Dressel XXIV Generation

Owner of the Dressel Leather Goods Co. Chicago IL

CHRONOLOGY:
born: Apr. 15, 1876, Chorzele, Russian Poland
died: Feb. 15, 1926, age 49, Chicago, IL USA
mar: Jan. 20, 1896, age 19, Przasnysz, Russian Poland to the noble Marianna Regina Grudzinski from the clan Grzymala

Anton and Regina had 7 children. See generation XXV.1-7 to see their biographies.

The first family of the XXV generation.
Anton Jozef was born in Chorzele, Poland on April 15, 1868. He was a frail, blue-eyed beautiful child, and his nickname was Antek. From an early age, he was very eager to help his father on the family farm. As a child he attended the local Roman Catholic grammar school. When older, he attended a secondary school for sons of property owners in Przasnysz. His mother, Julianna, strongly believed that her sons had no future in Russian dominated Poland and they must eventually immigrate to America. Therefore, he was apprenticed to a prosperous leather merchant, Matheusz Grudzinski, in Przasnysz with the hope that with this knowledge, he would someday establish a leather business in America. During his apprenticeship, he met and fell in love with his employer's daughter, the beautiful Marianna Grudzinski. Since Marianna was five years older than he, her father would not allow them to marry until Anton reached at least the age of 20. They were married in Przasnysz in 1895. Throughout his youth under the influence of both his father, who was a member of the partisan group working for the freedom of Poland, and his mother, who was a socialist, he was very active in local patriotic and partisan youth groups. His and his brother's growing active participation in such groups was a source of great worry for his mother. After the tragic death of his father, Julianna decided that Anton and his brother must immigrate to America as soon as possible. Anton and his brother and their cousin, Jozef Dryszel, his future son-in-law, immigrated to America in 1906 (?). Since Chicago was one of the fastest growing cities of America and had one of the largest Polish populations, Anton and his brother decided to settle in Chicago. Through friends they found stepping accommodations at a boarding house in Chicago's Polish neighborhood in the parish of St. Stanislaus. Anton immediately set out to establish his leather business which he called the Dressel Leather Co. With his portion of the money that he received from the sale of the Dressel farm, he paid a year's rent in advance for a shop on Division Street. He also began making contacts and purchased supplies for his shop. His original idea was to supply various types and grades of leather to tradesmen who would then make this into shoes, handbags, saddles, harnesses, gloves, etc.; however, his main business was supplying local shoe-makers leather for the making and repairing of custom made shoes. In 1905 (?), his business was advanced to such a degree that he felt comfortable in sending for his wife and his three children from Poland. They arrived in 1906 (?) and they remained in the St. Stanislaus area. In 1907 (?) his shop was robbed by a former employee of all its merchandise. With the needs of his growing family, he was not able to restock his little company and the emotional upset-ness that one of his friends would actually steal his merchandise and cause him such great financial loss dampened his spirits to continue in the leather supply business. He then began to concentrate in the making of custom-made shoes. From a staff of approximately 8 employees, he was reduced to himself and two apprentices. Three additional children were born to him and his wife, Anna in 1907, Boleslaus in 1911 and Sabina in 1913. He had difficulty supporting his family and was helped by his wife who opened a dress shop and by the salary of his oldest son, Jozef. Anton was a very kind and generous man. He was also very kind to his workers and he was remembered by them for the little celebrations he would arrange after job orders would be completed in his little shop. After coming to America, Anton no longer was active in radical, political groups but he was active in church and in fraternal organizations. A second shock for him was with the unexpected death of his wife which left him with three small children who were difficult for him to raise alone, because he relied so much on his wife to take care of that aspect of their family life. At the age of 49, he contracted gangrene in both of his legs. He was told that in order to save his life, both legs would have to be amputated. He refused the operation saying that he would not live as a cripple and be dependent and be a burden for his children. He died on February 15, 1926. The proceeds from his insurance policies were divided equally among the three youngest children with the prior agreement from his three oldest children. He loved to smoke and while in the hospital, although the nuns would not allow him to smoke, he would occasionally sneak a cigarette. Once when one of the nuns caught him in the act and demanded to know from whom he received the cigarette, he told her that an angel gave it to him. To this, she gave no answer.

1887: Age 11, Anton organizes his cousins to throw tomatoes at the occupying Russian soldiers marching through the city. The children were arrested and the parents were warned that if it occurred again the children would be physically punished.

1889: Age 13, Anton and his younger brother were caught throwing dead animals into the Russian military reservoir. Again the parents were warned.

1890: Age 14, Anton’s mother decides that Poland is not the place for her children. She was afraid that they would continue their activities against the occupying forces and end up being executed just as their father was. She decides that her sons must go to America for their own protection. She then decided that when they go to America that they must be prepared to earn a living. Therefore Anton’s mother decides he should become an apprentice to a leather manufacturer to learn how to make all types of leather goods, and his brother Stanislaus becomes and apprentice to a master tailor, to learn to make clothing.

1891: Anton and his brother Stanislaus were sent to Przasnysz as apprentices to a leather manufacturer and a master tailor. During this year Anton meets the daughter of the leather manufacturer, Regina and announces to everyone’s amazement that he is going to marry her when he grows up. At the time she was 20 years old and he was only 15.

1896: January 20, For the past five years Anton pursued Eugenia at every opportunity and used every religious holiday to bring her handmade presents, flowers or mushrooms. His ardent and persistent dedication to her was a popular subject of discussion in the town. When she eventually relented, she announced that she would not marry him until he was twenty. However at the age of nineteen he persuaded her to marry him, during the end of the Christmas season.

Since their romance was such a popular subject in the town, their wedding became a major social event with everyone participating and contributing food and liquor to the event, which lasted more than the usual three days.

After his wedding he was employed by his father in law in the leather industry.

1899: Julianna sold the small Dressel estate. Half of the proceeds from the estate were given to her younger son Stanislaus when he immigrated to America, with the instructions that after he became a master tailor that he was to open a small factory and make men’s clothing. The second portion she held for Anton, who expected to immigrate, but his wife Regina did not want him to leave. However, since business was not as good as expected, and after the birth of their fourth child, Stefania, they decided to accept Julianna’s money and move to America and establish a leather factory. Anton left for America alone with the notion that he would send for his family once he was able to establish himself in the US.

1906: May 15, Age 29, Anton arrives on Ellis Island, on the ship Zeeland. His port of departure was Antwerp, Belgium. To see more information on the ship Zeeland see Exhibit 19.2

190?: The night before Regina and her children were to arrive in Chicago, Anton’s little factory was robbed of all its supplies, machinery, and completed merchandise.

190?: When his family arrived in Chicago he was bankrupt. He survived financially by selling some of the jewelry which was Regina’s dowry, that she had brought with her. In order to help the family financially Regina began her own business of designing women’s and children’s clothing. At one point she had five seamstresses working for her.

Anton was deeply psychologically affected by the theft of his business and never quite recovered from that loss.

1924: May 6, Regina died; Anton never was able to come to terms with her death. He left the management of the family to his oldest daughters Stefka and particularly Anna who was called “little mother”. His business was reduced and by the time of his death he only had two assistants.

1925: Anton contracted diabetes. It first affected his right leg and then soon after his left leg, walking became very difficult and painful. By the end of the year he was told that in order to control the gangrene that was spreading in his legs, they would have to amputate them. He absolutely refused to allow this saying that he was born with two feet and that he would die with two feet, and that he in no way would become a burden to his children. He lived for three months in this state.

1926: February 15, Anton died at the home of his son Joseph. The beneficiaries of his insurance were his three youngest children, Anna, Boleslaw, and Sabina. The equipment, inventory and merchandise of his shop were sold, and the proceeds were divided equally between his three oldest children, Joseph, Kazimierz, and Stefania.

Anton was the first born child of three children, two sons and one daughter.

Because Anton was apprenticed to a leather merchant, he had access to the various chemicals used in the processing of leather. He used this connection with the unofficial approval of his employer to wage a private campaign against the Russian occupation force by polluting their drinking water on a regular basis using some of the chemicals that were available to him. The affect of the chemicals were not strong enough to cause death but they eventually made a lot of soldiers sick for prolonged periods of time. Marianna, his future wife, assisted him in obtaining the necessary chemicals to pollute the water. By the time he reached the age of 17, he was desperately in love with Marianna but because of his age, her father would not consent to their marriage but said that if they still loved each other when Antek reached the age of 20, he would allow the marriage.

Antek's hobby was playing cards in the evenings and Sunday afternoons. The apartment in the Black Hawk House was on the first floor. It consisted of two large bedrooms which contained two double beds, a kitchen and a living room. The Black Hawk apartment was lighted with gas fixtures and the toilets were situated outside of the house beneath the sidewalk. After the death of his wife and in order to improve the life standard of his children, he moved to the Baunas(?) apartment. It too consisted of two large bedrooms, kitchen and living room. However, the bathroom was in the hall before the apartment and the apartment was electrified which made life easier. The younger children would wait every evening for their father to return from his shop. He always tried to get there in the latter part of the afternoon in order to spend the evenings with the children. After the death of wife, the oldest children, Joe, Mike and Stefka wanted and suggested that the family be divided among their three households. However, Anton would not allow this and insisted that the younger children remain with him in their own apartment until he died. Anton was a kind and gentle man. Although he loved to eat well-prepared food, after his wife's death, his daughter Anna, who was approximately 12 years of age, did the family cooking and it was her idea at that time that bay leaves were the spice that was to be put in almost every-thing and even though the other children complained about the taste of her cooking, Anton would always tell her that it was really quite good. Anton enjoyed listening to the victrola and had a collection of records. The children in the evening had to take turns winding the victrola for him. The music-playing sessions were particularly popular late Sunday afternoons and early Sunday evenings. Antek was a particular fastidious dresser. He always saw to it that he was fashionably and elegantly dressed. He was meticulous in the care and upkeep of his handlebar moustache. Antek was considered a handsome man. On occasion Antek also enjoyed good Polish vodka. He insisted that it was good for the digestion and character improvement.

Link:
Sources for anto
Pictures of Anton
Group pictures of anton's family