Joshua Lazarus
The man who helped illuminate Charleston
Joshua Lazarus (1796–1861), a son of Marks and Rachel Lazarus, operated a business here and served as president of the Charleston Gas Light Company, incorporated in 1846. In 1848, the company provided the first gas lights in the City of Charleston. A man of wealth and property, Lazarus owned twenty pieces of real estate in Charleston and served as the president of a bank in Cheraw, in upstate South Carolina. When Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim’s new synagogue was completed in 1841, Lazarus, chairman of the committee overseeing the dedication, presented the congregation with a silver basket likely purchased on one of his trips to England. He became president of the congregation in 1851 and served until his death, in Cheraw, in 1861.
Joshua Lazarus (1796–1861)
Portrait by Amelie Dautel D’Aubigny (ca. 1796–1861), France, ca. 1840. Image courtesy of the Gibbes Museum of Art/Carolina Art Association.
Phebe Yates Lazarus (Mrs. Joshua Lazarus) (1794–1870)
Portrait by Amelie Dautel D'Aubigny (ca. 1796–1861), France, ca. 1840. Image courtesy of the Gibbes Museum of Art/Carolina Art Association.