Simon Goldman

Trine Family History
Simon & Susan Trine Goldman
Middletown’s First Jewish Family
From
Hamilton, Butler County
Bicentennial Briefs
by George C. Crout
Who was Susan Trine, and how did she fit into the Lesher/Jenny/Duffie family?
The daughter of Jacob & Catherine
Bobenmeyer Trine, and the 1 st Cousin
1X Removed of Rebecca May
Catherine Trine Lesher, Susan Trine
was born June, 1835. We don’t know
for certain where she was born, but
our notes indicate that her mother,
Catherine Bobenmeyer Trine, died in
Trenton, Butler County, Ohio, in 1844,
and that her father, Jacob Trine, died
in Trenton in 1845, so the logical
assumption is that she was born in
Trenton.

Her grandparents, John Frederick & Christina Klein Bobenmeyer lived in Trenton until 1853. It
appears as though they may have taken her in after her parents died, and she was living in
Trenton when she married Simon Goldman in 1857.
From: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohbutler/cyc/659.htm
Simon GOLDMAN, dry-goods merchant in Middletown, was born May 12, 1831, in the village of
Zeil, Germany. His parents, Max and Jetta GOLDMAN, were both natives of the same place.
Simon GOLDMAN was given a common school education, and at the age of sixteen,
unaccompanied by any relatives, came to America. He located first in Cincinnati, September,
1847, among a few relatives and acquaintances, and set about finding employment.
With what little money he had he bought a few goods and started out in the country selling them.
Five years, or until 1852, were spent in this occupation. The proceeds of this period of
industrious labor were sufficient to enable him to open a store in Middletown, which he did
March 1, 1852, in company with Mr. Joseph BUCHMAN. A stock of dry goods and clothing was
purchased, and for four and a half years a prosperous business was carried on.
At the end of the time Mr. GOLDMAN bought out the interest of Mr. BUCHMAN and carried on
the establishment alone until the spring of 1856. At that time he sold out and went to Madison,
Wisconsin, there engaging in the same trade. He returned to Middletown in about six months,
and opened a store on Third Street, which he conducted till 1858. In the meantime he built the
store on Main Street, which he has since occupied.
Goldman Park, Middletown, Butler County, Ohio
Mr. GOLDMAN was one of the organizers and charter stockholders of the First National Bank of
Middletown and has been one of its directors for the past twelve years. From 1880 to 1882 he

was cashier of the bank, a position he was compelled to resign in consequence of his other
business. He is also a stockholder in the Middletown Gas Company, which he was instrumental
in organizing. He has been a Mason since 1852, and a Knight of Honor also.
On the 10th of September, 1857, Mr. GOLDMAN was married to Miss Susan TRINE, of
Middletown, whose parents died while Susan was still a child. Six children have been born to
Mr. and Mrs. GOLDMAN, all living.
Harry H., born March 19, 1859, is now
engaged in the store
Joseph R. was born December 12, 1861
Charles T. was born June 26, 1863
Jetta was born November 25, 1865
Emma was born November 8, 1867
Bertha was born August 31, 1875.
Right: Simon & Susan “Jetta” Trine Goldman, ca 1900
Where was Goldman's Grove and the Cave?
Few remember Goldman's Grove, but Middletown
Historical Society member, Jack Hagan Jr., recalls it
as being at the north end of the Alameda where
there was a woods, the circle being full of old trees.
It was named for the Goldman family, Simon Goldman, the city's pioneer merchant, who was the
first Jewish person to settle here. He purchased land in the east end as an investment and laid
out Superior, Stanley, and The Alameda, with his youngest son, Charles, handling the Goldman
real estate. Charles built and lived in the house still standing at 301 The Alameda.
Hagan remembers the Grove as being about 200 feet behind the Goldman home and extending
southward on past Sherman. The trees formed an arch, Hagan noting that "sunlight could not
penetrate, and in light rain you would not get wet." Others remember the Grove, and many of
the trees are still standing. A patch of it was found in the backyard of the late Mary Doty Dell, a
longtime Middletown Historical Society member.
Many boys grew up in the Grove. In it, the Beck's had a tree house where Calvin and Charles
Beck played, letting others also join them. Across the street, Lee and John Phillip dug a cave
with many tunnels, which made a good place to hide after playing Halloween pranks. Among the
boys who played in the Grove and enjoyed hiding in the tunnel in addition to the Becks and

Phillips were John and Bud Sebald, Chuck Harmon, Billy Price and Richard, and of course, Jack
Hagan. Among the pranks played on Halloween back in those days were upsetting of
outhouses, soaping windows, or worse, streaking them with paraffin, throwing corn and putting
things on top of wires. Some of the neighborhood residents tried to bribe the boys to hold off on
their mischievous projects by putting pies and cakes on the front porch, the beginning of "trick or
treat."