Four young men with the surname, Stuebinger, entered Perry County in the 1850’s. All the evidence points to the fact that these 4 were related. They were from the region of Germany known as Bavaria. One of those boys has a birthday today, so you will be reading his story.

Andreas Stuebinger was born on July 19th, but there is a bit of debate about the year of his birth. Our German Family Tree says Andreas was born in 1831, but there is also George Stuebinger who is said to be born on January 11, 1831. If these 2 are indeed brothers with the same mother, then that is biologically impossible. I will display a death record later that says Andreas was born in 1831, but I suppose that could be wrong. George’s death record in the same church books says he was born on January 11, 1831, so I think I am going to have to leave this question unanswered. I guess we know Andreas would be celebrating a birthday today, but we wouldn’t know how many candles to put on his cake. Only one of the Stuebinger boys in our German Family Tree indicates that he had a father named Johann Adam Stuebinger, and I found no indication of a mother’s name.

Andreas came to America aboard the ship, Heinrich Von Gagern, in 1855. He is listed by himself on the passenger list below and is called a 23 year-old farmer. This document could suggest that Andreas was born in 1832.

When we look at the 1860 census, we find Andreas as the head of a household of Stuebinger’s, even though he was not the oldest. There was Henry who was already married and John, another older Stuebinger. The only Stuebinger boy missing in this list was George. They were all farminng in the Cinque Hommes Township.

Andreas Stuebinger married a woman named Anna Barbara Graff, who was born on December 30, 1831. About all I can tell you about Anna Barbara is that I think her father’s name was John Conrad Graff, and it looks like she had a sister who also married George Stuebinger. Andreas married Anna Barbara on November 27, 1868 at Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg. I located two Perry County marriage records for this event.

Here is another marriage document for this couple. Both of these images indicate they were married by Rev. Besel, who was the pastor at Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg at that time.

Our German Family Tree lists only one child born to this couple, a boy named George who was born in 1872. However, I think another child was born earlier to this couple, a girl named Barbara. In the 1870 census, we see Andreas and Anna Barbara with one child named Barbara, who was said to be 8 months old. Andreas was a farmer in the Cinque Hommes Township.

Although I was unable to find a death record for her, I believe that the child, Barbara died at a young age. She does not appear in the 1880 census. Their son, George, was the only child in the household.

Andreas Stuebinger almost made it into the 1900 census. He died on March 27, 1900. His age at that time depends on what year he was born. At that time, the Stuebinger’s were members of Cross Congregation near Longtown. Since the records from that congregation are now found on Ancestry.com in a collection of Lutheran Church Missouri Synod churches, I am able to display Andreas’s death record. It is written in German, but I think you will be able to locate his date of birth being noted as being July 19, 1831.

Anna Barbara is found in the 1900 census as a widow living with her son, George. Anna Barbara is called a landlady, and her son wa a farmer.

In plat maps produced in 1915, we find a few parcels of land belonging to Stuebinger’s located near Crosstown, which is also near where the Cross Congregation once existed. I suspect that the Geo. Stuebinger land is the farm of Andreas and Anna Barabara’s son.

The last census in which we find Anna Barbara Stuebinger was the one taken in 1910. Once again, we see just Anna Barbara and George.

Anna Barbara Stuebinger died in 1919 at the age of 87. Her death certificate below says she died of old age.

Even though the Cross Congregation had closed by the time of Anna Barbara’s death, we find a death record for her in that church’s books. It looks like some death records were put into these books later because the people who died were being buried in that congregation’s cemetery.

As you might conclude, both Andreas and Anna Barbara Stuebinger are likely buried in the Cross Congregation Cemetery in Longtown. However, Findagrave.com only has an entry for Andreas, and only a gravestone photo for him. Andreas’s gravestone photo is a rather poor one. I wish that I could read the date of birth on it, even though I suspect it uses the date of birth found in his church death record, July 19, 1831. Anna Barbara’s death certificate says she was buried in this cemetery.

I will now confess to an additional challenge that presented itself in this story. I discovered that all these Stuebinger boys liked to use the same first names for their children, who happened to be the names of the 4 boys and the names of some of their wives. We find plenty of children named Henry, John, George, and Andreas in those Stuebinger families. And I really had to shake my head a few times over girls and women named Anna Barbara. Not only did Andreas marry a woman named Anna Barbara, but so did Henry Stuebinger. That means both Andreas and Henry had wives that took the name of Anna Barbara Stuebinger. Then we find at least one of the Stuebinger’s naming their daughter Anna Barbara. It had my head spinning for a while. I do think that all these similar names gives more proof that these Stuebinger boys were brothers, and if not all brothers, maybe cousins.