Hart Moses Shiff (1780-1851)

He was born in Frankfurt, Germany. On coming to America, he anglicized his surname by dropping the 'c' in what had been 'Schiff'. He arrived in New Orleans circa 1810 and formed a partnership with Ruben Rochelle (politely referred to as a "peppery fellow") brokering shipments of tobacco, cotton, and sugar. He then consolidated his wealth through real estate, banking, and insurance. Although Jewish by race, he didn't follow the Jewish religion and in 1813 he married a Creole Catholic who shared his indifference to religion. They were survived by eight children (listed above), most of whom remained in New Orleans after he moved to New York including Edward who married one of the heiresses to the 75-room Belle Grove Plantation. Hart Shiff died at the mansion he commissioned in New York, 32 Fifth Avenue, which is famous for being the first house to exhibit the Second Empire Style in America. By 1862, a street corner he'd owned in New Orleans, inherited by his widow, was worth $140,000.