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Stephen Girard was a French-born, naturalized American merchant, financier, philanthropist. He saved the U. S. government from financial collapse during the War of 1812, and became one of the wealthiest people in America.
Background
Stephen Girard was born on May 20, 1750, in Bordeaux, France, the second child and oldest son of a family of ten. His father, Pierre Girard, served with distinction in the Royal Navy, was made a burgess of the city and captain of the port. His mother, Odette La- fargue, of the neighboring parish of St. Remy, died when Stephen was twelve, leaving him a half orphan.
Education
It has been suggested that Girard was probably born blind in his right eye and that his education, which he paid for partly out of his earnings, was for this and other reasons scanty.
At the age of fourteen, he went to sea as a cabin boy, and after six voyages, chiefly to Santo Domingo, he was in 1773 licensed to act as captain, master, or pilot, despite the fact that he was not yet twenty-five years old and had not served the usual term of two years in the navy.
Career
In 1774, Girard made his first independent voyage as an officer of a ship sailing from Bordeaux to Port-au-Prince. His own venture in the enterprise was unsuccessful and he found himself in debt. After collecting what he could he sailed for New York with a consignment of sugar and coffee.
At the first opportunity, he paid his obligations to his Bordeaux creditors, but for the remainder of his life, he avoided doing business on credit and never returned to his native city. On the other hand, he retained a sincere affection for it, and frequently aided and befriended the unhappy political refugees from France.
In New York, he entered the employ of the shipping firm of Thomas Randall & Son, making several voyages, first as a mate, and then as captain. Apparently, he traded on a small scale for himself; gradually accumulated a little capital, and became master and half owner of the vessel, La Jeune Babe.
As a result of a rough return voyage from St. Pierre in the early summer of 1776, and the risk of capture by the British, he put into Philadelphia, then the largest city in the colonies and the first in a trade.
The war for independence had begun and the Declaration of Independence followed within a month after Girard’s arrival in Philadelphia, but he did not interest himself greatly in the political controversy.
On the other hand, the risks of commerce during the first years of the war forced him to abandon it temporarily for merchandising. He was thus enabled to settle down.
These circumstances, together with his partial blindness, account in large measure for Girard’s somewhat lonely and self-centered life. After the departure of the British from Philadelphia he returned to the city, took the oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and became a free citizen of that state.
He established himself on North Water Street on Delaware and again turned his attention to foreign trade especially to the West Indies though later to Europe and Asia as well, despite the risks of the wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon.
Some of his ventures were complete losses, but on the whole, by dint of unusual business acumen and foresight, coupled with industry and persistency that would not be denied, he recouped himself by altogether extraordinary profits from others.
At one time or another, he was the owner of eighteen vessels, though six was the largest number he owned at any one time. Characteristically, he named the finest after the philosophers of his native France: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Voltaire.
Partly through capital acquired in trade he gradually became interested in real estate, insurance, and banking.
Always a strong supporter of the First United States Bank, he served on a committee of five in 1810, to draw up a memorial petitioning Congress to renew the Bank’s charter which was about to expire.
When Congress refused and the Bank was forced to close its doors, Girard bought the building and other assets and started the “Bank of Stephen Girard” as a private venture with an initial capital of $1, 200, 000.
In his banking business as in commerce, he rapidly built up a remarkable system of credit not only in other cities of the United States but also abroad. Business contacts with many small banks and with the federal treasury were established and his relations with Baring Brothers of London greatly expanded.
As a result, he found himself in a position to render valuable patriotic service at the outbreak of the War of 1812, and presently became a man of prominence in national affairs. The government loan was a dismal failure, when Girard with David Parish, and John Jacob Astor of New York, arranged with Secretary Gallatin to take over the unsubscribed portion and dispose of it to the public.
Although they acted mainly as intermediaries on a percentage basis, their action at the critical moment had a powerful effect in restoring the public confidence, and a dangerous financial crisis was averted.
In the depression that followed the war, the plan for a national bank was revived, and A. J. Dallas, the secretary of the treasury, naturally turned to Girard for counsel. He was appointed by the Treasury Department one of the five commissioners to receive subscriptions for the bank stock and elected president of the commission.
Again, however, the public was in a doubtful mood. No buyers were found for $3, 000, 000 of the stock of the new bank till Girard came forward and subscribed for the entire amount. This action made possible the prompt organization of the Second United States Bank, which was effected at a stockholders’ meeting in Girard’s banking house on October 28, 1816.
Girard was sent his commission as one of the five government directors of the Bank by President Madison, but he soon became dissatisfied with the management, withdrew from the Board, gradually sold his stock, and again turned his attention to his own private bank.
During the terrible yellow- fever epidemic of 1793, in which 4, 031 persons died between the 1st of August and the 9th of November, he not only gave liberally of his time and money to the suffering and dying, but with Peter Helm, he volunteered to act as superintendent at the fever hospital at Bush Hill.
Girard took charge of the interior of the hospital. In the subsequent outbreaks of the epidemic, he very naturally assumed a leading part in the preventive measures.
Later in life, he bought a farm in South Philadelphia, which, although agriculture was quite foreign to his earlier interests, became a source of great satisfaction to him. He gave to it the same practical and scientific attention that he did to his other business.
As his commercial activities decreased he became more and more interested in his farm.
Standard dictionaries on agriculture which he used constantly stood side by side with the works of Voltaire on the shelves of his small library.
An accident in December 1830 made it difficult for him to take up his routine work, but he managed it again during the following summer, only to succumb to an attack of pneumonia of which he died in December 1831.
The newspapers of the day paid glowing tribute to his life and work. The city officials, charitable and other societies, and thousands of citizens attended the funeral.
He was buried in the cemetery of Holy Trinity Parish but the body was later removed and placed in the sarcophagus in the main building of Girard College.
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Views
To Girard, commerce was a subject of vast speculative possibilities to which he brought not alone great industry and initiative but more particularly knowledge of the sea markets, and political conditions, acquired through personal experience and careful study of the reports of his agents.
Quotations:
“The duties imposed on me in my capacity as a citizen prevent me from answering at the proper time the letters written to me by my friends. ”
“At my age, the sole amusement which I enjoy, is to be in the country constantly busy, in attending to the work of the farm generally, and also to my fruit trees, several of which, say about 300, I have imported from France, and I hope will be useful to our country. ”
“To rest is to rust. ”
“When death comes for me, he will find me busy, unless I am asleep. ”
“If I thought I was going to die tomorrow, I should plant a tree nevertheless to-day. ”
“So large a funeral, it is believed was never before known in this city. ”
Personality
Girard never tired of work and study, finding relaxation in the change from one kind of work to another.
For some years before his death, Girard had devoted much thought to the disposition of his estate and in 1826, he made his will, bequeathing $140, 000 to relatives and to different charities in which he was interested; $300, 000 to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for internal improvement; $500, 000 to the City of Philadelphia, and the residue in cash and real estate, amounting to over $6, 000, 000, in trust to the City for educating poor white orphan boys.
A determined effort to set the will aside was made by certain of the heirs and the case of Vidal et al. vs. The City of Philadelphia has become a classic in American legal history, contributing not a little to the clarification of the law of charities.
Quotes from others about the person
“Stephen Girard performed both day and night the duty of receiving, nursing, and caring for those stricken with the fever. ”
Summarizing Girard’s life and work, E. A. Duyckinck, in his National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Americans, wrote in 1862: “Work was his religion there is something grand in the onward steps of the poor cabin boy, maimed in sight, rude in his person, a stranger in his speech, unhappy in his married life, overcoming the disadvantages of fortune to pursue his farsighted, intelligent career as a prosperous merchant, building up a vast estate - not for his own luxurious enjoyment, but to enrich his adopted city, and bless, by its kindly support, successive generations of the fatherless and dependent. ”
Interests
Writers
Voltaire
Connections
In 1777, Girard married Mary Lum, the daughter of a ship-builder.
He bought a modest home in Mount Holly, New Jersey, where they lived together happily for a time, but Mrs. Girard’s mind became affected, and he placed her in the Pennsylvania Hospital, where she died in 1815.