Background
Oscar Arthur Moritz Lindauer (1815-1866) migrated from Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France to Pennsylvania in the United States in 1834. He migrated to New York City where he and his children were illegal lottery brokers. He was most likely a Free and Accepted Mason at Eastern Star Lodge, No. 227 in New York City. (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)
Ancestry:
His ancestors were from Rheinbischofsheim, Rheinau, Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany; Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France; and Kehl Dorf, Kehl Stadt, Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. All geographically clustered around the Rhine River on the border of France and Germany.
Name:
Oscar Arthur Moritz Lindauer, but in the 1860 United States census he was listed as "August Lindauer". He may have used the name of his cousin from Pennsylvania to avoid detection.
Religion:
He was Protestant, most likely Lutheran.
Parents:
His father was Johan Jacob Lindauer II (1770) in German, and he was known as Jean Jacques Lindauer II in French. Because this region was under the control of Germany and other times under the control of France, his name appears as French or German depending on the time period. 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, Freiburg Region, 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:
He would have married around 1833 to 1834 in Rheinbischofsheim or Kehl or Strasbourg. Kevin Borland's hypothesis is that his first wife was a Weber and that after her death Oscar married his sister. This is based on DNA matches with a Weber family. No record of his marriage has been found in Rheinbischofsheim or Kehl or Strasbourg to date. Rheinbischofsheim or Kehl records are online and indexed. The 1833 Strasbourg marriages are indexed and the 1834 are not indexed or online and would have to be ordered on microfilm, the film number is 759112. Her name is not known. She died in Pennsylvania around 1845-1850 and the state did not start civil registration of deaths until 1905 and no cemetery lists her burial. The death certificates of his children all name the stepmother as their birth mother. No marriage certificates have been found in New York City for his children that would have named their mother.
Migration:
The family tradition has been that he married in Alsace and on his honeymoon migrated 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 migration from Germany has been found. He had a sibling that lived in Pennsylvania.
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. Their last child was born in 1845 and he remarried in 1851.
Pennsylvania to New York:
Around 1850, after the death of his first wife, he moved from Pennsylvania to Manhattan.
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 Elizabeth 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. Death certificates were not issued in Manhattan until 1867, the following year. 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.