I don't have any Jewish peddlers in my family. However...
My mom is from the South. She is from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and was not Jewish. My father was descended from the Jews who came from the Pale of Settlement. (I mentioned this in another comment). Growing up, there was a man named Joseph Ney who had a department store in Harrisonburg. Her family shopped there when she was a kid. Years later, after she had moved up north and married my dad, we ended up attending a shul, and there was an old man there who happened to be Ney's nephew! Small world! But I think Ney was a German Jew, he didn't come from the Pale.
My Lewis grandfather came to this country from Lithuania, peddled carpets on his back, bought a donkey/mule and mined for silver (?) in Montana. I remember a picture of the mule. He made his way back to WV where he started a dry goods business with his cousin Sam Samson which somehow turned into Lewis Furniture Co. He made his fortune in real estate. Annette might be a better source for Grande's story.
I don't have any Jewish peddlers in my family. However...
My mom is from the South. She is from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and was not Jewish. My father was descended from the Jews who came from the Pale of Settlement. (I mentioned this in another comment). Growing up, there was a man named Joseph Ney who had a department store in Harrisonburg. Her family shopped there when she was a kid. Years later, after she had moved up north and married my dad, we ended up attending a shul, and there was an old man there who happened to be Ney's nephew! Small world! But I think Ney was a German Jew, he didn't come from the Pale.
My Lewis grandfather came to this country from Lithuania, peddled carpets on his back, bought a donkey/mule and mined for silver (?) in Montana. I remember a picture of the mule. He made his way back to WV where he started a dry goods business with his cousin Sam Samson which somehow turned into Lewis Furniture Co. He made his fortune in real estate. Annette might be a better source for Grande's story.