With coal mines booming, he had plenty of buyers and turned around enough of a profit to even buy a house in Lebanon for his parents. He made his living by selling cookware and houseware in a duffel bag and two suitcases full of merchandise, Jeff Joseph said, with the majority of customers being coal miners and their families.Īround 1912, Ameen Joseph saved enough money to open up A. “He comes to a land he knows nothing about, has virtually no money and couldn’t speak the language,” Jeff Joseph said.
