Thanks for the info. I will look into the birth records.
I knew of children...
Kroeber, Esther, born abt 1855 [believed to be one who died]
Kroeber, Sylvester Eugene, born 15 Oct 1858 (he went on to marry, move to Oregon and have several children)
Kroeber, Flora, born abt 1860 [believed to be one who died]
Life must've been incredibly hard for my great-great grandmother while her husband was prisoner of war. I found a newspaper article about when he was taken prisoner. So I think he died at the end of the war, but was probably in very poor health, as he has lived as a POW,probably, through much of the war.
Here's the NY Times article that talks of his capture:
http://www.nytimes.com/1862/04/02/news/advance-results-recon... I live in Oregon, and there's a science fiction writer named Ursula LeGuin. Her maiden name was Kroeber, and I found her father Alfred in the 1930 census in Berkeley, CA.
Thanks for sharing information.