Family ties

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Family was central to William Steinway's life. During his 1888 European trip William made a point of spending time with both of his surviving siblings and the spouses of his late brothers and sister, and he visited and/or communicated directly with nearly all of his nieces and nephews. Those whom William visited included:

* his wife's family (Ranft) who lived in Dresden.

* members of the family (von Bernuth) of his daughter Paula's fiancee in anticipation of Paula's wedding in the fall.(Diary, 1888-06-07, 06-14, 08-11)

* William's brother C.F. Theodore, who lived in Braunschweig and managed the Hamburg Steinway factory. Theodore held many patents for Steinway piano making innovations.

* William's sister Dorette Steinway Ziegler and her husband Jacob Ziegler, who were living in Stuttgart at the time.(Diary, 1888-08-17) Dorette was a strong active presence and support in the Steinway family.

* nephew Charles J.T. Ziegler (age 34), son of Dorette, who was the family person at the London office of Steinway & Sons.

* nephew Henry L. Ziegler (age 30), son of Dorette, who also worked for Steinway & Sons and met with William in Germany. He was trained by Theodore in piano design and later took on the role of devising and            introducing innovations to Steinway piano making after Theodore's death.

* niece Julia Ziegler Schmidt (age 32), daughter of Dorette, who was staying in Stuttgart with her two children.(Diary, 1888-08-18)

* Sophie Steinway Fricke, widow of his brother Charles G. Steinway, who lived in Berlin with her second husband August Fricke. It was Sophie and Charles's three sons who were left in charge (subject to William's oversight) of the N.Y. office of Steinway & Sons while William was in Europe (Henry W.T. Steinway, age 32; Charles H. Steinway, age 31; and Fred T. Steinway, age 28).

* nieces Lillian Steinway v. Blumenthal (age 28) and Ana Steinway von Bodmann (age 27), daughters of his late brother Henry Steinway, Jr and Henry's wife Ernestine, in Berlin(Diary, 1888-06-16). Later(Diary, 1888-09- 27) William noted that Lilli "had a little son on the ev'g of the 24th, both mother and child well."

* niece Louisa (Lizzie) Vogel Depperman (age 35), daughter of his late sister Wilhelmina Steinway Vogel Candidus and her late husband Theodore Vogel, lived in Hamburg. On June 27 William particularly noted that they took a long walk up and down the Alster lake basin.

* William Candidus of Cronberg (near Frankfurt), second husband of William's late sister Wilhelmina.(Diary, 1888-08-05, 08 20, 09-03) This family hosted the Steinway children while William S. and his wife took a holiday trip by themselves.

* nephew Henry (Harry) Candidus (age 20), son of William's late sister Wilhelmina and her second husband William Candidus. Harry wanted a job in New York having, as William noted (Diary, 1888-08-05), "made up his mind to become a merchant and leave painting as a profession and vocation."

* nieces Albertine (Addie) Vogel Ziegler (age 25) and Johanna Candidus (age 19), both daughters of William's late sister Wilhelmina -- William arranged for them to travel together to New York on the steamer Saale. (Diary, 09-17) Note: Addie Vogel married her first cousin Henry L. Ziegler, youngest son of William's sister Dorette.

* Louisa A. Kreischer Steinway, widow of William's late brother Albert Steinway, traveled from New York with William and met him again later in Braunschweig(Diary, 1888-09-01 to 09-09) and in Berlin.(Diary, 1888-09- 17 to 09-19)

* nieces Henrietta (Hettie) Steinway (age 21), and Ella Steinway (age 17), daughters of Louisa A. and Albert Steinway, who traveled with their mother.

William made a special effort to stay in touch with his good friend Fritz (Fred) Steins who had been ill the previous winter. Steins and his wife traveled from New York to Germany a few weeks after the Steinways, and even before their ship arrived William was in touch -- wrote “to Fritz Steins onboard steamer Rugia to arrive Plymouth day after tomorrow."(Diary, 1888-06-01) A week later William met Steins and his wife in Braunschweig at his brother Theodore's house.(Diary, 1888-06-09) When William returned to Braunscheweig at the end of August he took a special day trip to visit Steins and noted "Fred much improved."(Diary, 1888-08-29)

William felt a strong connection with his hometown of Seesen, visiting the town upon his arrival in Germany and again just before he left, meeting old acquaintances and officials of the town and dispensing largess.(Diary, 1888-06-11, 06-12, 09-11, 09-12)
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