Henry Lehman (born Hayum Lehmann; September 29, 1822 – November 17, 1855) was a German-born American businessman and the founder of

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1850. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merril ...

, which grew from a cotton and fabrics shop during his life to become a large finance firm under his brothers' descendants.

Life and work

Lehman was born under the name of Hayum Lehmann to a Jewish family, the son of Eva (Rosenheim) and Abraham Lehmann, a cattle merchant in the small

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

n town of Rimpar near

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

. Lehman emigrated to the United States in 1844, where he changed his name to Henry Lehman. He settled in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

, and opened a dry goods store named, "H. Lehman".Lehman Brothers.com
/ref> In 1847, following the arrival of his younger brother Emanuel Lehman, the firm became, "H. Lehman and Bro." With the 1850 arrival of Mayer Lehman, the youngest brother, the firm became "

". In those years, cotton was the most important crop of the Southern United States. Capitalizing on cotton's extremely high market value around the world, the Lehman brothers became

cotton factor In the antebellum and Reconstruction era South, most cotton planters relied on cotton factors (also known as cotton brokers) to sell their crops for them. Description The cotton factor was usually located in an urban center of commerce, such as ...

s, accepting cotton bales from customers as payment for their merchandise. They eventually began a second business as traders in cotton. The company directly dealt with cotton farmers. Lehman, particularly, presented himself as a friend to the farmers, who believed that the banks only lend money to merchants and middlemen. He bartered with skills that he learned from dealing with farmers in the Bavarian countryside and accepted cotton as payment for borrowed money. Within a few years, this became the major part of their firm. It was described as a very prosperous venture, running a very successful warehouse. In 1855, Henry Lehman died from yellow fever while travelling in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. Later, his brothers moved the company's headquarters to New York City, eventually building it into an important American investment bank, which was in operation for over 150 years until its September 15, 2008, collapse.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lehman, Henry 1822 births 1855 deaths American bankers Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) Businesspeople from Alabama Businesspeople from New Orleans Deaths from yellow fever Bavarian emigrants to the United States Infectious disease deaths in Louisiana Jews from Alabama Lehman Brothers people Lehman family 19th-century American Jews 19th-century German Jews People from Würzburg (district) People from Montgomery, Alabama