J. Ellis & Co.

J. Ellis & Co. was established in Williamsburg County by siblings Joseph (1886-1968) and Yetta Ellis (1892-1941). Joseph immigrated to the United States from Russia around 1898 and settled in Florence, South Carolina. A few years later, Yetta joined him and from that point forward the siblings lived and worked together, first as merchants in Florence and then, beginning around 1917, as proprietors of J. Ellis & Co.  in Hemingway. Joseph sold the stock for the latter less than two months after Yetta’s death in 1941. When Joseph died in 1968, he was described as “a pioneer merchant in Hemingway.”¹

¹ “Joseph Ellis,” State, June 17, 1968, 10.