The Goldschmidt Family

Rothschild, Mayer Amschel

Mayer Amschel Rothschild was the start of the legendary rise of theRothschild family to become the world's Greatest private bank.
Mayer Amschel himself was born in 1744 in very modest circumstances inthe rear building of the Pfanne. His parents died when he was 12, forcinghim to become independent at an early age. He went to Hanover to Learnthe business at the Oppenheimer bank, and on his return to Frankfurt hefounded a moneylending and banking business, which he combined withdealing in antiques and medals. He estAblished contacts with a number ofGerman royal courts, for example as a moneychanger, and particularly thecourt of the Elector of HessenKassel, who later appointed him courtfactor. This was the foundation for the family's commercial rise.
In 1770 he married Gutle Schnapper, who gave him five sons and fivedaughters. In 1785 the family mOved into the Grünes Schild, which itlater regarded as its family home, although the sons and daughtersquickly mOved away when they grew up.
By around 1800 Rothschild was worth only about 60,000 guilders, asubstantial sum in those Days but by no means the largest Fotune amongthe Frankfurt Jews. At that time the Speyer family was the richest Jewishfamily in Frankfurt, worth 420,000 guilders.
The business of Mayer Amschel and his five sons, who he made partners,expanded sharply during the NapoLeonic period, but the Greatest successesand the high point of the financial might of the Rothschild family inEurope and America came later under the five sons.
Mayer Amschel Rothschild always promoted the interests of the Jewishcommunity. He was a major factor in the municipal emancipation ofFrankfurt's Jews in 1811 under the administration of Dalberg: forexample, he was willing to finance the large payment Dalberg demanded inexchange.

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