Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/694

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GIRARD
GIRARD

pects " (Washington, 1855) ; " Reptiles, Fishes, and Crustacea." in Gilliss's " U. S. Naval Astronomical Expedition to Chili " (185G) : " Herpetology of the United States Exploring Expedition under the Command of Captain Wilkes" (1858); "General Report upon Fishes," in "U. S. Explorations and Surveys for Railroad Routes from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean" (1859) ; and "Report upon Fishes," in Emory's "Survey of the United States and Mexican Boundary " (1859).


GIRARD, Marc Amable, Canadian statesman, b. in Quebec, 25 April, 1822; d. there, 12 Sept., 1892. He was educated at St. Hyacinthe, and ad- mitted to the bar of Manitoba. After the suppres- sion of Louis Riel's first rebellion by Gen. Wolseley, Mr. Girard became a member of the executive coun- cil under Lieut.-Gov. Arcliibald. and was treasurer of Manitoba from September, 1870, till March. 1872, when he resigned. He was premier of the prov- ince, with the office of secretary, from 8 July to 2 Dec, 1874, when he and his government retired. When the Norquay government was reconstructed in December. 1879, he took the office of provincial secretary, and subsequently became minister of ag- riculture and president of the council, which port- folio he held till his retirement in January, 1883. He was appointed a member of the executive coun- cil for the northwest territories in December, 1872, and was an unsuccessful candidate for the legisla- tive council of t'anada in 1858, and for the Canada assembly of 1862. 1 le was elected for St. Boniface, in Manitoba assembly, in 1870, and was elected by acclamation for Bale St. Paul in 1879. He was called to the Dominion senate on the entrance of Manitoba, 13 Dec, 1871. lie was a Conservative.


GIRARD, Stephen, philanthropist, b. near Bordeaux, France, 24 May, 1750 ; d. in Philadel- phia, Pa., 26 Dec, 1831. He was the son of a sea-captain, and at an early age, with limited edu- cation, sailed as a cabin-boy to the West Indies, and thence to New York. Having gained his em- ployer's confidence, he became mate, and then captain, of a small vessel, made several voyages to New Orleans, and was soon part owner of the ship. In 1769 he had established himself in trade in Philadelphia, and was alternately shipmaster and merchant till the Revolutionary war put a stop to his enterprises. He then opened a small grocery -store and cider-bottling establisliment. and in 1777-9 gained some money by selling liquor to the soldiers of the continental army. He I'eturned to the West India trade in 1780, and in 1782 laid the foundation of his fortune by taking a lease of a range of stores, which he underlet at a large profit. Shortly afterward, during the servile in- surrection in Hayti, several planters deposited their treasures on two of his vessels for safe keep- ing, and were subsequently massacred by the ne- groes with their entire families, leaving Mr. Giraixl in possession of about $50,000. He invested large- ly in the shares of the old Bank of the United States in 1810, and in 1812 purchased its building and began operations in his own name, retaining the officers of the old institution, and succeeding to much of its business. During the war with Great Britain, Mr. Girard was the financial main- stay of the government. He continued to make it large advances, down to the establishment, in 1816, of the second U. S. bank, of which he became a di- rector, and whose policy he influenced greatly. In 1814, when the government could obtain only 120,000 instead of the $5,000,000 that it wished, he promptly furnished the entire amount, and in the same year, when the interest on the public debt could not be paid, he wrote to the secretary of the treasury, offering to wait for his money, or to receive it in treasury notes. At his death his property amounted to about $9,OOO,OOO, the bulk of which he bequeathed for cliaritable purposes. The character of Girard has been regarded as an enigma. The disfigurement of his face by the loss of an eye in early childhood, shortly before he was thrown on the world for his support, seems to have soured his disposition, and throughout his life he was crabbed and unapproachable to most people, though he had several warm friends. In small matters he was a miser, ready to take advantage of a legal technicality to avoid paying a just claim, rigidly frugal in his personal habits, and never giving aid to any that applied for it at his door. He gave those in his employ nothing but their just wages, and exacted from them the utmost promptitude and fidelity. His life was one of con- stant labor ; the smallest details of his business re- ceived his personal attention, and even his leisure was spent in working on his farm near Philadel- phia, where he drove daily in a shabby carriage drawn by one horse. He was inhospitable, and his appearance was forbidding. He spoke English in- differently, was partially deaf aft- er 1812, and in 1830 lost the use of his remaining eye by an acci- dent. His person- al appearance was that of a rough old sailor. He was a disbeliever in Christianity, and named his ships after noted French free-think- ers. Yet in pub- lic matters no one could be more

open-handed. His

timely aid to the government has already been mentioned. He gave thousands to the city of Philadelphia for public improvements, subscribed freely to charities, and even to Christian churches. During the yellow-fever epidemic of 1793 he nursed many of the sufferers, was one of a committee that organized a hospital on Bush Hill, and when no one could be hired to take immediate charge of it, volunteered, with Peter Helm, for the work, and soon established cleanliness and order. Pie continued in active labor at the hospital for sixty days, and also contributed liberally to the families of the victims of the fever. His will, which would occupy nearly nine pages of this work, contains minute directions as to the disposal of his property. To the Pennsylvania hospital he bequeathed $30,000; to the Pennsylvania institution for the deaf and dumb. $20,000: to the Orphan asylum of Philadelphia, $10,000; to the Philadelphia public schools, $10.000 ; to the city of Philadelphia, for the distribution of fuel to the poor every winter, $10,000 ; to the Society for the relief of distressed masters of ships, $10,000; to the masonic loan, $20,000; to the city of New Orleans, a large amount of real estate ; to the city of Philadelphia, for improvement of its streets, buildings, etc., $500,000; for the improvement of canal navigation in Pennsylvania, $300,000. His principal bequest was $2,000,000, besides the residue of a certain portion of his estate out of which some lega-