Family History Play Again: "What was left"... Hostages to Fortune; a Sad Story

Someone said that having children, being parents, is to give hostages to fortune or fate.

One of my 2nd Great Grandfathers, shown above with his wife, Lena and their surviving daughters, about 1885.  Tomorrow, May 20, 2020, will be the 100th Anniversary of his passing.
My Great Grandmother from this branch, Marie Louise, stands at left. She would be the next to die.

He came to the US from Baden, in Germany in the 1850's, a stone mason, who eventually co-owned a successful building firm in post-Civil War Louisville, KY. 

I am interested in this branch of the family since it is the source of my "maternal line"; in family legend, shrouded in "fog". The main legacy of this prosperous man was a house full of rich, heavy Victorian-era furniture which may still burden members of our extended family.  I have two minor pieces: a china cabinet and an ornate magazine stand.   And some jewelry, of course--in the lock box, of course. 

His family, according to Ancestry.com, had a full history, in the towns along the Neckar River Valley of Black Forest Germany, back to the late middle ages.  Lena's family is another family history "dead end".  Ancestry.com shows her mother's name, married, (to my horror) to Lena's husband's brother Valentin!!! But Lena's last name is different from the maiden name of her mother. There is confusion in the documents over Lena's birthplace. Too confusing for this posting.

My best guess is that Lena's mother was married and had a child by a first husband; he either died young or deserted the family.  She brought this daughter to her marriage with Valentin (and they had a complete family of their own kids). Eventually, Lena married Valentin's much younger brother (who was 12 years older than Lena). Valentin, incidentally, also was active in the construction industry of Louisville, with a painting business.

The couple, with Lena as the young wife, married in 1864 and was soon expecting. Thus begins the "trail of tears" that would flow through their lives as parents.

Between 1865 and 1873, two little daughters, Emma and Carrie (Carrie was Lena's mother's name) were born and gone. We may have a photo of them, but I cannot verify.

Marie Louise came next; she lived to grow up, marry and have three children: my grandmother, a little sister and the son I have mentioned before on the blog--the one killed in the Philippines during WW2 in 1944, a hostage to fate. But, like many in those days and times, Marie was afflicted with TB, which she gave to her second daughter; they both died one summer just after the boy was born.  I believe the shadow of grief and abandonment followed my Grandmother (age about 5) all her life; perhaps passing the emotions on to her own children?? Marie's line was the only one to survive to the present.

It gets much worse: Adeline Belle, the "middle" child standing next to Lena in the photo: the beauty of the family, it seems: she got into some kind of "star-crossed romance" and took her own life by ingesting carbolic acid in 1907, according to Kentucky's death records. We know where it happened: https://www.zillow.com/homes/2314-West-Chestnut-Louisville-KY_rb/73506162_zpid/ 
Probably, the house was built by Father's company. (a grander home on Cherokee Road was still in the future.) Of course, the suicide only heightened the aire of silence and mystery among the family. 

It still gets worse:  the little girl seated survived until 1947, but was estranged from her parents in their later years. She and her line suffered divorces; the last of her grandchildren passed away in 1993, single and childless.

When we delve into Family History, even on the superficial level like mine, we have to be prepared for strange situations which were "in the past"; things those living at the time tried to conceal? I wish my Maternal Line was documented; I try to imagine the circumstances of Lena's origins or of Adeline's fate...I cannot.  I imagine that Lena and her husband may have wished they had some sons, as well.