Steinway Mausoleum

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In 1870, William Steinway’s father, Henry Engelhard Steinway, the founder of the piano firm Steinway & Sons, arranged for the construction of a mausoleum on the family’s plot in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery. Henry E. Steinway died in 1871 and was the first to be interred in the mausoleum (2).

The partners of Steinway & Sons purchased eight lots in Green-Wood Cemetery in 1864. To create the granite mausoleum that was erected on the site in 1870, the family hired architect Henry Reck. The cost of construction was $47,292. The architect's fee was about 5 percent of this cost, amounting to $2,444. (4, p. 1) William's diary mentions Reck inspecting the mausoleum construction in 1871. (Diary 1871-01-21) In 1877, the family hired John Moffitt to make some renovations at the mausoleum for a cost of $340. (Diary 1877-06-13) Jeffrey Richman, in his book on the Green-Wood Cemetery, mistakenly named John Moffitt as the designer of the mausoleum. He also incorrectly gave the cost as $80,000. (3. p. 103)

Steinway family interments in the mausoleum include William's father, Henry Engelhard Steinway (Diary, 1871-02-09), his brother Albert (Diary, 1877-05-16), his mother Julianne (Diary, 1877-08-11) and his second wife Elizabeth (Diary ,1893-03-06). William died on November 30, 1896 and was interred in the mausoleum on December 2nd.(2)

In his will, Henry Engelhard Steinway specified that the mausoleum could be used "only for the remains of my wife, my children and grandchildren and all my other male descendents bearing the name Steinway and of such other of my relatives as two thirds of my male descendents bearing the name Steinway who reside in the State of New York and who are of the age of twenty-one shall designate." This stayed in effect until 1989 when an amendment was drawn by a committee of descendents and signed by Green-Wood cemetery giving absolute control of the Mausoleum to the committee and eliminating the exclusion of female descendents. (4, p. 1)

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Sources:

"At Greenwood" Brooklyn Eagle, April 22, 1889, p. 1.
"Funeral of Mr. Steinway," The New York Times , December 2, 1896, p. 2.
Richman, Jeffrey I. Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, New York's Buried Treasure. Brooklyn: The Green-Wood Cemetery, 1998, pp. 103-104.
Steinway, Henry Ziegler (1915-2008), typewritten report of November 5, 1993.
"Steinway Family Mausoleum," a chart of the vaults with alpha-numeric coordinates indicating the location of the persons interred.

List of Persons interred in the Mausoleum

Barber, Anthony Victor, 1904-1987, [A5], married Florence Louise Steinway, who was a daughter of Frederick Theodore Steinway.

Barber, Florence, 1913-1977, [A5], nee Steinway, wife of Anthony Victor Barber.

Candidus, Anna, 1877-1926, [B5], nee Schultz, wife of Gustave J. Candidus

Candidus, Gustave Julius, 1874-1907, [B3], son of Wilhelmina, who was a daughter of the founder of Steinway & Sons, Henry Engelhard Steinway.

Candidus, Gustave, died 1907, [B4], stillborn infant of Gustave J. and Anna.

Candidus, William, 1895-1920, [G11], son of Henry Candidus (1867-1902) and Barbara Muller Candidus (died 1944). Henry was a son of Wilhelmina Steinway (1833-1875) and her second husband, William Candidus (1841-1910). Wilhelmina was a daughter of the founder of Steinway & Sons, Henry Engelhard Steinway.

Cassebeer, Anna Louise, 1851-1890, [H1], wife of Henry A. Cassebeer, daughter of Jacob & Doretta Ziegler, who was the oldest daughter of Heinrich.

Cassebeer, Clara, 1882-1971, [F4], nee Kuttroff, wife of Theodore Cassebeer.

Cassebeer, Edwin William, 1884-1952, [G5], son of Anna Louisa Ziegler and Henry Adolph Cassebeer.

Cassebeer, Ethel, 1884-1979, [F5], wife of Edwin Cassebeer.

Cassebeer, Henry, 1874-1941, [G4], son of Anna Louisa Ziegler and Henry Adolph Cassebeer.

Cassebeer, Henry Adolph, 1844-1921, [H4], husband of Anna Louisa Ziegler and second husband of Julia Ziegler

Cassebeer, Julia, 1855-1921, [H3], daughter of Doretta Steinway and Jacob Ziegler, married first to Constantin Schmidt and then to Henry Cassebeer.

Cassebeer, Theodore, 1879-1941, [G3], son of Anna Louisa Ziegler and Henry Adolph Cassebeer.

Chapin, Elizabeth Steinway, 1925-1993, [D9], daughter of Theodore Edwin Steinway, and married to Schuyler Garrison Chapin

Cochrane, Eric W., 1928-1985, [B9], married to Lydia Goodwin Steinway, who was a daughter of Theodore Edwin Steinway.

Kreischer, Frederika P., 1908, [F3], sister of Louisa A. Steinway.

Paige, Maud Steinway, 1889-1976, [D4], daughter of William Steinway by his second wife, Elizabeth Ranft, and married to Horace Raymond Paige.

Schmidt, J. R. Walter, 1881-1882, [F8], son of Constantine Schmidt & Julia Ziegler.

Steinway, Albert, 1840-1877, [F2], son of the founder of Steinway & Sons, Henry Engelhard Steinway.

Steinway, Anna, 1842-1861, [G2], daughter of the founder of Steinway & Sons, Henry Engelhard Steinway.

Steinway, Arthur M., 1886-1889, [C7], son of Charles Herman Steinway.

Steinway, C. F. Theodore, 1825-1889, [B2], son of the founder of Steinway & Sons, Henry Engelhard Steinway.

Steinway, Charles Frederick Mertens, 1892-1969, [C4], son of Charles Herman Steinway.

Steinway, Charles G., 1829-1865, [C2], son of the founder of Steinway & Sons, Henry Engelhard Steinway.

Steinway, Charles Herman, 1857-1919, [C1], son of Charles G. Steinway and second president of Steinway & Sons.

Steinway, stillborn unnamed daughter of Charles Steinway, 1861, [D-8].

Steinway, Elizabeth Caroline, 1853-1893, [E1], nee Ranft, second wife of William Steinway.

Steinway, Florence Garland, 1888-1981, [C5], married Charles Frederick Mertens Steinway.

Steinway, Frederick Theodore, 1860-1927, [A3], son of Charles G. Steinway and third president of Steinway & Sons.

Steinway, George Augustus, 1865-1898, [E3], son of William Steinway by his first wife, Regina.

Steinway, Henry Engelhard Jr., 1830-1865, [D2], son of the founder of Steinway & Sons, Henry Engelhard Steinway.

Steinway, Henry Engelhard (Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg before legal name change), 1797-1871, [A2], founder of Steinway & Sons.

Steinway, Henry W.T., 1856-1939, [C3], son of Charles G. Steinway.

Steinway, Julianne, 1804-1877, [A1], nee Thiemer, wife of Henry Engelhard Steinway.

Steinway, Julia Dorothea, 1871-1958, [A4], nee Cassebeer, wife of Frederick T. Steinway.

Steinway, Johanna, 1835-1883, [B1], nee Luderman, wife of C.F. Theodore Steinway.

Steinway, John Howland, 1917-1989, [C9], son of Theodore Edwin Steinway and Ruth Gardner Davis.

Steinway, Louisa Albertina, 1848-1926, [F1], nee Kreischer, wife of Albert Steinway.

Steinway, Madeline Louise, born & died 1890, [D7], daughter of Charles Herman Steinway.

Steinway, Marie K., 1881-1972, [E4], wife of William Richard Steinway.

Steinway, Marie Louise, 1894-1954, [D1], daughter of Charles Herman Steinway.

Steinway, Ruth Gardner, 1889-1978, [D3], wife of Theodore Edwin Steinway.

Steinway Theodore Edwin, 1883-1957, [D3], son of William and Elizabeth Steinway and fourth president of Steinway & Sons.

Steinway, Theodore Davis, 1914-1982, [A9], son of Theodore Edwin Steinway.

Steinway, William, 1836-1896, [E2], son of the founder of Steinway & Sons, Henry Engelhard Steinway, and first president of the company.

Steinway, unnamed stillborn son of William Steinway, 1862, [D8].

Steinway, unnamed stillborn son of William Steinway, 1863, [D8].

Steinway, unnamed stillborn daughter of William Steinway, 1886, [C8].

Steinway, William Richard, 1881-1960, [E4,] son of William Steinway by his second wife, Elizabeth

Vogel, Anna, 1861, [G16], daughter of Wilhelmina Steinway and Theodore Vogel.

Vogel, Clara. 1855-1856, [G16], daughter of Wilhelmina Steinway and Theodore Vogel.

Vogel, Theodore, 1829-1864, [G10], first husband of Wilhelmina Steinway, daughter of the founder of Steinway & Sons, Henry Engelhard Steinway.

Von Bernuth, Meta Elizabeth, 1890-1980, [E5], daughter of Paula, who was a daughter of William Steinway by his first wife, Regina Roos.

Williams, Gertrude Schmidt, 1885-1968, [G6], wife of Remsen T. Williams and a daughter of Julia Ziegler and granddaughter of Doretta Steinway Ziegler

.Williams, Remsen Taylor, 1883-1937, [H5], married to Gertrude Schmidt.

Williams, Remsen Taylor. Jr., 1914-1941, [H6], son of Remsen Taylor Williams.

Ziegler, Charles Jacob Theodore, 1854-1893, [G1], son of Doretta Steinway and Jacob Ziegler.

Ziegler, Doretta Steinway, 1827-1900. [H2], daughter of the founder of Steinway & Sons, Henry Engelhard Steinway, wife of Jacob Ziegler, 1825-1897.