Tag Archives: Sol Bloomfield

Salomon Blumenfeld / Sol Bloomfield, Millie Braun and Elsie Marx-Kann

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Just as his brothers Levi, Jacob and Joseph had done, Isaac and Biene Rothschild Blumenfeld’s sixth child also emigrated to the USA as a young man. Salomon Blumenfeld (left 19671) was born in house number 46 in Arenecke in Momberg, Hessen, Germany, on December 23, 1879,2 and left his homeland when he was 16 years old on board the “Saale” in the summer of 1895.3 He traveled to his relatives in Kentucky where he lived for a time with his cousin Victor and his family on Fairfax Street in Winchester.4 Victor’s father Gerson/George had emigrated in 1853 and established himself as a businessman there.5

In the conservative society in Kentucky at that time single men were apparently not allowed to go out with single women even in groups. When Salomon was 26 years old, he took part in an excursion about which the newspaper reported: “A number of young ladies and gentlemen from Midway [Kentucky], chaperoned by Mrs. Holland and Mrs. Lathram, enjoyed a hayride to Versailles yesterday evening.”6

Salomon, who called himself “Sol Bloomfield” in the USA, worked first in Midway, Kentucky, as a salesman7 in his brother Levi’s store. When Levi took over his cousin Victor’s clothing store in 1910, he made Salomon the manager of this newly acquired business.8

In August 1911, Salomon’s engagement to Millie Braun from Cincinnati, Ohio, was announced. His fiancé was living at this time with her sister Laura Braun Salomon in Lexington, Kentucky. “Miss Braun is a very attractive young woman,” it said in a newspaper account.9 The wedding took place on October 9, 1911, in the home of Theodore Salomon and Laura Braun Salomon on South Mill Street in Lexington. Rabbi Samuel Thurman from Kalamazoo, Michigan, husband of one of the bride’s cousins,10 performed the ceremony with just the immediate family present.11 The Lexington Leader had this to say about the couple: “Mr. Bloomfield is energetic, industrious and successful in business, popular with all who know him. Miss Braun is widely known and admired for her many beautiful and loveable qualities, a favorite with all who know her.”12

In 1912 Levi bought out Salomon’s interest in their firm “Lee Bloomfield & Company.” At this time Salomon and Millie moved from Midway to Winchester, Kentucky.13 Here Salomon opened “The Bell,” a men’s clothing store on North Main Street together with Bigbee Kissinger.14 In 1936 the store moved to a building on South Main Street where “Uncle Sol” ran the business until well beyond retirement age.15

The Winchester Sun, May 16, p. 4

Mid May 1915 lightning struck the hotel next to the building in which Salomon had his shop. “Goods in the store of Sol Bloomfield and the grocery of J.M. Powell were almost a total loss from damage by water. The amount of damage to these stores has not been estimated.”16 Three months after the fire Salomon bought out Jesse Owen’s business, taking immediate possession.17 During the summer of 1923 “The Lexington Leader” reported: “Sol Bloomfield, of the Bell Dry Goods and Ready to Wear store has purchased the stock of piece goods, hosiery, shirt waists, dry goods and notions from Mrs. Rosa Baldwin Calvert.”18

The available sources report for the first time in 1910 about Salomon’s membership in a Masons’ Lodge, when he was conferred the Master’s degree by the Buford Lodge, 494, F. & A. M.19 It follows that he had already reached the degrees of apprentice and journeyman before that. Salomon was active in various Masons’ Lodges his whole life, as was reported in an interview when he turned 82: “He is a 50-year Mason [Lodge Nr. 20], a Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner.”20

When Hugo Blumenfeld, son of Abraham Blumenfeld and Sophie Mansbach Blumenfeld, emigrated to America in 1923, Salomon’s brother Joseph in New York paid Hugo’s bond and passage. However, Hugo traveled on to Kentucky where he lived with his uncle, Salomon, and aunt Millie.21 Soon Salomon and Millie (officially or unofficially) adopted their nephew, according to the newspaper account of Hugo’s engagement in 1928: “The groom is the adopted son of Mr. and Mrs. Sol Bloomfield….”22

The first of many articles about Salomon’s involvement with the Chamber of Commerce in Winchester appeared in 1923: Sol Bloomfield was one of the judges to determine the best costumes at the Chamber’s Halloween party.23 Of a more “serious” manner was his participation in a demonstration by the Chamber of Commerce protesting a proposed sales tax.24 Salomon war often engaged in membership campaigns,25 was a board member26 and member of the retail merchant’s delegation in the Chamber.27 Salomon was also active in the Rotary Club where he served on the board28 and at age 82 was still active in the program committee.29

Despite his business and social commitments, the active businessman still had time to go fishing. Along with others, Salomon founded a club in 1942 to promote the sport.30 He very much enjoyed telling the story about his catching a nine-pound bass at the reservoir.31

Millie, too, was active outside the home in the Sisterhood of the Ashland Avenue Temple (Adath Israel, a Reform congregation) in Lexington and the “secular” Women’s Club.32 Short notices in the newspapers report about the many guests that Millie and Sol welcomed to their “wonderful” home on Lexington Avenue and about their trips and the excursions they undertook with friends.

Millie Braun Bloomfield died on October 4, 1930. Two of the three available obituaries read: “Mrs. Sol Bloomfield, 55 years-old, died in the Guerrant Clinic Saturday morning at 8 o’clock after a short illness.”33 The death certificate indicates the cause of death as chronic kidney disease, indicating kidney failure. She was hospitalized for only about nine days before her death.34 In reporting her death, her adopted son Hugo said that she was “about 48 years old,” deviating from the age given in her obituary. The sources (among others: US Census 1880, 1920, 1930) record differing years of birth: 1872, 1875, 1882 and 1883. Rabbi Lawrence Broh Kahn from the Ashland Avenue Temple (Adath Israel) in Lexington, where Millie was a member, and the Rev. S.B. Lander of the First Presbyterian Church (!) conducted the funeral together in her home on Lexington Avenue in Winchester.35

On June 7, 1938, Salomon married Elsie Kann Marx (left in passport photo 1922), a widow from Manistee, Michigan, in the Pantlind Hotel in Grand Rapids, Michigan.36 The hotel was considered “one of the ten finest hotels in America.”37 The ceremony was performed by Rabbi Jerome Daniel Eckman from Temple Emanuel in Grand Rapids. Elsie Kann’s first husband, Marcus Marx, had died in October 1920 from complications after an appendectomy.38

Pantlind Hotel, photo: Robinson Studio – 1936

Elsie Kann Bloomfield was also an active woman. In addition to her responsibilities in the Bloomfield home, she was involved in the Women’s Auxiliary for the district hospital, serving as its president.39 The Auxiliary was instrumental in raising money for the hospital. Elsie was a member of a city council committee that opened a youth center in Winchester for young people and returning soldiers.40 Together with 60 other women, she raised money for cancer prevention in 1950.41

Elsie Kann Bloomfield died May 25, 1963, of pneumonia in Clark County Hospital42 and was buried on May 27th in the Lexington cemetery. The funeral was conducted by Rabbi Robert Rothman at the Scobee Funeral Home in Lexington.43

Shortly after retiring at more than 80 years of age, Salomon Bloomfield died on July 15, 1967. The funeral was conducted by Rabbi William Leffler from the Ashland Avenue Temple (Adath Israel) where Salomon had been an active member.44

  1. «Winchester Sun», Winchester, Kentucky, 17. July 1967, p. 1. ↩︎
  2. Geburtsregister Neustadt, Hessen, 1879, Seite 15, Nummer 105. ↩︎
  3. Passenger List in Ancestry.com, ear: 1895; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: M237, 1820-1897; Microfilm Roll: Roll 644; Line: 4; Page Number: C. ↩︎
  4. US Census 1900. ↩︎
  5. US Census 1900. ↩︎
  6. «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 10. August 1905, p. 3. ↩︎
  7. «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 24. December 1961, p. 12. ↩︎
  8. «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 24. November 1909, p. 8. ↩︎
  9. «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 9. August 1911, p. 8. ↩︎
  10. «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 9. October 1911, p. 8. ↩︎
  11. «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 8. October 1911, p. 10. ↩︎
  12. «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 8. October 1911, p. 10. ↩︎
  13. «The Winchester News», Winchester Kentucky, 5. January 1912, p. 1. ↩︎
  14. «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 15. April 1912, p. 2. ↩︎
  15. «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 24. December 1961, p. 12. ↩︎
  16. «The Courier-Journal», Louisville, Kentucky, 15. May 1915, p. 4. ↩︎
  17. «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 5. August 1915, p. 2. ↩︎
  18. «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 27. July 1923, p. 12. ↩︎
  19. «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 29. July 1910, p. 2. ↩︎
  20. «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 24. December 1961, p. 12 und 8. October 1959, p. 2. ↩︎
  21. «The Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 15. December 1923, p. 18. ↩︎
  22. «The Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 18. March 1928, p. 18. ↩︎
  23. «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 31. October 1923, p. 11. ↩︎
  24. «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 17. March 1932, p. 12. ↩︎
  25. «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 25. February 1932, p. 12; «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 3. August 1933, p. 2; «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 19. March 1936, p. 16; «Lexington Leader», 14. January 1928, p. 6; «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 22. February 1938, p. 8. ↩︎
  26. «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 20. February 1935, p. 2. ↩︎
  27. «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 27. April 1935, p. 11; 14. July 1935, p. 19; 4. February 1937, p. 10. ↩︎
  28. «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 3. July 1932, p. 17. ↩︎
  29. «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 27. May 1955, p. 2; 20. March 1958, p. 18; 27. January 1961, p. 2. ↩︎
  30. «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 9. April 1942, p. 19. ↩︎
  31. «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 24. December 1961, p. 12. ↩︎
  32. «Lexington Herald”, Lexington, Kentucky, 16. February 1923, p. 6 und 23. March 1930, p. 2. ↩︎
  33. «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 4. October 1930, p. 11; «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 5. October 1930. ↩︎
  34. Death certificate, Kentucky, Death Records, 1852-1964, ancestry.com, heruntergeladen 8. April 2018. ↩︎
  35. «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 4. October 1930, p. 11; «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 5. October 1930; «The Courier-Journal», Louisville, Kentucky, 5. October 1930. ↩︎
  36. Marriage register, in: Ancestry.com, Michigan, USA, Heiratsregister, 1867-1952. ↩︎
  37. historichotels.org/hotels-resorts/amway-grand-plaza-hotel/history.php, downloaded 8. April 2018. ↩︎
  38. Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1950, ancestry.com, downloaded 9. April 2018. ↩︎
  39. «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 3. March 1940, p. 27; «The Courier-Journal», Louisville, Kentucky, 30. July 1944; «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 11. January 1945, p. 10. ↩︎
  40. «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 22. February 1945, p. 14. ↩︎
  41. «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 18. April 1950, p. 18. ↩︎
  42. Certificate of Death, Commonwealth of Kentucky. ↩︎
  43. «Lexington Herald», Lexington, Kentucky, 26. May 1063, p. 14. ↩︎
  44. «Lexington Leader», Lexington, Kentucky, 17 July 1967, p. 20. ↩︎