Isaac Blumenfeld and Bienchen Rothschild Blumenfeld’s second child, Levi Blumenfeld/Lee Bloomfield, born on September 22, 1872, emigrated shortly after his 15^th birthday in October 1887 to the USA. He sailed with the steamer Fulda from Bremen to New York.¹ Soon after arriving, he probably traveled on to his uncle Gerson Blumenfeld/George Bloomfield and his family in Louisville, Kentucky. Gerson had settled down in this city in May 1853, after his arrival from Momberg, Hessen, Germany, and married Rosa Abraham.

A week before Lee and Ida’s engagement announcment appeared, the following notice and ad in the Midway, Kentucky, newspaper announced another new stage in Lee’s life.⁵ Ida’s brother Vic Bloomfield opened a branch of his Nicholasville, Kentucky, dry goods store in Midway, Kentucky, and made Lee the manager.⁶

It wasn’t long before Lee had a new business challenge. The Jessamine Journal of Nicholasville, Kentucky, reported the end of January 1896 that Vic Bloomfield of Vic Bloomfield & Co. had “made arrangements to open a store at Danville in a few days which will be managed by Lee Bloomfield, leaving the store at Midway under charge of [Lee’s brother] Joe Bloomfield.”⁷ In August 1897 the Blue-Grass Clipper reported that Vic and Lee were moving “their large store from Danville” to Owingsville, which was to open around the first of September.⁸

The enterprising Bloomfield family was constantly expanding and improving their businesses. Seven months after the opening of the store in Owingsville, the Blue-Grass Clipper reported on the latest development in Lee’s store in Midway:⁹

Not only was Lee’s business expanding. Lee and Ida Bloomfield’s only child, their daughter Miriam Frances, was born on 30 June 1899, in Midway, Kentucky.¹⁰ In contrast to the many articles about the Bloomfield businesses, the press made no mention of Miriam’s birth.

Vic Bloomfield ran an ad in a Winchester newspaper in December 1900 announcing that “Mr. Lee Bloomfield, of Midway, has purchased an interest in the store, and will be here shortly after the first of the year to assume charge.¹¹ Lee, Ida, and Miriam remained in Midway, where Lee continued the operation of his store there. When The Retail Merchants’ Association was founded in Midway, Kentucky, on 23 June 1907, Lee Bloomfield was a founding member and first vice president. “The purpose of the association is for mutual help and protection,” according to the Lexington Herald from June 24, 1907, which adds, “A full list of all customers who do not pay their bills will be kept and furnished to all members of the association….”¹² In Winchester, Kentucky, Lee was later on the board of the Home Building and Saving Association, whose president was his brother-in-law and cousin Victor Bloomfield.¹³

Nine years after Lee purchased an interest in the Winchester store, the Lexington Herald informed its readers: “An important deal whereby one of the largest and most properous business enterprises in Winchester changed hands, was closed on Monday, when Mr. Lee Bloomfield [of Midway] purchased of Mr. Vic. Bloomfield […] his clothing and furnishing goods store, the change to take effect on January 1, 1910.” The article goes on to say that Lee and his family will move to Winchester and leave the managment of the Midway store in the hands of his brother Sol, “who has been with him for quite a number of years.”¹⁴ Sol had come to the United States in 1895¹⁵ and held a partial interest in the Lee Bloomfield & Co. store in Midway. In 1912 Lee bought out Sol’s interest in the store.¹⁶

In July 1911 Vic Bloomfield announced his retirement from the clothing business in Winchester after 26 years. Lee took over the business together with Jacob Zellner and wife and Lee’s cousin Belle, née Washer.¹⁷ Jacob Zellner was the proprietor of 15 stores!¹⁸ They lost no time in making changes to the store that had just recently been remodeled: “The Zellner-Bloomfield Clothing Co., have begun work on extensive improvements in their store on Main street. They will put in the latest thing in wondow fronts and the store will be one of the most modern and attractive in the city.”¹⁹

When a fire destroyed a whole block of buildings in Midway, Kentucky, in August 1915,  Lee lost the entire inventory of his store Lee Bloomfield Dry Goods. Only the books were saved from the flames. Shortly before the fire, Lee had received a new shipment of goods, all of which were destroyed. The loss amounted to $13,000, of which only $7,000 were insured.²³ Not quite one week after the fire the newspaper reported that Lee had temporarily set up an office in the bank building and that he was looking for a place to reopen his business.²⁴

During the week of the 7^th to the 11^th of April 1919, a Jewish-Christian group carried out a campaign in Kentucky to collect money for the Jewish victims in the war zone in Eastern Europe. Their goal was to collect $208,000. Lee Bloomfield was head of the drive in Winchester, one of the 20 districts in the state.²⁵

In the picture below the sign on the building with awnings at left reads: Vic Bloomfield Clothing. In the 1880s, Vic had built the building to the left, 41 South Main, for his store and apparently used both buildings. Because he had used both stores, an arch-shaped opening had been constructed between the two houses, which remained after Lee took up occupancy of the building at 43 South Main. Vic’s grandson C. Victor Bloomfield relates that because of some “irritation” in the family the two men had the arches closed up.²⁶ The building in which Lee had his business belonged to the neighboring Clark County National Bank. In February 1921 Lee bought the property and made “extensive improvements” to the building.²⁷

“Mr. and Mrs. Lee Bloomfield are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Miriam, to Mr. Henry Rosenthal from Louisville,” reports the society column of the Lexington Leader early in October 1921. “Miss Bloomfield is known and admired by a host of friends in this city. Mr. Rosenthal comes from a prominent family of Louisville.”²⁸ The wedding took place on November 27, 1921, in Louisville, Kentucky²⁹. Before Henry came to Winchester, he had worked as a stock boy with a salary of $3 per week.³⁰ Two months after the wedding the newspaper reports that the new son-in-law had bought a share in Lee Bloomfield’s business in Winchester.³¹ Miriam and Henry – later together with their son Henry Lee – lived at 102 Burns Street in Winchester with Lee and Ida.³²

Lee had suffered since 1926 from locomotor ataxia, a disease affecting body movement. As the disease progressed, Lee was confined to a wheelchair.³³ When he was no longer able to take care of his business, his son-in-law, Henry Rosenthal, took it over, later renaming it Rosenthal’s Men’s Shop. In 1975 Henry Rosenthal proudly told a reporter for the Lexington Herald that “his greatest pride lies in the fact his store is a partnership of himself, his son [Henry Lee] and his grandson [Vincent Dykes Rosenthal].”³⁴

On May 26, 1943, at 10 a.m. Lee Bloomfield died in his home at 102 Burns Street in Winchester. The obituary mentions his work as a businessman in Midway and Winchester, Kentucky, and his membership in the Winchester Masons’ Lodge Number 20, F. and A.M.. The Reverend Dr. S.B. Lander from the First Presbyterian Church in Winchester, and Rabbi Julian Flog, Lexington, conducted the funeral service at the Scobee Funeral Home. Lee was buried with Masonic rites at the Winchester Cemetery.³⁵

Apart from the reports in the society column of the local newspapers about visits, trips, and excursions, I have found little in the sources about Ida Bloomfield Bloomfield. The fact that she attended a conference of the Adath Israel Sisterhood in July 1927 together with her sister-in-law leads to the assumption that she was active in this women’s association. Ida Bloomfield “died at 7:15 p.m. [on July 25, 1959] at her home, 102 Burns Avenue, after a long illness.” Her funeral was also an inter-religious service with The Reverend Dr. Samuel F. Freeman and Rabbi Joseph Rosenbloom presiding.³⁶

1. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, in: Ancestry.com, Year: 1887; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: M237, 1820-1897; Microfilm Roll: Roll 513; Line: 35; List Number: 1350. ↩︎
2. “Engagement Announced,” in: The Blue-Grass Clipper, Midway KY, 29 March 1894, p.5. ↩︎
3. “Bloomfield-Bloomfield. Marriage of Mr. Lee Bloomfield and Miss Ida Bloomfield,” in: The Daily Democrat, Winchester KA, 19.Juni 1894, p. 3. ↩︎
4. Marriage Records. Kentucky Marriages. Madison County Courthouse, Richmond, Kentucky, in: Ancestry.com. ↩︎
5. “The New Store” and advertisement, in: The Blue-Grass Clipper, Midway KY, 15 March 1894, p. 5. ↩︎
6. “Hustlers,” in: The Jessamine Journal, Nicholasville KY, 31 January 1896, p. 3. ↩︎
7. “Hustlers,” in: The Jessamine Journal, Nicholasville KY, 31 January 1896, p. 3. ↩︎
8. “An Enterprising Firm,” in: The Blue-Grass Clipper, Midwas KY, 12 August 1897, p. 4. ↩︎
9. [No title], in: The Blue-Grass Clipper, Midway KY, 31 March 1898, p. 5. ↩︎
10. Social Security Death Index, in: Ancestry.com. ↩︎
11. “Special Notice,” in: The Daily Democrat, Winchester KY, 28 December 1900, p. 2. ↩︎
12. “Special., RETAIL MERCHANTS FORM RETAIL ASSOCIATION AT MIDWAY,” in: The Lexington Herald, Lexington KY, 24 June 1907, p. 2. ↩︎
13. “Bloomfield Heads Association,” in: The Lexington Herald, Lexington KY, 8 January 1922, p. 2. ↩︎
14. “MIDWAY MAN BUYS WINCHESTER STORE,” in: The Lexington Herald, Lexington KY, 24 November 1909, p. 8. ↩︎
15. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897; Microfilm Serial or NAID: M237; RG Title: Records of the U.S. Customs Service; RG: 36, in: Ancestry.com. ↩︎
16. “BUYS INTEREST OF PARTNER,” in: The Winchester News, Winchester KY, 5 January 1912. ↩︎
17. “NEW FIRM TAKES CHARGE,” in: The Winchester News, 5 July 1911, p. 3, and The Sun Sentinel, 6 July 1911, p. 1, both Winchester KY, and “KENTUCKY CORPORATION NEWS,” in: The Lexington Herald, 31 July 1911, p. 11. ↩︎
18. “ZELLER-BLOOMFIELD CLOTHING COMPANY,” in: The Winchester News, 21 September 1911, p. 1. ↩︎
19. “EXTENSIVE IMPROVEMENTS,” in: The Winchester News, Winchester KY, 10 July 1911,p. 1. ↩︎
20. The Daily Democrat, 27 September 1912, p. 4, The Winchester Sun, 2 October 1912, p. 4, The Winchester Sun, 9 October 1912, p. 3, 16 October 1912, p. 4, 23 October 1912, p. 3. ↩︎
21. The Daily Democrat, Winchester KY, 14 March 1913, p. 4. ↩︎
22. “TWO FIRMS CHANGE HANDS,” The Winchester Sun, Winchester KY, 25 September 1912, p. 1. ↩︎
23. “Special to the Herald., MIDWAY FIRE LOSS IS ESTIMATED AT $64,000,” in: The Lexington Leader, Lexington KY, 30 August 1915, p. 1. ↩︎
24.  The Lexington Herald, Lexington KY, 6 September 1915, p. 2. ↩︎
25. “GENTILES JOIN JEWS IN CAMPAIGN,” in: Richmond Daily Register, Richmond KY, 2 April 1919, p. 2. ↩︎
26. Moosnick Rosie, Interview with Vic Bloomfield. Mary Bloomfield, in: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History. University of Kentucky Libraries. ↩︎
27. “BUILDING SOLD, Lee Bloomfield buys property in which he long has conducted store,” in: The Lexington Leader,, Lexington KY, 12 February 1921, p. 3. ↩︎
28. “Miss Bloomfield to Wed,” in: The Lexington Leader, Lexington KY, 2 October 1921, p. 9. ↩︎
29. “Announcements Received,” in: The Lexington Herald, Lexington KY, 30 November 1921, p. 6. ↩︎
30. Bill Collins, “After 104 Years, They’re ‘Too Young To Retire’”, in: Sunday Herald-Leader, Lexington KY, 2 November 1975, p. A-2. ↩︎
31. “Special to The Leader, Interest in Store,” in: The Lexington Leader, Lexington KY, 19 Januar y1922, p. 9. ↩︎
32. US Census 1930, in: Ancestry.com, Year: 1930; Census Place: Winchester, Clark, Kentucky; Roll: 740; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 0015; Image: 852.0; FHL microfilm: 2340475; and US Census 1940, in: Ancestry.com, Year: 1940; Census Place: Winchester, Clark, Kentucky; Roll: T627_1295; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 25-14. ↩︎
33. Death certificate, in: Ancestry.com, Kentucky, Death Records, 1852-1964. ↩︎
34. Bill Collins, “After 104 Years, They’re ‘Too Young To Retire’”, in: Sunday Herald-Leader, Lexington KY, 2 November 1975, p. A-2. ↩︎
35. “Special, Kentucky Deaths.” Lee Bloomfield, in: The Lexington Herald, Lexington KY, 27. May 1943, p. 2. ↩︎
36. “Mrs. Ida Bloomfield,” in: The Lexington Leader, Lexington KY, 26 July 1959, p. 16, and Certificate of Death, Commonwealth of Kentucky, in: Ancestry.com. ↩︎