Simson family

The Simson family was an American Jewish family of colonial and early republican New York City, active for four generations in the city's commerce, politics and Jewish life. Its members included the merchant and communal leader Joseph Simson, who lived to about 101; his sons, the merchants Sampson Simson the elder and Solomon Simson, founders of the New York Chamber of Commerce; and his grandson Sampson Simson, the first Jewish graduate of Columbia College and a founder of Mount Sinai Hospital.

Joseph Simson

The family's founder in America, Joseph Simson (c. 1686–1787), was born in Germany and came to North America around 1718. A merchant in New York, he rose from beadle to president of Congregation Shearith Israel and was known for his Hebrew learning. He and his wife, Rebecca, were the parents of Sampson and Solomon Simson. He died in New York in 1787, at about 101.

Sampson Simson the elder

Joseph's son Sampson Simson (c. 1725–1773), known as "the elder" to distinguish him from his nephew, was born in New York and became a prominent merchant there, in partnership with his brother Solomon. The brothers were active in founding the New York Chamber of Commerce in 1768. Sampson served as parnas (president) of Shearith Israel. He died in 1773, and his will was proved in January 1774, with his parents and brother as executors.

Solomon Simson

Solomon Simson (1738–1801) supported the American cause during the Revolution and moved with his family to Connecticut during the British occupation of New York. After the war he became one of the founders of New York's Democratic-Republican organization, serving as its vice president and, from 1797, its president. In 1795 he and Alexander Hirsch sent a Hebrew letter to the Jews of Kaifeng in China, the first known attempt by an American Jew to contact them.

Sampson Simson the younger

Solomon's son Sampson Simson (1780 or 1781–1857) was born in Danbury, Connecticut, while the family was in exile there during the Revolution. At Columbia College's commencement in 1800 he delivered an oration in Hebrew on the history of the Jews in North America, regarded as the first sketch of American Jewish history by an American citizen. He studied law under Aaron Burr and was admitted to the bar in 1802, one of the first Jewish lawyers in New York City, but for reasons of health he soon retired to an estate in Yonkers.

He devoted much of his later life to Jewish causes. He helped found the Jews' Hospital of New York, later Mount Sinai Hospital, as well as the North American Relief Society for the Indigent Jews in Palestine and other institutions, and made a cash bequest to Columbia College, the first of its kind. He never married; his sister Jochebed married Ansel Leo, reader of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun.

Family members

• Joseph Simson (c. 1686–1787), merchant and president of Congregation Shearith Israel
• Sampson Simson the elder (c. 1725–1773), merchant
• Solomon Simson (1738–1801), merchant and Democratic-Republican politician
• Sampson Simson (1780/81–1857), lawyer and philanthropist