Solomons family papers

Born in Sumter, South Carolina, in 1829, general merchandiser Augustus Aurelius Solomons (1829-1891) was the youngest child of Mark Solomons (1774-1837), a merchant, and Rachel Rodrigues Solomons (1799-1855), a native of Bordeaux, France. Mark Solomons arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1805, and in 1816, married Rachel Rodrigues. The couple moved to Sumter circa 1920 and are reputed to be the town's first permanent Jewish settlers. In 1852, in Savannah, Georgia, Augustus Solomons married Kate Cohen (1833-1876), daughter of Barnet Cohen (1769 or 70-1839), a native of Bristol, England, and Bella A. Cohen (1792-1836), a native of Hamburg, Germany. Augustus and Kate Solomons had five children, two of whom died in infancy: Kate Cecile Solomons (1853-1930); Augusta Isabel Solomons (1856-1936); Aurelius Aaron Solomons (1857-1858); Jacob Theodore Solomons Jr. (1859-1940); Rosalie Eliza Solomons (September 24, 1862-October 8, 1862); and Maude Cohen Solomons (1863-1951).

In 1847, Solomons, with his older brother Jacob Theodore Solomons (1825-1875), took over the mercantile business started by their father. Forming a partnership with Henry J. Haynsworth in 1848, and with Anthony White in 1849, the brothers continued the business under the name of J. T. Solomons and Co. Two years later brother Edward Solomons (1822-1895) and J. B. Roach were taken into the partnership and the name was changed to Solomons and Co.

In 1867, under the management of Solomons, a branch of the mercantile business was opened on the corner of Main and Liberty streets. In the following year, 1868, the firm was dissolved with each brother managing his own establishment. In 1890, his health failing, Solomons retired from the mercantile business. In 1895, four years after his death, a corporation was formed and the building on Main and Liberty streets leased to the Sumter Dry Goods Company. The income accumulated from the property, part of the estate Solomons left to his daughters, made possible the establishment and maintenance of the Solomons Home for the Aged located on North Guignard Drive.

The family resided in a large two-and-half-story house on North Main Street. In 1907 the county acquired the property to build the Sumter County Court House. The house itself was sold to Dr. S. H. Edmunds, superintendent of city schools, and moved to the southeast corner of Calhoun and Harvin Streets. After the property was sold, the Solomons' three daughters, Kate Cecile Solomons, Augusta Isabel Solomons, and Maude Cohen Solomons, moved to New York City. The sisters would occasionally return to Sumter to visit, reserving rooms at the Claremont Hotel.