David Isaak Seligman (1790-1845)
Weaver, of Baiersdorf in Bavaria, Germany
He was a weaver in a village that was then so small (Baiersdorf - home of the Seligman family for over a century) it did not appear on most German maps, and he lived in a house "that sagged and leaned disconsolately against the next building". Even at the age of 29, David was described as, "a small, stooped, dour man, given to complaining about his lot". He was poor, unsuccessful, and in ill-health, yet his sons - "eight remarkable brothers" - established an international banking house of "vast importance and power... Few great American fortunes - and few banking houses - have started from such unpromising beginnings" (Our Crowd, by Stephen Birmingham). His eldest son, Joseph, was the first to emigrate to New York and as soon as he was able to he sent money back for his father and siblings to join him there in 1841. David died in 1845.
