Seven years after
her marriage, Mrs. Girard showed symptoms of insanity, which became so
decided that her husband was compelled to place her in the State Asylum
for the Insane. He appears to have done every thing in his power to
restore her to reason. Being pronounced cured, she returned to her
home, but in 1790 He was compelled to place her permanently in the
Pennsylvania Hospital, where, nine months after, she gave birth to a
female child, which happily died. Mrs. Girard never recovered her
reason, but died in 1815, and was buried in the hospital grounds.
Girard fled from Philadelphia, with his wife, in September, 1777, at the
approach of the British, and purchased a house at Mount Holly, near
Burlington, New Jersey, where he carried on his bottling business. His
claret commanded a ready sale among the British in Philadelphia, and his
profits were large. In June, 1778, the city was evacuated by Lord Howe,
and he was allowed to return to his former home.
Though he traded with the British, Girard considered himself a true
patriot, as indeed he was. On the 27th of October, 1778, he took the
oath of allegiance required by the State of Pennsylvania, and renewed it
the year following.
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