Frances Bloomfield, the daughter of Jacob Bloomfield and Regina Wolff Bloomfield, was born in Manhattan on 13 May 1899.¹ At the time of Frances birth her parents and her two older brothers Irving Edward and Leonard were living at 308 East 102 Street in Manhattan.² By the time of the New York State Census of 1905 the family had moved to 2012 Second Avenue.³ In 1908 Frances and her family made a trip to Europe, returning from Rotterdam on the S.S. Noordam in July.⁴ By 1910 the Bloomfields had moved to 1727 Lexington Avenue.⁵ On the move, the family had moved to 883 Freeman in the Bronx by the time of the New York State census in 1915.

Frances married the butcher⁶ Louis Lippman Lewin (7 January 1890⁷ – ) on 5 April 1920 in the Bronx.⁸ Their only child, Joan (Johanna), was born on 30 December 1920.⁹

Frances and Louis’ marital and parental bliss did not last long. In complaints filed in the supreme court of Bronx County, New York, against Frances’ father and mother (Jacob Bloomfield and Regina, née Wolff) on 15 August 1922 Louis says that he is living apart from his wife.

Louis blames his in-laws for his marital problems,¹⁰ claiming that since November 1921 his father-in-law had been spreading rumors about him. The goal of the rumors, according to Louis, was “to cause it to be suspected by his wife and neighbors that the plaintiff [Louis Lewin] had been guilty of immoral acts, infidelity and conduct unbecoming a husband and gentleman and of improper intimacy with women in his neighborhood.” Louis puts on record “that said statements […] were false and untrue […].”

The complaint, seeking “damage in the sum of TEN THOUSAND ($10,000) DOLLARS.” quotes Jacob Bloomfield: “You dirty cur; I’ll shoot you dead in a minute; you are in the habit of visiting bad women. My daughter should not live with you; you are no good; you are always visiting women at their homes and sleep with them; everybody knows that; I can prove who you have been with.”

As a result of Jacob’s defamation, Louis says “that by reason of the utterance of the false and defamatory words hereinabove stated, plaintiff’s domestic life became unbearable to the extent that he was compelled to abandon his home and wife and is now actually living apart from her.”

The complaint against Regina Wolff Bloomfield bears the name “Rita.” However, there is no record of a Rita Bloomfield being married to a Jacob Bloomfield, nor is there any record of another Louis Lewin being married to a Bloomfield daughter. Louis claims that his mother-in-law began defaming him “on or about August 6^th, 1922 […], speak[ing] false, scandalous and defamatory words.” Here, too, Louis provides a sample of what Regina was saying: “You are no good. You are associating with bad women. You visit them at their homes and stay with them. You are false to your wife because you have dealing with other women in the neighborhood. You are keeping supporting several women. You have no right to live with a decent woman like my daughter.”

In December 1922 both actions were “discontinued without costs to either party.”

Eleven days after Louis filed complaints against his in-laws, his estranged wife Frances filed a matrimonial action for child support.¹¹ This matter seems to have been resolved by December when the action was discontinued. A divorce did not immediately take place. Frances was granted an “undefended divorce” on 21 February 1936.¹²

My cousin Steven Bloomfield recounts from his conversations with Frances and Louis’ daughter Joan: “Joan was prevented from seeing her father for years (most or all of her childhood) and only had a reunion with him when she became an adult. During WWII, or shortly thereafter, Louis was instrumental in helping Joan get her first apartment; housing always tight in NYC, and worse yet during WWII. Frances had a habit of showing up at Joan’s place unannounced, and so Joan devised a signal to her father in order for him to know that Frances was in situ and thus avoid a chance meeting. Joan pulled down the window shades in her apartment halfway, and Louis knew to stay away whenever Joan’s window shades were at half-mast.”¹³

Considering Steven Bloomfield’s comments and the documentation of France’s divorce, it is puzzling to see Louis listed in the 1930 census as living with Frances, Joan (Johanna on the census record), and Frances’ mother Regina Bloomfield and brother Leonard at the same address at 100 West 174^th Street. The enumerator entered “Virginia” as Regina’s first name. However, there is absolutely no other record of a Virginia Bloomfield living in New York at that time.

The census record for 1940 again has Louis living together with Frances, Joan and Regina – now at 54 Featherbed Lane – and also indicates that Louis was living at that address in 1935 as well. Another odd detail in documents from 1940 is the listing in the Bronx telephone directory where Frances is listed as Frances Bloomfield at 54 Featherbed Lane. The 1940 census indicates that Frances had attended school for eight years.

In 1950 Frances was living with her mother at 54 Featherbed Lane and working as a salesperson in a retail store selling ladies’ coats. Earlier census forms contain no information about Frances’ work. Although Frances and Louis were divorced in 1936 and Louis was still living in 1950, the census form says that Frances was a widow!

Is it possible that Frances – or Regina – was ashamed of saying that she was separated or divorced? Is that the reason that the enumerator for the census was told that Louis was living with his family when he no longer was? Does that explain why Frances is a widow and not divorced in the 1950 census?

Steven Bloomfield writes: “Joan was emphatic about her mother NOT cooking anything (ever) – save for that overdone burger she cooked on the stove for Joan when Joan returned from the hospital after giving birth to [her son] Johnny [Feuerstein]. It was my impression that Grandma [Regina Bloomfield] prepared all of the meals. I got the feeling that Joan had very warm feelings for Regina.”¹⁴ Steven continues: “According to her [Joan], Frances was not a mothering type of person…and in fact, wanted people to think that she and Joan were sisters (not mother and daughter). According to Joan, she spent a lifetime trying to please this woman but never succeeded in gaining her approval.”

At the time of her death on 2 February 1973, Frances was living in Garnerville, New York. Steven Bloomfield relates a sad story about her death:¹⁵ “The night before Frances died, Joan visited her at the nursing/care home where she was living (I believe it was a matter of months, not years residing in the home; Frances had been living with Joan after vacating Featherbed Lane [since about 1969 or 1970¹⁶]). Joan said she asked her: ‘Why do you hate me so much?’ She said that her mother didn’t answer the question, didn’t say anything and looked straight ahead. Joan walked out of the room and resolved ‘never to go see that woman again.’ The next morning, she received the call that her mother had died.“

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1. Naturalization Record for Jakob Bloomfield, 18 September 1907, New York Birth Index, 1891-1902, Certificate No. 20727. ↩︎
2. U.S. Census 1900. ↩︎
3. New York State Census 1905. ↩︎
4. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1957. ↩︎
5. U.S. Census 1910. ↩︎
6. U.S. Census 1920. ↩︎
7. U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. ↩︎
8. New York, Marriage Index 1866-1937. ↩︎
9. New York, U.S. Birth Index 1910-1965 for Johanna Lewin. ↩︎
10. County Clerk’s Office, Bronx County NY, 1922, File number 2974 and 2975. ↩︎
11. County Clerk’s Office, Bronx County NY, 1922, File number 3129. ↩︎
12. County Clerk’s Office, Bronx County NY, 1935, File number 11107; Mark Nusenbaum, @nycourts.gov to the author (email), 7 September 2017. ↩︎
13. Steven Bloomfield to the author (email), 29 April 2025. ↩︎
14. Steven Bloomfield to the author (email), 23 April 2025. ↩︎
15. Steven Bloomfield to the author (email), 23 April 2025 ↩︎
16. Steven Bloomfield to the author (email), 05 May 2025. ↩︎