While working on this self proclaimed "research project", I was met with two variations of the last name - from the same family. As you may be aware Johann Christian Kaelber and Gottfried Kalber were brothers who immigrated to the States, with their families, at different times. I was under the impression that KALBER was the original German spelling that contained two accent dots above the "A". The English translation for such spelling is "AE". Leading me to believe that Johann Christian went with the correct translation while Gottfried kept the spelling, minus the accent. Declaration of Intention for Citizenship has Johann Christian & Gottfried both signing their names KALBER.
Fast forward to yesterday evening. While doing a simple search for Gottfried Kalber within the German records, NOTHING even close was generating. I changed my search terms to Gottfried KAELBER b. 19 Feb 1827. And there it was, titled "Germany, Select Births & Baptisms" - Johann Gottfried Kaelber was born 19 Feb 1827 in Sternenfels, Wurttemburg, Germany. His parents were .....Johann Jakob Kaelber and Johanna Regina Ekerdt.
If this was OUR Gottfried then there must also be a birth record for Johann Christian as well. After a quick search, there it was. Titled the same as the above referenced document; Johann Christian Kaelber was born 1820 to Johann Jakob Kaelber and Johanna Regina Ekerdt. Around the time I found this I had also looked at another document for Johann Gottfried Kaelber and saw listed that one of the household members was also Johann Christian Kaelber.
This new information leads me to wonder if KAELBER is the ORIGINAL spelling of our last name and that Gottfried and his lineage changed it to KALBER. I will continue to research this and post what I find here.
IF this information is correct, there is a possibility that Johann and Gottfried also had a sister and possibly more siblings. Nothing concrete at the moment.
I welcome anyone and everyone to contact me with any information they may have.
Take care everyone! I hope you have found this information helpful!