Dillon Dry Goods Company

Merchant
c. 1900s - c. 1920s


Dillon, SC 29536

FAMILIES: Schafer, Iseman, Blum, Kornblut

Abraham Schafer (1856-1933) initially immigrated from Oberheim, Germany to Darlington after being sponsored by the Iseman family. After marrying Rebecca Iseman (1857-1911), the couple moved to Little Rock, South Carolina. After opening a dry goods store sometime before 1900, he expanded to Latta and Dillon, where he opened Dillon Dry Goods Company sometime in the early 1900s. He later gifted the Dillon business to his daughter, Belle (b. 1882), and her husband, Isadore Blum (1882-1959). Like other Jewish merchants, the store purchased wholesale goods from Baltimore Bargain House. Around 1927, Isadore partnered with his brother-in-law, Leon Kornblut, to operate several more stores in towns across South Carolina, including Marion, Mullins, Cheraw, Chesterfield, and Lake View, although they closed shortly before the Great Depression. During this time the store in Dillon was called Blum and Kornblut’s.

The Jewish Merchant Project is supported by the generosity of the Henry & Sylvia Yaschik Foundation and the Stanley B. Farbstein Endowment at the Coastal Community Foundation.

JHSSC Office
Sylvia Vlosky Yaschik Jewish Studies Center
96 Wentworth Street
Charleston, SC 29424
Phone: 843 953 3918