Agathe Schurz

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Agathe Schurz  (b May 3, 1853 in Philadelphia, PA; d July 18, 1915 at Bolton Landing, Lake George, NY) was born a year after her parents Carl and Margarethe Schurz had arrived in America. She was the eldest of the 5 siblings. Her parents called her Hans or Handy. (3). After the death of her mother in New York City (Diary, 1876-03-16) Agathe ran her father’s household and took care of her siblings. William was friendly with the entire Schurz family, including Agathe.

During the family’s stay in Watertown, WI, Agathe and her sister Marianne attended their mother’s first German-language Kindergarten. The family frequently returned to Germany for the education of the children and spent considerable time in Wiesbaden, where they maintained an apartment. (3) But by 1877 Carl Schurz and his children lived at 1719 H Street in Washington DC, while he served as Secretary of the Interior. Visitors commented on “the warmth of the family life, his daughters’ skill as housekeepers and linguists – they spoke English, French and German” (3) During this time President Hayes sometimes dropped in at the house and often asked the Schurz family to the White House – “on one occasion, with Mrs. Hayes out of town, Agathe served as hostess.” (3) In 1880 she and her sister Marianne accompanied Carl Schurz on his inspection trip out West to California. (3)

Over the years William Steinway and the Schurz family enjoyed many a family dinner together (Diary, 1891-04-23), outings to Astoria (Diary, 1891-06-13) and personal visits by Agathe and her cousin. (Diary 1891-09-21) Agathe didn’t really approve of the friendship between Carl Schurz and Fanny Chapman (Diary 1881-11-23), whom he had met 3 years after the death of his wife.

In 1903 Agathe and Marianne donated $3,000 to the Herbert Schurz Memorial Fund at Harvard University in memory of their brother Herbert, an 1897 graduate, who died in 1900 in London. (1) After the death of their father in 1906 Agathe, Marianne and Carl Lincoln Schurz assisted in the completion of Carl Schurz’s biographical work Reminiscences [Lebenserinnerungen], published in 1909. (3) In 1915 her estate donated another $1,000 to the Herbert Schurz Fund at Harvard University. (4)

Agathe never married, though her father had urged her to. She is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Tarrytown, NY near her father and siblings. (2)

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Sources:

1.  “Gifts to the University”, The Harvard Crimson, March 10, 1903,
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1903/3/10/gifts-to-the-university-pthe-university/

2.  “Miss Agathe Schurz”, The New York Times, July 19, 1915, page 9

3.  Trefousse, Hans L., Carl Schurz – A Biography, Fordham University Press, NY, 1998, pp. 52, 163, 217, 248-249, 296

4.  “Treasurer Report: Contributions”, Report of the president of Harvard College and Reports of Departments, Harvard University, Cambridge Press, 1915, p. 21