House. Moses myers was born in new york city in 1752. He made his fortune as a maritime merchant. He did serve as an American Revolutionary war veteran. As a direct result of his efforts to supply the american cause during the revolution, he unfortunately suffered his first bankruptcy. Caused himptcy that to move away from york city and resettle here in norfolk, virginia. We think he chose norfolk for three important reasons. Norfolk was one of the most prominent colonial seaports. That was very important to him in his business life. Norfolk had been burned to the ground during the american revolution. We were rebuilding. He was rebuilding his life, so it was a good match. Thirdly and maybe most importantly to moses myers, when he moved here in 1787, virginia had just passed the statute of religious freedom five years before the bill of rights. This would be important to moses and his new bride because they were jewish. Moved to norfolk in 1787, becoming norfolks First Permanent jewish