Yesterday, the meager timeline for the life of Michael Stufflebeam (1763-c1830) was presented.

The only solid documentation found to this point – as in primary records – are his birth in Claverack, Columbia, New York and a short span of dates (22 September 1829 when he and Abigail sold land and 1 June 1830 (the date of the federal census) in which Abigail is an apparent widowed head of household that indicate about when he died.

Michael managed to miss every early census record and didn’t seem to own much land in the few places where he can be documented as living.

His travels from Claverack to an 1804 tax list appearance in Geneseo, Ontario, New York with Valentine and Jacob to early Ohio bring forth a few more records.

If not for the 1804 town tax list, there would be no evidence that Michael, Jacob and Valentine ever passed through. The Stufflebeam name doesn’t appear in land records, so their stay in the town might have only been for a few months.

What of Michael’s family?

Michael Stufflebeam, born 30 October 1763, died between 22 September 1829, when he and wife Abigail sold land in Lawrence County, Illinois and 1 June 1830, when Abigail was listed as head of household in Warren County, Indiana.

Warren County is just over the state line from Lawrence County, Illinois.

Abigail was born between 1760-1770, per the 1820 and 1830 censuses, but her maiden name is unknown. She apparently died between 1830 and 1840, likely in Warren County, Indiana as her son, John E. Stufflebeam, was also living there.

What do we know of their other children? Not much through primary records.

It is thought that Michael and Abigail were the parents of several children:

1. Ebenezer, born c1792, probably New York; married Elizabeth Thomas, 30 December 1815, Pickaway County, Ohio; no further record. This couple is a mystery. Ebenezer is a decidedly un-Stufflebeam/n-like given name.
2. John E., born c1795, probably New York; died 1844, Warren County, Indiana; married Eleanor Roland, 13 February 1817, Pickaway County, Ohio
3. ????Isaac, born c1798; married Mary French, 2 May 1819, Pickaway County, Ohio; no further record. Isaac isn’t claimed as a child of Michael or Jacob Stufflebeam in Pickaway County, Ohio. Either way, he apparently died young as no further record after his marriage has been found.

STOP THE PRESSES! MAJOR UPDATE!!!

I started working on Michael Stufflebeam and realized I needed to get to a FamilySearch Center to view locked Illinois and Indiana records so I left this post for a while.

I struck gold!!! What a bonanza!!!

I can now list, with 100% certainly, the adult surviving children of Michael and Abigail (MNU) Stufflebeam and can prove a second marriage for Abigail.

The Warren County, Indiana probate records, locked from home, contain two terrific probate files – one for Michael, who died before 1832 apparently in Warren County from the wording in the file, when the first administrative record appears, and a second, quite lengthy file for his son, John E. Stufflebeam, who also died in Warren County, by 1844.

Notice the 11 year between the births of John and Thirza. Although Abigail seems to be close in age to Michael, the gap might suggest that she was his second wife.

It’s unlikely that her maiden name will ever be proved because none of these children died in a time and place where complete death records were kept.

Heirs of Michael Stufflebeam in 1832, in addition to his widow, Abigail, were the following children:

1. Ebenezer, born c1793, probably New York; died before 1832; married Elizabeth Thomas, 30 December 1815, Pickaway County, Ohio. His two daughters, Izelda and Maria, inherited his portion of his father’s estate. Jeremiah Fleming was appointed their guardian.
2. John E., born c1795, probably New York; died in 1844, Warren County, Indiana; married Eleanor Roland, 13 February 1817, Pickaway County, Ohio
3. Thirza, born c1806, New York; died after 1880, possibly Nodaway County, Missouri where she lived with nephew John Seeley’s family; married (1) John M.C. Smith, 15 October 1821, Lawrence County, Illinois (2) Benjamin Hulbert, 29 July 1830, Warren County, Indiana. He died 1873 in Linn County, Missouri. In 1870, she lived with her nephew, John Baker Seely and his family in Linn County, Missouri. He moved to Nodaway County before 1880 and she apparently moved with him, dying after the 1880 census.
4. Eleanor, born c1812, probably Ohio; died 1887, Nodaway County, Missouri; married Patrick McManus, 19 May 1828, Lawrence County, Illinois. In 1830, they lived next door to her mother, Abigail on one side and Benjamin Hulbert on the other side in Warren County, Indiana. In 1850, they were in Lawrence County, Illinois and, in 1860, in Marshall County, Illinois.
5. Marilla, born c1814, probably Ohio; died between September 1843-May 1845, probably Peoria County, Illinois; married William Seeley, 22 February 1831, Warren County, Indiana. They had five children. William married (2) Adelia M. Congdon, 14 May 1845, Henry County, Illinois. He had more children with Adelia, including a daughter named Marilla.

The other early marriage records in Pickaway County, Ohio have all been attributed to children of Jacob Stufflebeam, who I now believe is probably the nephew of Michael Stufflebeam of Illinois and Indiana.

No one has claimed Isaac in a family and, as he is not found in any further records, may have died as a young married man. In any case, if he was a son of Michael, Isaac left no descendants to inherit part of Michael’s estate.

Next, we’ll follow Michael’s children, proven in census and probates and descendants forward in time.