He was born in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia (now Germany), on November 28, 1851, to Jewish parents, Adolph (Aron) Herfort (1818–1900) and Clara Maass (1830–1907).

[1] At the age of 24, Herfort left his native Germany aboard the SS Donau, arriving at the port of New York City on August 5, 1876.

[2] Shortly thereafter, he performed in Theodore Thomas’s orchestra, playing violin solos, at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.

[3] By the next year, Herfort settled in New York City, where he married a fellow German immigrant, Antonie Theodore Johanne Lupprian, on December 15, 1877.

He was also the director of the vaudeville theater Koster and Bial's Music Hall and the Long Beach Hotel, at its beginning and at the height of its popularity.