Edmond Catefort, also known as Edmundo Catefort or Edmundo Catfort, (29 August 1838 – 28 December 1912) was a French entrepreneur settled who in Ecuador. He played a significant role in the economic and public life of Ecuador during the government of Eloy Alfaro (Liberal Revolution).
Biography
Catefort was born in 1838 in Sainte Foy la Grande, a commune in the Department of Gironde, Region of Aquitaine, southwestern France. At the age of 18, he travelled to Valparaiso, Chile, in 1856. He later settled in Quito, where he married María Elina Velasco Fabara and had four children: Edmundo, Jorge, Francisco, and Bertha.
He became a successful entrepreneur in Ecuador, owning one of the watermills located near south of Quito for grinding cereal grains.Cultural, educational, tourist, industrial, commercial, agricultural, and livestock information handbook of the Republic of Ecuador, Volume 3, Científica Latina Editores, 1980 Biographers of Eloy Alfaro, President of Ecuador, state that he stayed in Catefort´s "La Arcadia farm" on the night of 3 September 1895, on the eve of his assumption of power.Federico E. Trabucco, Grandes biografías ecuatorianas, Editorial Olmedo, 1970
Career
On 6 November 1899, Catefort, as the designated ad hoc secretary by the Governor of the Province of Pichincha, confirmed the foundation of the town of Santo Domingo de los Colorados (Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas), which serves as the capital city of the Province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas.López R. López, Nacimiento de una región: propuesta de historia económica y social de Santo Domingo de los Colorados entre 1860 y 1960, I. Municipalidad de Santo Domingo, 1992
In 1905, he became Treasurer of the "Junta de Beneficencia de Quito", responsible for initiating the construction of the Eugenio EspejoJuan José Samaniego, Cronología Médica Ecuatoriana, Editorial Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1957 Hospital and managing various healthcare facilities in Quito, including the oldest, San Juan de Dios Hospital.Ministerio de Gobierno y Previsión Social, Sección de Difusión y Propaganda, Ecuador, Numéros 1 à 6, 1936 Additionally, in 1906, he was appointed Chairman of the Quito County Council and became a member of the Special Joint Committee for the construction of the water supply and sewage system of Quito.Wilson Miño Grijalva, El ferrocarril interandino y la modernización de Quito, 1905-1922, Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Sede Ecuador, Área de Historia, Programa de Maestría en Historia, 2011
In 1907, he became an associate member of the local trade chamber, Camara de Comercio, Agricultura e Industrias de Quito.Wilson Miño Grijalva, Colección Investigaciones, Volumen 3, Haciendas y Pueblos en la Sierra Ecuatoriana: El Caso de la Provincia del Carchi, 1881-1980, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Sede Quito, 1985
The Government of Ecuador contracted with Catefort for the organization of a company, Compañía de los Ferrocarriles Agrícolas al Oeste, to build a 60-centimeter-gauge railway from Daule to Santo Domingo de los Colorados (230 kilometers) on 30 December 1907.United States. Government Printing Office, Congressional serial set U.S. G.P.O., 1912 However, the project was not executed due to lack of funding from the government. He also contracted for the construction of a railway from the port of Bahia de Caraquez to Chone province of Manabí in 1900. The construction of this new railway started on 20 July 1909. The first train arrived at Chone in June 1912 and operated in this route with four machines until the mid-1960s.Dawn Ann Wiles, Land transportation within Ecuador, 1822-1954 University Microfilms, 1973
In 1909, President Alfaro also contracted with him to build the water supply and sewage system of Port Bahía de Caráquez, Manabí.United States. Dept. of Commerce and Labor, Daily Consular and Trade Reports, Numéros 3470 à 3572, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1909
Catefort was buried in 1912 in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
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