// Levis

Levi Strauss, the inventor of the quintessential American garment - the blue jean -was born in Buttenheim, Bavaria on February 26, 1829 to Hirsch Strauss and his second wife, Rebecca Haas Strauss. Levi - named "Loeb" at birth - and his older sister Fanny were the last of the Strauss children; Hirsch and his first wife had perhaps five children, but this information is hard to confirm.

Hirsch succumbed to tuberculosis in 1845 and two years later Rebecca, Loeb, Fanny, and possibly another sister named Mathilde emigrated to New York. There, they were met by Jonas and Louis, two of the older boys, who had already made the journey and had started a wholesale dry goods business called "J. Strauss Brother & Co." Young Loeb soon began to learn the trade himself, and by 1850 he was known among his family and customers as "Levi" (in the census of that year, his name is spelled "Levy.").