Anna Steinway von und zu Bodman

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Anna (Annie) Steinway von und zu Bodman, (b January 21, 1861, New York; d October 2, 1906, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) was the second daughter of Henry Steinway Jr. and Ernestine Hildegard Miller and William's niece. She may have been named after William's sister Anna, who died several months after the birth of her niece. Anna married Freiherr Johann Heinrich von und zu Bodman, a lawyer and politician in the State of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, with an ancestral home in Boden near Lake Constance (Bodensee). (1) (2)

After Henry Jr.'s death in March 1865, Anna's widowed mother Ernestine married Charles J. Oaks in November of the same year. William Steinway fought Mrs. Oaks for custody of the children because in his will, Henry appointed William guardian of his three children. Mrs. Oaks prevailed in New York Courts and subsequently lived with the children in Baden-Baden, Germany, to escape William's influence. She nevertheless corresponded with him over the years. Anna became engaged to Freiherr Johann Heinrich von und zu Bodmann in Baden-Baden (Diary, 1883-07-14) and married him there on February 16, 1884. William sent a telegram to the Oaks family. (Diary, 1884-02-14) In 1887 Annie had moved to Berlin, just as her sister Lillian had done, because her husband was in the German Reichstag. (1) William visited them there. (Diary, 1888-09-18) In 1890 Annie and Lillian both contracted typhoid fever (Diary, 1890-09-03) but recovered. Johann Heinrich and Anna traveled to New York in 1893 en route to the Chicago World's Fair. (Diary, 1893-05-11) William Steinway wrote Heinrich a letter of introduction (Diary, 1893-05-12) to take with him on their return trip to Germany on the Trave (Diary, 1893-06-25). Before leaving they had to visit William's attorney Cotterill and sign a release in the H. W. T. Steinway trial in progress; they had signed the waiver earlier. (Diary, 1889-05-01)

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Sources:

  1. “Bodman,” Neue Deutsche Biographie, Zweiter Band. Berlin: Behaim-Bürkel, 1955, p. 360.. http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00016318/images/index.html?id=00016318&nativeno=360 (Accessed 06/11/2012)
  2. “Nachlass Johann Heinrich Von Und Zu Bodman,” Germany: Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg, 2001.  http://www.ub.uni-freiburg.de/fileadmin/ub/sls/bodman.html (Accessed 06/11/2012)