Thanks so much.

This is interesting. I was not aware of the Zuntz land patents.

Zuntz was from Hesse-Cassel in Germany and was a Hessian commissary officer and NYC merchant. I believe I am related to him only by marriage. There are many coincidences that seem to tie his father-in-law Abraham I. Abrahams to my Levy Hart by blood.

Here is what I think happened (I know) - Levy Hart was related to Abraham I. Abrahams back in the old country (there is a lot of evidence to support this.) By the late 1780's, Levy Hart was dead, but his family kept the connections with the Abrahams family. My Hart family had a lot of financial problems before, during and after the revolution. Since Abraham I. Abrahams was presumably pretty old by the late 1780's, Zuntz stepped in in an effort to sell the property, in order to hold off the Judah's (Levy Hart's principal creditors). When Zuntz failed to sell the property, the Judah's took over. There does not appear to be any connection between Zuntz and the Judah family. So it looks like Zuntz was working for the Hart's and not the Judah's.

Because of this apparent Hart/Abrahams/Zuntz connection that seems to run from the 1750's through the 1780's, (as does the Hart relationship with the Judah family) I was hoping that this Lion Hart might lead me back to his family in England which may well be the same family as my Levy Hart.

My biggest problem is that I have extensive evidence of all of this, but no proof. I've been doing traditional genealogy research for more than 30 years, the last seven of which have been focused on Levy Hart. This "genealogy by coincidence" is not how I want to do this, but there are just too many coincidences to write off or ignore. Jewish genealogy in the 18th Century has been a real challenge for me due to the lack of records. Since my research has shown that the intermarried Jewish families in the colonies tended to "keep it in the family", repeated coincidences seem to be worth checking out.

Levy Hart is not in Malcolm Sterns First American Jewish Families, but he is mentioned in Joseph Rosenbloom's work, and the Oppenheim files, but they give no clue as to Levy Hart's origins.

Hence my problem, and my interest in this Lion Hart.

Someone once said "coincidence is a word we use when we can't see the levers and the pulleys". I am hoping this is all an example of that.

I apologize for these long posts, I am truly grateful for any and all leads and comments on any of this.

Best regards,

Doug