Bernard Francis Saul was born in 1872. His father, John Hennessy Saul, was a horticulturist and landscape architect, born in County Cork, Ireland and emigrating to the United States in 1851 to take over planning and development of the National Mall in Washington District of Columbia His mother, Rosina Mary Lawley, was born in Bath, Somerset, England and his parents had married in a Catholic ceremony in Bath in 1850.
In 1890, he took a job as a clerk with the National Bank of the Republic. In 1891, he handled the sale of his father"s botanical nurseries, taking accepting promissory notes from buyers which he resold to the public and in doing so, he formed Washington District of Columbia"s first significant mortgage bank, the B. F. As payment, Saul received a large block of American Security and Trust stock and became Chairman of its executive committee. Being a minority owner in American Security & Trust, Saul then focused his attention on his mortgage bank, the B.F. Saul Company, expanding its operations into property management, leasing, development, and insurance.
This diversification soon proved beneficial and is the primary reason his bank survived the Stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression becoming, at the time, the largest financial services company in Washington District of Columbia
