Maria Cleopha Eberhardt was born in Baetenhausen, Wurttemberg, Germany, daughter of a prominent citizen of Wurttemberg, She was married in 1832 to Anton Geiger who was born in the province of Wurttemberg, Germany on 25 July 1848 and received his education at the Tubingen University, where he graduated in a classical course. Upon his return to Wurttemberg he engaged in the real estate business, speculating and dealing in stocks, and being eminently successful, accumulated a large amount of property. Together they had five children.
Anton Geiger was one of the educated and successful business men who took part in the Revolution of 1848 and it ruined him financially. Anton lost all his property and died soon after in 1851 at his home in Obernau. His family was left penniless and without estate, but not without the ambition, practical understanding, and perseverance they inherited from him.
The lack of estate left by Anton Geiger encouraged his sixteen year old son, Stephen, to immigrate to America in 1852 in the hope of finding a better future for his mother and brothers. Stephen worked in Philadelphia for two years until he earned enough money to send for his brother Clemens, who arrived in 1854 on the Ship St. Nicolas. Together the brothers labored diligently until they earned enough money to bring their brothers Jacob and Florants Geiger to America in 1857 along with their mother, Maria and their sister Amelia with husband Stanis Kienzle. Stephen Geiger became a well respected businessman and councilman in St. Joseph, Missouri. Florants Geiger joined the Union Army, was soon promoted to an officer, and died defending his new homeland during the Civil War. Jacob Geiger became a physician and surgeon who later went on to help found two medical schools in Missouri. Clemens moved his farm operations from Homer, IL to Everest KS and was the patriarch of the Brown county Geigers.