[2] Mark Goldman was born on December 9, 1821, in Trappstadt, Kingdom of Bavaria, to an Ashkenazi Jewish family.

[3] His paternal grandfather was called Jonathan Marx until he changed his name to Goldmann when Jews were allowed to have surnames in 1811.

[8] He set up a shingle on Pine Street in lower Manhattan, with the legend "Marcus Goldman & Co.", identifying himself as a broker of IOUs.

[6] From his earliest days of his business, Goldman was able to single-handedly transact as much as $5 million worth of commercial paper a year.

In 1904, two of Sachs' sons, Arthur and Paul, joined the firm immediately after graduating from Harvard University.

Goldman's youngest daughter, Louisa, married Samuel Sachs, the son of close friends and fellow Lower Franconia, Bavaria immigrants.