Who's Who -- The family of Charles Scheel (b. abt 1829)

Charles Scheel (b. abt 1829) immigrated to the United States from Germany and settled in Buffalo about 1850. So far we've had easy families for our who's who - one husband married to one wife the entire time, they had x number of kids, here's the list.

However for THIS Charles Scheel, things are not so neat and clean!

First, he married Phillipina (last name unknown) in Buffalo, NY, and I can confirm by using the 1860 US census that they had the following children:

Phillipina (b. Aug 1855 - ??)
Charles (b. 1858 - ??)
Susan (b. 1860 - ??)*
*this child doesn't appear on any other census or documentation; I can only assume that she died as a young child.

However, by the 1870 US census, Phillipina has died. Of course I'm assuming this since divorce was rare and the children would have typically lived with their mother back in the mid 1800s. So when she drops off the census and is replaced by another woman as Charles' wife, I can only assume she passed away. I am still looking for a death certificate or other information about her.

Instead, in 1870, Charles is married to Elizabeth Klein. Besides Phillipina Jr. and Charles Jr., they are listed as having the following children living with them:

Henry (b. 1861 - ??)
Elizabeth (b. 1864 - ??)
Frederick (b. 1866 - ??)
William (b. 1869 - ??)

I'm not sure which women (Phillipina or Elizabeth) is the mother of these children. There is not really a good gap between the births that would indicate where the split occurs. However, from subsequent censuses, I know that Elizabeth Klein is the mother of:

Caroline M. (b. 1871 --??)
Edward Christian (b. 15 Dec 1874 - 3 Aug 1937)
Albert (b. 1878 - ??)


I will be posting more about this family, and the censuses they are found on, later.