George A. Steinway

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George A. Steinway (b. June 4, 1865, New York City NY, d. September 14, 1898 at sea aboard the Statendam) was the only son of William Steinway and Regina Roos. On April 17, 1888, he married Otillie Roesler (b. September 22, 1870, d. May 18, 1918) daughter of Ernst August Roesler and Clara Mueller Roesler. (7) Together, they had three daughters; Otillie Marie (b. January 28, 1889, d. May 16, 1902), Clara Beatrice (b.August 4, 1890, d. May 12, 1929), and Gertrude Margherite, (b. November 18, 1892 d. May 4, 1969).(5) The marriage ended in divorce on September 28, 1895, in Fargo, North Dakota.(9) George's life began with much hope and promise, but throughout, he was subjected to the difficulties of a son living in the shadow of a larger-than-life father. In the end, he died a disappointment to, and an exile from, his family.

George was born three weeks premature and his first hours were difficult, giving his father "great joy" but also cause for some concern, until the child rallied and began to gradually gain strength. (Diary, 1865-06-04) In the days to follow, the baby thrived on milk provided first by a wet nurse, and eventually by his own mother.(Diary, 1865-06-07) He then rapidly improved and within weeks of his premature birth, mother and child were riding through Central Park in a carriage.(Diary, 1865-06-21) By the latter part of July, the young family headed off to Buffalo where William showed off his son to the child's equally proud grandparents. (Diary, 1865-07-22)

William saw George through the more than his share of the usual childhood illnesses, passing a very troubling period during his second winter (Diary, 1867-02-04) when it seemed the child was constantly ill. As a new father, William very carefully watched George's development, recording his first steps at 15 months and counting his teeth as they erupted. (Diary, 1866-09-07; 09-29) William recorded buying George toys.(Diary, 1870-03-17; 1876-02-22) He engaged in father-and-son outings and visits to the beach.(Diary, 1870-06-22; 1875-07-27). During the summer of 1877 (a year after the divorce when George's mother, Regina, had left them) William, an excellent swimmer, noted at least 10 times his delight with George's advances in swimming in the Bay near the Mansion in Astoria: "George in high glee because he had learned to swim." (Diary, 1877-08-06) On one occasion when the women had finished their time in the water, the men "bathe, take a nice swim, carry George on my back swimming."(Diary, 1877-09-02)

George also excelled in riding horses and could do so without being compared to his father William, who had never taken up the sport. George had his first lesson at age 16 (Diary, 1881-03-21), and rode often, especially when they were at the Mansion through the 1880s. He helped select horses to purchase for use on the horse-drawn railroads (Diary, 1885-04-05) William watched with pride when George rode in public parades (Diary, 1886-06-20), especially when George served as a marshall in the huge New York City parade to note the centennial of the adoption of the U. S. Constitution.(Diary, 1889-05-01)
Upon William's divorce in 1876 from George's mother, he noted in the diary that ten-year-old George had an increased need for affection.(Diary, 1876-05-20; 05-24) William noted twice that "Georgie" asked "where his mama was." (Diary, 1876-08-16; 1878-01-09) Yet in 1880, he wrote that after George and William (and William's sister Doretta) had a morning visit with Regina in France, where she had been sent at the time of the divorce , "Geo. Says he has no feeling for RR."(Diary, 1880-07-25) When William informed George and his sister Paula of Regina's death in 1882, he noted that they took the news "quite composedly."(Diary, 1882-01-12)

Very little was mentioned concerning George's early education. No school was mentioned until George read for admittance to Columbia Grammar School at age twelve. (Diary, 1877-09-15) Nor did William mention any private instructors or tutors. George attended Columbia Grammar School, at the time affiliated with King's College (Columbia University), for four years until 1881, when he was admitted to the Columbia School of Mines. (Diary, 1881-06-04) What prompted this choice is not clear, but his attendance only seemed to last a couple of years, when he began to take bookkeeping lessons from Steinway & Sons employee Adolph Menzl.(Diary, 1883-06-18) His attendance at the School of Mines may in fact have lasted less than a year, as William remarked in early April of 1882 that George "consults me about himself." (Diary, 1882-04-07) The remainder of the summer of 1882, George's eighteenth year, revolved around trips that he seemingly led, aimed in part, no doubt, at promoting independence and responsibility. George went with his sister and William's sister-in-law Martha on a trip to Niagara Falls that William bankrolled to the tune of $450.(Diary, 1883-07-08) George, acting as the treasurer for the trip, later returned $140 that remained to William. Then in July, George and his cousin Fritz headed off to the Catskill's for a week (Diary, 1883-08-15) and shortly after returning, George began work at the factory.(Diary, 1883-09-13) Before the end of the year, George led one more trip with Martha Ranft and Paula, this one to Philadelphia and Washington that William financed for $200.(Diary, 1883-10-15) William got full reports on the evening of their return and concluded that the young people "amused themselves well." (Diary, 1883-10-16) On the musical side of his activities, when George reached seventeen, George requested his father to propose him for Liederkranz membership.(Diary, 1882-10-29, 10-31) George also took piano lessons with Ferdinand von Inten.(Diary, 1886-03-23). William's diary records the frequent attendance by George and his sister Paula with family at the theater, opera, minstrels, Gilbert & Sullivan Pinafore, balls, and other events, often returning home after 2:30 or 3:00 am.

A pattern of increasing exposure and involvement in various business affairs evolved during the next few years. In December of 1884, William, George, and their employee Campbell discussed railroad matters (Diary, 1884-12-05) and the following April, George along with Campbell looked at railroad horses and bought six of them from a local stable.(Diary, 1885-04-05) George attended a Steinway & Sons Trustees meeting.(Diary, 1885-10-05) As George approached his twenty-first birthday in June, 1886, William began to involve him more in the firm. In March of 1886 George interrupted his work at the factory to attend Packard's Business College (Diary, 1886-03-01) and in late April was at meetings of the Steinway and Hunter's Point Railroad. Later he was made one of the incorporators of the Bowery Bay Improvement Company.(Diary, 1886-04-30) He accompanied William to the Bank of the Metropolis the next month where William and George opened an account for Bowery Bay.(Diary, 1886-04-20) George reported that there is "heavy riding" and large crowds at Bowery Bay in early summer. (Diary, 1886-05-30) In 1887, George became president of Steinway & Hunter's Point Street Railroad, a position he retained in 1892 when the railroad was renamed the Steinway Street Railroad.(Diary, 1887-01-08)(11) In 1888, he was first vice-president of the Queens County Bank.(Diary, 1888-02-15)(1) All in all, by George's twenty-first birthday, William seemed pleased that George was "developing finely" and a few days later gave George one hundred shares of Steinway & Sons stock.(Diary, 1886-06-08)

Not that all was smooth sailing during this period. With increasing independence came increased risk, but William was ready to step in when he needed to protect his son and his interests as he did when George somehow found himself being offered the position of Inspector General with Governor David Hill. This was about the time of a scandal involving Hill, which illustrated the need for William to hover close, intervene, and persuade Hill and his entourage to offer the position to someone else. (Diary, 1885-12-20) After completing his course of study at Packard's Business College, George took a position in the family business. It was during this period that George met Ottilie Roesler, who was living with her family in Great Neck, NY. He proposed to Tillie when she was sixteen and George and William met with her family in August of 1887.(Diary, 1887-07-28) Their marriage on April 17, 1888, at the Manhattan home of her parents at 17 E. 73rd Street was reported by several newspapers.(7)

For a few years things seemed to have been on an even keel, and the marriage produced three granddaughters to William's delight.(Diary, 1889-01-28; 1890-08-05; 1892-11-18) In early 1891, George was ill and was given leave to go South to restore his health (from January 25 through March 10). On March 27, 1891, the family sailed to Europe where they stayed until February 27, 1892. Then in the spring of 1894, William recounted making "good" on some of George's accounts in "enormous" amounts.(Diary, 1894-03-28) George missed work that spring due to torn tendons and broken bones in his foot, the cause of which William never further explained.(Diary, 1894-03-24) Ottilie wrote William that George was in bed with "nervous prostration" (Diary, 1894-03-30), a condition that sapped its victims of drive and interest in their work. George's condition seemed to deteriorate over the remainder of the year. William surely had a good idea of what the core problem was, having several long conferences with Ottilie. In October George entered the Waldemere Sanatorium in Mamaroneck, NY and less than two weeks later, seeing no sign of improvement, William revoked George's signature authority and Powers of Attorney. (Diary, 1894-11-04) George remained in Waldemere until July 1895.

In March of 1895, William was forced to make good on more of George's accounts because George had "loaned away" a great deal of money.(Diary, 1895-03-03) By June William had evidently concluded that George was without hope of recovery and met with Paula's husband Louis von Bernuth, Otillie, and August Roesler to discuss George's marriage and to agree on a plan of action for resolving their future. (Diary, 1895-06-21) The course eventually decided upon was divorce, quietly in North Dakota, with an agreement between William and Otillie that William would make substantial support payments to Otillie and the children until the youngest had reached majority age. This agreement was itself to become, after William's death, a source of a bitter dispute between George's ex-wife and the Steinway family.(3)(8)(10)

So it was that in the summer of 1895, Otillie set off for Fargo, ND in order to establish residency there and obtain her divorce. At the same time, George was introduced to Howard R. Burk, a friend of Louis von Bernuth and an usher at Louis's wedding. (4) Louis had himself traveled with Howard, and the introduction was made in hopes that George would hit it off with Howard and the two could proceed on some healing travel. (6) A hopeful trial of this arrangement with Howard and George was made in the form of a short voyage to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.(Diary, 1895-06-29) As luck would have it, the pairing worked so while Otillie was being granted her divorce in far off North Dakota, in part on the strength of her brother's deposition testifying to George Steinway's alcoholism, George and Howard were beginning a therapeutic voyage around the world.(9)

For the next year or more, Howard and George traveled through the Pacific and Far East.(Diary,1895-08-26; 08-28) Howard periodically updated William on the course of their travels, and William noted changes in their itinerary. (Diary, 1895-11-09; 1896-01-06) They headed back towards Europe by way of the Suez Canal.(Diary, 1896-03-04) Once in Europe, Howard declared George perfectly fit. George continued his overseas adventures, and Howard headed back to New York City where, on arrival, he gave William and Paula von Bernuth detailed reports of George and his condition, declaring him "quite well again". (Diary, 1896-10-21) George himself decided to head back to New York in November of 1896.(Diary, 1896-11-01) But he was never to see his father again, owing to William's death later that month. George did resume some business activities, including replacing his father on the Board of Steinway & Sons.(12)

George lived just another two years, never having fulfilled his father's dreams of his succession to head Steinway & Sons. He died at sea on the steamship Statendam, en route from New York to Rotterdam, on September 14, 1898.(2)

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Sources:
1. “City and Suburban News,” The New York Times, February 16, 1888, p. 3.
2. “Death List of a Day: George A. Steinway, The New York Times, September 22, 1898, p. 7.”
3. “G.A. Steinway’s Ex-Wife Wins,” The New York Times, November d11, 1900, p. 13.
4. “Late Fall Weddings,” The New York Times, November 13, 1888, p. 8.
5. Maniha, Ken, Steinway Family Genealogy
6. “Passengers Sailed,” The New York Times, February 26, 1883, p. 8.
7. “Several City Weddings,” The New York Times, April 18, 1888, p. 4.
8. “The Steinway Divorce,” The New York Times, February 20, 1990, p. 3.
9. “The Steinway Divorce Case: Mrs. George Steinway Secures a Separation in Dakota,” The Brooklyn Eagle, September 30, 1895, p. 1.
10. “Steinway Secrets Out,” The New York Times, February 18, 1900, p. 5.
11. “Steinway’s Road Reorganized,” The New York Times, March 31, 1892, p. 8.
12. “Two Big Hotels Planned: Steinway & Son’s Officers,” The New York Times, April 6, 1897, p. 5.