Hart, Ephraim

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HART, EPHRAIM

HART, EPHRAIM (1747–1825), U.S. communal leader and stockbroker. Hart, who was born in Fuerth, Bavaria, went to New York before the outbreak of the American Revolution. After the British captured New York (1776), Hart moved to Philadelphia. He was one of the first members of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in Philadelphia, dedicated in 1782. He returned to New York in 1787, became a stockbroker, and also speculated successfully in real estate. Hart was a charter member of the Board of Stock Brokers (1792). He served as an elector of Congregation Shearith Israel (1787) and was a founder of its burial society Hebra Hesed ve Emet (1802). Hart sat in the New York State Senate (1810) and was a business associate of John Jacob Astor.