Henry z steinway
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Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg was born on February 25, 1797 in the village of Wolfshagen, located in the Harz mountains of Germany. Although the details of his early life are sketchy, it is clear that he settled in the town of Seesen, Germany sometime during the 1820s. The next 30 years of his life were spent there, and it was there that he began making pianos, most likely in his own home. The date when he began to do this, as well as the number that he made, is unclear.
In June of 1849, Heinrich’s son Carl became the first member of the Steinweg family to emigrate to America. Six months later, in January of 1850, Heinrich prepared to follow suit by selling his home and land in Seesen, and in May the entire family, minus the eldest son, boarded an America-bound ship in Hamburg.
In New York City, the Steinweg family settled into a home at 199 Hester Street, in a section of town where there were many piano manufacturers. Although the male members of the family worked for other piano manufacturers for a time, it seems that they soon bega
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Henry (Heinrich) Engelhard Steinway
The father of William Steinway, Henry (Heinrich) Engelhard Steinway (b February 22, 1797, in Wolfshagen, Duchy of Brunswick, Germany; d February 7, 1871, in New York, NY) was a son of Heinrich Zacharias Steinway and Rosine Elisabeth Bauaerochse.
Henry Steinway married Julianne Henriette Thiemer, daughter of Martin Helwig Gottlieb Thiemer and Dorothy Julianne Bierkamp, on May 15, 1825, in Seesen, Germany. Julianne was born on January 20, 1804, in Seesen, Germany and died on August 9, 1877, in New York City, New York. Together they had nine children; Theodore in 1825, Doretta in 1827, Charles in 1829, Henry in 1830, Wilhelmina in 1833, William in 1835, Herman in 1836, Albert in 1840, and Anna in 1842. All of their sons participated in the family piano-making business except for Herman, who died in Germany around 1851.(1)
Henry had an inherent talent for music and this combined with "unusual mechanical ingenuity" led him to construct his own musical instruments early in life. He learned cabinetmaking a
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Henry Engelhard Steinway, Jr.
Henry E. Steinway, Jr., (b October 29, 1830 in Seesen, Germany; d March 11, 1865 in New York) one of William’s older brothers, contributed importantly to Steinway & Sons’ business through his innovations and technical improvements to the process of piano manufacture. Shortly after his marriage to Ernestine H. Miller, he began to suffer from chronic illness—a development that worried William greatly. Henry Jr. died in his thirty-fifth year, leaving a widow and three daughters.(5)
Henry Steinway Jr., the son of Henry Engelhard and Julianne Steinweg (later Steinway), married Ernestine H. Miller, the daughter of a Parisian tailor, on May 6, 1860. Together they had three daughters, all born in New York: Lilian, Anna, and Clarissa. (1)(4)(6)
After the family’s emigration from Germany in 1850, Henry, like his brothers, began his career in America by working for established piano manufacturers. He started by building keyboards for James Pirsson, a New York piano manufacturer. While working for Pirsson, Henry
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