Daughter of Richea Myers-Cohen and the pioneer merchant traderBarnard Gratz, Rachel Gratz was born inPhiladelphia in 1764. Her only sibling, a sister named Fanny, died ininfancy, and Rachel was thus raised as an only child. Nevertheless,she benefitted from a large extended family that constituted atransatlantic network of prominent business and civic leadersstretching from central Europe to the frontier of westernPennsylvania.

In1791, when she was 27, Rachel married a close associate of herfather, Solomon Etting. Etting was thena widower with three small children, an observant man whom her fatherhad trained as a shochet. Etting had ties to Baltimore, wherehis widowed mother, Shinah, had movedher own family soon after the death of his father. It was perhapsnatural that Solomon should remove there with his new wife. OnNovember 13, two weeks after her wedding, Rachel wrote her fatherfrom her new home in Baltimore, assuring him of her comfort andhappiness: “From what little I have seen of this place, think Ishall like it very much, as it far exceeds my expectations.” Thiswas the first of a number of marriages between the Gratz and Ettingfamilies that would cement the two families into an early AmericanJewish dynasty.

Duringthe course of the forty years of her married life, Rachel gave birthto eight children, and raised seven of them, including daughterRichea, along with her threestepchildren, among them Miriam Etting Myers.