In compiling notes on the history of the Press family, I was struck by my grandparents' exceptional courage and achievement.
Isadore Press was born in Vyshnivetz around 1882, and Rebecca Plotka was born in Kolodne in 1885 (Both are in Ukraine today). According to the Wikipedia article on the history of the Jews in Poland, the assassination of Alexander II in 1881 was falsely blamed on the Jews, prompting a large-scale wave of pogroms throughout 1881–1884. The new czar, Alexander III, blamed the Jews for the riots and issued a series of harsh restrictions on Jewish movements. The pogroms and restrictions prompted a wave of Jewish emigration to the United States. Morris Plotka, Grandma's nephew, recalled that Grandpa Press was drafted into the Russian army in 1905 and taken away from his family. He was sent by an officer to mail a letter and never returned. He and Grandma fled to Lemberg, Austria, where Rachel was born in 1905.
At ages 20 and 23, they were refugees with a baby living in a foreign country! Could they get by speaking Yiddish? Did they speak German? Grandpa worked as a tailor, and they had enough money to leave for the US in 1907. Before they left, Grandma took Rachel back to say goodbye to her family and left immediately. Did she ever see her mother and father again?
In 1907, they went to New York, where Grandpa went to work as a tailor in a factory, and they had three more children, Joe, Harry, and Dave. Grandpa must have been an outstanding worker because Morris Plotka recalled that he was a foreman and, as part of management, crossed a picket line during a strike. While in New York, they sent boat fare for Grandpa’s brothers, Ysrul and Shaye, and Grandma’s brother Menachem-Mendel and his son, Isadore.
Around 1912, a colony of 10 or 20 (I’ve read both) Jewish families left for Bay Minette, Alabama, where they bought 25 acres of farmland, and Grandpa opened a tailor shop. They lived in a small four-room house with six kids and built a smaller “shack” for the three Plotkas. (I believe it was Menachem-Mendel and his sons, Isadore and Morris Plotka). This colony was one of several
https://www.bjpa.org/content/upload/bjpa/agri/Agriculture.pdf
When I visited the house in 1956 or 7 an elderly couple lived there. They recalled that the tree in the front yard had been planted by a Russian. There was also a well with a water pump in the front yard and an ice box. Since the Press family lived there years before Roosevelt’s Rural Electrification Act, it is unlikely they had electricity or indoor plumbing. They must have used a wood stove for heating and cooking.
They grew vegetables and yams, and Grandma had a roadside stand as well as cooking, canning, driving a horse and buggy into town every day, and watching the kids.
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| Pasadena, 1949 |
When their daughter, Rachel, was old enough to be married, there were no suitable Jewish boys, so they left Alabama for Pasadena, California. The Plotkas moved to Mobile, Alabama.
I can’t imagine having the courage to take the risks my grandparents took in their early 20s, their generosity, sense of family, and their hard work and energy. Yet, when I met them, they were unassuming grandparents. Grandma had a pantry full of pastry and preserves, and Grandpa had a tailor shop where I could sit on the floor and play with empty spools. I was afraid of the mangle, and I remember him picking me up and kissing me with his mustache.
I wish I could tell them how much I love and admire them today.
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An addendum on Lemberg from Dan Nemzer:
From 1772 to 1918, the major Central European city [now known as Lviv in Ukraine] was known by its German name, Lemberg. After the First Partition of Poland, the region was annexed by the Habsburg Monarchy. Lemberg was the capital of the Austrian Kingdom of Galicia.
During Austrian rule, Lemberg expanded dramatically into a vibrant, multi-ethnic metropolis boasting a strong Polish, Jewish, and Ukrainian population.
Note that Lviv, only 70 miles from Vyshnivetz, is a major tech city that has played a significant role in the war with Russia.
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Bay Minette was one of several such colonies. For context, see the brief ChatGPT conversation in
BayMinette.docx.
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More context from Dan:
Isadore Press and Rebecca Plotka Press escaped from Russia into Austria about 1904. Their first child was born in Lemberg, Austria, in 1905. (Rachel Press, who married Charlie Goodstein.)
In 1905, the border between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire was a major, heavily guarded geopolitical fault line in Eastern Europe. Each empire had swallowed up pieces of Poland and Lithuania, so this border essentially sliced right through historic Polish and Ukrainian lands.
From west to east:
1. The Vistula River and the "Polish Salient."
The border began in the west along the **Vistula River**, just northeast of the city of Kraków** (which was the heavily fortified western anchor of Austrian territory). South of the border was the Austrian crownland known as the Kingdom of Galicia.
2. The Northern Border of Galicia was 50 miles north of Lemberg (now Lviv, Ukraine).
3. The Eastern Gateway: Brody and Radivilov
Further east, the border reached one of its most famous historical bottlenecks: the towns of **Brody** (on the Austrian side) and **Radivilov** (on the Russian side).
In 1905, Brody was known as the "Eastern Gates of the Austrian Empire." It was a massive hub for both legal trade and rampant smuggling—a place where Austrian customs guards faced off against Russian Imperial border troops across heavy wooden barricades blocking the road. (Lemberg is west of Brody).
4. The Zbruch River
Austria was west of the river; Russia (Podolia) was east of the river.
After Brody, the border turned sharply south, following the path of the **Zbruch River** (a tributary of the Dniester).
By 1905, this frontier was highly tense. While the two empires weren't openly at war yet, it was a militarized zone. For local populations—particularly Poles, Ukrainians, and a massive population of Jewish communities who lived on both sides—crossing required passports and rigorous customs checks.
It was also a frequent escape route for people fleeing the Russian Empire, especially during the chaotic Russian Revolution of 1905.
This entire border line was completely wiped off the map less than fifteen years later with the collapse of both empires at the end of World War I.
