Stufflebean is an uncommon surname, to say the least. However, that isn’t the original form of the name, as it is a corruption of Stoppelbein (stump leg translated from German).
The Stoppelbeins who became Stufflebeans or Stufflebeams descend from the two waves of Palatines to America in the first half of the 18th century.
Their ancestral home was the area around Laubenheim and Langenlonsheim in the Rheinland Pfaltz area of Germany. The town is about 20 or so miles slightly southwest of Mainz.
I am always on the lookout for new clues that might shed light on the life of the first known Stoppelbein, Johannes, who was born c1600 and lived in that area.
My most recent search brought up a really interesting family, that of one Andreas Stoppelbein, reportedly born 6 September 1737 in Sprendlingen, Germany, which is another small town about 20 miles from Laubenheim!
Andreas Stoppelbein reportedly married Ann Catharina Odernheimer in June 1761 and they became parents of four known children:
1. Johan Bernhard, born 1762
2. Jakob Andreas, born and died in 1764
3. Johann Andreas, born 1767; died 1852; married Philippina Elisabetha Ginant from Edenkoben, Germany
4. Catharina Philippina, born 1769
What makes this very interesting is that I have found a Stoppelbein immigrant to the United States, but much later than the Palatine waves.
Lorenz Echord Stoppelbein was reportedly born 18 April 1800 in SPRENDLINGEN! He emigrated to Charleston, South Carolina, where he married and had a family before passing away on 18 January 1830, not quite having reached the age of 30.
Lorenz married Elizabeth Mary Clarke in May 1823, probably in Charleston. She was born c1802 and reportedly died in 1879 in Charleston. They were the parents of two children:
1. Elizabeth Christina, born 23 Mary 1824, Charleston, South Carolina; died 22 November 1897, Columbus, Muskogee, Georgia; married William J. McAlister, 19 March 1840, Charleston, South Carolina. They were the parents of two daughters, Mary Anna and Laura E.
2. Lorenz Echord, born 29 May 1825/8, Charleston, South Carolina; died 19 November 1883, Charleston, South Carolina; married Harriet Elizabeth Louise Villeneuve (c1831-1912), 7 March 1847, Charleston, South Carolina.
They were the parents of eleven children, all born in Charleston, South Carolina:
1. Josephine Elizabeth, born 2 October1850; died 20 February 1920, Charleston, South Carolina; married John Farley Warren, c1875.
2. Milton Small, born 30 January 1853; died 3 March 1921, Charleston, South Carolina; married Rebecca Virginia Miller, 3 October 1878, Charleston, South Carolina
3. (William Bachman, born 1855 and died soon?) Not in census or in family cemetery with a gravestone
4. Rosa Viola, born 2 February 1856/7; died 17 June 1924, Sumter, Sumter, South Carolina; married Charles Martin Hurst, c1878.
5. Lorenz B., born 1859; died after 1892 and probably before 1900; married Caroline Torlay, 16 December 1885, Charleston, South Carolina. They had two sons, Palmer E., born 16 May 1888; died 4 May 1918, Mobile, Alabama and Harry G., born January 1893 and died after 1904, when both Palmer and Harry were living in a Charleston orphanage.
6.( Anna Viletta, born 1861 and died soon?) Not in census or family cemetery with a gravestone.)
7. Joseph Lee, born 1864; died after 1910 census when he lived in Smyrna, Georgia; married (1)Mary Brunning, 14 February 1884, Charleston, South Carolina (2) Gertrude Sweeny, c1893. He had one daughter with Mary and three sons and one daughter with Gertrude.
8. Mary Sue, born 3 February 1869; died 8 December 1944, Sumter, South Carolina; unmarried
9. Harriett Villeneuve, born 10 February 1871; died 27 January 1954, Columbia, South Carolina; married Edwin William Hurst, c1890.
10. Warren, born 18 February 1874; died 1 September 1941, Charleston, South Carolina; married Edwin Eleanor (MNU), c1913. They had one daughter and one adopted son.
11. John Villeneuve, born 1876; died after 1930 when he lived in White Plains, New York; married (1) Marcia (MNU), c1907 (2) Anna M. Ferrick, 10 November 1923, Queens, NYC, New York. John moved several times, living in Jacksonville, Florida, New York City and White Plains, New York.
From this sleuthing, it appears that some Stoppelbein, most probably from the Laubenheim area, moved to Sprendlingen in the early 1700s. There are several men who could have been the one to move.
By 1800, Lorenz Echord Stoppelbein was born, reportedly in Sprendlingen and emigrated to the United States, arriving in South Carolina in the 1820s.
He married soon after he arrived and left descendants when he died in 1830. These descendants appear to have stayed mostly in South Carolina and Florida as time went on and there are still Stoppelbeins there today.
That means that the Stufflebean/m clan and the Stoppelbein families are all distantly related. I wonder if there are German church records that might link these early families together? That will have to go on my “to do” list!