William Antheil and his wife Ida in the early 1920s.
By Helen Kull
Next in our “rediscovery” of the people for whom Ewing schools are named is a look at Mr. William Antheil: respected businessman, and dedicated civic leader and Ewing school board member.
William Louis Antheil was born in Trenton on August 1, 1883, the third of three boys born to Henry and Wilhelmina Antheil, both immigrants born in Germany. Henry’s family hailed from the tiny village of Ludwigswinkel, near the Alsace border in a shoeproducing center, following the potato famine of the late 1840s. Wilhelmina’s family immigrated in 1859 to escape an impending war.
They were married in 1874, and had three sons Henry, Frederick, and William. The 1870 census lists Henry (Sr) as tending a grocery store in Trenton, eventually gaining “considerable” local prominence. At some point he later began working for the railroad as a brakeman.
Six months after son William’s birth in 1883, he was killed in a tragic accident as he uncoupled railroad cars in a railroad yard in Trenton. Fatherless, William nonetheless made a name for himself.
A recent e-mail exchange with William Antheil’s grandson provides this information: “Grandfather (William) had no formal schooling past the 6th grade. In those days, children were expected to drop out of school and earn money for the family. His first ‘good’ job as a younger man was what they called a ‘drummer,’ selling shoes. He got the job because family and friends were in the shoe and leather business, and immigrants from the same towns in the old country looked after each other.
“As a drummer he left home on Monday morning, traveling on the train. Each morning and afternoon he would get off at a different town to visit the local shoe store and take orders and dress the window. Evenings were spent at a boarding house, which provided dinner and a room. He would come home on Friday and spend the weekend with his family. In the summer he would go directly to Cape May on the train where his mother had a hotel.”
In 1907, William married Ida Earle, and they had five children between 1908 and 1920. In 1918, William registered for the draft, and listed his occupation as manager of a shoe store on West Broad Street in Trenton. A few years later, he and his brothers Henry and Frederick started their own shoe store on Warren Street. It was quite successful, but at the end of the Depression in 1938 the brothers made some poor real estate investments and the business went bankrupt.
His grandson continues: “After that, Grandfather worked as a salesman in the shoe departments of various Trenton department stores. He had what in those days was a ‘following’ of families who went wherever he was working to get their shoes. His selling style was to be very careful about fit, but not style or price. He retired in 1960 at age 77.”
His grandson adds that his grandfather never owned a car or had a driver’s license. In Trenton, he depended on the Johnson Trolley and the trains. Later he lived on Pennington Road with his mother and daughter, and rode the Pennington Road trolley; and then later rode the Trenton transit buses.
But Mr. Antheil did more than sell shoes. He became a member of the Ewing School Board in 1927, serving in that capacity for 33 years. He and Dr. Gilmore J. Fisher (namesake of Fisher Middle School!) were instrumental in opening Ewing High School.
He was a charter member of the Ewing Lions Club, and was an active member of the Ewing Presbyterian Church congregation, volunteering there “almost every day” (according to his grandson) during his retirement. Veteran church member Ed Sandford still remembers his generosity and kindness to the children and youth of the congregation.
As a prominent man in the community of whom it was said, “His word is his bond,” and whose service to education in Ewing was widely known and greatly respected, he was honored in 1960 by having the new Trenton State College/Ewing Township joint “demonstration school” for middle school students named after him.
Note: I am indebted to William L. Antheil III, the proud grandson of William Antheil, for generously sharing family history towards the writing of this column. Thank you, Bill!
Do you have a Ewing story to share, or a topic for a future column? Please contact Helen at ewingthenandnow@gmail.com.
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