Jacob Suares (1818-1894) was born in Beaufort, South Carolina in 1818. By 1839, he was living in Charleston, where he married Isabelle Nathan (1820-1897). In Charleston, Suares made a living crafting and selling furniture and cabinets. According to the Slave Schedule of the 1850 Census, Suares enslaved one man, age forty, three women, ages twenty, thirty, and thirty, and a girl, age twelve.1 These individuals likely crafted furniture and cabinets for Suares’ business and likely worked as house servants. By 1870, Suares had moved to Sumter, South Carolina, where he continued in the furniture and cabinet business until around the time of his death in 1894.
1 U. S. Census Bureau. Slave Schedule, 1850, South Carolina, Charleston, St. Michael and St. Phillip.