Born in 1855, census records from 1920 identify Charles Bleyert as a German immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1880. As far as I can tell Bleyert spent the next 40 years in New York City’s Borough of Manhattan working at various times as a sales agent and shopkeeper.
Bleyert was initially listed in the 1883 New York City directory as a clerk living on Manhattan’s 2nd Street. Then over the next four years he listed his occupation as an “agent,” located at two different addresses; 135 East 59th St. (circa 1883 to 1885) and 235 East 33rd St. (circa 1886 to 1888.)
Sometime, circa 1888, Bleyert moved to 223 Eighth Avenue (between 21st and 22nd Streets) where he remained for the next 16 years primarily listing his occupation in the directories as “liquors,” though he sometimes used the occupation of “grocer” instead. At the same time he also continued to serve as a local selling agent for at least one patent medicine, a product called “DePlagnol’s Austrian Liniment.” This newspaper advertisement for the liniment naming Bleyert as a local agent appeared in the September 25, 1890 edition of the “Brooklyn Daily Times.”
All this leads me to believe Bleyert’s business served as a general store that sold a variety of items that included liquor, various patent medicines and groceries among other things.
Sometime in 1904 Bleyert moved further north where, over the next three years, he was listed as a grocer in upper Manhattan with an address of 58 West 116th Street.
By 1908 he had apparently given up the store and was working as a broker/salesman in the liquor business while living at 318 West 116th Street. Census records still listed him at that address with the occupation “salesman – wholesale wine” in 1920.
There’s no mention of Bleyert in either the 1922 or 1925 New York City directories so it’s likely he fell victim to national prohibition. By then he would have been in his late 60’s so it’s possible he either retired and moved on or passed away.
The bottle I found is a mouth blown liquor flask that contained a “Full Measure 1/2 Pint.” It exhibits the 223 Eighth Avenue address dating it between 1888 and 1904, the 16 year period that Bleyert used that address.