M. Iseman

M. Iseman (later Iseman’s Bakery) was established by Marx Iseman (1827-1889) in the mid-1860s. Born in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Marx immigrated to the United States by 1850 and settled in Darlington with his brother Isaac (1818-1894) and Isaac’s growing family. According to Henry Henning, the Iseman brothers followed their cousins Joseph and Charles Frank to Darlington after the Franks established roots there in 1845. While in the PeeDee, Marx and Isaac worked as merchants and enslaved at least seven people.

In the mid- to late-1850s, Marx married fellow German immigrant Emma Sweet (1833-1916), and in 1858, they welcomed Lizette (d. 1931), the first of eight children. In the mid-1860s, Marx and Emma moved to Charleston where Marx began selling bread and pastries at 412 King Street. In the 1880s, Charleston’s City Council hired an engineer to survey the city and renumber the buildings accordingly. As a result, Iseman’s Bakery remained at the same location but changed to 366 King Street in the mid-1880s. Around 1887, Lizette and her husband, Leopold Strauss (1847-1933), a prominent Bennettsville merchant, moved to Charleston to run the family bakery. They operated it together until Marx’s death in 1889.