R. Sarlin

In 1892, Reuben Sarlin (1890-1965) left Russia with his mother, Zippe Sarlin (1866-1905), for New York City. After they arrived in the United States, Zippe and Reuben reunited with Reuben’s father, Morris Sarlin (1866-1930), who immigrated about a year prior. In New York City, Morris worked as a tailor and Zippe worked as a homemaker. After Zippe’s death in 1905, Morris remarried to Eastern European immigrant Anna Sarlin (c.1873-unknown).

After he graduated from New York Public School #84—located on the corner of Glenmore and Stone Avenues in Brooklyn—in 1907, Reuben went to work as a garment cutter. By 1917, however, he had moved to Newberry, South Carolina, where he worked as a junk and scrap metal merchant on Friend Street. By spring 1918, Reuben had moved on to Edgefield, SC, where continued in the mercantile business. With the help of his wife, Ella Fedder Sarlin (1889-1976), Sarlin would later open department stores in Liberty, SC; Easley, SC; and Central, SC.