Jacob Lampert (1856 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

– 1921 in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

) was a wealthy

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and Fermentation, fermented tobacco leaves made to be Tobacco smoking, smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct comp ...

manufacturer based in St. Louis, Missouri.

Biography

He was born in London in 1856 as the son of

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

parents. The family immigrated to the U.S., first to

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, then

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, then finally

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, In the 1880 census, Jacob (24) is listed as living at his parents' place in St. Louis, where his father, Moses Lampert, originally spelled Lamport, born 1827, cigar maker, is still head of the household. In 1912, Jacob was elected Grand Master of the Masons of St. Louis. In 1921, he died and left his entire estate to his younger sister, Rosa Lampert. At that time, it paid the largest

estate tax International tax law distinguishes between an estate tax and an inheritance tax. An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and pr ...

in Missouri. The estate par value was over $1.2 million in 1921. Eleven nephews and nieces contested the will, from both the Geist family and the Van Raalte family. They claimed that Rosa had poisoned the mind of Jacob against them. She offered the nephews and nieces $50,000 to share if they would not litigate, but they went ahead with the lawsuit. In the end, Rosa Lampert prevailed, and won the entire amount. There were dozens of articles in the ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the '' Belleville News-Democra ...

'' newspaper about the trial, including front page articles. Rosa Lampert married and became Rosa Lampert Graff. She was a major philanthropist. The cigar best seller was called Flor de Lampert.

Sources

*Census data fro
familysearch.org

References

External links

* Jewish history in Saint Louis
Lampert Cigars
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lampert, Jacob 1856 births 1921 deaths American people of Dutch-Jewish descent American people of English-Jewish descent American businesspeople in the tobacco industry British emigrants to the United States Businesspeople from Missouri Jews from Missouri