Stephen Girard
Stephen Girard | |
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Born | May 20, 1750 Bordeaux, France |
Died | December 26, 1831 | (aged 81)
Occupation | Banker |
Signature | |
Stephen Girard (born Étienne Girard, May 20, 1750 – December 26, 1831) was a French-born American banker, philanthropist and slave owner. Born in Bordeaux, Girard subsequently immigrated to the United States where he established himself in the American banking industry. During the War of 1812, Girard single-handedly saved the federal government of the United States from bankruptcy by personally financing the American war effort.
Eventually accumulating a large estate which included a slave plantation in Louisiana, a 2007 article in Fortune Magazine estimated that he was the fourth-richest American in history.[1] Having no children, Girard devoted much of his fortune to philanthropy, in particular the education and welfare of orphans, and his estate continues to fund philanthropic endeavors in the present day.[2]
Early life
Girard was born in
By 1790, Girard had a fortune of $6,000 and a small fleet of trading vessels. In 1791, his merchantmen in the former colony of Saint-Domingue were involved in salvaging goods owned by French planters during the
Marriage
In 1776, Girard met
Yellow fever
In 1793, there was an
Girard's Bank
After the charter for the First Bank of the United States expired in 1811, Girard purchased most of its stock and its facilities on South Third Street in Philadelphia, and reestablished it under his direct personal ownership. He hired George Simpson, the cashier of the First Bank, as cashier of the new bank, and with seven other employees opened for business on May 18, 1812. He allowed the Trustees of the First Bank of the United States to use some offices and space in the vaults to continue the process of winding down the affairs of the closed bank at a very nominal rent.[5]: 249 Although Pennsylvania law prohibited an association of individuals from banking without a charter, it made no such prohibition on a single individual doing so.[5]: 249–250 Philadelphia banks balked at accepting the notes that Girard issued on his personal credit and lobbied the state to force him to incorporate, without success.[8]
Girard's Bank was the principal source of government credit during the War of 1812, worth an outstanding $1 million. Towards the end of the war, when the financial credit of the U.S. government was at its lowest, Girard placed nearly all of his personal resources at the disposal of the government and underwrote up to 95 percent of the war loan issue, which enabled the United States to carry on the war. After the war, he became a large stockholder in and one of the directors of the Second Bank of the United States.
Girard's Bank ceased operations upon his death in 1831, but Philadelphia businessmen, eager to cash in on Girard's reputation, opened a bank called the
Death, will and legacy
On December 22, 1830, Stephen Girard was seriously injured while crossing the street near Second and Market Streets in Philadelphia. He was knocked down by a horse and wagon, and one of its wheels ran over the left side of his face, lacerating his cheek and ear as well as damaging his good (left) eye. Despite his advanced age of 80 years old, he got up unassisted and returned to his nearby home, where a doctor dressed his wound. He threw himself back into his banking business, although he remained out of sight for two months. Nevertheless, Girard never fully recovered and he died on December 26, 1831. He was buried in the vault he built for his nephew in the Holy Trinity Catholic cemetery, then at Sixth and Spruce Streets. Twenty years later, his remains were re-interred in the Founder's Hall vestibule at Girard College behind a statue by Nicholas Gevelot, a French sculptor living in Philadelphia.[2]
At the time of his death, Girard was the wealthiest man in America.[5]: 329–333 Michael Klepper and Robert Gunther, in their book The Wealthy 100,[9]: 26 posit that, with adjustment for inflation, Girard was the fifth-wealthiest American of all time as of 1996, behind John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and John Jacob Astor. He was worth around $7.5 million at the time of his death,[9]: xi equal to $255.9 million today.
Girard was an
Girard's will
He bequeathed nearly his entire fortune to charitable[13] and municipal institutions of Philadelphia and New Orleans, including an estimated $6 million (approximately $171 million in 2023) for establishing a boarding school for "poor, male, white orphans" in Philadelphia, primarily those who were the children of coal miners, which opened as Girard College in 1848.[9]: 28
Girard also made a bequest of $10,000 to the public schools of Philadelphia, with the income from its investment to be used for the purchase of books for the school libraries, and a bequest for the establishment of funds to procure medals for deserving pupils.[14]
To his friend the judge Henry Bree, he bequeathed the plantation he owned in Louisiana, including thirty slaves.[15]
When Girard's former counting house on 22 North Water Street near the corner of Front and Market Streets was demolished in 1907, a set of underground cells were uncovered. At the time of discovery, it was alleged that the cells were used to incarcerate slaves.[16]
Although no longer in common use, people used to use the phrase "Stephen Girard work" or "Stephen Girard job" to refer to useless work. Girard did not believe in idleness, and in a time when people were loath to take handouts, he instead would pay for useless work. An example is paying workers to move bricks from one side of a yard to another (and then back again).[17]
Homages
A number of places are named after Stephen Girard:
- Girard Avenue is a major east–west thoroughfare of North Philadelphia and West Philadelphia and the location of Girard College.
- The neighborhood now known as Girard Estate is part of what was a successful farm that he established in the late 1700s, and includes the Stephen Girard Park where his "country mansion" still stands.
- Girard Fountain Park is in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, in which a sculpture of Benjamin Franklin is displayed.
- The borough of Girardville, Schuylkill County, is located roughly 110 miles northwest of Philadelphia, bordered by many acres of land still connected to the Girard Estate.
- Stephen Girard Avenue is located in the Gentilly area of New Orleans.
- The town of Girard, Pennsylvania is located in Erie County, roughly 450 miles northwest of Philadelphia. It was named for him in 1832.
- The community of Girard, Louisiana, is in Richland Parish, where Girard financed and oversaw the startup of a plantation managed by his friend and agent, Henry Bry, in 1821.[18]
- A Liberty ship was built and christened USS Stephen Girard in 1942.
See also
- Stephen Simpson (writer), a former employee at Girard's Bank and author of the book Biography of Stephen Girard, with His Will Affixed (1832), which is very critical of Girard
- List of richest Americans in history
- War of 1812
References
- ^ In Fortune Magazine: "richest Americans: Archived 2009-09-19 at the Wayback Machine, with an estimated wealth at death of $7,500,000 Girard's Wealth/GDP ratio equalled 1/150.
- ^ a b Wildes, 1943.
- ^ a b c Robert Chambers' Book of Days vol 2.
- ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- ^ ISBN 0-938289-56-X.
- ^ a b c "Stephen Girard's Trade with China, 1787-1824: The Norms Versus the Profits of Trade". UH Press. 2020-06-24. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
- ^ a b DiMeo, Mike. "Stephen Girard". www.ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association. Retrieved 2016-08-14.
- ^ Herrick, Cheesman Abiah (1923). Stephen Girard, Founder.
- ^ OCLC 33818143
- ^ Gray, Carole (Spring 1999). "The Atheist Who Saved The United States (...and the thanks he got for it)". The American Atheist. 37 (2): 34–44. Archived from the original on 2008-06-04.
One of his longtime employees, whose father had also worked for Stephen, said of him, "on the subject of religion, his opinions were atheistic. Let not the reader start, to find himself in company with one, who utterly disbelieved in all modes of a future existence, and who rejected with inward contempt every formulary of religion, as idle, vain, and unmeaning. Yet such were the convictions of Girard, held to his dying hour, and perpetuated in his last testament as a legacy to future generations .... He was known to be totally irreligious; and to attempt to conceal what is notorious, would be to suppress one of the most extraordinary features of his character."
- ^ DiFilippo, Thomas J. "The Will, No Longer Sacred". Stephen Girard, The Man, His College and Estate. Joe Ross. Retrieved 2016-08-14.
- ^ "Vidal v. Girard's Executors". Justia. U.S. Supreme Court. Retrieved 2016-08-14.
- ^ Klem, Monica. "Stephen Girard | The Philanthropy Hall of Fame | The Philanthropy Roundtable". Philanthropy Roundtable. Retrieved 2016-08-14.
- ^ The Public Schools of Philadelphia: Historical, Biographical, Statistical by John Trevor Custis, Burk & McFetridge Co. Publisher, 1897, Pg. 16
- ^ "Stephen Girard Collection". 2000. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
- ^ "Digital Collections: Stephen Girard's Alleged "Slave Dungeons". Front & Market Streets". Free Library of Philadelphia. Archived from the original on 25 September 2023. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
- ^ "Stephen Girard job". 28 December 2006. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
- ^ "25 Apr 1954, Page 26 - Monroe Morning World at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2018-08-18.
Further reading
- Adams, Donald. Finance and Enterprise in Early America: A Study of Stephen Girard’s Bank, 1812–1831 (1978)
- McMaster, John Bach. The Life and Times of Stephen Girard, Mariner and Merchant (2 vol.) (1918) online
- Wildes, Harry E. Lonely Midas: The Story of Stephen Girard (1943)
- Wilson, George. Stephen Girard: The Life and Times of America's First Tycoon (1996)
- Raciti, James J. Stephen Girard: America's Colonial Olympian, 1750-1831 (2015)
External links
- Founder's Hall - Stephen Girard
- Stephen Girard at Find a Grave
- Country Farmhouse and Outbuildings of Mr. Stephen Girard, Philadelphia, May 1891 by D.J. Kennedy, Historical Society of Philadelphia Archived at the Wayback Machine (archived 2016-03-04)
- Get to Know Stephen Girard
- The French assault on American Shipping 1793-1813 [2]
- The Polly ship of GIRARD [3]
- The Helvetius ship of GIRARD [4][permanent dead link]
- The Helvetius ship of GIRARD [5]
- The Montesquieu of GIRARD [6]
- The North America ship of GIRARD [7]
- The North America ship of GIRARD [8]
- The Rousseau ship of GIRARD [9]