Theodore Presser

Theodore Presser

Theodore Presser was born July 3, 1848, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to German emigrant Christian Presser and Caroline Dietz. As a teenager, he worked in an iron foundry helping to mold cannon balls for the army during the Civil War. This activity proved too strenuous for his young physique and in 1864, at 16, he began selling tickets for the Strokosch Opera Company in Pittsburgh. At the same time, he began working as a clerk at C.C. Mellor's music store in Pittsburgh. He eventually rose to become sheet-music department manager.