Famous Givers and Their GiftsBolton, Sarah Knowles
History
Famous Givers and Their Gifts
Bolton, Sarah Knowles
Philanthropists
He was given a public funeral by the city which he had so many times
befriended. A great concourse of people gathered to watch the procession
or to join it, all houses being closed along the route, the city
officials walking beside the coffin carried in an open hearse. So large
a funeral had never been known in Philadelphia, said the press. The body
was taken to the Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church, and placed in the
vault of Baron Henry Dominick Lallemand, General of Artillery under
Napoleon I., who had married the youngest daughter of Girard's brother
Jean. Mr. Girard was born in the Romish Church, and never severed his
connection, although he attended a church but rarely. He liked the
Friends, and modelled his life after their virtues; but he said it was
better for a man to die in the faith in which he was born. He gave
generously to all religious denominations and to the poor.
When Mr. Girard's will was read, it was apparent for what purpose he had
saved his money. He gave away about $7,500,000, a remarkable record for
a youth who left home at fourteen, and rose from a cabin-boy to be one
of the wealthiest men of his time.
The first gift in the will, and the largest to any existing corporation,
was $30,000 to the Pennsylvania hospital where Mary Girard died and was
buried, the income to be used in providing nurses. To the Institution
for the Deaf and Dumb, Mr. Girard left $20,000; to the Philadelphia
Orphan Asylum, $10,000; public schools, $10,000; to purchase fuel
forever, in March and August, for distribution in January among poor
white housekeepers of good character, the income from $10,000; to the
Society for poor masters of ships and their families, $10,000; to the
poor among the Masonic fraternity of Pennsylvania, $20,000; to build a
schoolhouse at Passyunk, where he had his farm, $6,000; to his brother
Étienne, and to each of the six children of this brother, $5,000; to
each of his nieces from $10,000 to $60,000; to each captain of his
vessels $1,500, and to each of his housekeepers an annuity or yearly sum
of $500, besides various amounts to servants; to the city of
Philadelphia, to improve her Delaware River front, to pull down and
remove wooden buildings within the city limits, and to widen and pave
Water Street, the income of $500,000; to the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, for internal improvements by canal navigation, $300,000;
to the cities of New Orleans and Philadelphia, "to promote the health
and general prosperity of the inhabitants," 280,000 acres of land in the
State of Louisiana.
The city of Philadelphia has been fortunate in her gifts. The Elias
Boudinot Fund, for supplying the poor of the city with fuel, furnished
over three hundred tons of coal last year; "and this amount will
increase annually, by reason of the larger income derived from the
12,000 acres of land situated in Centre County, the property of this
trust." The investments and cash balance on Dec. 31, 1893, amounted to
$40,600.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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