Abraham Blumenfeld and Sophie Mansbach Blumenfeld’s oldest child, Frieda, was born on March 2, 1904, in Momberg, Hesse, Germany.¹ There on July 8, 1927, she married the wine merchant Josef Julius Weinberg,² born September 28, 1898, in Hameln, Lower Saxony, Germany.³ (Siegfried Spier, who would later organize the burial of Frieda’s father Abraham, was a witness at their wedding.⁴) Together with their nine-year-old son Arthur, the family left Germany on May 18, 1937. They traveled first to a cousin, Irving Mansbach, living in Easton, Pennsylvania. But their final goal as listed in the passenger manifest of the S.S. Washington was the city where Frieda’s mother Sophie and brothers Hugo and Julius were already living – Lexington, Kentucky. The “seed money” they had to begin their new life in the USA amounted to $65.⁵

After arriving in Lexington, Kentucky, Frieda and Julius and Arthur lived at 800 Euclid Avenue. Julius found work as a packer in the Jas. E. Pepper & Co. Whiskey Distillery⁶ where Frieda was also employed.⁷ Soon they moved to 130 Ransom Avenue,⁸ where Frieda’s mother Sophie and her cousin Julius joined them in 1939. They moved once again in 1940/41 to 342 Kilmore Court.⁹ After cousin Julius married and was called up for military service in 1942, Frieda’s mother continued living with Frieda until her death in 1951.

Julius and Frieda bought the house across the street at Kilmore Court 345 at auction in 1951 for $10,000.¹⁰ This house was torn down in 1977 to make way for a parking lot for the new Lexington Center. Frieda was able to sell the house to the Lexington Center Corporation for $30,500¹¹ and buy another property at 2136 St. Michael Drive for a little more than she had sold her old house for.¹²

Frieda and Julius didn’t remain employees for long. In 1940 they opened their own business, The Blue Grass Store, at 116 West Vine Street.¹³ In the fall of 1952, they moved to a new location nearby at 156 West Vine Street.¹⁴

Julius and Frieda bought and sold almost everything, running a store for new and used items and a pawn shop. They carried shotguns, rifles, guitars, amplifiers, banjos, tools, suitcases, watches, men’s clothing and much more.¹⁵

Their store was a family enterprise. Frieda and Julius were both there the whole day.¹⁶ Frieda’s niece, Simone Bloomfield Salomon, remembers that Frieda was the driving force in the store, as well as at home. According to the Lexington address books, son Arthur also worked at the store at least from 1955 to 1960.¹⁷ At the end of September 1968, Julius and Frieda closed The Blue Grass Store and retired.¹⁸

The six still existing letters that Frieda and her mother wrote indicated that they maintained contact with their friends and family members who had been scattered across the globe by the war. When it was necessary, they sent “Care” packages which were much appreciated. In the letter dated March 1948, Frieda describes her husband’s visit with his sister and others: “This summer my husband visited his sister in New York who is married to Steinfeld from Josbach.¹⁹ He also visited Izichs Oma, Fritz,²⁰ and family, Kathinka²¹ and family.”

Frieda and Julius were members of the Conservative Ohavay Zion Synagogue in Lexington. Niece Simone Bloomfield Salomon writes about her aunt: “She was wonderful to us children but never really had a conversation with her as her English wasn’t great and she was quiet.”

Julius died on December 23, 1971.²² Frieda’s death followed 20 years later, on January 11, 1991.²³

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1. Frieda Blumenfeld Weinberg, Kentucky, Naturalization Records, 1906-1991, in: Ancestry.com. ↩︎
2. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930, in: Ancestry.com. ↩︎
3. Julius Weinberg, Kentucky, Naturalization Records, 1906-1991, in: Ancestry.com. ↩︎
4. Ibid. ↩︎
5. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, in: Ancestry.com, Year: 1937; Arrival: New York. ↩︎
6. [Anonymous], James E. Pepper and Co. Party For Employees, in: The Lexington Sunday Herald-Leader, December 24, 1939, p. 15. ↩︎
7. Frieda Weinberg, Lexington City Directory for 1939. ↩︎
8. Julius Weinberg (Frieda), Lexington City Directory for 1939. ↩︎
9. Julius Weinberg (Frieda), Lexington City Directory for 1940. ↩︎
10. [Anonymous], Auction, The Lexington Leader, July 28, 1951, p. 10. ↩︎
11. [Anonymous], Property Transfers This Week in Fayette, in: The Saturday Herald and Leader, Lexington, KY,  Juni 25, 1977, p. 22. ↩︎
12. [Anonymous], Property Transfers This Week in Lexington and Fayette, in: The Saturday Herald and Leader, Lexington KY, June 18, 1977, p. 20. ↩︎
13. Julius Weinberg (Frieda), Lexington City Directory for 1940. ↩︎
14. [Advertisement], BLUE-GRASS STORE, in: The Lexington Herald, Lexington KY, November 7, 1952, p. 5. ↩︎
15. [Advertisement], FINAL SALE. LAST DAYS, in: The Lexington Leader, Lexington KY, September 25, 1968, p. 34. ↩︎
16. Sophie Mansbach Bloomfield and Frieda Bloomfield Weinberg in an undated letter to the Lotter family in Momberg. The author received a copy from Kunibert Schmitt, Momberg. ↩︎
17. Arthur Weinberg, Lexington City Directory, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1960. ↩︎
18. [Advertisement], ½ Price Sale. Last 3 Days, in: The Lexington Herald, Lexington KY, September 29, 1968, p. 59. ↩︎
19. She could mean Moritz Steinfeld (March 21, 1895 in Josbach – July 21, 1962) and Frieda, née Weinberg (March 11, 1904 in Hameln – March 8, 1956), who had emigrated with their son Lothar (born abt. 1930) to New York where Moritz’s sister Bertha lived. ↩︎
20. Most likely Siegmund Friedrich “Fritz” Blumenfeld (1888-1977), son of Gerson Blumenfeld (1853-1919) and Berta, née Alexander (1859-1947), married to Luisa Ella August Lina Neuhaus since October 26, 1921. ↩︎
21. Kathinka Blumenfeld (1891-1967), daughter of Gerson Blumenfeld (1853-1919) and Berta née Alexander (1859-1947), married since November 17, 1919, to Emanuel Rosenberg (b. 1885). Until 1940 still im Momberg, they emigrated in the same year with Walter (1920-2014), Günther (1925-1998), and Heinz (1928-) via Genoa to New York. ↩︎
22. Joseph Julius Weinberg, Kentucky Death Index, 1911-present, Frankfort, KY. ↩︎
23. Frieda Blumenfeld Weinberg, Kentucky Death Index, 1911-present, Frankfort, KY. ↩︎