Stephen Girard
1102647
221500570
2008-06-24T19:51:57Z
Piledhigheranddeeper
5350778
expanded intro paragraph
{{Infobox Celebrity
| name = Stephen Girard
| image = Stephen Girard.jpg
| imagesize = 175px
| caption = Stephen Girard, late in life
| birth_date = {{birth date|1750|5|20}}
| birth_place = {{flagicon|Île-de-France}} [[Bordeaux]], [[France]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1831|12|26|1750|5|20}}
| death_place = [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]]
| occupation = [[Sailor]], [[banker]], [[entrepreneur]]
| salary =
| networth = {{steady}}''' $99.5 billion''', according to [[Wealthy historical figures 2008]], based on infomation from [[Forbes]] - February 2008.
| spouse = Mary Girard
| children = 1 (stillborn)
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
{{portalpar|Philadelphia}}
'''Stephen Girard''' ([[May 20]], [[1750]]–[[December 26]], [[1831]]) was an [[United States|American]] [[philanthropist]] and [[banker]]. He personally saved the U.S. government from financial collapse during the [[War of 1812]], and became one of the wealthiest men in America. Childless, he devoted much of his fortune to philanthropy, particularly the education and welfare of orphans. His legacy is still felt in his adopted home of [[Philadelphia]].
==Early life==
He was born in [[Bordeaux]], [[France]], and became a [[sailor]] at the age of 13. By 1773 he was master and [[captain]] of a vessel operating between [[New York]], [[New Orleans]], and the [[West Indies]]. In 1777, as a result of [[Great Britain|British]] [[blockade]]s of seaports during the [[American Revolutionary War]], he engaged in a mercantile career in [[Philadelphia]], a city where his business interests could prosper, and his [[atheism]] was not a disadvantage. From 1780 to 1790 he resumed maritime trade with the West Indies, in partnership with his brother John. He developed a large fleet of vessels that engaged in worldwide trade. His efficient business practices enabled him to rapidly build a sizable fortune.
==First marriage==
In 1776, Girard met Mary Lum, a [[Philadelphia]] native and nine year his junior. They married soon afterwards and Girard purchased a home at 211 Mill Street in [[Mount Holly, New Jersey]]. By 1785, Mary had started to succumb to sudden, erratic emotional outbursts. Mental instability and violent rages lead to a diagnosis of mental instability that was not curable. Although Girard was at first devastated, by 1787 he took a mistress, Sally Bickham. In August of 1790, Girard committed his wife to the Pennsylvania Hospital (today part of the [[University of Pennsylvania]]) as an incurable lunatic. After giving her every luxury for comfort, she gave birth to a [[stillborn]] child whose sire is not entirely certain. Girard spent the rest of his life with mistresses.<ref name="USHistory.org">http://www.ushistory.org/people/girard.htm Stephen Girard, Accessed [[2007-11-11]].</ref>
Girard is the villain in the fictional play ''The Insanity of Mary Girard'' by Lanie Robertson. In the play, he arranges to have his wife committed to an [[insane asylum]] after she cheats on him. There is apparently no historical basis for this supposition.
==Yellow fever==
In 1793, there was an [[Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793|outbreak]] of [[yellow fever]] in Philadelphia. Although many other well-to-do citizens chose to leave the city, Girard stayed to care for the sick and dying. He supervised the conversion of a mansion outside the city limits into a hospital. For his efforts, Girard was feted as a hero by the City Hall after the outbreak subsided.
After the charter for the [[First Bank of the United States]] expired in 1811, Girard purchased most of its stock as well as the building in Philadelphia and opened his own bank, naming it the “Bank of Stephen Girard,” which was a principal source of government credit during the [[War of 1812]]. 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 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 became the [[Girard Trust Company]], and later [[Girard Bank]]. It merged with [[Mellon Bank]] in 1993, and was largely sold to [[Citizens Bank]] a decade later. Its monumental headquarters building still stands.
At the time of his death, Girard was regarded as one of the wealthiest men in America and he bequeathed nearly his entire fortune to charitable and municipal institutions of Philadelphia and [[New Orleans]], including an endowment for establishing a boarding school for poor male orphans in Philadelphia, which opened as the [[Girard College]] in [[1848]]. Girard's will was contested by family in [[France]], however, but was upheld by the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] in a landmark case, ''Vidal et al. vs Girard's Executors'', 43 U.S. 127 ([[1844]]). Michael Klepper and Robert Gunther, in their book ''The Wealthy 100'', posit that, with adjustment for inflation, Girard was the fourth-wealthiest American of all time, behind [[John D. Rockefeller]], [[Cornelius Vanderbilt]] and [[John Jacob Astor]].
[[Girard Avenue]], a major east-west thoroughfare of [[North Philadelphia]] and the location of Girard College, is named for him.
==The Village in Between==
Girard's vision was a key factor in moving the financial center of the United States from Philadelphia to New York, and in moving the number of early government agencies from Philadelphia to Washington DC. He achieved this by not allowing them to return to Philadelphia following the Yellow Fever Epidemic. He saw these undertakings as "of a lower nature". Girard sought to keep the new country's financial business in New York, and the governing affairs in Washington. He sought to keep Philadelphia as "the village in between". In the process, he laid the groundworks for what today would be called outsourcing.{{Fact|date=December 2007}}
This approach has crystallized Philadelphia as the innovation machine that has fueled the US economy. In the late 1800's the foundations of the US consumer products and pharmaceutical industries were started in Philadelphia. Today's global organization such as Merck, Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squib, Keebler, Best Foods, Nabisco, Lipton and Proctor an Gamble all have their origins as Philadelphia innovations. Once established these businesses were outsourced to areas that provided cheap labor, at the time New Jersey, Connecticut, and Ohio.{{Fact|date=December 2007}}
== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Girard, Stephen}}
[[Category:American bankers]]
[[Category:American philanthropists]]
[[Category:People from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:1750 births]]
[[Category:1831 deaths]]
[[de:Stephen Girard]]
[[fr:Stephen Girard]]