Chapter 1 Childhood/Chartrons, France, 1750–1764

Who is Stephen Girard?

Stephen Girard first and foremost was a philanthropist and a visionary whose life has remained over the years a model and inspiration for generations of Americans.

Was Stephen Girard an American by birth?

No. Stephen was born May 20, 1750, near Bordeaux France, the largest seaport in the country. Stephen was the second of ten children. Pierre and Anne Odette Lafargue Girard’s first child was a girl who lived only a few days. Girard was baptized Etienne at St. Seurin, a Roman Catholic Church in Bordeaux. He was named in honor of his godfather Etienne Souisse, an important citizen in Bordeaux. The Girard family had owned ships since 1642. Stephen’s great, great grandfather left the inland city of Perigueux to live on the coast in Bordeaux.¹

How many children were born to Pierre and Odette?

There were ten children born to this couple: Jeanne, born March 4, 1748 and died a few days later; Etienne always known as Stephen, born May 20, 1750; Jean (John) born August 12, 1751; Madeleine, born February 2, 1753; Pierre Arnaud, born June 18, 1754; Anne Félicité, born September 26,1755, died in infancy; Etienne II, born April 24,1757; Anne Victoire, born August 31, 1758, feeble-minded epileptic; Marie Sophie, born July 17,  1760 and Louis Alexander, born August 26,1761.

Who was Pierre Girard?

Stephen’s father Pierre was a sea captain and merchant who had acquired a substantial fortune trading with the West Indies. Louis XV bestowed on Pierre Girard, the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis for bravery during the 1744 conflict between France and England. From such fragmentary records as have come down to us it appears that Pierre Girard in his day was a man of force, a merchant of some importance and a citizen of distinction.²

Was there any possibility that Pierre might have been given a knighthood for his act of bravery?

The rules of the Order of Knighthood state that only a naval officer is permitted to be conferred after an act of bravery.

What was the reason he was serving in the naval services at that time?

It was the custom in those days to require would-be ship masters to serve two years in the French navy before receiving their licenses to command merchant ships. In 1744, while Pierre Girard was serving his time, the War of the Austrian Succession began. He also became a pensioner of the French monarch. He was awarded the title of Burgess of the city of Bordeaux in 1767. Pierre was strong-willed and domineering and terrified his young bride as he was to do the children she was to have. Stephen was born in a tiny house at no. 2 Rue Ramonet. The entire ground floor was used by Pierre for his trading business. The small rooms on the second and third floors were the family’s living area.³

Some biographers have written that Stephen Girard was born in the town of Chartrons. Who is right?

Both are correct. The town of Chartrons was a separate town in 1750. It was later integrated into Bordeaux.

Was Stephen Girard born to a privileged family?

The family was not privileged but comfortable. His father Pierre was strict about money and expected his children to make their own way in life. Girard was the oldest of the children and his father was eager to have his son follow in his footsteps. Stephen had natural intelligence but little education. When he was old enough, his father took him aboard ship and taught him the life of a sailor. By any standard, Pierre bullied Stephen, making the boy do all the chores that Pierre was too lazy to do himself.

Why wasn’t Stephen given an education as a child?

He was tutored as a child by his mother and other tutors. He had no formal education. He was able to read and do math calculations. It must be remembered that public education was not available when Girard was a child. The governmental supervision overseeing public education was first created in France in 1802.

Were the schools established after the French Revolution coeducational?

No. It was the tradition throughout Europe that only male children would go to school. Girls would stay at home and learn household duties that would prepare them for being wives and mothers.

Did this education include religious training?

Yes. Girard’s parents were devout Roman Catholics and brought up their children in the teachings of the Church. Stephen was baptized on the day after his birth.

Being the oldest child, did Stephen gravitate towards his father wanting to be like him?

Stephen did want to grow up to be like his father but because of his walleye, he relied very much on the warmth and compassion of his mother. Many have supposed that Girard had lost his eye entirely and that it was closed up but this is not the fact. The eye was entire though deformed and sightless. Stephen Simpson, Girard's first biographer, also states that Girard’s eye was seen by a doctor who told him that a simple cutting of the film over the eye would restore his sight but according to Simpson, Girard refused.⁴

How does biographer Henry Atlee Ingram explain the loss of Girard’s sight of his right eye?

“At eight years old, as a result of throwing wet oyster shells upon a bonfire, the heat of which splintering the shells, a fragment entered Stephen’s right eye at once destroying the sight in it beyond the hope of restoration."⁵

What were the main criticisms leveled at the writings of Ingram on Stephen Girard?

It is generally considered that Ingram relied too heavily on William Wagner’s account on Girard and that Ingram gave too much importance to the life of John Girard in Stephen’s affairs.⁶

Was there a reason that Ingram accentuated John’s role?

Lawyer Henry Ingram was the grandson of Antoinette Girard Hemphill. His great grandfather was John Girard.⁷

To what extent was Stephen’s childhood stressful?

Unfortunately, we know little of his boyhood. His biographers tell us that he was ridiculed because of his wall-eye. We also learned that he grew up shrinking from other children and living in a world of his thoughts. One could ask under what conditions did he leave his home in France. Details are few as to why he left home. One biographer states that Girard, at the age of ten or twelve, signed on a ship as a cabin-boy. Never had any boy a smaller capital on which to build a fortune.

Where did Pierre do his trading in San Domingo?

As a merchant Pierre Girard traded with the ports in the French part of the island of San Domingo. It was to Port-au-Prince, therefore, that Stephen went in 1764, on his first voyage as cabin boy in a vessel in which his father had taken a venture.

How did Stephen manage to go to San Domingo?

According to Elbert Hubbard, a Girard biographer, Girard intended to go aboard a ship as a stowaway. At about two o’clock in the morning, he said goodbye to his little sisters and walked down to the dock which was about a quarter of a mile from his home. He was well hidden while he watched the loading of the vessel. Just as soon as he stepped out of the darkness, planning to sneak aboard a man approached him. It was the captain who wanted to know if the lad could serve as cabin boy. Stephen jumped for joy and the Captain invited him aboard for coffee and a biscuit.⁸

Do we know if Stephen had time to read during his first voyage?

According to his biographers, he worked twice as hard as the other mariners. His strong arms and nimble feet had him climbing and running all day. He could see better with one eye than others could with two. In his spare time he did come into possession of a book lent to him by the first mate. It was a copy of Voltaire’s Philosophical Dictionary. Stephen read it with great interest. His reading of Voltaire—seventy volumes—began from recommendations of his friend Baldesqui. Later he was to become acquainted with another French philosopher and educator— Jean-Jacques Rousseau for whom he held great respect. Girard had held a membership in the Library Company of Philadelphia from 1790 until he died. His books were constantly overdue for which he paid all dues on time.⁹

How does Harry Wildes, one of Stephen Girard’s biographers, describe Joseph Baldesqui?

Baldesqui, a partner of Stephen’s for a short time, was not wholly devoted to his work. The dashing Polish cavalryman lived in a dream world which had as its total population the fair ladies whom he sought to captivate.”¹⁰

What became of Girard’s friend and partner after their partnership ended?

Baldesqui retired in Germantown, now part of Philadelphia, where he set up a hair-powder factory.

How did the death of his mother affect Stephen?

Stephen was devastated as was the whole family by her death. Stephen at eleven probably felt it the most. Gone was his safety net; gone was the warmth and protective love he needed so badly in his life. His mother died at the age of thirty-six. Her death was probably brought on by birthing so many children and the difficulty of her life.¹¹

How was Stephen described as a boy before the death of his mother?

Henry Ingram wrote: “He possesses precocious dignity and grave self-assurance coupled with a passionate and domineering temper.”¹²

How did Pierre Girard plan to keep a large family with no mother for the children?

Pierre couldn’t return to sea without providing a caretaker for the children. He managed to have his wife’s half- sister, Anne Marie Lafargue, move into the house to serve as housekeeper and stepmother. She was Stephen’s godmother and became the mother of the children. Pierre and Anne Odette Girard had been aware of Stephen’s growing love for a life at sea and were keenly attentive as their young son outlined his dreams to them, dreams that would soon take him across the seas and, eventually, to a new home. Stephen’s early childhood was not a happy one. He would serve as office boy for his father, was constantly blamed when things went wrong, was responsible for the welfare of the younger children, and was the object of his father’s quick temper. His father was always stern with the boy and never played with him. In his eighty-one years of life, Stephen had never learned the meaning of carefree relaxation.¹³

How did Girard learn about his new step-mother?

In 1767, Girard was returning from San Domingo and learned that his father had remarried. She was Marie-Jeanne, a widow. Girard was sixteen at the time. From this marriage, they had four children.

In 1760, when Stephen was ten years old, what was happening in France?

On September 8, 1760, Governor General Pierre, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal, surrendered the French colony known as Canada. Britain assured the 60,000 to 70,000 Francophone inhabitants freedom from deportation and from confiscation of property, freedom of religion, the right to migrate to France, and equal treatment in the fur trade (backbone of the local economy). The Treaty of Paris made the northern portion of New France (including Canada and some additional lands to the south and west) officially a British colony. The Quebec Act of 1774 confirmed the previous agreement.

What voyage gave Girard his first feeling of independence from his family?

His first voyage was to the West Indies and this proved to be the starting point of his independence. He went from an unhappy home, ignorant, without funds and sadly unfriended and unknown to rise to the rank of merchant prince. This is surely one of the marvels of human history.

What does Ingram say about the breakup between Stephen and his father?

He speaks about an outburst at dinner when Stephen’s stepmother scolded him. His father intervened against him saying that Stephen should learn to get along with the family or go out and live somewhere else. Stephen answered that he would go at once if his father would provide him with a place on board a ship leaving Bordeaux for the West Indies.¹⁴

How old was Stephen when he owned his own trading vessel?

Stephen Girard was sailing his own sloop, L’Amiable Louise, at the age of twenty-four. As a ship captain, he had the authority to trade, buy and sell. His first trip took him around Sandy Hook and up New York Bay.

In 1770, when Girard was twenty years old, what was occurring in France?

At Versailles, Louis, the French dauphin, married Marie Antoinette, the daughter of Austrian Archduchess Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I. France hoped their marriage would strengthen its alliance with Austria, its longtime enemy. In 1774, with the death of King Louis XV, Louis and Marie were crowned king and queen of France.

How did Stephen manage to move up so quickly as a mariner? How would his good conduct and industriousness help the young man?

As a consequence of his good work, Captain Randall promoted Stephen at every opportunity. And in a few years, he was given the command of a small vessel and sent on trading voyages. It was not achieved through smiles or making compliments or social maneuvers. Stephen worked harder that anyone on board and would volunteer for any job that was available.

Had Stephen been to America before he settled in Philadelphia?

He had gone there with his father years before. This voyage, during which he was captain, took Girard westward, arriving in New York in July 1774. In short order, he became acquainted with ship owners and merchants in the teeming city. During a series of voyages to New Orleans on vessels owned by Thomas Randall, Girard managed a highly profitable business association for both of them. Stephen Girard began to develop an appreciation for the potential of the American market, buying sugar and coffee in the West Indies to sell in the new nation, while in return shipping American goods to the West Indies. This arrangement allowed him to quickly accumulate considerable capital.¹⁵

Father and son travelled together to New York several times.  In 1764, when only 14 years old, Stephen, followed in his father's footsteps, went to sea.  Girard was signed on as a Pilotin. Pierre arranged this appointment on his ship Pélerin, bound for Saint-Domingo in the French West Indies.  Girard was glad that the sea had offered him a release from his father’s tyranny.¹⁶ 

The ship's roster listed Stephen as an apprentice pilot (he proved himself to be a quick learner). He was grateful for the start his father had given him and in this capacity he began his study of navigation. When asked how he felt about going to sea so young, he said: “I have made my way alone with the means gained from my nurse, the sea.”¹⁷

In what way did the merchants in Bordeaux take advantage of Girard’s inexperience in purchasing cargo?

Among the items Girard had bought and hoped to sell were: twenty snuff boxes for ladies, fourteen dozen silver cords, a Solomon violin, beaver hats, velvet saddle cloths, gloves, lace, ribbons etc. It did not take Girard long to recover from his losses. In 1774, he was broke and a year later, after being employed by Thomas Randall, Girard had put aside 17,000 francs and not a sou would go to paying the swindling merchants in Bordeaux

How did Girard get back at these unscrupulous merchants?

He took his revenge by not paying the merchants and allowed them to go for years without seeing the debt cleared.¹⁸

What important lessons did Girard learn from this disastrous trading experience?

He learned that San Domingo did not need trinkets but food. He resolved to sell American beef and flour in exchange for sugar, coffee and cacao.

Chapter 1 Notes

1. Harry Emerson Wildes, Lonely Midas; The Story of Stephen Girard, (New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1943), 3.

2. John Bach McMaster, The Life and Times of Stephen Girard, Mariner and Merchant, vol. 1, (Philadelphia; London: J. B. Lippincott, 1918; Internet Archive, 2007), https://archive.org/stream/lifetimesofsteph01mcmauoft#page/n0/mode/2up.

3. Wildes, Lonely Midas, 10.

4. Stephen Simpson, Biography of Stephen Girard, with his Will Affixed Comprising an Account of his Private Life, Habits and Manners ( Philadelphia, 1832), 16.Simpson is both a primary and secondary source. As an employee of Girard’s bank for the last fifteen years of Girard’s life, Simpson observed Girard on a regular basis. Simpson’s father, George Simpson worked for Girard as cashier for ten years.

5. Henry Atlee Ingram, The Life and Character of Stephen Girard, (E. Stanley Hart, Philadelphia 1885), 20.“Girard’s description of the thick yellow cataract descending over his eye leads modern oculists to believe that the ailment was in fact no cataract but in reality a scarred shrunken globe which was the belated effects of a wound in early childhood.”  See Wildes, Lonely Midas, 350.

6. Wildes, Lonely Midas, 362.

7. Ibid.

8. Elbert Hubbard, “Stephen Girard, (East Aurora: NY: Roycrofters, 1909), 43.

9. Wildes Lonely Midas, 137.

10. Ibid, 43.

11. McMaster, Life and Times, 27.

12. Ingram, Life and Character, 23.

13. Wildes, Lonely Midas, 6.

14. Ingram, Life and Character, 26.

15. Mike DiMeo, “Stephen Girard [:] Merchant, Mariner, Banker, Humanitarian, Patriot,” Independence Hall Association [website owner], “UShistory.org,” http://www.ushistory.og/people/girard.htm. DiMeo uses an alternative form of his name, Michael D. Mayo as the author of The Stone Cocoon, Warminster, PA: Neibauer Press, 1997.

16. Wildes, Lonely Midas, 9.

17. Cheesman A. Herrick, Stephen Girard, Founder, 5th ed. (Philadelphia, Girard College, 1945), 16.

18. Wildes, Lonely Midas, 20.

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