GIRARD, STEPHEN American financier and philanthropist, founder of Girard college in Philadelphia, was born in a suburb of Bordeaux, France, on May 20, 175o. His father was a sea captain, and the son cruised to the West Indies and back, 1764-73. In May 1776 he settled in Philadelphia as a merchant. In June of the next year he married Mary (Polly) Lum, daughter of a shipbuilder, who, two years later, after Girard became a citizen of Pennsylvania (1778), built for him the "Water Witch," the first of a fleet trading with New Orleans and the West Indies. Most of Girard's ships were named after his favourite French authors, such as "Rousseau," "Voltaire," "Hel vetius," and "Montesquieu." His beautiful young wife became insane, and spent the years from 1790 until her death in 1815 in the Pennsylvania hospital. In 1810 Girard used about $1,000,000 deposited by him with the Barings of London for the purchase of shares of the much depreciated stock of the Bank of the United States—a purchase of great assistance to the United States Gov ernment. In May 1812 he established the Bank of Stephen Gir ard. He subscribed in 1814 for about 95% of the Government's war loans of $5,000,000, of which only $20,000 besides had been taken. In 1793, during the plague of yellow fever in Philadelphia, he volunteered to act as manager of the hospital at Bush hill; again during the yellow fever epidemic of 1797-98 he took the lead in relieving the poor and caring for the sick. He died in Philadelphia on Dec. 26, 1831. His philanthropy was shown in his disposition by will of his estate, the bulk of which went to Phila delphia to be used in founding a school or college, in providing a better police system, and in making municipal improvements and lessening taxation. Girard's heirs-at-law contested the will in 1836. In 1844 Daniel Webster, appearing for the heirs, made a famous plea for the Christian religion, but Justice Joseph Story handed down an opinion adverse to the heirs (Vidals v. Girard's Executors). Work upon the buildings was begun in 1833, and the college was opened in Jan. 1848. The principal building, planned by Thomas Ustick Walter (1804-87), has been called "the most perfect Greek temple in existence." To a sarcophagus in this main building the remains of Stephen Girard were re moved in 1851. The course of training is partly industrial—for a long time graduates were indentured till they came of age—but it is also preparatory to college entrance.
See H. A. Ingram, The Life and Character of Stephen Girard (1884) ; George P. Rupp, "Stephen Girard—Merchant and Mariner," in 1848-1849: Semi-Centennial of Girard College 0898).