Submitted by Elizabeth Burns, Aug 2002

Stuart Whitney French
Bisbee, Douglas
Arizona, The Youngest State, 1913

As general manager of the Copper Queen Mining Company, in Douglas, Mr. French occupies a position of distinction in mining circles of the state.  He was born in Dansville New York, February 12, 1867 and is a son of Byron and Martha G. (Brown) French, also natives of the Empire State where the father was engaged in business for a number of years.  In their family were five children: Stuart Whitney of this review, Minerva who married H.A. Dunbar of Pittsfield, Massachusetts; Howard D., a Congregational minister of Jacksonville, Illinois; and Harry P. who is in business in Chicago.

When Stuart French was still a child the family removed to Chicago and there he grew to manhood acquiring his education in the public schools.  At the age of eighteen he entered Amherst College at Amherst, Massachusetts, graduating with the class of 1889.  He was well known and popular at college, holding membership in the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, an interest which he still maintains.  After leaving school, Mr. French became identified with the insurance business and continued in it for many years, each of which added materially to his prominence in the business world.  He began in the office of the Home Insurance Company of Chicago and after three years was appointed as special agent for the London Insurance Company of Chicago.  He later embarked in the business for himself.

Mr. French came to Arizona in 1899 and located at Bisbee as assistant superintendent of the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company. He has since continued his connection with this concern, holding his original position until the reorganization of the company, when in 1904 he was promoted to the position of assistant general manager.  In the same year he took up his residence in Douglas where the general offices are located.

On December 27, 1894 he married Miss Helen S. Stevison, a native of Peoria, Illinois and a daughter of Josiah H. and Sarah (Swain) Stevison both of whom were born in Philadelphia.  In their family were two children:  Helen S. and Dudley J. of Chicago.

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