Background
Drexel, Francis Martin was born on April 7, 1792 in Dornbirn, Austria. Son of Franz Joseph and Magdalen (Willhelm) Drexel.
Drexel, Francis Martin was born on April 7, 1792 in Dornbirn, Austria. Son of Franz Joseph and Magdalen (Willhelm) Drexel.
Studied in Italy.
In 1803 he was sent to study Italian and the fine arts in a Catholic institution near Turin. When he returned in 1809 he found Austria invaded by the French, and to escape conscription he crossed the border into Switzerland and then went to Paris, France. In 1812 he returned to the Tyrol incognito.
Conscription was still in force, so he went to Bern and continued his study of painting.
He sailed for the United States in 1817, from Amsterdam, and settled in Philadelphia. After a few years, he went to Peru and Chile, painting portraits, including one of General Simon Bolivar.
He visited South America twice, and went to Mexico. After his permanent settlement in Philadelphia, he founded the banking house of Drexel & Company in 1837, which became one of the largest banks in the United States.
The original business of Drexel & Company was discounting privately issued bank notes, the value of which was largely dependent on the character of the principal officers of the issuing bank.
The exposure to the principals gained from portrait painting is said to have given Drexel inside knowledge. The Paris firm, Drexel, Harjes & Company, was founded in 1868, and the New York firm, Drexel, Morgan & Company, in 1871. Francis died in 1863 and was buried in The Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Married Catherine Hookey, 1821, at least 3 children including Joseph William.