Aaron Hart (businessman)

Aaron Hart (ca. 1724 – December 28 1800) was a businessman in Lower Canada, one of the first Jews to settle in Canada.

He was born around 1724, probably in England, and is known to have travelled north with Amherst's army in 1760. Hart settled at Trois-Rivières in 1761 and supplied the British troops stationed there. Hart invested in the fur trade and later acquired part of the seigneury of Bécancour. His brother Moses joined him in business at Trois-Rivières. In 1768, he married Dorothy Judah in London. He later acquired the seigneury of Sainte-Marguerite.

He died at Trois-Rivières in 1800.

His son Ezekiel, who entered into the family business at Trois-Rivières and later opened a brewery with his brothers, was elected to the legislative assembly but later expelled from his seat because he was a Jew. His son Moses became a businessman at William-Henry (later Sorel) and ran unsuccessfully several times for a seat in the legislative assembly. His son Benjamin became an important businessman in Montreal.

External links

* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=1937 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]