Johannes Stoppelbein was the first of my husband’s Stufflebean family to have been born in Germany and who emigrated to the colonies. Johannes was just old enough at the age of 9 to have firm memories of life in Germany before settling into a new way of life as a New Yorker.
Johannes was born 30 December 1732 in Laubenheim, Germany, the son of Johan Jacob Stoppelbein and Anna Margaretha Enck. The Stoppelbeins were not a big family and it is likely that uncle Peter Stoppelbein, who was part of the 1709/10 Palatine emigration to New York, sent back positive news about life in the English colonies. Life in Germany was hard at the time and a new start would have been very appealing.
New York vital records in this time period are not very complete and no marriage record has been found for Johannes. However, he married Eva Dingman about 1755, probably near Kinderhook, Columbia, New York.
Eva was born 13 December 1730 in Kinderhook and was two years older than her husband. That is not an uncommon occurrence in German life. She was the daughter of Johannes Dingman and Geesje Janzen.
Johannes and Eva were the parents of five known children:
- Johannes, born 28 February 1756, Claverack, Columbia, New York; died 16 January 1844 in Kaskaskia, Randolph, Illinois. He married (1) Unknown, in New York (2) Priscilla Ross, about 14 July 1790, Bourbon County, Kentucky (3) Elsie Larrison, after 12 August 1795, Bourbon County, Kentucky. This is the name who was Revolutionary War soldier and pensioner John Stufflebean. He mentioned having a wife and several children in New York, but I have never found other evidence of them.
- Jacob, born 6 August 1758, Claverack, Columbia, New York; no further record. This man is NOT the Jacob Stufflebean living in Randolph County, Illinois. That Jacob was the son of John, above. There is a Jacob Stopplebeam in 1790 in Hillsdale, Columbia, New York, who could be this person.
- Geesje, born 1 March 1761, Claverack, Columbia, New York; died before 20 November 1718, when her husband wrote his will; married Peter Dingman, 13 November 1786, Schaghticoke, Rensselaer, New York. Peter named nine sons and two daughters in his will, probated in Montgomery County, New York on 3 February 1826. Peter may have remarried as he mentions that his youngest son is under the age of 21 and is to be educated as the other siblings.
- Michael, born 30 October 1763, Claverack, Columbia, new York; died about 1830, Vermillion County, Illinois; married Unknown.
- Valentine, born 9 February 1766, Claverack, Columbia, New York; no further record. There is a Valentine Stoplebeam in Claverack, Columbia, New York in 1790, but it is not known whether it is this person.