Lazarus Straus and his family came to Talbotton in 1854 after leaving Bavaria and made their home there, becoming the town’s only Jewish family and closely identified with the community’s progress. His sons Isidor, Nathan, and Oscar studied at nearby Collinsworth Institute, and Nathan and Oscar attended the Baptist Sunday School. Lazarus Straus founded a mercantile business in Talbotton and later another in Columbus, and after the War Between the States he established a crockery and glassware business in New York that became a forerunner of Macy’s, which under Isidor Straus grew into one of the world’s leading department stores. Oscar Straus became one of the earliest career diplomats, serving as minister, ambassador, and cabinet member under Presidents Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft, and wrote several books including the widely read Under Four Administrations. Nathan Straus led the fight for pasteurization of milk, pioneered other health reforms, and was widely known as a great philanthropist. The Straus family was honored for its outstanding contribution to the American way of life rather than for its wealth.