Joseph Fels

Joseph Fels was born in 1854 in Halifax County, Virginia, the son of Lazarus and Susanna Fels, German Jewish immigrants. While working as a traveling salesman in 1873, he met Mary Fels at Keokuk, Iowa. They were married in 1881. They had one son born in 1884 who died as an infant. He was a manufacturer of "Fels Naptha" soap in Philadelpha. He was active in business and politics and was concerned with the "single tax". He died in 1914 at Philadelphia.