Francis Martin Drexel

Infobox Person
name = Francis Martin Drexel


image_size = 250px
caption =
birth_date = April 7, 1792
birth_place = Austria
death_date = June 5, 1863
death_place = Philadelphia
occupation = Banker
spouse = Catherine Hookey (1795-1870)
parents =
children = Anthony Joseph Drexel
Joseph William Drexel
Francis Anthony Drexel

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

Drexel was born in Dornbirn, in the Austrian Vorarlberg in 1792. In 1803 he was sent to study Italian and the fine arts in a Catholic institution near Turin. When he returned in 1809 he found Austria invaded by the French, and to escape conscription he crossed the border into Switzerland and then went to Paris, France. In 1812 he returned to the Tyrol incognito. Conscription was still in force, so he went to Berne and continued his study of painting. He sailed for the United States in 1817, from Amsterdam, and settled in Philadelphia. After a few years, he went to Peru and Chile, painting portraits, including one of General Simon Bolivar. He visited South America twice, and went to Mexico. After his permanent settlement in Philadelphia, he founded the banking house of Drexel & Co. in 1837, which became one of the largest banks in the United States. The original business of Drexel & Co. was discounting privately issued bank notes. they were no more good than 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.The Paris firm, Drexel, Harjes & Co., was founded in 1868, and the New York firm, Drexel, Morgan & Co., in 1871.

Children

*Anthony Joseph Drexel, was born on September 13, 1826 in Philadelphia. He founded Drexel University.
*Joseph William Drexel, was born on January 24, 1833. He retired from banking in 1876, then became trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, trustee of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and director of the Metropolitan Opera house.
*Francis Anthony Drexel who was born on June 20, 1824 in Philadelphia. He was the father of Saint Katharine Drexel.

Death

Francis died in 1853 and was buried in The Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

References

*Appletons