Born in Mount Pleasant, New York, David Hays Solis was the son of Jacob Da Silva Solis and Charity Hays Solis. His father was a London-born Sephardi who had arrived in America in 1803. The story is told that Jacob was descended from Solomon da Silva Solis and Donna Isabel da Fonseca, the daughter of the Marquis of Turin and Count of Villa Real and Monterey, both refugees from the Inquisition who married in Amsterdam around 1640. In the mid-eighteenth century, the story goes on, the Catholic branch of the House of Turin and Villa Real had died out, and so the succession was offered to David Hays Solis’ great-grandfather. This ancestor spiritedly rejected the offer, as one of the conditions was a conversion to Catholicism.

Charity Hays, from Bedford, New York, was a member of Westchester County’s most distinguished Jewish family. The couple was married in 1811 and made their home in Mount Pleasant. However, they spent some time in Wilmington, Delaware, where Jacob had established an auction house. Jacob also purchased land in and maintained economic ties to New Orleans, while the family was connected to Shearith Israel in New York City. By the time David and his younger sister, Sarah, were born, the family had settled back in Mount Pleasant once more.

David established himself in Philadelphia as a merchant. In 1852, he married Elvira Nathan of New York. David was deeply committed to the benefaction of educational, religious, and charitable institutions in New York and Philadelphia. Among the objects of his generosity were the B’nai Jeshurun Educational Institute, Shearith Israel, the Hebrew Charitable Fund, the Jewish Publication Society, and the Hebrew Educational Society of Philadelphia.