Moses Ferst

Moses Ferst (24 September 1828 – 13 August 1889) was a German-American businessman based in Savannah, Georgia, where he was a merchant and a noted citizen. A stained-glass window in Savannah's Congregation Mickve Israel, one of the oldest synagogues in the United States, was made and installed in his honour.

Early life

Ferst was born in 1828 in Altdorf bei Nürnberg, Bavaria, Germany. The business was previously located on the southern side of West Bay Street, Next door to the west was fellow grocer Simon Guckenheimer – another Bavarian, from Burghaslach. Ferst's sons were also involved in the business at its new location.

Personal life Ferst married compatriot Regina Hannah Epstein (1835–1874) in New York. They had three children there: Joseph (1858–1926), Aaron Harold (1859–1919) and Rachel (born 1861).

After moving to Savannah, where the family lived at 108 Liberty Street,

Death

Ferst died unexpectedly in 1889, at the home of Joseph Strauss, his business partner back in Savannah, while in New York. He had been on vacation in Saratoga for a month, but had been staying with Strauss for a couple of weeks. Ferst was 60 years old, and his death occurred eleven months after the completion and opening of his new grocery building.

His family was informed of the news the following morning. In the care of Strauss, his body was returned to Savannah on the Atlantic Coast steam line on 16 August, and then lay in repose at the family home for a few hours. One of the floral tributes left on his coffin was from the employees at his company; it read "Our Beloved Employer". He is buried alongside his wife, who preceded him in death by fifteen years (she died in 1874, the same year as their final child, Miriam, was born). Six of the Fersts' children are buried at Laurel Grove; Leon is interred in a family tomb in Bonaventure Cemetery.

A stained-glass window in Savannah's Congregation Mickve Israel, one of the oldest synagogues in the United States, was made and installed in his honour. Depicting the Five Books of Moses and the Lion of Judah and containing the wording His soul shall abide in happiness, it is located on the Wayne Street (northern) side of the sanctuary he helped fund. Ferst's granddaughter Ruth Ferst Byck (1905–1992), daughter of Leon, was a member of the congregation and a leader in the community.