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Anna Maria Büchelberger, wife of grocer and deli owner Phillip Dressel, New Jersey

Year: 1877 • Collection: Dressel

Anna Maria Büchelberger was the daughter of the brewer Bernard Büchelberger and his wife Katrine, both recent immigrants to New York from Bavaria. She married Phillip Dressel, himself an immigrant from Hesse-Darmsdtadt, at age eighteen in Manhattan. Phillip ran a grocery and delicatessen in Jersey City near his cousin's florist shop in Jersey City. This photo of Anna Maria may actually have been taken around the time of their marriage but dating it is difficult. It has such a contemporary look with Anna Maria's direct gaze into the camera lens. The photo doesn't reveal enough of her outfit to date it based on clothing styles, so we're dependent on their family to identify this stunning portrait. Philip and Anna Maria had five children before she died at the young age of 33 in 1892.

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