Kitt, Salomon
Born 1744-1-1 in Zürich, died 1825 in North America (Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz)
Family
Father: Martin, Hans, merchant. (Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz)
Mother: Meier, Anna Margaretha (Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz)
Wife: Pauzier, Sara from Geneve. (Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz)
Timeline
1776 - Left Zürich after bankruptcy as a seller of local and European textiles. (Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz)
1778 - Kitt displayed interest in emigrating to the US. In the summer of 1778 Girardot Haller & Co. petitioned Benjamin Franklin to write a letter of support on behalf of Kitt and his familiy - in order to support Kitt's ambition of moving to America. (https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-26-02-0506)
1779 - Active in the merchant House of Kitt & Reinwald on St. Eustatius, supported by Iselin, Reinhard of Copenhagen. Together they ran the merchant House of Kitt, Iselin & co in St. Thomas and in Baltimore. (Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz) Kitt was probably working with Rheinwald, Frederick of Honcard in Switzerland. (British High Court of Admiralty)
1780 - Kitt expanded his activities, cooperating with the three Zurich silk fabric manufacturers Heinrich Tobler, Salomon Traxler, Frey & Pestalozzi and probably others. These companies sent their products via Amsterdam in consignment to House of Kitt & Reinwald. Following the British occupation of St. Eustatius, Kitt moved on to the Danish island of St.Thomas, where he continued his business with the support of Reinhard Iselin. Various Zurich- and probably Basel-based companies were in consignment with him, such as Pestalozzi & Schultheß as well as the successor of Frey & Pestalozzi. These companies had other customers in the Antilles, for example in Charlestown, Jamaica (Hans Conrad Peyer, Handel und Bank im alten Zürich, Zürich 1968, S. 177f)
1783 - Together with Reinhard Iselin's brother, Kitt established another company in North America. In the following years Kitt often traveled back and forth between St. Thomas and Baltimore (Hans Conrad Peyer, Handel und Bank im alten Zürich, Zürich 1968, S. 177f)
Notes
More information here: https://www.louverture.ch/MATERIAL/SKLAVEREI/salomon.html and here: https://cooperaxion.ch/index.php?tablename=sklavenhandel&function=details&where_field=id&where_value=121
