Ellis Cahn

Lithuania native Ellis Cahn (1882-1938) immigrated to the United States with his parents—Joseph (1854-1928) and Sarah Slesinger Cahn (1851-1886)—and siblings around the turn of the century. In an oral history from 1995, Ellis’s niece Ella Levenson Schlosburg (1920-2013) described how the maternal side of her family came by their last name, saying:

“They decided they would open a saloon, because that’s a good way to make money in Baltimore. If you’re going to open a saloon, you pick an Irish neighborhood; you don’t pick a Jewish neighborhood…So, in order to do business they took the name Cahn, C-A-H-N, which is Irish. That’s how they got the name Cahn.”¹

While most of his family initially settled in Baltimore, Ellis and his brother Julius (1880-1968) moved to Bishopville, South Carolina where they established themselves as merchants before 1910. In 1914, Ellis married Leah Shapero (1890-1944) of Baltimore, and together, they had three daughters: Sylivia (1916-1980), Claire (1923-2015), and Joan (1929-2000).

In 1933, Ellis expanded his business dealings to Sumter, opening a stable in a former tobacco warehouse on the corner of East Hampton Avenue and Magnolia Street. There, he sold mules, horses, and saddles “direct from Kentucky.” Ellis died in Florence, South Carolina in 1933 and was buried in Baltimore near his family.

¹ “Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Ella Levenson Schlosburg,” Lowcountry Digital Library, College of Charleston Libraries, May 25, 1995.