Joseph Morris (1893-1935), son of German immigrants Julius Morris (1848-1901) and Rosa Morris Strauss (1862-1932), worked as a dry goods merchant in Batesburg, South Carolina from around 1925 until around 1935. Before he pursued a career as a merchant, Morris lived in Sumter, where, according to the 1910 U.S. Census, he worked as a clerk for an ice house, and later, according to the 1920 U.S. Census, as a clerk for a lighting company.