Francis Martin Drexel

Francis Martin Drexel (April 7, 1792 – June 5, 1863) was a Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, United States) banker and artist. He was the father of Anthony Joseph Drexel, the founder of Drexel University and the grandfather of Saint Katherine Drexel.[1]

Francis Martin Drexel
Self-portrait
Born	April 7, 1792 Dornbirn, Vorarlberg, Austria
Died	June 5, 1863 (aged 71) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation	Banker
Spouse(s)	Catherine Hookey ​ ​ (m. 1821; his death 1863)​
Children	Mary Johanna Drexel Francis Anthony Drexel Anthony Joseph Drexel Joseph William Drexel Heloise Drexel Caroline Drexel

Early life

A portrait of Blas Cerdeña by Drexel.

A portrait of San Martín by Drexel.

Franz Martin Drexel was born April 7, 1792, the eldest son of Franz Josef Drexel and Magdalena Wilhelm, in Dornbirn, in the Austrian Vorarlberg, not far from the Swiss border. His father was a successful merchant with business associates in both Switzerland and Italy. In 1803, Francis was sent to study Italian and French at a Catholic convent school In Italy. Drexel would eventually become conversant in five languages. He returned two years later and was apprenticed to a painter in a nearby village. When Napoleon invaded Austria, in order to escape conscription, and with help from his father, he crossed the Rhine into Switzerland. He remained there for about five years, painting portraits, houses, and signs to support himself.[2] In 1812, he returned to the Tyrol incognito. Conscription was still in force, so he went to Bern and continued his study of painting.[3]

Career

In May 1817, Drexel took ship from Amsterdam on the John of Baltimore, headed for Philadelphia,[4] where he opened a studio and found work as an art instructor at Bazeley's Female Academy. A popular portrait painter, his work was frequently shown at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts annual exhibitions.[5]

A law suit for libel against his brother-in-law, Bernard Gallagher, was settled out of court as damages would have bankrupted the latter. Although Gallagher acknowledged the false statements, nonetheless, commissions for paintings decreased and Drexel lost his position at Bazeley's. He then left his wife and two children in Philadelphia, to travel to Peru and Chile, painting portraits, including one of General Simón Bolívar.[6] Drexel visited South America twice as well as Mexico.[3]

Drexel & Co.

In 1837, after his permanent settlement in Philadelphia, he founded the banking house of Drexel & Co. which became one of the largest banks in the United States. The original business of Drexel & Co. was discounting privately issued bank notes, the value of which was largely dependent on the character of the principal officers of the issuing bank. The exposure to the principals gained from portrait painting is said to have given Drexel inside knowledge.[3]

After his death in 1860, the Paris firm, Drexel, Harjes & Co., was founded in 1868, and the New York firm, Drexel, Morgan & Co., was founded in 1871.[3]

Children

Drexel married Catherine Hookey (1795–1870) at the Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church at Sixth and Spruce streets on April 23, 1821. They had the following children:[7]

• Mary Johanna Drexel (1822–1873), who married John D. Lankenau (1817–1901), a businessman and philanthropist[8][9]
• Francis Anthony Drexel (1824–1885), who married Hannah J. Langstroth (1826–1858), and then Emma Mary Bouvier (1833–1883)[10]
• Anthony Joseph Drexel (1826–1893), who married Ellen B. Rozet (1832–1891). He was one of the founders of modern finance as well as Drexel University.
• Joseph William Drexel (1833–1888), who married Lucy Wharton (1841–1912). He was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and director of the Metropolitan Opera
• Heloise C. Drexel (1837–1895), who married James Charles Smith (1828–1893)[11]
• Caroline "Carrie" Drexel (1838–1911), who married stockbroker John Goddard Watmough (1837–1913), son of Col. John Watmough.[12][13]

Drexel died in 1863, a result of injuries suffered in a train accident,[14] and was buried in The Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Descendants

Through his eldest son, Francis Anthony Drexel, he was the paternal grandfather of Saint Katharine Drexel (1858–1955).[15] Through his son, Joseph William Drexel, he was the paternal grandfather of Elizabeth Wharton Drexel (1868–1944), a prominent socialite who married John Beresford, 5th Baron Decies (1866–1944).[16]

Death and Legacy

Francis M. Drexel Mausoleum in The Woodlands

He died on June 5, 1863 and is interred at The Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia.[17]

A sculpture of Drexel stands atop the Francis M. Drexel Memorial Fountain in Drexel Square in Chicago. Drexel donated the land that came to be known as Drexel Boulevard. One of the oldest public sculptures in Chicago, it was commissioned by his sons Francis A. and Anthony J. Drexel.[18]

Drexel Park, located on S. Damen St. in Chicago is named after Drexel Blvd. Drexel presented another large tract - one further east - to the South Park Commission for use as parkland.[19]

See also

• Francis M. Drexel School

Sources

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1891). Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton. Missing or empty |title= (help)

References

1. Loughlin, John. "Francis Anthony Drexel". www.newadvent.org. Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
2. Jones, Elsa Loacker (1974). "Francis Martin Drexel's Years in America". Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia. 85 (3/4): 129–140. JSTOR 44210857.
3. Stiefel, Jay Robert. "Francis Martin Drexel (1792-1863), Artist Turned Financier" (PDF). librarycompany.org. Maine Antique Digest. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
4. Knowles, Scott (October 16, 2018). "In the Footsteps of Francis Martin Drexel: A Field Trip to Dornbirn, Austria". DrexelNow.
5. Hughes, Cheryl C. D. (2014). Katharine Drexel: The Riches-to-Rags Life Story of an American Catholic Saint. William B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-4674-4216-9.
6. "Francis Martin Drexel, Journal of a Trip to South America | The PACSCL Diaries Project". Drexel University Archives. October 9, 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
7. Rottenberg, Dan (2001). The Man who Made Wall Street: Anthony J. Drexel and the Rise of Modern Finance. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 185. ISBN 9780812236262.
8. Paulsen, Frederik (1 September 1901). "JOHN D. LANKENAU". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
9. "JOHN D. LANKENAU DEAD". The New York Times. 31 August 1901. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
10. "Larkin, Tara Elizabeth. "Drexel, St. Katharine Mary", Pennsylvania State University, Fall, 2006". Archived from the original on 2014-10-17. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
11. Rottenberg, Dan (May 22, 2006). The Man Who Made Wall Street: Anthony J. Drexel and the Rise of Modern Finance. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 081221966X. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
12. "John G. Watmough". The New York Times. 12 October 1913. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
13. "WATMOUGH WILL PROBATED.; Maid to Get $100,000, Friends $400,000 and Kinsmen Nothing". The New York Times. 4 January 1914. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
14. "Schwarz Gallery - Francis Martin Drexel". www.schwarzgallery.com. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
15. Katherine Drexel profile, katharinedrexel.org; accessed October 19, 2014.
16. "Lady Decies, Widow of Irish Peer, Dies; Former Elizabeth Drexel of Philadelphia Was Once the Wife of Harry Lehr". The New York Times. June 14, 1944. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
17. "Francis Martin Drexel". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
18. "Drexel Fountain" at Washington Park, Chicago Park District
19. "Drexel (Francis) Park", Chicago Park District

External links

• Francis Martin Drexel at Find a Grave