Financier And Banker

Early Career.

Stephen Girard rose from being a cabin boy to become one of the richest men in America, an extreme example of a rags-to-riches story that was true for many early American business- | men. Girard was born on 20 May 1750 in Bordeaux, France, and received little education due to being blind in one eye. He went to sea at the age of fourteen, and by 1773 he had a pilot's license. In 1774 he traveled from France to the West Indies, trading for himself for the first time and ending up in Philadelphia in 1776 with some coffee and sugar and substantial debts. Hard work in an American shipping firm let him pay off his creditors and establish himself.

Shipping and Trading.

Girard continued the common practice of trading for himself while also trading for his employers and gradually accumulated profits and an interest in...