Jacob Furth

Jacob Furth (November 15, 1840 – June 1914) was an Austrian Empire-born American entrepreneur and prominent Seattle banker. He played a key role in consolidating Seattle's electric power and public transportation infrastructure, and was a member of Ohaveth Sholum Congregation, Seattle's first synagogue.Bill Speidel called him "the city's leading citizen for thirty years," adding that Furth "may even have been the most important citizen Seattle ever had."

Clarence Bagley wrote shortly after Furth's death:

… while Jacob Furth was masterful, commanding and dynamic in his business affairs, he regarded business as but one phase of existence, and he was not less the public-spirited citizen and the philanthropist than he was the successful financier. Indeed, there was no period in all of his career when business so occupied his attention that he would not turn to listen to some plan for the city's betterment or some tale whereby his personal aid was sought for an individual or an organization.

Furth was born in Schwihau, Bohemia (now Švihov, Czech Republic) November 15, 1840, the son of Lazar and Anna (Popper) Furth, Jewish natives of Bohemia. Of their ten sons and two daughters, eight eventually came to America. He attended school to the age of thirteen years, then began a career as a confectioner in Budapest. He decided at sixteen (so says Bagley; other sources say 18) to try his fortune in America and made his way to San Francisco, arriving in 1856.

He had with him letters of introduction to the Schwabacher Brothers, a prominent Jewish pioneer merchant family firm. After his arrival, he used his last ten dollars to get to Nevada City, California, where the Schwabachers had secured him a position. He clerked mornings and evenings in a clothing store, while attending public schools for about six months to improve his English. When the Schwabachers checked on him after six months, his English was already better than theirs.

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