Isaac Hart

Isaac Hart left England about 1750, and established himself in Rhode Island where he soon became one of the wealthiest merchants in the colony. His business success brought him the prominent position as a leader of Newport’s Jewish community. He helped in raising funds for the building of Newport’s Touro synagogue, was one of the purchasers of the land it stands on, and his firm, Naphthali Hart and Company, erected the building. During the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) Hart had sided with the Loyalists. In 1780 the revolutionary government of Rhode Island exiled him with other Loyalists, and later that year he was killed, supposedly during an American raid on Fort George in New York.