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The Blum Family
In an effort to escape the disastrous wreck of Galveston and their properties Mordecai Blum moved his wife, Leah, and their surviving children, Alexander and Benjamin, and his unmarried sister Ella, to Dallas where he began to partner the Dallas branch of the family business with his brother, Simon. The family plans to rebuild their fortunes and move back to Galveston in the future to reopen their businesses there.
Upon arrival in Dallas Mordecai Blum purchased a Queen Anne style home in a neighborhood near downtown. His brother Simon already lives in the area, which is the home of much of Dallas' growing Jewish community. As Traditionally Observant Jews the Blum�s joined Congregation Shearith Israel, located on Jackson Street at Pearl, within walking distance from their new home. Another congregation, following the American Reform Movement, Temple Emanu-El is also located in the area on Ervay Street. As there are no Jewish schools in Dallas yet their eldest son, Alexander at age ten attends Dallas Public School and receives religious education with other children from the Jewish community each afternoon from local Rabbi Henoch Grinstein.
Leah Meyer Blum Leah Meyer Blum was born in Galveston, Texas in August of 1858, the fourth of five children of Samuel and Ruth Meyer. Leah is the youngest daughter of the family. Her father, Samuel, was a prominent local businessman in the import/export business.
Leah�s Parents were both born in the East portion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and were married in September of 1849, immigrating to Galveston, Texas in the summer of 1851 with one child, their eldest daughter Raquela. Four more children followed in succession before 1860, being Sarah in 1852, Hannah in 1856, Leah in 1858, and finally a son Leonard in 1859.
On June 19, 1884 Leah Meyer married Mordecai Blum, the American born eldest son of German immigrants Avram and Esther Blum. Mordecai and his younger brother Simon joined their father in retail business in Galveston, with Simon moving to Dallas in 1892 to open a branch of the family store in that city. Their sister, Ella, never married and continued to live with her parents in Galveston. Both the Blum and Meyer families are members of Congregation B�Nai Israel in Galveston, which was founded in 1868.
Mordecai and Leah Meyer Blum had three children in the first ten years of their marriage. Their eldest child, daughter Ruby, was born in 1885, followed by sons Alexander in 1890 and Benjamin in 1895.
The Great Galveston Storm of September 8, 1900 brought tragedy to both the Meyer and Blum families. Both sets of parents, Avram and Esther Blum, and Samuel and Ruth Meyer died in the hurricane along with Hannah Meyer�s husband and Mordecai and Leah Blum�s eldest child, Ruby. The Blum store and homes were all destroyed and Samuel Meyer�s shipping business brought to a halt. The surviving members of the Blum family refugeed to Houston, staying with Leah�s eldest sister, Raquela, who had married Houston sochet (kosher butcher) Noah Lieberman in 1872.
Leah Blum works hard to keep a kosher household and kitchen, in spite of the fact that their new home had been built a few years earlier by non-Jewish residents. Fresh fruit and vegetables are available at the nearby Farmer�s Market and many Jewish merchants, including butchers and bakers, line Elm Street near the Houston, Texas, and Central Railroad tracks. The Blum Brothers General Store is located in that same area, on Main Street.
The Blum family, finding solace in their religion, celebrate all of the holidays of the Jewish year 5561-2 (c.e.1901) as traditionally as they can given the scarcity of kosher supplies available in Dallas and North Texas.
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