Hirschmann Family
Born in Austria-Hungary, Solomon Hirschmann (1850–1922) immigrated to America in the late 1870s. He and wife, Lena Nachman (1845–1890), settled in Cades, South Carolina. The Hirschmanns had two sons, Henry and Joseph, and three daughters, Katie, Cecile, and Rosa. (In 1900, Rosa Hirschmann [Gantt] became the first woman to graduate from the Medical College of South Carolina.)
In the mid-1880s, the family moved to Charleston. By 1895, S. Hirschmann & Son was operating at 168 East Bay Street with Solomon at the helm and Henry (1873–1925) assisting with duties such as bookkeeping. Henry took over management of the business—known to provide support and credit to Jewish immigrants starting out as peddlers—around the turn of the century when Solomon became blind. The family had experienced tragedy a few years earlier when Lena died in 1890. Solomon remarried a few years later; he and his new wife, Frances Lesser Hirschmann (1861–1914), had one daughter, Theodora. Henry’s brother, Joseph, worked for his father and brother as a clerk and, later, a traveling salesman.
S. Hirschmann & Son, wholesale grocers, remained at 168 East Bay Street until the early 1930s. The Hirschmann firm’s headquarters was replaced in 1969 by a three-story office building.
For more information on the Hirschmann family, see the Hirschmann family papers, Special Collections, College of Charleston.
Hirschmann family
Solomon Hirschmann (1850–1922) (seated, right), with son Henry (1873–1925) (seated, left) and Henry's sons (from left) Lionel, Victor, Joseph M., Jerold, and Edgar, ca. 1912.