(By Theodor Kittselsen. Image in the Public Domain.)
When a lot of people ask me about my last name, Stufflebeam, they quickly ask the origin of the name. It's Americanized German, from Stoppelbein. As was common with early settlers in America, surnames changed due to poor writing and speaking, or when someone aurally heard a name and guessed at the spelling. As time progressed, the "o" became a "u," the "p's" became "f''s" and so on.
My first ancestor to go by Stufflebeam was John George Michael Stufflebeam, born 1756. He fought gallantly in the American Revolution. Actually, he spent a couple years as a POW in an English camp, and when he was free he was wondering through the wilderness, and fighting Indians, but that's a story for another blog entry.
The first recorded Stoppelbein is found in Laubenheim Germany; Johannes was born about 1600. His son, Johann "Hans," was born in 1632, and this is where the dreaded Black Plague enters my family line. Johann was first married to an Elizabeth, and with her he had two sons and two daughters. Then in 1666 the Black Plague struck Laubenheim, and within a couple weeks Johann lost his Mother, one son, both daughters, and his wife to death. Then in 1667 he married Anna Maria Mullerin who is my 8th Great-Grandmother.
(Aerial view of modern Laubenheim Germany, by Hansueli Krapf.
Source information here.)
It's strange thinking that something so deadly, the great Black Death that ravaged Europe and took so many lives, changed the course of my 8th Great-Grandfather, sending his life down a path that led to my existence. With his second wife Johann went on to have 8 more children.
This makes me wonder, if we could all see the past, how many of us wouldn't be here now, as we are, if it wasn't for the Black Plague.
Now on that happy thought I hope you have a great day!
Sarah
(Information found by family historian John F. Stufflebeam, who wrote Down Through The Stoppelbein Stufflebeam Years.)
Wowzers. Reminds me of "An American Tale" when all the immigrants were coming into New York, and some poor man walks up to the dock, and when asked his name, gives his very Russian-sounding one, and the poor dock worker says, "Uh, welcome to America, Mr. Smith..." What does Stoppelbein mean? Sounds fancy! :D
ReplyDeleteI love that movie! So, apparently my last name directly translates to "hairy legs," or something like that. That's more of a family joke. But from my research, and I can't find the source at the moment, I read that it means "big stump," as in tree stump, and that surnames in this region were at times based off of landmarks the family lived next to. That must have been some Epic Stump!!!!
DeleteGreetings... my great-grandfather's mother was a Stufflebeen, and I've been trying to track down genealogical information on the family. I discovered many references to John F. Stufflebeam's book but have been unable to locate a copy. Apparently he sold it personally to people who wrote or called him, and his contact information is out of date. Where can I get a copy? If you know, email me at samkass@samkass.com?
ReplyDeleteSent you an email. I hope you got it.
DeleteThis is Sam...
ReplyDeleteAck, I didn't get it! It must have gone to a spam filter :(. Thank you for replying... is it possible you could re-send it and I'll keep an eye out for it and yank it out of the spam folder before it gets deleted this time?
This is the message I sent to you:
DeleteHi Sam!
I don't have the book myself. I was able to read a copy at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City Utah and photo copy some of the pages (the bits that related to me). That's the only copy I know of. Sorry I can't be more help then that. It is a very interesting book. That's the problem with these genealogy books. They're either out of print or super expensive. I always feel lucky when one ends up on Google books as a free download (too bad this wasn't one of them). I am interested where your line joins mine. It seems all Stufflebeam's end up related somehow (nice having a unique name). Good luck in your search :0)
Sarah
Thanks for the reply. I don't have my records handy at the moment, but my recollection is that there are two Stoppelbein families that came to the US separately-- one to SC and one to the northeast. It's unclear if those two are related, but not unlikely. Anyway, I'm related to the northeast family, and have one blank spot on my tree before I can connect him back to the earlier ones. (The father of a Henry Stufflebeen born abt 1827 in upstate NY.) There is a lot of speculation on that one ancestor but no one's been able to prove him. Thanks for writing. --Sam
DeleteI don't know anything about the SC connection. I'm northeast as well, Johann Stoppelbien coming to New York in 1741, following his Uncle, who came in 1701 (that's what I remember reading). By the 1800's my ancestors were in Kentucky/Arkansas. I hate having ancestors that can't be proven! I possibly have an ancestor James Patrick who knew and fought with George Washington, "the" George Washington. James Granddaughter married into the Stufflebeam line. Only record keeping wasn't the best in Kentucky back then, so it's a lot of connecting the dots and guessing. It's so frustrating.
DeleteSo it looks like we are distantly connected :0) Have a good day.
Sarah
Oh well, thanks for writing. I'd still love to get my hands on that book someday. Hopefully the LDS library will scan it someday and put it on the internet, because I doubt I'll find myself in Utah anytime soon. (Nearest library to me that has it is in Chicago.) Anyway, thanks for following up. If you think of anything else email me and I'll try not to let it go to spam. --Sam
DeleteHello, I just read the book last week. Family Search has it at their Orange County Family History Library on microfiche. You can order the microfiche and have it mailed to your nearest Family Hist Library for a small fee. No luck finding a copy of my own. I am descended from John's son William, thru the Eveland line.. Hi cousins!!!!
DeleteMy husband's family is from Davis Co., Iowa. Drakesville, Iowa. The spelling g of our last name is Stufflebeem but all related.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome. :0) We're definitely related in some way.
DeleteMy grandma, Ellen Stufflebeam comes down from that same twist of fate. Black Death twins!
ReplyDeleteYes! It's crazy how this historical event has influenced generations.
DeleteMy name is Michael Dwayne Stufflebeam son of Hebert Dwayne
ReplyDeleteStufflebeam .My father was from Iowa.He went into the navy came home on leave met my mother married and had 4children.My mom passed in 2002 my dad is in a veterans home.We live in the north east.
Greetings! My name is Tristan Wayne Stufflebeam, son of Marty J. Stufflebeam, some of Virgil Wayne Stufflebeam.
ReplyDeleteDad is originally from Palmdale California and grandad originated in Iowa I believe.
Virgil passed in 2001, my grandmother Colleen is still alive and in good health. All her kids and most of her grandkids reside in the Boise area of Idaho.
Hi! Thanks for reading this blog post. It's always fun meeting a distant cousin. Kinda a theory, but I think all Stufflebeam's are related, so we've got to be some kind of cousin, at least within 10 generations, probably 6.
Delete