Burr's father and Lot's, although sons of one shrewd father, had been of very different financial abilities.
Lot's father kept his property intact, never wasting, but adding from others' waste.

Burr's plunged into speculation, built a new house, for which he could not pay, married a wife who was not thrifty, and when his father died had anticipated the larger portion of his birthright.

So Lot's father succeeded to nearly all the family estates, and in time absorbed the rest.

Lot, at his father's death, had inherited the mortgage upon the estate of Burr and his mother.
Burr's father had died some time before.

Lot was rumored to be harder, in the matter of exacting heavy interest, than his father had been.