1860

Abraham and Sarah Warburg had three children: Moritz, Siegmund and a daughter (unnamed in ref) who married Paul Schiff. Schiff was a director of Vienna’s Creditanstalt Bank, which was controlled by Baron Albert Rothschild. The Schiff’s and Rothschild families used to share the same house in Frankfurt. Siegmund developed close ties to Baron Lionell von Rothschild of the London family. While Moritz worked with Baron Alphonse Rothschild of Paris, Baron Leopold of London and Baron Albert of Vienna. Moritz had five sons that were later dubbed the Hamburger 5. Two of them, Felix and Paul moved to the U.S. Paul married the daughter of Mr. Soloman Loeband Felix married the daughter of Jacob Schiff. Felix’s daughter Carola married Walter N. Rothschild of Brooklyn.

Jacob Schiff was born on January 10, 1847, in Frankfurt- am-Main, Germany. The son of Moses and Clara (Niederhofheim) Schiff, he was a descendant of a distinguished rabbinical family that could trace its lineage back to 1370. He received a secular and religious education at the Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft. He came to America and went to work in a brokerage firm in New York and he later became a partner in <Budae, Schiff and Company. He met and fell in love with Theresa Loeb, the daughter of Solomon Loeb, head of the banking firm, Kuhn, Loeb and Company. They were married on May 6, 1875, and he entered her father’s firm.

In 1885, he was named head of the firm because of his financial abilities. Schiff was a strong advocate for the gold standard and he opposed the Silver Purchase Act of 1890. Despite his success in the financial world, he always felt he had a special obligation to the Jewish People. He fulfilled this commitment through his philanthropies. [Jewish Virtual Library]

With his connections to the Rothschilds of Vienna, Schiff gave the financial boost necessary to make Kuhn and Loeb the 2nd largest investment bank in the U.S., just behind J.P. Morgan.