Belle Simon was one of ten children born to Rose and Joseph Simon, asuccessful trader in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, including sisterMiriam. She married Solomon Myers-Cohen,a merchant and shopkeeper from New York, and there they began theirfamily, in the community around Congregation Shearith Israel. Thefamily left for Philadelphia at the start of the revolutionary War,where Solomon served with the Third Battalionof the Pennsylvania Militia. After the war, they returned to NewYork—Solomon was named on the earliest post-war tax lists for NewYork. However, when her husband died, in 1796, Belle took her sevenchildren—the youngest only three years old—and returned toPhiladelphia. There she raised her family, including son Joseph,in the community around Congregation Mikveh Israel.