Benjamin Gratz

Benjamin Gratz, born at Philadelphia in 1792, was the last of twelve children born to Michael Gratz and Miriam Simon. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania, Gratz interrupted his studies to enlist in the militia under General Thomas Cadwalader when war broke out with Britain in 1812. He would transfer to the Pennsylvania Volunteers as a Second Lieutenant under command of Capt. John Smith the following year. At the end of the war, he resumed his studies at Penn and was awarded an M. A. in 1815. Two years later, he was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar, making him one of just a handful of Jewish lawyers in the United States. He also joined a Federalist organization called the Washington Association of Philadelphia, and served as vice president of that organization.

On November 24, 1819, Gratz married Maria Cecil Gist, the niece of Kentucky statesman Henry Clay, at Lexington, Kentucky. Gratz manufactured hemp, and soon became one of the leading businessmen in the growing town. His election as trustee of Transylvania University was a clear sign of his growing prominence. He would reside in Kentucky for the remainder of his life, and remained a trustee of the university for 60 years. Gratz and Maria Gist had six children – five sons who grew to adulthood and another child who died in infancy. When Maria died in 1841, Gratz took as his second wife Anna Maria Boswell, with whom he had two daughters and another son who died in infancy. His legacy in Lexington lives on in Gratz Park, a historic district in Lexington. Mount Hope, the home that Gratz purchased for his family in 1824, still stands in this neighborhood, at 231 North Mill Street, facing the park.

Benjamin Gratz

1831