Jacob Krzyzanowski (1871-1933) and Sophia Olszewski (1879-1954) met in 1892 when the Olszewski family moved to Knutnow, Poland. Sophia's father Thomas Olszewski (1855-1898) was an artist who designed interiors for churches, and the family moved frequently as his projects changed. Jacob was a soldier in the Russian Army, but wished to emigrate to America due to the political unrest in the region. Jacob and Sophia were married in May 1893, and Jacob immediately set out for Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sophia joined him about a year later, and they eventually settled on a farm near Lyndon Station, Wisconsin. Jacob and Sophia had eight children, with seven reaching adulthood: Estelle Myra (b. 1895), Joseph (1897-1976), Muriel (1899-1992), Maryanna (1901-1901), Anthony Benjamin (1904-1976), Helene (1906-1989), Thaddeus (1911-1975), and Jerome (1913-2003). Of these, Anthony Benjamin, Helene, and Jerome used the anglicized “Crossler” as a surname instead of Krzyzanowski.
In 1917, Estelle married Reinhardt Schulze (1893-1955) of Reedsburg, Wisconsin in Waukegan, Illinois. Reinhardt was drafted in 1918. Later that year he became ill and was mustered out of the Army. In 1920, the couple's only daughter, Dorothea Schulze, was born. The marriage was troubled, and Reinhardt left Estelle in 1922. Estelle attempted to collect alimony and child support during their separation, but was unsuccessful, at least until the divorce was formally granted in 1925. As a single parent, Estelle struggled to make ends meet; as a result she sent Dorothea to stay with her grandparents in Lyndon Station for some time. Estelle was employed in the early 1920s at a dry goods store, the Boston Store, and Schuster's Beauty Shop. By the end of the decade, Estelle had opened her own beauty shop, the Estelle Schulze Beaute [sic] Studio. Over the next several decades, Estelle owned and managed several other beauty shops in the Milwaukee area. Reinhardt went on to study optometry in Chicago. The couple ultimately remarried several days before Reinhardt's death in 1955.
The Jacob Krzyzanowski family farmed the property near Lyndon Station until 1924, when they moved to Milwaukee. They lived in a rented house with Estelle and Dorothea for a short time before moving to their own house on 11th Street. It was in this house that a tragic event struck the family. According to the Milwaukee Sentinel, on April 25, 1933, Jacob stabbed Sophia in the abdomen while she was sleeping, and then took his own life with a shotgun. Dorothea Schulze was the only other family member home at the time, and she was unharmed. Two neighbors came to Sophia's aid, as they heard her scream and break a window. Sophia recovered from the incident, and later married Stefan Smukalla in 1943. They were divorced in 1949 but remarried in 1951.
Dorothea Schulze attended St. Mary's Academy in Milwaukee, graduating in 1938. She briefly attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison before transferring to Gradwohl School of Laboratory Technique in St. Louis, where she trained to become a medical technician. She married Victor Wong in 1956, a doctor of Norwegian descent who grew up in Platteville. Victor received his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his M.D. from the University of Louisville in 1938. They lived in Milwaukee for most of their married life.
See the following family chart for relationships between family members.
