Category Archives: Stufflebean-Stoppelbein

Stufflebean-Stoppelbein

Stufflebeems of Schoharie County, NY, 1800s

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The Stoppelbein family has many branches and, while it is quite certain they are all descended from one man born in Laubenheim, Germany c1600, it is nearly impossible to connect all of them together in America because of a dearth of vital records and, at times, even land records.

A Stufflebean descendant recently contacted me and asked about Henry Stufflebeam of Schoharie County, New York in 1850.

Henry Stufflebeam, 23, laborer, was enumerated in Broome, Schoharie, New York in the home of Cyrus Russell, 38, born New York. Also in the home were Sally Russell, 66, born Massachusetts and Elizabeth Stufflebeam, 17. There was also a Uriah Russell family living next door who was of an age to be a brother to Cyrus.

No marriage record has been found for Henry and Elizabeth, but they were apparently newlyweds. Is it possible that she was a Russell?

There is an 1855 state census of New York in which we find Henry and family. The family is still living in Broome:

Henry Stufflebeam, 27, born Schoharie County
Elizabeth, 23, born Albany County
Losina, 4, born Schoharie County
Ellen A., 2, born Schoharie County

By 1860, we find in Broome once again:

Henry Stufflebeam, 34, day laborer
Elizabeth, 26
Lucinda, 8
Ellen, 6
Wm., 4
Monroe, 1[aka Menzo]

Henry is no longer found after 1860. William, however, is enumerated boarding with the Borthwick family in 1870, but by 1880, he is living with his sister Lucina’s family in Rosendale, Ulster, New York:

Peter Robison, 45
Lucina Robison, 28
Sarah Robison, 8
Menzo Stuffelbean, 22
William Stuffelbean, 24

The Stuffelbean brothers are both day laborers.

My reader wanted to know how Henry Stufflebeam fit into the earlier family of Stoppelbeins.

New York records can be tricky to navigate due to lack of records and the state’s well-known lack of cooperation with genealogists.

Working back in time, I’ve pieced together:

1800 Census: Claverack, Columbia, NY
Henry Stufflebeen 00111-0111

Henry was over 45 years old. There was a female 26-44. also at home were one male26-44 and one male 16-25 plus one female 16-25 and one female 10-15. This was clearly an older couple with older children still at home and the male 10-15 could be Jacob H. Stopplebeen who sold land in 1828. Also in Claverack were Michael G. Stopplebeen, over 45, Martin 16-25 and Jacob 16-25. As Martin and Jacob were both heads of household, they were probably both 21-25 years old.

1810 Census: Middleburgh, Schoharie County, NY
Henry Stufflebean 00001-00001

Henry and one other female at home are both over 45 years of age.

1820 Census, Middleburg, Schoharie County, NY
Widow Caty Stopplebien 00001-000001

This shows Caty, over 45 years old with one male aged 26-44 at home.

I suspect that Caty died before 16 September 1828 when Jacob H. and wife Salley Stopplebeen sold land in Middleburgh, Schoharie, New York. (DB K:63.

Since there are no other Stufflebeans of any spelling in Schoharie County in the early 1800s, I have to theorize that Jacob H. Stopplebeen was the son of Henry and Caty Stopplebeen. I also believe that Jacob and Sally might well be the parents of Henry, born c1827 in Schoharie County. There is no other Stufflebean in that county.

Interestingly, there are no Stufflebeans of any spelling in Schoharie County in 1840. Did Jacob H. die? Did Salley also die or did she remarry and continue to live there with son Henry and her second husband? Could she be Sally Russell living in the same household as Henry and Elizabeth in 1850? Unfortunately, there are no marriage records to corroborate this theory and there are 10 Russell families in Schoharie County in 1840.

If Henry and Caty, then Jacob H. and Salley and then Henry in the 1850 census in Broome, Schoharie, New York is correctly put together, then the earlier Henry was born no later than 1755 (as he was over 45 in 1800) and doesn’t fit into my husband’s direct line of Stufflebeans, that of Johannes Stufflebean and Eva Dingman.

However, that Johannes had brothers Johann Valentin Stoppelbein, born 25 June 1739 in Laubenheim, Germany. and Michael Stoppelbein, born 16 August 1743 in Loonenburg, Greene, New York. These men, too, would betoo young to be Henry’s father. It’s possible that Henry was a child whose birth/baptism wasn’t recorded or was lost to time.

Johannes and Eva (Dingman) Stoppelbein lived in Claverack, Columbia, New York – the same town where the first Henry lived in 1800. I wonder if he might even be an unrecorded child of this couple. Their marriage record hasn’t been found and their five known children were born between 1756 and 1766. Perhaps Henry was the first born and not born in Claverack.

More digging needs to be done, but I’m not sure primary proof is out there to be found as the Stoppelbeins, in general, don’t appear in many town or court records.

Stufflebean, Stufflebean-Stoppelbein

Stufflebean Serendipity

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Recently, I alluded to the discovery of Mr. and Mrs. Stufflebean for a Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge.

It’s time to meet them:

This fashionable older couple are Jacob Henry Stufflebean and his wife Mary Anne Jane Hurlburt, who lived in Sheldon, Franklin, Vermont.

The person who contacted me knew this couple as Mr. and Mrs. Stufflebean and said the photos had been in his family for years, but no one today knew exactly who they were or how they were related.

From my own experience, I dated these photos to around 1870, especially with the style of paper border added to Mary Ann Jane’s photo.

My reader didn’t give much information about his mother’s family – not even her name, but mentioned that they lived in New York and Vermont for a long time. He also mentioned that the Bailey and Bixby families were in the tree.

He was quite sure the Stufflebean tie was to his mother’s family as his paternal line is French Canadian. However, he had no idea which branch of his mom’s tree led to these photos.

Knowing his name and the Vermont, New York and Bailey/Bugbee surnames, it only took me about an hour to pick up his family lines and find a connection to the Stufflebeans.

Unfortunately, the connection is by marriage so he isn’t an actual cousin.

Because there are living people involved, this story will be told from the Stufflebeans down a generation instead of working back in time.

Jacob Henry Stufflebean, son of Peter StufflebeaM and Janetje (Jane) Diel (Thiel, Teel) of Columbia County, New York, was born on 17 December 1818 in Ghent, Columbia, New York and died in Franklin County, Vermont on 25 February 1897.

Jacob was a relatively well-to-do merchant, although his business apparently had some ups and downs as he once filed for bankruptcy.

Mary Anne Jane Hurlburt was born in 1823 and died in 1887, likely in Franklin County, Vermont. Normally, I would question whether a person really had three given names, but she was enumerated once in the census as “M.A.J.,” which convinced me that was, indeed, her true name.

Jacob and Mary Anne Jane married on 30 March 1845 in Sheldon, Franklin, Vermont.

Jacob and Mary were the parents of two known children, but with the gap in birth years, it’s possible they lost one or more children.

Children:

  1. Samuel B. Hurlburt, born June 1849, Franklin County, Vermont; died 9 December 1908, Burlington, Chittenden, Vermont; married Electa Caroline Walker, 1 March 1876, Sheldon, Franklin, Vermont. Electa was the mother of one daughter, Lena, by her first marriage, but Samuel had no children of his own so he has no descendants today.
  2. Ellen, born c1858, Franklin County, Vermont; died 9 May 1924; married Eugene Abram Bates, 7 November 1877, Franklin County, Vermont. They were the parents of two children, but only one living in 1900, a daughter Lillian. However, Lillian was quite ill and died on 3 October 1900 of tuberculosis. The couple’s other child, Ellen Marion Bates, was born 15 February 1883 and died a few months later on 30 August 1883, both in Highgate, Fraklin, Vermont. Eugene was a doctor.

From this it is clear that Samuel and Mary have no descendants today.

However, the connection to my reader is through Samuel’s wife, Electa Caroline Walker.

Electa Caroline, born 1849; died 1923) was the youngest of eight children born to Robert Henry Walker and Caroline Thiel (aka Diel, Teel), who was related to Jacob Stufflebean’s mother.

The seventh child of Robert and Caroline Walker was another daughter, Harriet or Hattie L., as she was known, born 1847 and died in 1900.

Hattie married Robert Bixby on 7 December 1865 in Lincoln, Addison, Vermont. A daughter of theirs married a Bailey and that was the connection needed to figure out the identities of Mr. and Mrs. Stufflebean.

I also mentioned an unexpected surprise in the Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post.

Back in 2016, I wrote about discovering these silver-plated teaspoons on EBay that I snapped up because they were engraved with Stufflebean on the ends.

It turned out that my husband is a 2nd cousin, 4X removed from the original owners of the teaspoons, who happen to be none other than Jacob and Mary Anne Jane Stufflebean!!!

How is that for serendipity?

Stufflebean-Stoppelbein

A New Branch of the Stufflebean-Stoppelbein Family Tree

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One of the reasons I began blogging was to have “cousin bait” and make connections with distant cousins, hoping to add to my knowledge of the ancestors in the family tree.

The Stufflebean surname was originally Stoppelbein and originates with one man, Johannes Stoppelbein, born c1600, probably near Laubenheim, Germany, which is in the Palatinate region. Johannes married Elisabetha (MNU) by 1632 and had one known child, a son named Hans Valentine Stoppelbein. Hans was born about 12 January 1633/34 in Laubenheim and died about 1688, probably also in Laubenheim.

All known Stufflebeans/Stufflebeams and Stoppelbeins are likely descended from this one son since no record of any other children of Johannes and Elisabetha has been found.

Up until now, the only information I had for Hans Valentine’s family was with wife Anna Maria Mueller, who he married on 5 January 1666/67 in Laubenheim. This was the time period of the Black Plague.

I have evidence of probably six children – Hans Peter, a daughter who died young, Michael, Jacob, Christopher and Engel, with Hans Peter being my husband’s direct line.

Recently, I was contacted by a reader who is descended from Jacob George Korbman, a United Empire Loyalist, who settled in Ontario, Canada after the American Revolution. He was born in New York and it is believed that his parents were Daniel Korbman/Korpman/Korfman and ANNA CATHERINA STOPPELBEIN!

Anna Catherine Stoppelbein was a new name to me. She was reportedly born in 1715 in Laubenheim, so I went down the rabbit hole, hoping to learn more about her and her origins.

I am at somewhat of a disadvantage as I don’t have access to early German church records and, even if I did, I can’t read the old German script. However, the FamilySearch Family Tree has pointed the way.

Hans Valentine Stoppelbein, son of the earliest man, had a first wife, Magdalena, who reportedly died in 1666 during the Black Plague. Hans Valentine and Magdalena married c1656 and reportedly had four children, three of whom died of plague like their mother.

The sole surviving child from that first marriage was George Michael Stoppelbein, born c1657 and who was buried on 30 January 1723 in Laubenheim. He married Agnes Enders, 10 February 1680, also in Laubenheim and they became the parents of four children – Johannes, Anna Margaretha, Hans Wilhelm and Maria Elisabetha.

George Michael Stoppelbein’s son, Johannes, above, is the father of Anna Catharina Stoppelbein who emigrated, settled in New York, and likely is the Anna Catharina who married Daniel Korbman sometime in the 1740s in New York.

I need to work on the documentation of this line, but it appears that the baptismal records are extant, placing the children with their parents. I don’t know if marriage and early burial records exist, but this points the way to a new branch of the family who, like my husband’s Johannes Stoppelbein/Stufflebean, also emigrated and settled in New York in the first half of the 18th century.