Oscar Arthur Moritz Lindauer

Oscar Arthur Moritz Lindauer (1815-1866) of Rheinbischofsheim, Germany was an illegal lottery broker. He was possibly a Free and Accepted Mason at Eastern Star Lodge, No. 227 in New York City. He migrated from Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France to Pennsylvania in the United States in 1834. (b. July 15, 1815; Rheinbischofsheim, Rheinau, Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany - d. September 5, 1866; 42 Grand Street, Manhattan, New York County, New York City, New York, USA)

Name: Oscar Arthur Moritz Lindauer, but in the 1860 United States census he was listed as "August Lindauer".

Religion: He was Protestant, possibly Lutheran.

Parents: His father was Johan Jacob Lindauer II (1770) in German, and he was known as Jean Jacques Lindauer II in French. His mother was Sophie Christiana Bauer (1778-1834). Johan worked as a merchant.

Birth: He was born on July 15, 1815 at 2:00 a.m. in Rheinbischofsheim, Rheinau, Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Baptism: He was baptized on July 26, 1815 at 3:00 p.m. in Rheinbischofsheim, Rheinau, Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Siblings: He may have had the following siblings who show up in marriage indexes of Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France: Augustus Theodore Lindauer (1807-1857) who migrated to the United States and lived in Pennsylvania and married Anna Maria Wagner (1815-1881); Charles Lindauer (c1810-?) who married Elisabeth Amelie Bolster on October 20, 1838 in Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, France; and Sophie Jeanne Lindauer (c1810-?) who married Felix Carles Maximillian Reuss on May 18, 1839 in Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, France. Other siblings exist.

First marriage and migration: The family tradition has been that he married in Alsace and on his honeymoon emigrated with his wife to Pennsylvania in the United States. That would be around 1833 to 1834, his first child was born in Pennsylvania in 1835. No record of his marriage has been found in Rheinbischofsheim or Kehl or Strasbourg to date. No record of his migration from Germany has been found.

Children: They had three children in Pennsylvania: Charles Frederick Lindauer (1835-1921) who married Anna Augusta Kershaw (1841-1931) and have several children and grandchildren; John Jacob Lindauer (1841-1888) who married Nellie Carney (1853-1899) who worked as a cigar maker, and had several children and grandchildren; and Louis Julius Lindauer (1842-1915) who married Mary Sheehan (1842-1888) and had several children and a few grandchildren but no known great-grandchildren. Vital records for Pennsylvania were not recorded until 1905 so only church records of their births would exist.

Death of first wife: His first wife must have died in Pennsylvania around 1845-1850. There are no death certificates for Pennsylvania until 1905.

Pennsylvania to New York: Around 1850 after the death of his first wife he moved to Manhattan from Pennsylvania.

Second marriage: He married Sophia Weber (1815-1891) of Kehl, Germany on May 27, 1851 in Newark, New Jersey. The record from the Lutheran Theological Seminary Archive states: "Groom: Oskar Arthur Moritz Lindauer, clerk, 133 Elisabeth Street, NY, 35 years old, bachelor [sic], of Rheinbischofsheim, Amt Kehl, grand-duchy of Baden. Bride: Sophie Weber, 34 years old, of 450 Grand Street, NY, 34 years old, young lady, of Kehl, Amt Kehl, grand duchy of Baden. Witnesses: Peter Pfeifer & Emilie Maschhop. Minister: Reverend John Frederick Marschoff of St. John's German Lutheran Church, 140 Court Street, Newark, New Jersey."

Child: Eloise Lindauer I (1852-1942) who married William Arthur Ensko II (1850-1889) and had several children and grandchildren.

Manhattan, New York: Oscar and Sophia lived on Houston Street in Greenwich Village in New York City and Oscar and his children operated a liquor vending business and an "exchange". Other entries in the city directory list the children as "brokers". They were using their stores as fronts for the numbers game, an illegal lottery. Oscar may have been a Freemason and one or more of his children may have served in the Civil War. On the 1860 US census Oscar was listed as a "lottery broker" and someone wrote next to it "bad business". He was indexed in the 1860 census as "Aust Lndork", his brother was August. The census incorrectly identifies the children as born in New York instead of the correct Pennsylvania. Oscar was listed in the 1866 Manhattan City Directory living at 81 Grand Street in Manhattan and his occupation was listed as "exchange".

Death: Oscar died on September 5, 1866 at age 51. He died in Manhattan, New York City, New York but his death certificate has not been located. His funeral notice was published in a Manhattan newspaper and his estate papers were administered in Manhattan Surrogate Court.

Funeral notice: New York Herald, Friday, September 07, 1866, page 9: "On Wednesday morning, September 5, Oscar A.M. Lindauer, aged 51 years and 2 months. The relatives and friends of his sons, Charles, Louis, and John Lindauer, also the members of Eastern Star Lodge, No. 227, F. and A.M., are respectfully invited to attend the funeral from 42 Grand Street, this (Friday) afternoon, at two o'clock. The remains to be interred in Cypress Hill Cemetery."

Burial: He was buried in Cypress Hill Cemetery at 833 Jamaica Avenue in Brooklyn, New York City and his obituary appeared in the New York Herald on Friday, September 7, 1866. There is no marker for his grave but there are two markers for two other family members buried in the plot: William Arthur Ensko II (1850-1889); and Stanley Marlton Massey (1895-1902).

Intestate He died intestate, the letters of administration for his estate were granted to Sophia on December 23, 1868 by the Manhattan Surrogate Court.

Archive: The only known photograph of Oscar Arthur Moritz Lindauer was from the collection of Eloise Lindauer I (1852-1944). Eloise also inherited the family bible which contained a list of births and deaths for the first generation of Lindauers in the United States. It was housed with Eloise Ensko Higgins (1955- ) in Lawrenceville, New Jersey as of 2005.

Family memoir: In 1965 Eloise Ensko (1925-1993) wrote the following: "My great-grandmother Sophia married an Oscar Lindauer. They came from Alsace-Lorraine on their honeymoon. Alsace-Lorraine was then owned by the French. Great grandmother brought a lovely picture of Napoleon over from the other side - none of which I have ever seen duplicated. It is still in the family and in excellent condition. The Lindauer family owned a huge department store over there. When the newlyweds came to this country about the early 1800's they settled in Philadelphia. The living room furniture is still in the family. I have in my possession one of the sitting chairs. It is a very pretty, light wood in color, Victorian style. It is now of heavy material and cover. Sophia's Oscar had three boys and later on one girl. The boys were Charles, Louis and John."

Legacy: There are at least five living lines descending from him. The lines are: (1) the "Ensko" line that descend from the marriage of Eloise Lindauer to William Arthur Ensko. The second line is (2) the "Freudenberg" line that descend from Charles Frederick Lindauer's daughter, Eloise Lindauer II (1861-1935), who married Maximillian Freudenberg (1857-1921) and had 15 children, nine of them living to adulthood. The third line is (3) the "Hecht" line that descends from Grover Cleveland Lindauer (1885-1968) and his daughter who married a Hecht. Grover was listed in one census as Grover Dunne. It is not known if Grover was adopted or if Charles Frederick Lindauer fathered him outside his marriage to Anna Kershaw. Grover's mother is named Mary Dunne. "Charles" was listed as Grover's father on his death certificate and Grover would never discuss who his parents were. Grover had a daughter, Gladys Stanley Lindauer (1908-1997), and her descendants are the Grover Lindauer line. The fourth line is (4) the "Lowe" line, and it was discovered in August 2003 from the obituary of Anna Lindauer (1881-1956). Anna was a daughter of Charles Frederick Lindauer, who married Ira Lowe and had two children: Blanche Lowe and Joseph Lowe. Blanche married John Wahl and had at least three children, later she married a Testerman and lived to be 100 years old. Other lines descend from John Jacob Lindauer and these lines were confirmed on Thanksgiving, November 25, 2004 when John's 1880 Census entry was discovered. This (5) "Lindauer" line has a living member "Charles Frederick Lindauer" who died in Florida. Three attempts to talk to him have resulted in him hanging up three times, but his widow was able to confirm the family line. Other lines may exist from Louis Julius Lindauer, who had a daughter, Grace, that married a Massey and had at least one child. Louis Julius Lindauer also had a daughter, Sophia, that married a Davis. It isn't known if these lines died out or continued. In the year 2000, the name of Oscar Arthur Moritz Lindauer (1815-1866) was placed on the American Immigrant Wall of Honor at Ellis Island by Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ).

Eponymous descendants: Oscar Arthur Moritz Lindauer (1815-1866) has the following people named in his honor: Arthur Oscar Lindauer (1867-1944); Oscar Arthur Lindauer (1873-c1965); and Arthur Oscar Freudenberg (1891-1968).

Uncompleted tasks: His death certificate from New York City has not been located in the archive despite three attempts to find it. More trips will have to be made to the New Jersey and New York archive until it is located. His death certificate should name his parents and will take this line back an entire generation in Alsace. He also needs to be found in the 1850 census in Pennsylvania or in New York City. All efforts to search under his first and last name have been fruitless. The records of births and marriages from Strasbourg can be ordered from the LDS local library. His estate administration papers needs to be ordered from the New York City archive.

Relationship: Oscar Arthur Moritz Lindauer (1815-1866) was the third, great-grandfather of Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ).

Research: Researched and written by Richard Arthur Norton (1958) for Findagrave starting on June 17, 2003. Updated on January 25, 2011 with information from the 1860 census with him using "August Lindauer" as his name. Updated on January 4, 2012 with the record of his marriage in 1851. Updated on April 28, 2013 by switching Philadelphia to Pennsylvania. There were more general fixes on May 9, 2013. Updated on August 13, 2013 with speculation on the name of his parents. On January 10, 2014, Tom Peters sent the baptismal record from Rheinbischofsheim, Rheinau, Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Updated on November 11, 2014 with the text from his marriage record and the date that his estate papers were granted. Updated on April 18, 2015 to characterize his relationship with Augustus Theodore Lindauer (1807-1857) as tentative. Updated on August 1, 2015 to show the DNA results.

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