Lina Morgenstern was a writer, women's rights activist and social activist. Born on November 25 in Breslau as the third of six children of the Jewish furniture and antique dealer Albert Bauer and his wife Fanny (née Adler), she founded the " Pfennigverein zur Unterstützung armer Schulkinder" (penny association for the support of poor schoolchildren) in Breslau together with friends as early as 1848. In 1854 she married the merchant Theodor Morgenstern (1827-1910) and moved to Berlin. In 1857 Lina Morgenstern began writing children's books.

The wine wholesaler Seligmann Simon had its origins in 1856 in Gensingen near Bingen and was first operated as a wine commission business. In 1860, the headquarters were moved to Büdesheim near Bingen. Finally, in December 1872, the business was moved to Bingen itself in the stately premises at Schloßbergstraße 1-3 and  with the entry of the three sons Elias, Moritz and Julius Simon as partners in the company, it developed into one of the most important wine wholesalers in the Rhineland wine-growing region.