The middle name in the birth index above is Philippina Carolina Laurent. She was born on September 15, 1822 in Zweibrücken. Next to her name on the page is the first name of her father, Philipp [Laurent]. His profession (difficult to read) is "Buchdrucker", book printer. Philipp's father was Emmanuel Friedrich Lorenz Laurent, son of Lorenz Dominique Laurent, and Catharina Louisa Schmidt, daughter of Carl Philipp Schmidt, all from Zweibrücken.
The word at the end of the line is "ledig", which means single or unmarried in German. Carolina was illegitimate, though this bit of information was previously hidden in the family history.
The full record, at right (click on the image to see a larger version of it), shows that Carolina's mother was Philippina Willemin, an unmarried laundress; she also used the last names Jungblut or Jungblutin, her mother's maiden name, which can make things confusing. However her father or stepfather, Franz Willem or Willman, is clearly listed on her civil marriage record from 1825. Philipp Laurent had had an illegitimate son with Philippina two years before Carolina's birth, but the baby, also called Philipp, died.
Philippina and Philipp had five more daughters together between 1827 - 1838, one of whom, Louisa, emigrated to the USA in 1847, married a Julius Eduard Stohlmann in New York, and who stayed in touch with Carolina and the Müllers in South Carolina.
Click the image above to see the full-sized version.
Family legend names a Helena DeVigny as Carolina's mother, allegedly from the Loire Valley in France and before that from Italian aristocracy; a colorful story placed Helena as a child in the French Revolution being smuggled out of Paris in a barrel and driven to safety in Zweibrücken. The tale probably evolved to hide Carolina's less auspicious beginnings!
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