THE    CITY     OF    NEW    YORK.----RO.                                                           557

Florence Sylvia, and Elsa Beatrice Rothschild. His contributions to charity have been
generous, and his name is a tower of strength to the Montefiore Home, Mount Sinai
Hospital, Hebrew Benevolent Orphan Asylum, United Hebrew Charities, St. John's
Guild and other institutions.     He belongs to the Progress and Freundschaft clubs.

VICTOR HENRY ROTHSCHILD, manufacturer and merchant, has attained a
deservedly high rank among the self-made men of America. Born at Nordstetten, in
the depths of the Black Forest, Wurtemberg, Germany, April 6, 1835, he was the
oldest of a family of seven children. He received at that place a public school educa¬
tion and then entered the employment of his father, a retail dry goods merchant. He
remained with him four years, working hard and devoting his spare hours to study and
self-cultivation. Like hundreds of other young Germans, however, he longed for a
more extended sphere in which to display the business ability, which he felt he pos¬
sessed, and, preparatory to his starting for this country, devoted himself industriously
to the study of English. Thus, when he emigrated, in 1852, he had a fair command of
the language, and this he continued to improve by study and practice at his new home
in Fort Wayne, Ind.

By dint of unwearying energy and the knowledge of American business methods
he had managed to acquire, aided by the strictest economy (his purse contained only
eight silver dollars on his arrival in Fort Wayne), he was enabled in a comparatively
short time to start in business on his owm account. His first independent essay as a
merchant was in the sale of optical goods, with which he traveled from town to town in
Ohio and Indiana, his modest wagon being his store and warehouse. Gradually, he
added fancy goods and notions to his stock in trade and before long was in a condition
to sell with advantage to consumers and small country stores. In 1854, he was induced
by his brother-in-law to go to Mount Carroll, 111., where the latter established a dry
goods store in Mr. Rothschild's name. Meantime, the young merchant, determined
not to abandon his old business because of his change of location, continued his sales of
optical and fancy goods in the then new West, and prospered so well that he sent for
his younger brother, Marx, to join him in the new world. But, while he prospered,
his brother-in-law met with disaster, and in the panic of 1857 went into bankruptcy,
causing Mr. Rothschild the loss of about $18,000 which he had advanced from
time to time, as Well as $38,000 of debts contracted in his name. Undaunted by
disaster, Mr. Rothschild and his brother Marx started South as soon as they could
get clear of the wreck, and finally settled in Georgia, trying Macon first, and then
Hawkinsville. In the latter place, they opened a general store, stocking it with dry
goods, groceries and miscellaneous merchandise, and were soon once more on the road
to prosperity.

This was just before the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion. At about this time,
news was received from Germany of the illness of their father; and Marx instantly
started for his old home, although his presence here was greatly needed.

Then came the War with all its horrors, and Mr. Rothschild was compelled to
abandon his prosperous business and go to New York. Here, finding that the indebt¬
edness of $38,000, accumulated in his name by his brother-in-law, had not been met,
he settled it at great personal sacrifice, dollar for dollar, out of his Southern savings.
For a year or more, his business activity was suspended, but in 1863, and through a
mere coincidence, he began the manufacture of neglige shirts,  then an entirely new