His first baby was born out of wedlock, had scarlet fever shortly before he married the mother (his first wife) and no one knows what happened to the baby. Most believe it died, since he was marrying the mother anyway why would they give the 4+ month old infant to an orphange? They went on to have more children and she was a good mother - unlikely the child was given away.

Took me a while to find out the reference where it was, a biography written by Albrecht Fölsing. My memory served me wrong (it's been 15 years since I read parts of it), it was not an orphanage. "Lieserl" was likely given for adoption.

Complicating the issue is the fact that Fölsing found no official documents of the girl, magistrate or church. The adoption happened likely during Mileva's trip to Novi Sad, which continued to Belgrade in 1903, when Albert sent here a letter. There is no information of Lieserl's first two years or any other years of her life. Albert never saw his first daughter. As for why would he do this? He didn't have any money at the time and was looking for a more stationary job.

The reason why I can believe there was a daughter in the first place is because she is mentioned in the letters.

What a difference does 15 years and particularly the last two years make in the way I read the excerpts of Albert.