New York State charters the City Bank…

New York State charters the City Bank of New York (later Citibank) on June 16, 1812.

Its founder, Stephen Girard, born in Bordeaux, France, had lost the sight of his right eye at the age of eight and had received little education.

His father was a sea captain; the son had cruised to the Caribbean and back, was licensed captain in 1773, visited California in 1774, and thence with the assistance of a New York merchant had begun to trade to and from New Orleans and Port au Prince.

Driven into the port of Philadelphia by a British fleet in May 1776, he had settled there as a merchant and quickly met Mary Lum, a Philadelphia native and nine years his junior; they married soon afterwards and Girard purchased a home at 211 Mill Street in Mount Holly Township, New Jersey.

She was the daughter of John Lum, a shipbuilder, who died three months before the marriage.

After Girard became a citizen of Pennsylvania (1778), he built the Water Witch, the first of a trading fleet—most of Girard's ships being named after his favorite French authors, such as Rousseau, Voltaire, Helvétius, and Montesquieu.

By 1785, Mary had started to succumb to sudden, erratic emotional outbursts.

Mental instability and violent rages led to a diagnosis of mental instability that was not curable.

Girard was at first devastated, but by 1787 he had taken a mistress, Sally Bickham.

In August 1790, Girard committed his wife to the Pennsylvania Hospital (today part of the University of Pennsylvania) as an incurable lunatic.

After he gave her every luxury for comfort, she gave birth to a girl whose sire is not entirely certain.

The child, baptized with the name Mary, died a few months later, while under the care of Mrs. John Hatcher, who had been hired by Girard as a nurse.

Girard will spend the rest of his life with mistresses.

In 1793, there had been an outbreak of yellow fever in Philadelphia.

Although many other well-to-do citizens chose to leave the city, Girard had stayed to care for the sick and dying, supervising the conversion of a mansion outside the city limits into a hospital and recruiting volunteers to nurse victims, and personally caring for patients.

For his efforts, Girard had been feted as a hero by the City Hall after the outbreak subsided.

Again during the yellow fever epidemic of 1797-1798, Girard had taken the lead in relieving the poor and caring for the sick.

The charter for the First Bank of the United States having expired in 1811, Girard had purchased most of its stock as well as the building and its furnishings on South Third Street in Philadelphia and opened his own bank, later known as Girard Bank.

Girard is the sole proprietor of his bank, and thus avoids the Pennsylvania state law which prohibits an unincorporated association of persons from establishing a bank, and requires a charter from the legislature for a banking corporation.

Girard had hired George Simpson, the cashier of the First Bank, as cashier of the new bank, and with seven other employees, opened for business on May 18, 1812.

He allows the Trustees of the First Bank of the United States to use some offices and space in the vaults to continue the process of winding down the affairs of the closed bank at a very nominal rent.