Nathan Eisendrath was born on 7 January 1823 in Dorsten. He was the eighth child of Julia and Samson Nathan Eisendrath. For some years he attended the Petrinum Secondary School for Boys in Dorsten and then he learnt the profession of merchant at his father’s family business. At a young age he borrowed money form his parents and together with a partner he founded his own firm. The partnership did not last long; after just a short time the partner, whose name was Bettinger, deceived him and fled with 3,000 marks. He was not found. Nathan suffered financial losses and great economic problems. He was unable to repay his parents the money he had borrowed. In 1848 after disagreements with his father Nathan took the boat from Rotterdam to emigrate to New York.

1847 Nathan Eisendrath arrived in America without even one cent. First he eked out a living as an errand boy for a drugstore; then he tried working at a bookstore and later at a soap factory in Pittsburgh. He had a number of different jobs but no steady income. In his search for a job he passed a soap factory where barrels of tallow were being reloaded. He offered his help and was sent to the head of the company. When he completed the job application form, he just entered his name and place of birth because he did not speak the language yet. Was it a coincidence that his former partner Bettinger was the manager of this very company? Nathan immediately got a permanent job and Bettinger also repaid his debts from Dorsten.

After this lucky coincidence Nathan wrote his first letter home to Dorsten. The money allowed his commercial activities to really grow. Nathan was a very agile tradesman who liked to experiment and was ultimately also successful. His activities stretched from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and Chicago. He traded in fruit, spirits, soap and other products. In 1853 he finally settled in Chicago. In 1856 the various lines of business including banking, livestock, food wholesale trade, work in the leather industry and also the brick trade were united in one company called the “Nathan Eisendrath Company”. In particular Nathan’s investment in brick production and the brick trade helped the company and also the family to rebuild after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Farewell Advertisement of family Meyer-Wolff (related to the Eisendraths)
in a Dorsten newspaper (May 1880)

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