Girard

Girard, Stephen (1750-1831), a philanthropic miser, was born near Bordeaux, and after filling every successive rank in the American coasting service, finally settled at Philadelphia. Here he made a fortune and established a bank, which advanced large sums to the Federal Government during the war of 1812-14. He was very mean, if not dishonest, in his private transactions, but was none the less a public benefactor. He nursed those who were sick of yellow fever in 1793, and left a large sum for the building and endowment in Philadelphia of a college for orphan boys. The establishment was to be strictly unsectarian, and was limited to whites. There were more than a thousand pupils in 1886.