This article marks the 25th anniversary of the passing of Robert B. Stone with the history of his father and uncles who immigrated to the United States, his father’s business, and their ancestors. Credit to Rachel Silverman for the genealogical research
David Blustein was Robert B. Stone’s father (Stone changed his name from Blustein to B. Stone). Blustein was a New York City merchant in furs and ginseng. His sign is still visible today from 7th Avenue and West 27th Street (across from the Fashion Institute of Technology) in Manhattan.
David Blustein (right) and ginseng
Grandson Dennis Stone and Blustein’s New York City sign on New Year’s Day 2024
David married Freda Corenthal who passed away in the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1919 after having two children including Robert. See this article on Freda, her ancestors, and her tragically short life. David was the youngest of four brothers who immigrated to the U.S. Their parents were Chonel and Golde Blustein.
The Four Brothers
Chonel and Golde had at least four sons, although given the spacing of their birth years, it likely they had other children who did not survive infancy. Their second son, Samuel A. Blustein (Aron Sroel or Sroel Aron Bloshtein) was born around 1866. He immigrated to the United States under the name Aron Blaustein in June 1884 aboard the S.S. Moravia from Hamburg. He was a savvy merchant, and eventually settled in southern Ohio where he anglicized his name to Samuel A. Blustein and joined the already-established Jewish community in Portsmouth, on the Ohio River.
The third Bloshtein son, Isadore, was born in May 1868 and followed Samuel to the U.S. around 1885, although we have yet to discover his travel documents. Youngest son David was just 17 when he arrived at the port of Baltimore by himself in 1891, headed to join his brothers in Ohio. Eldest son Louis (Leiser) was born in June 1859 and arrived at the port of Baltimore in July 1893, when he was 34 years old. Louis’s arrivals manifest reflects that at least one of the Blustein brothers had set down roots in Charleston, West Virginia by 1893.
The four brothers’ collective work to establish themselves in business and trade in the Ohio Valley was brought to a screeching halt when the enterprising Samuel A. Blustein’s life was cut tragically short. The pain of his loss must have been too much for his brothers to bear, as they guarded his memory closely for the rest of their lives. Samuel entire existence has been shrouded in mystery until this year, when in-depth archival newspaper research helped bring his whole story to light.
Samuel was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in Ironton, Ohio in 1888. He married Julia Schiff in Portsmouth, Ohio – Julia’s hometown – on March 3, 1896. They quickly relocated to Charleston for Samuel’s business, and their son Urial Charles (later Charles Ural) was born there on July 30, 1897. Two weeks later, on August 16, Julia died at age 23, presumably due to complications following childbirth. Portsmouth’s The Daily Times published notices of Julia’s death and funeral in Charleston, in which her husband Samuel is described as “seriously sick since the death of his wife.”
About two weeks after Julia’s death, on September 3, Samuel Blustein succumbed to typhoid fever. He was about 30 years old. His death notice in The Daily Times described him as very ill with typhoid fever when his son was born, adding, “the shock of his wife’s death was so great that he grew steadily worse.”
A very close read of Samuel’s will, as transcribed in the Kanawha County Probate docket, reveals the intentions of a man who knew he was going to die. He refers to his “infant son” Urial Charles Blustein, making financial provisions for his life. Samuel also willed an annual benefit to his father Chonel Blustein “for the rest of his natural life,” leading us to conclude that Golde was already deceased, sometime prior to 1897. Unfortunately, the will does not give an address or city of residence to Chonel, and we still do not know where or when Chonel died. (It is worth noting that Louis Blustein’s second son, Harry, was born in 1902, and it is possible that Harry was named for Chonel. If this is true, then we might assume that Chonel died in his 60’s, sometime between 1897 and 1902.)
Charles Ural Blustein was raised in Charleston by his maternal grandfather, Theodore Schiff, and his unmarried aunt Celia Schiff. Theodore Schiff died in 1917, and is buried next to Julia and Samuel Blustein, in the B’nai Israel (“Jewish”) section of Spring Hill Cemetery in Charleston.
After Samuel died, the surviving Blustein brothers remained close. They carried on with their own successful business endeavors, but they did not forget the one who started their American adventure. Louis Blustein married German-native Anna Biederman in January 1898, and they had a son name Samuel Aaron Blustein in December 1899. Isadore married Caroline “Callie” Jacobson of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania in October 1898, and in August 1899, they had a son whom they named Aaron.
Sadly, the brothers would not be permitted to forget the pain of the elder Samuel’s tragic loss. In the years that followed, the Blustein family endured the early deaths of both of Samuel’s namesakes. Isadore’s son Aaron Blustein was 12 years old when he died in 1912 from diabetes of Bright’s disease (chronic nephritis). Louis’s son Samuel Aaron Blustein contracted influenza in 1929, and died from pulmonary edema at age 29.
Perhaps these two premature deaths contributed to the Blustein brothers’ reticence in discussing Samuel at all? It’s impossible to say, but it is important to know how we got here, and to acknowledge Samuel A. Blustein’s unwavering commitment to his father, his brothers, his son, and his community. Maybe Louis, Isadore, and David concluded that the best way to preserve Samuel’s memory was not to tell their children about his death, but to live their lives as he would have.
David Blustein’s Fur and Ginseng Business
David, who died when son Robert was a young MIT student, was an international trader in furs and ginseng. He was reportedly the largest dealer in ginseng in the United States, buying from US growers and exporting to China.
This advertisement appeared in Fur News, vol. 23, no. 1, Jan. 1916
From “The fur trade of America and some of the men who made and maintain it, together with furs and fur bearers of other continents and countries and islands of the sea“ A. L. BELDEN, Published by THE PELTRIES PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1917
“Among the conspicuous successes in the New York raw fur trade whose first experience in the business was gained outside of New York City, may be mentioned David Blustein, who came to the United States from Moscow, Russia, at the age of seventeen and with his brother Isadore founded the firm of David Blustein and Brother, in Charleston, West Virginia, in 1891. From the beginning the raw fur department of the business received special attention, although hides and medicinal roots of various kinds were also dealt in. The reputation of the new firm for fair dealing, and its readiness at all times to buy any quantity of furs, hides, or roots, rapidly spread through the territory tributary to Charleston and even beyond it.
“The business continued along these lines for several years; then David Blustein, always alert and searching for ways and means to better handle the raw fur business, decided that the full development of the enterprise demanded a location in the fur-consuming market of America — New York City. To give the idea a trial, a temporary store was rented in Mercer Street in the fall of 1904, which was maintained for the raw fur season only. After two years the practicability of the move was thoroughly demonstrated and in 1906 a large store was leased in Bleecker Street, with David Blustein in charge. With the advantage of the New York outlet, the business grew by leaps and bounds and when the fur trade began to leave the downtown section David Blustein and Brother removed their business to the new section, locating in East Twelfth Street. Together with the raw fur business considerable attention was paid to the ginseng trade, and it was not long before the Blustein store became the Mecca of the Chinese exporters, who seldom failed to find large lots of root awaiting their inspection when they called.
“When the fur trade again traveled northward, many fur merchants and manufacturing furriers located in the section between Twenty-fourth and Thirtieth Streets, west of Broadway. David Blustein and Brother were among the first to remove to the new section, locating in Twenty-seventh Street. Here the business continued to grow and prosper, the reputation of both brothers for integrity growing as their trade and acquaintanceship increased.
“David Blustein continues in charge of the New York division of the business; while the Charleston store is managed by Isadore Blustein. The firm has unusually pleasant relations with country dealers and trappers, large and small, in all parts of the United States and Canada and maintains unsurpassed connections in the fur trade abroad. Their trade intercourse with local merchants and manufacturers is unusually intimate and friendly, and there is no doubt that the firm has a great future and will measure up to it as time progresses.“
Blustein Ancestry in the Baltic States
Chonel Blustein, whose surname is roughly transliterated from Cyrillic to “Bloshtein,” was one of at least five sons born to Zelman Leybovich Bloshtein and his wife Gitel (daughter of Enzel, likely a version of the Yiddish name Antschil). We do not have birth records for Chonel or his siblings, but we know they lived in the town of Okmyany, located in the Kovno region of the Russian Empire (now Akmenė, Lithuania).
According to the 1858 Russian Revision List (a type of census), Zelman was born around 1806 and Gitel was born around 1808. At least four of the five known Bloshtein sons were born in the 1830’s, including Chonel (born ca. 1833). The 1858 list gives us the names of two of Chonel’s brothers: Ber (born ca. 1837) and Iosel (born ca. 1832). The family lived a relatively comfortable life, with Zelman described on the 1846 candle taxpayers list as “well-to-do.”
David Blustein with son “Bobby”
The 1858 Revision List from Okmyany also includes Chonel (var. Chone), with his wife Golde. They had been living with Chonel’s uncle and aunt, but by 1858, both men were “missing.” It is likely that both couples had relocated without “properly” notifying civil authorities. The Revision List says that Chone’s father was Zalmen/Zelman, and Golde’s father was Sroel (Yid. Israel).
The likeliest explanation for Chonel and Golde’s “missing” status is that they had moved to Trishki (now Tryskiai, Lithuania), about 18 miles southwest of Okmyany. U.S. Passport records reflect that Chonel and Golde’s youngest son David was born in Trishki in 1874, and their older sons were most likely born there, too. In 1878, Chonel’s brother Yankel – whose birth year is currently unknown – was included on a list of out-of-town real estate owners for the town of Trishki. We also have evidence that Iosel Bloshtein, the eldest brother, moved to Trishki with his wife and children sometime before 1880.
