I decided to tackle the Eberhard side of the family using the German records on familysearch.org. With all of the searching and found information on Caroline Eberhard Siffrinn, I am pretty sure that Louis Eberhard and Louise Rusche were her parents. The spelling of the names on German records fluctuated greatly and it took multiple tries to bring up birth/christening information on Caroline’s siblings. One of the searches that helped the most was by using the Evangelisch, Langendreer, Westfalen, Prussia location information in the residence field and as few letters as possible plus wildcards in the name fields.
I found Louis Eberhard’s full name listed as Henrich Ludwig Eberhard, married to Louise Rusche on June 26, 1827 in Evangelisch, Langendreer, Westfalen, Prussia. Louise’s first name could also be found spelled Luise.
The first child I found for Louis and Louise is Wilhelm Ludwig Eberhard, born April 18, 1828. Wilhelm Ludwig married Lissette Katthage on December 5. 1857, in Evangelisch, Lagendreer, Westfalen, Prussia. They had 3 children, Maria Louise Hulda, Emilie, and Laura Wilhelmine.
The next child that I found is Frederich Wilhelm, born May 4, 1830 and married to Juliane Schaefer, February 2, 1856 in Evangelisch, Lagendreer, Westfalen, Prussia.
The third child found is Gustav Henrich, born January 30, 1833, married to Amalie Bergmann on October 29, 1860 in Evangelisch, Lagendreer, Westfalen, Prussia.
The fourth child found is Wilhelm Theodor, born Jul 28, 1835, married to Elise Sophie Seidenstuekker on October 29, 1860 in Evangelisch, Lagendreer, Westfalen, Prussia.
Child number five is August Adolph, born January 20, 1838. August Adolph married Maria Sophie Lisette Bottermann on November 22, 1863 in Evangelisch, Lagendreer, Westfalen, Prussia. They had three children, Effriede Clara, Louise, and Julie Mathilde.
Child number six is Wilhelmine Caroline, born April 12, 1840. I have not found a marriage record for Wilhelmine Caroline.
The seventh child found is Philip Adolph, born March 1843. I also have not found a marriage record for Philip Adolph.
Child number eight is Sophia Caroline, born Jan 10 1846. Sophia Caroline married Johann Philipp Schaum on May 15, 1860 in Evangelisch, Lagendreer, Westfalen, Prussia.
The last child is my second great grandmother, Caroline “Lena” Eberhard, born July 5, 1848. According to one of the U.S. census records, Caroline claimed to have been married 3 times. I know that one was my second great grandfather Louis (Ludwig) and the second to his brother William (Wilhelm) but the third I could never determine. From the recent records found, I have a Gustav Albert Schilling married to Caroline Eberhard on September 28, 1868 in Evangelisch, Witten, Westfalen, Prussia. This is four years prior to her marriage to my second great grandfather.
I decided to search on the birth of children to the couple Gustav Albert and Caroline and found two records. Those listed were, Adolph Wilhelm Schilling and Emma Caroline Schilling, born 1871 and 1869 respectively. Caroline had claimed to have 12 children on one of the census records. I have only been able to locate 9 of those. Two of those children were born before her marriage to Louis Siffrinn, one of the two was Emma (listed as Siffrinn) born in 1869. There is a possibility that the missing children were from a previous marriage.
It is still unclear if Gustav Adolph was her first marriage, and if her children born prior to 1872 were Louis Siffrinn’s children, which is possible or from another relationship. I can’t find a death or divorce record for Gustav Adolph to help clarify that relationship either. There is another Caroline SIffrinn, from the same location, different parents, born in June of the same year that could be the wife of Gustav Adolph instead of my Caroline. I am left with more questions than answers, again.