Next in the potpourri choices is Michael StufflebeaM, brother of Revolutionary War pensioner John StufflebeaN.

Why this branch of the family evolved from Stoppelbein to Stufflebeam with the M is not known, but the spelling variation does help separate out descendants.

I’ve researched Michael and his family in the past, but that was before full-text search came into play. Even with that advance in technology, it’s hard to connect the dots other than by preponderance of evidence in that Stufflebeam is an uncommon surname and several were in the same places at the same time.

Thanks to church records, we know Michael StufflebeaN was born on 30 October 1763 in Claverack, Columbia, New York. It’s possible that he saw limited Revolutionary War service in the later years of the war, but nothing has been proven.

Michael was the fourth of five children born to Johannes Stoppelbein and Eva Dingman. My husband’s ancestor, John, the Revolutionary War soldier, was the eldest child.

There are also two or three Michael Stufflebeans of various spellings, so they need to be sorted out.

A timeline and map will be helpful items to document the life and family of Michael StufflebeaM. Unfortunately, this Michael Stufflebeam seems to have only made one appearance in the U.S. censuses, in 1820.

1763, October 3 – Michael Stoppelbein born, Claverack, Columbia, New York

1803 – Stofflebeam – Jacob, Michael and Valentine on NY tax roll, Geneseo, Ontario, New York [I believe these are Michael and his brothers. Remaining and eldest brother John was in Kentucky by 1790.]

1817, April 5 – Michael Stufflebeam bought acreage (size not disclosed) in Pickaway County, Ohio

1818, June 2 – Michael & Abigail Stufflebeam sold 75 acres to Gilbert Fields, Pickaway County, Ohio

1818, October 31 – Michael Stufflebeam bought 75 acres from Gilbert Fields, Pickaway County, Ohio

1820 Census – Michael Stuplebeam enumerated in Crawford County, Illinois. One male +45, one female 26-44, one female 16-25

1823, June 12 – Michael Stufflebeam deposed in Lawrence County, Illinois that his brother, John, served in the Revolutionary War [filed in John’s pension record]

1828, January 30 – Michael Stufflebeam filed a land patent, Lawrence County, Illinois

1829 – John’s pension file correspondence indicates Michael Stufflebeam moved to Vermilion County, Illinois

1829, September 22 – Michael and Abigail Stufflebeam sold 80 acres to Thomas C. Collins, Lawrence County, Illinois

1830, June 1 – Abigail Stufflebeam, head of household in Warren County, Indiana

1830, November 1 – Michael Stufflebeam of Lawrence County, Illinois filed a land patent for Warren County, Indiana in T21N R9W S9 [Michael was dead by this time and he had no surviving son named Michael so he likely applied for the land shortly before his death in late 1829 or early 1830.

As you can see, for a man born in 1763 and who died c1830, Michael left few records.

Where do we go from here? I’m using online trees as clues, but I need to jump ahead to possible children and grandchildren and then work my way back when I am able to get to the Family Search center to access locked records.

So far, we have Michael Stufflebeam (1763-c1830) married to Abigail (MNU), last found in Lawrence County, Illinois for Michael and Warren County, Indiana for Abigail.

One more useful piece of information comes from Lawrence County, Illinois’s early history. Michael Stufflebeam was one of the early tavern keepers there who were granted licenses within the first five years (1821-1826) of the county’s existence.

Possible children? Well, John E., Ebenezer and Isaac Stufflebeam are attributed to them, but without any sources.

Next, we’ll delve more deeply into Michael’s and Abigail’s lives.