J. Brotman & Son

Clothier
1919-c.1927

517 King Street
Charleston, SC

FAMILIES: Brotman

In 1904, Jacob “Jake” Brotman (1875-1924) left his home in Wyszków, Poland and immigrated to the United States. Immigration records reveal that he boarded the ship Friesland in Liverpool, England and arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 14, 1904. By 1911, Jacob was living in Charleston, South Carolina where he worked as a shoemaker at 437 ½ King Street. He continued business at that location until 1918, when he relocated to 517 King. One year later, Jacob and his son, Raphael (1896-1946), partnered to form tailor shop J. Brotman & Son at 517 King Street. An immigrant from Wyszków, Poland, Raphael arrived in the United States in 1912. His journey across the Atlantic began in Bremen, Germany, where he boarded the ship Chemnitz, and ended in Baltimore, Maryland. By 1917, Raphael had moved to Charleston, where he initially sold installment goods. A year before he formed J. Brotman & Son with his father, Raphael was working as a clerk in his relative Max Brotman’s cobbler shop at 524 ½ King Street. Jacob and Raphael relocated their tailor shop to 505 King Street in 1923. Following Jacob’s death, Raphael continued to operate J. Brotman & Son until at least 1927. Raphael moved to New York City in the late-1920s but would return to Charleston in 1931.

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