My husband’s ancestor, Revolutionary War soldier and pensioner, John Stufflebean, was born Johannes Stoppelbein. Somewhere along the way, during his lifetime, the name evolved into Stufflebean or Stufflebeam. I had thought that this change happened after his war service, but I have seen a few (very few) mentions of “Stufflebeam” or “Stufflebean” in use in Columbia County, New York in modern times. That makes me think that the name might have started to become a bit more Americanized when John was a young many growing up in Kinderhook.

I also noticed in John’s pension record that he stated he was married and had several children when he enlisted to fight in the war, but he never returned to New York after the war ended. I’ve wondered if his wife and children left a paper trail in New York, so I delved into New York records.

My first steps reminded me of what a black hole New York can be for research. FamilySearch has digitized Columbia County, New York probate records, but at best, they don’t begin until 1788. I’ve checked AmericanAncestors.org because they have really expanded their New York holdings and databases, but haven’t had any luck their either. In short, it doesn’t seem to be any easier to do New York research today than it was in the 1980s if one is looking in a particular area. Even trying to do look ups in Hank Jones’ series on the New York Palatines is frustrating because the closest library to Tucson that has the book is 100 miles away in Phoenix.

Having said all that, I am going to share some of Dave’s German and Dutch family lines, with the caveat that this is some of my earliest research work and much of it was obtained from family histories published in the 1800s and early 1900s, with a few books of abstracted church records mixed in. Looking at what is available online, I don’t see much evidence of people doing any of their own research as the same basic info that I found 20-30 years ago is now replicated many times over online.

While the Stufflebeans were Palatine Germans, Rev. War soldier John Stufflebean’s mother, Eva Dingman, was from a long time Dutch New York family.

First, for soldier John’s family, his parents were Johannes Stoppelbein, born 30 December 1732 in Laubenheim, Germany.  Johannes’s immediate family were part of the 1740 wave of Palatines to New York. I have no death date for him, except that he was alive in 1765, as his last known child, Valentine, was born on 9 February 1766 in Kinderhook. John’s mother was Eva Dingman, born 13 December 1730 in Kinderhook. Their marriage record hasn’t been found, but it was probably about 1755.

Children of Johannes and Eva (Dingman) Stoppelbein:

1. Johannes, born 28 February 1756, Kinderhook, Columbia, New York; died 16 January 1844, Kaskaskia, Randolph County, Illinois. This is Dave’s John Stufflebean. Johannes married (1) Unknown in New York and had several (unidentified) children (2) Priscilla Ross, about 14 July 1790, Bourbon County, Kentucky (3) Elsee Larrison Ketchum, after 12 August 1795, Bourbon County, Kentucky
2. Jacob, born 6 August 1758, Kinderhook, Columbia, New York; no further information. Some say he died after 1845, also in Randolph County, IL, but the Jacob who was there at that time was John’s son, Jacob, not his brother. There is a Jacob Stoplebeam in Hillsdale, Columbia County, New York in the 1790 census who could be him.
3. Geejse, born 1 March 1761, Kinderhook, Columbia, New York; no further information in my records, but I have seen online information that she married Peter Dingman and reportedly had a daughter, Eva.
4. Michael, born 30 October 1763, Kinderhook, Columbia, New York; I have seen information that he died about 1830 in Vermilion County, Illinois, but I have no evidence of that myself.
5. Valentine, born 9 February 1766, Kinderhook, Columbia, New York; no further information, but there is a Valentine Stopelbeam living in Claverack, Columbia County, New York in 1790 with eleven souls in the household. This could be John’s brother.

This isn’t much to show for so many years of work, but it’s all I have. Because there are only five children, who were born in fairly regular intervals, I wonder if Johannes perhaps died in the 1760s and/or if Eva also died?

Tomorrow, we will take a look at Eva Dingman’s family.