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The Will of the Late Stephen Girard, Esq Procured from the Office for the Probate of Wills, with a Short Biography of his Life.
Philadelphia: Published by Thomas and Robert Desilver, 1832. (GIRARD, STEPHEN) 8vo. [2-half-title] ix [x], 1-36, title misbound at back. Limp blue boards. Quite worn, several leaves torn across, generally not affecting the legibility of the text, the half-title has been repaired with stitches, else a very good copy of the pamphlet with the signatures of P. Washington Rice and Marguerite W. Rice of Wilmington on endpapers. American Imprints 12613. ¶ Girard, (1750-1831), the eminent man of business of Philadelphia, was noted for his philanthropy as well as his business accumen. His estate, which was very large, he divided so that $140,000 was given to relatives and charities, $300, 000 to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania "for internal improvement by canal navigation", his real estate in Louisiana, some 208,000 acres he left to New Orleans and Philadelphia, $500,000 he left to Philadelphia to create Delaware Avenue, clean up the waterfront, pave, remove all wooden buildings and other projects to improve the city. The bulk of his estate was left to create what became Girard College, to educate the poor white orphan boys with a trade. His will gives instructions about the College, both physical and administrative. Some of Girard's heirs contested the will in what became a "classic in American legal history, contributng not a little to the clarification of the law of charities" (DAB). It was known as the case of "Vidal et al. vs. The City of Philadelphia." The Supreme Court confirmed the validity of the will
Offered for US$ 100.00 by: James Cummins Bookseller - Book number: 22965