Anna Augusta Kershaw (1841-1931)

Anna Augusta Kershaw (1841-1931) aka Annie Kershaw; Housewife (b. February 1841, Glen Cove, Nassau County, Long Island, New York, USA - d. September 24, 1931 9:20 am, 38 Elm Place, Rye, Westchester County, New York, USA)

Birth
Anna was born to Abraham Kershaw and Sarah Olderon, near Glen Cove, New York on Long Island and may have been baptised at the Reformed Dutch Church in Wolver Hollow, Nassau County where there is an Abraham Kershaw listed in the records. According to one story found on the Internet, An Abraham Kershaw took his family to California and they all died along the way. It is also possible that this may have been another Abraham Kershaw from Long Island.

Siblings
Her siblings up to the year 1850 included: Mary Kershaw (1835-?); Israel Kershaw (1840-?); Sara Kershaw (1843-?); Ann Kershaw II (1847-?); and Peter Kershaw (1849-?).

Marriage
Anna's parents moved to Manhattan from Long Island around 1850 and Anna married Charles Frederick Lindauer (1836-1921) in 1857. Charles was listed as a broker with his brother, John Lindauer, in Manhattan in the 1869 city directory; a cigar seller in Manhattan in the 1880 census and working at a hotel in the 1900 census in Rye, New York. Charles was born in Philadelphia to Oscar Arthur Moritz Lindauer (1815-1866) and Sophia Weber (1815-1891).

Children
Charles and Anna's children include: Eloise Lindauer II (1861-1935) who was born in Manhattan and married an insurance worker named Maximillian S. Freudenberg I (1858-1921) aka Max Freudenberg; William Lindauer (1866-c1870); Arthur Oscar Lindauer (1867-1944) who was born in New Jersey, remained a bachelor and was a circus trapeze performer and an actor; Ada Lindauer (1868-bef1900) aka Ada Lindauer I, who was born in Manhattan and married Charles L. Schoenfeld (c1860-?); Anna Lillian Lindauer (1873-1956) who was born in Manhattan and married Ira Lowe in Rye, New York, and then had 2 children and 3 grandchildren who have not been located yet; Harry Chauncey Lindauer I (1877-1923) who was born in New Jersey and married Hannah Shea (1884-?) and had at least one child but no grandchildren and then Harry died of syphilis; and LeBaron Hart Lindauer (1879-1945) who was born in Manhattan and later married Catherine Harney (1878-1966) and had no children.

New York to New Jersey
In 1870 Charles and Anna were living with his widowed mother in Manhattan, and in 1880 they were living at 51 8th Street in Hoboken in Hudson County, New Jersey. Their new son-in-law, Max Freudenberg, was living in the house with them. Arthur Oscar Lindauer does not appear on the 1870 Census living with Charles and Anna, even though he would be three years old in that year. This may be an ommision or Arthur may have had another woman as his mother.

Rye, New York
Anna and her husband, Charles, moved from Hoboken, New Jersey to Rye in Westchester County, New York around 1894-1895 and from at least 1910 until 1921 they were living at 209 Locust Avenue in Rye. The house at 209 Locust Avenue no longer exists.

Death of husband
Charles died in 1921 and Anna, now a widow, was photographed in August 1929 at a family gathering in Rye.

Death
Anna died of bronchitis in 1931 at the home of her son, LeBaron, at 38 Elm Place in Rye.

Burial
She was buried in Greenwood Union Cemetery, Rye with her husband.

Obituary
Her obituary was not found in the Rye Chronicle but may appear in another local paper.

Charles may have had children with other women
Her husband Charles Lindauer may have fathered children with other women. Grover Cleveland Lindauer (1885-1968) aka Grover Cleveland Dunne; and Louis Miller both have a "Charles" as their father on their birth certificates, but different mothers. Both children originally took the mother's last name as their own. Both children also show up living in the Lindauer home in Rye, New York on the census of 1900, and both appear in a photograph labelled: "Grover and brother Louis". Another son, Arthur Oscar Lindauer, does not appear in the 1870 census living with Anna Kershaw, so he may have another mother. In the 1870 US Census of New York, "Charles Lindauer, age 30, born in New York" appears as the husband to "Caroline" of France. Caroline was Caroline Ritter, aka Carrie Ritter. Living a few blocks away is "Charles Lindauer, age 30, born in Pennsylvania" living with Anna Kershaw. Charles Lindauer and Caroline's daughter, Charlotte, is buried in the Lindauer plot with Charles' mother and father. All the evidence points to Charles being a polygamist; or fathering children with multiple women. The alternative theory is that there are two Charles Lindauers, living in close proximity, both the same age that may be related as cousins. No information found to date solves this puzzle. What would solve the mystery would be a death certificate for the second Charles Lindauer, if he really exists, or DNA evidence from descendents.