja 8, libro 13. |
|
Manuel Bauche Alcalde was born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, in June 1881. Between 1897 and 1900 he studied at the Colegio Militar, but then espoused journalism, as a theatre and music critic and the author of political articles under the pseudonym ‘Pedro Ponce’. He supported Madero and when the later became president, on 4 February 1912 Bauche Alcalde was appointed editor of Nueva Era, the newspaper most loyal to the government, though he only lasted a couple of months. At this time he must also have been appointed Interventor of the Banco de Guanajuato, as he signed the notes dated 3 May 1912. When Madero was assassinated Bauche Alcalde, together with his brother, travelled to the United States to acquire arms and planes for the rebels. He took part in some battles, but proclaimed himself more a journalist than a soldier, and after collaborating in El Demócrata Mexicano and El Intransigente, for a time edited Villa’s Vida Nueva. At this time he also wrote Villa’s memoirs, El general Francisco Villa. In May 1914 Carranza made him a coronel de caballería. In March 1915, he fought under Salvador Alvarado against Abel Ortiz Argumedo in Yucatán, but was captured and imprisoned for a few weeks. He then joined the Ejército de Oriente as Pablo González’ secretario particular, until November when Carranza appointed him consul general in Genoa, Italy, a post he did not take up. He left the army in February 1916 and spent time in Europe. In the 1920s he returned to Mexico and to journalism, working for El Demócrata. He died of a heart disease in 1929. |
|
Manuel Chico Ibargüengoitia was the son of Carlos Chico and brother of Carlos Chico Ibargüengoitia. Chico signed notes dated 1913 and 1914. |