Francis Martin Drexel

Francis Martin Drexel
Born	April 7, 1792 Dornbirn, Vorarlberg, Austria
Died	June 5, 1863 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

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.

Francis Martin 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 Bern and continued his study of painting.

In 1817, he sailed for the United States from Amsterdam, and settled in Philadelphia. After a few years, he went to Peru and Chile, painting portraits, including one of General Simon Bolivar. Drexel visited South America twice as well as Mexico.

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.

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.

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