Tag Archives: John Stufflebean

Stufflebean-Stoppelbein

Descendants of Rev. War Soldier John Stufflebean, Part 5 – Richard

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We have finally come to the last of the children of John and Elsee Stufflebean. The remaining child is son Richard.

Richard Stufflebean was born about 1809, Estill County, Kentucky. He married Mary (Polly) Patrick on 14 July 1830 in Estill County. Polly was only 14 or 15 when she married. This family took the “m” at the end of their name and became “Stufflebeam.” Richard and Polly both died between the 1880 and 1900 censuses, likely in Madison County, Arkansas.

They had quite a few children, but this family isn’t found in the 1850 census, when they lived in Owsley County, Kentucky, where daughter Perlina was reportedly born that year. Everyone in this family was born in Kentucky.

  1. William Asbury, born about 1836; reportedly died 22 February 1863 in Fayetteville, Washington County, Arkansas.
  2. James Anderson, born about 1837. James is noted as “insane” on the 1860 census, but he later married Permelia Irene Milsap about 1870, as they are a young couple with no children in that census.
  3. Jacob Greenbury, born July1839; died 4 July 1910 in Hill County, Texas. He married Sarah A. Patrick,  about 1867, probably in Madison County, Arkansas. This family moved to Hill County, Texas between 1900 and 1910.
  4. John Merida, born about 1844; died 30 September 1913, Madison County, Arkansas. He married America Pool about 1866, probably in Madison County, Arkansas.
  5. Houston Patrick, born 8 June 1847; died 28 January 1928. Houston married Catherine Helton as her second husband.
  6. Perlina Alice, born about 1850, reportedly in Owsley County, Kentucky; unmarried.
  7. Hiram Edward, born 19 September or November 1852; died 17 February 1916, Logan County, Arkansas. He married Anna L. Walkup about 1873, probably in Madison County, Arkansas.

There you have it, the children and grandchildren of Revolutionary War soldier John Stufflebean and his two wives, Priscilla Ross and Elsee Larrison Ketchum. At this point, I don’t believe he had any daughters. I think Mary Stufflebean who married John Maxwell in 1826 was the young widow of their son, James.

As always, if you recognize any of these families, please leave a comment.

 

 

Stufflebean-Stoppelbein

Descendants of Rev. War Soldier John Stufflebean, Part 4 – Mary and John

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Last week, I promised a continuing mystery with the descendants of John and Elsee Stufflebean. Today, we will take a look at Mary Stufflebean and John Stufflebean.

First up is the mysterious Mary Stufflebean. In my 35 years of genealogy research, I have never seen any primary document listing the children of Revolutionary War soldier, John Stufflebean. The family Bible, alluded to in the pension file, had already been lost when Elsee applied for her widow’s pension. John mentioned no children by name anywhere in his application. It is only because he had so many sons and was the only Stufflebean for hundreds of miles around that descendants have been able to piece together his family.

Only one daughter is attributed to John Stufflebean – Mary, probably born about 1806 in Estill County, Kentucky. This attribution is made because she is the right age to have been his daughter and is found in the Estill County marriage records. On 11 January 1826, she married John “Mascwell,” on a transcribed copy of the records. That would be “Maxwell” if spelled correctly. There is an earlier marriage for John Mascwell to Anna Woolery on 14 June 1821 in Estill County. If this is the same man, Anna must have died soon.

Mary may well have been John’s daughter, but there is also one other possible scenario. Remember John’s son, James? He disappears after the 1820 census of Estill County, never to be found again. In 1819, he married Mary Dunaway and in 1820, there was a female under 10, probably a newborn daughter, living with them.

Mary who married John Maxwell in 1826 could also be Mary Dunaway, the widow of James Stufflebean. We should be able to find some answers by following John Maxwell’s family. Right? Well, there is a John Maxwell in the 1830 census living next door to Estill County in Madison County. There is a female 60-69 in the household along with a male 20-29, a female 20-29 and two males under 5. That appears to be a fairly newly married couple with a widowed mother living with them.

John Maxwell married Mary Stufflebean, 11 January 1826 in Estill County, Kentucky. John Maxwell in Madison County, KY in 1830 could be them. If so:

  1. Male, born 1825-1830
  2. Male, born 1825-1830

How about 1840? Nope, they’re gone. So the mystery continues. John and Mary Maxwell are way too common names to even begin to randomly search with no further clues. ***Be sure to read the surprise commentary below in John’s sketch.

Now, onto the next child. John Stufflebean’s namesake, John, was born about 1808 in Estill County, Kentucky. John Stufflebean married (1) Mary Stivers, 26 May 1849, Brown County, Indiana and (2) Sarah Ann Wilson on 15 July 1878, Marion County, Indiana. He died after 1880, probably in Hancock County, Indiana.

Hancock County is only two counties east of Morgan County, Indiana, where his brother John and other collateral relatives settled for a short time in the 1830’s. Brown County, where he married Mary Stivers, is just south adjoining Morgan County.

John Stufflebean is nowhere to be found in 1850. However, in 1860, John and Mary Stufflebean are residing in Hancock County, Indiana. John might have been married to someone before Mary Stivers, given his age and the fact that he has an 11 year old son in the household. Son John W. might be Mary’s son, but John W.’s mother might have died giving birth to him and his father quickly remarried. This seems more like since John W. was born in Kentucky, but John and Mary married in Indiana.

  1. John W., born about 1849, Kentucky
  2. Elizabeth, born about 1857, Indiana
  3. Melissa, born January 1860, Indiana (6 months old in July 1860)

Sometimes, getting distracted by BSOs (bright shiny objects) is a good thing. I did a general search for Stufflebean marriage records in Brown and Hancock Counties, Indiana since John might have had other children and/or I might be able to pick up a trail for these children.

I made a great find in Brown County – one Alsey Stufflebean married Franklin Pitcher there on 6 December 1838. Alsey was only about 15 or 16 years old and I don’t know who her parents were. However, I looked for them in Brown County in 1840 – they were newlyweds with no children in the household – and again in 1850. Look what popped up!!!

We have:

Franklin Pitcher, 28
Alcy Pitcher, 27
Catherine Pitcher, 8
William J. Pitcher, 5
Benjamin F., 3
Hiram, 7 months
John Maxwell, 81
Mary Maxwell, 51

Take a second look at the last two people. Recognize them? I’d say this is Mary Stufflebean who married John Maxwell back in 1826 in Estill County. I never expected that he was thirty years older than her, so the suggestion in her sketch that they might be the newlyweds next door in Madison County, KY in 1830 is wrong. Furthermore, John was born in Pennsylvania. Elsee Larrison Ketchum might well have been from Pennsylvania.

This family configuration is making me think that Mary Stufflebean was not the daughter of John and Elsee, but their widowed daughter-in-law. Remember, James Stufflebean had a daughter born by 1820 and there might have been another, Alcy, or Alcy might have been a bit older than her husband and didn’t want to admit it. Add that to the fact that the 1820 census for soldier John Stufflebean showed no girls in his household.

However, it will take some digging to trace the Pitcher family any further, because they all disappear after 1850. The bread crumb trail they left behind is for son Benjamin F., apparently living in Barry County, Missouri and in Greene County, Arkansas in 1880.

Where did all these people go???

Stufflebean-Stoppelbein

12 Stories in 12 Months: Descendants of Rev. War Soldier John Stufflebean, Part 1

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Many of the Stufflebeans/Stufflebeams today are descended from John, the Revolutionary War soldier and pensioner. I’ve written about his service, but I decided that for this year, I needed to meet some new distant cousins. To push that possibility along, I will be writing several posts about John, his wives Priscilla Ross and Alice/Elsee Larrison Ketchum, their children and their grandchildren.

Sorting out the grandchildren isn’t the easiest task because he had a lot of sons and the same names keep popping up in multiple families.

To begin, John Stufflebean was born in 1756 in New York. He ended up living on the frontier in Kentucky by 1790 because he was captured during the Revolution, ended up in Illinois and made his way down to Kentucky.

If John married someone before 1790, the evidence has been lost to time. However, about July 1790, John married Priscilla Ross in Bourbon County, Kentucky. I’ve seen the date listed as 14 July, but that is not documented. Their marriage entry falls between 25 May and 29 July 1790; the date is empty.

JohnStufflebean-PriscillaRossMarr1790
John Stufflebean-Priscilla Ross Marriage

Priscilla was likely the daughter of John Ross, but little is known about her except that she died before 12 August 1795, when John Stufflebean posted a bond for his marriage to “Alice Ketchum.” John signed with his “X” mark.

JohnStufflebean-AliceKetchumMarr1795
John Stufflebean-Alice Ketchum Marriage Bond

I believe that John and Priscilla had two children, sons, before she died, William and probably Andrew. William’s and Andrew’s  birth dates can’t be pinned down any more conclusively because both died between 1830 and 1840. Census age categories place their births between 1790-1800. However, they were the first two of John’s children to marry and, although Alice/Elsee Larrison Ketchum’s parentage hasn’t been determined, “Andrew” was a common name found in the colonial Larrison family on the East Coast.

William Stufflebean, probably born about 1791. He married Mary Elizabeth Miller on 23 February 1812 in Estill County, Kentucky.

The 1820 census of Estill County shows William and his family, but they removed to Fulton County, Illinois shortly before 1830. This branch of the family took an “m” at the end of their surname and became “Stufflebeam.” Although exact dates of birth and death are found online for this family, some of these children don’t have headstones and I don’t know the source of the dates of birth:

1. Female, born 1810-1815, likely Priscilla Stufflebeam (15 Aug 1815-27 June 1854),  who married Jesse Wilcoxsen on 30 September 1832 in Fulton County, IL.
2. Male, born 1810-1815
3. Female, born 1815-1820, likely Elsie (Ailcy) Stufflebeam (5 Aug 1816-9 Aug 1863) who married (1) Harvey Lee Fitzgerald on 8 June 1834 in Jackson County, Missouri and (2) William R. Clark on 17 February 1849 in Fulton County, Illinois.
4. Female, born 1815-1820, likely Lucinda Stufflebeam (20 June 1819-11 Aug 1906),  who married Mason Eveland on 5 February 1835 in Fulton County, Illlinois.
5. Male, born 1820-1825, likely Joshua Stufflebeam (10 Oct 1822-June 1912), who married Mary Alsbury, 24 December 1840, Fulton County, Illinois
6. Male, born 1820-1825, likely John Stufflebeam, (4 Dec 1823-10 Aug 1888), who married (1) Rachel Alsbury, 18 January 1844 and (2) Sarah Ellers, 4 May 1848, both in Fulton County, Illinois
7. Male, born 1825-1830, likely Jacob Stufflebeam (24 Jan 1830-18 Aug 1904), who married Rachel Willey, 26 December 1852, McDonough County, Illinois

There are two other possible sons:
8. Hiram Stufflebean, born c1832; married Mary J. White, 16 January 1856, Fulton County, Illinois
9. Christopher Columbus Stufflebean (16 April 1836-5 March 1894), married Mary Willey, 26 June 1856, Fulton County, Illinois

William reportedly died about 1838 in Fulton County, Illinois, although I have no proof of that. I do have to wonder if the family had removed to Jackson County, Missouri in the early 1830’s. His daughter, Elsee, married there in 1834 and it’s about 300 miles away from Fulton County, Illinois.

His widow Elizabeth may have brought the family back to Fulton County after William’s death. Elizabeth is likely the woman who married Thomas Alsbury on 2 December 1840 in Fulton County, Illinois. Thomas Alsbury’s probate began on 23 April 1849 when his widow Anna requested that her son, James Payton, be named administrator. Elizabeth seems to have died before him and he married for a third time to widow Anna on 22 January 1846, also in Fulton County, Illinois.

Now for Revolutionary War soldier John’s  second son, Andrew Stufflebean:

Andrew Stufflebean, probably born about 1793. He married Susanna Dunaway on 4 August 1818, also in Estill County, Kentucky. Andrew and Susanna remained in Estill County.

Andrew is found in the 1820 and 1830 censuses; Susan is head of household in 1840. It appears that they had only one son, but about six daughters.

  1. Son, born 1815-1820; died after 1840 census
  2. Daughter, born 1815-1820
  3. Daughter, born 1820-1825
  4. Daughter, born 1825-1830
  5. Daughter, born 1825-1830, likely Alesey/Elesey/Elsee Stufflebean, born about 1826
  6. Daughter, born 1830-1835, likely Perlina Stufflebean, born about 1832
  7. Daughter, born 1830-1835, likely “Creca” Stufflebean, as it was written in the 1850 census, but probably short for “Lucretia,” born about 1835.

Susan and the girls are found in the 1850 census of Owsley County, Kentucky, which was portioned off of Clay, Estill and Breathitt Counties in 1843, so they probably didn’t move anywhere.

In 1860, there is a Susan Stufflebean in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana:

The ages seem to be off a bit, but this family is from Kentucky. It seems that Alesey/Elsee married a Baker. There is a Henry Baker, 27 and Anderson Baker, 7, plus Thomas Stufflebean, 12, and Lucretia (Creca?), aged 21. Susan is the eldest household member at age 57, but Henry is listed first as the head of the household. Everyone was born in Kentucky.

The Stufflebeans had many ties by marriage to the Baker family.

I have found no trace of the older daughters from the 1840 census or of Andrew’s and Susan’s son, but I haven’t been able to find marriage records online for Estill or Owsley Counties, Kentucky or Marion County, Indiana.

If either of these families appear to be yours, please leave a comment!