The Goldschmidt Family

Wertheimer, Samson

Samson Wertheimer, also known as Wertheimber, was born in Worms in 1658.In 1684 he mOved to Vienna, where Samuel Oppenheimer introduced him tothe financial world of the Viennese court. During the War of the SpanishSuccession he and Oppenheimer supported the emperor Leopold I. WhenOppenheimer died, he was the sole lender to the Austrian government andwas appointed court factor. Wertheimer took every opportunity to use hisinfluence at court to advance the interests of Jews. He possessed Greatknowledge of the Talmud and held the title of a HungArian national Rabbi.
Many personal and commercial connections linked him to Frankfurt. One ofhis daughters was married to the banker Moses Löb Isaak zur Kann, alsoknown as Moses Kann.
Two business transactions involved him in serious and longdrawnoutdisputes with the Frankfurt city council. The council did not want to lethim buy a bLeaching meadow belonging to Rebekka Dietz, a pastor's widow,because the residence code did not permit Jews to purchase land Outsidethe JudenGasse. He emphasised his services to the imperial court, andwith the vendor's help he managed to persuade the emperor to order thecity council to approve the purchase. His application to build a massivefourstorey stone house for his son In law, Isaak Nathan Oppenheimer,after the JudenGasse fire in 1711 was also refused by the city council. Afurther appeal to the emperor again helped Wertheimer, and after fiveyears the city council apprOved the house. Work on building theSteinernes Haus commenced in August 1717. Wertheimer died in Vienna on 6August 1724. His descendants became one of the most respected andwealthiest Jewish famiLies in Europe.