Magdalena Elizabeth (Naumann) Stonebarger (abt. 1755 - abt. 1798)

Born about 1755 in Virginia

Wife of John (Steinberger) Stonebarger — married 1780 in Shenandoah, Virginia, United States

Descendants

Died about 1798 at about age 43 in Virginia

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Chloe Stevens [send private message] and Jenny Peixotto [send private message]

Biography

Birth: probably between 1750 and 1760 in Germany or Virginia. A baptism for a Magdalena Elisabeth Naumann in March 1749 in Halle, Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany^[1] has been found that may be her - the parents of this child have the same names as our Elisabeth but no other corroborating info can be found.

Married John Stonebarger about 1778, based on her eldest son's birth.

Death: Elisabeth probably died in or before 1798 in Virginia, as her husband remarried that year. It is said her husband brought her body with him upon his move to Ohio, and reburied it on the banks of the Flat Rock River.^[2]

Elisabeth is believed to be the daughter of Johann Gottlieb and Dorothea Naumann, and sister of Johann "John" Christian Naumann, who married Christina Stonebarger, her husband's sister.

Children

1. George Washington Steenbarger: George was born December 26, 1780 in Shenandoah County, Virginia. He married Nancy Lockard and had six children: Elias Madison (1803), Isaac (1808), Willis (1810), Stephen (1812), Elizabeth (1817), and Harrison (1825). He moved to Champaign County, Ohio and later Hardin County, Iowa where he died on December 12, 1859, age 78.

2. John Nauman Steenbarger: John was born December 26, 1782 in Shenandoah County, Virginia. He married Elizabeth Sarah Pence about 1806, probably in Ohio. They had thirteen children: Margaret (1807), Rhoda Pence (1808), Eli (1811), Angeline (1813), Alfred (1817), Aaron (1818), John (1819), Dicy (1825), Eliza (1825), Curtis Monroe (1827), Joseph Lynn (1827), and James Milton (1829). He moved to Champaign County, Ohio and was a miller, dying in the county on September 12, 1851, age 68.

3. Elizabeth Steenbarger: Elizabeth was born about 1783 in Shenandoah County, Virginia and married John Pence there on July 4, 1803. They had nine children: George (1804), Gabriel (1806), Sarah (1807), Lydia Ann (1810), Allen Wallace (1812), Solomon John (1815), Robert Titus (1817), Curtis Monroe (1819), and Phoebe Flowers (1821). She moved to Champaign County, Ohio and then Bartholomew County, Indiana where she died in 1824, age 41.

4. Henry Steenbarger: Henry was born April 5, 1786 in Shenandoah County, Virginia and married Polly Bozell on December 12, 1810 in Champaign County, Ohio. He was a farmer there before moving to Bartholomew County, Indiana, also working as a farmer. He and Polly had seven children: Juritta Catherine (1811), Cyrena (1813), John Milton (1815), Isaiah (1819), Sarah Ann (1825), Joseph (1827), and Lucinda (1832). He died in the county on April 5, 1867, age 81.

5. Frederick Steenbarger: Frederick was born February 6, 1791 in Shenandoah County, Virginia. He married Rebecca Kayser in January 1812 in Champaign County, Ohio and they had eight children: Isabella (1813), Zachariah (1816), Melinda (1820), Lydia (1822), Mariah (1825), George Joshua (1826), Martha Esther (1828), and Catherine (1831). He was a farmer and eventually moved to Bartholomew County, Indiana where he died on January 25, 1867, age 75.

6. Catherine Steinbarger: Catherine was born April 25, 1793 in Shenandoah County, Virginia. She married Benjamin Franklin Pence about 1811 and they had eight children: Eli (1812), Sarah (1815), Angeline (1818), Mary Ann (1821), John Allen (1823), Elizabeth (1826), Benjamin Franklin (1829), and James Harrison (1833). She died in Bartholomew County, Indiana on March 15, 1843, age 49.

John Steinberger and Elizabeth Nauman had these known children:

1. George Washington Steenbarger 1780-1858
2. John Nauman Steenbarger 1782-1851
3. Henry Steebarger 1786-1867
4. Frederick Steinbarger 1791-1867
5. Catherine Steinberger Pence 1793-1843

Burial

Stoneberger Lutheran Church Cemetery, Luray, Page County, Virginia, USA ^[3]

Personal Notes from Jenny (Elsen) Peixotto

༺⊰❁ Magdalena Elizabeth Nauman (Norman) Steinberger (Stonebarger) was the daughter of John Gottlieb (1729-1791) and Magdalena Dorothea Kuensemoeller Nauman, born in the year of 1749 in Evangelish, Halle Stadt, Westfalen, Prussia (which I believe is in Germany today). She is known as Elizabeth in the Steinberger records as she went by her middle name. Elizabeth was christened on March 25, 1749. She is the elder sister to John Christian Nauman/Norman. Elizabeth Nauman married John Isaiah Steinberger. Known children of John Isaiah and Elizabeth Nauman Steinberger: 1) George Steinberger, born December 26, 1780, Shenandoah County, Va.; death September 23, 1858 in Union, Hardin County, Iowa. Married Nancy Lockard. 2) John Nauman Steinberger, born December 26, 1782, Shenandoah County, VA.; death September 12, 1851, Champaign County, OH. Married Elizabeth Pence. 3) Elizabeth Steinberger, b. 1783, Shenandoah, Virginia. Death unknown; 4)Henry Steinberger, born April 5, 1786, Shenandoah County, VA.; death April 5, 1867, Indiana. Married Polly Bozell in 1813. 5) Frederick Steinberger, born February 6, 1791, Shenandoah County, VA.; death January 25, 1867, Bartholomew County, IN. Married Rebecca Kiser. 6) Catherine Steinberger, born March 25, 1793, Shenandoah County, VA.;death April 15, 1843, Bartholomew County, Indiana. Married Benjamin Pence. Elizabeth Nauman Steinberger passed away from her earthly bonds in 1798, Shenandoah County, VA. Elizabeth was buried in Shenandoah, Page County, Virginia in the family cemetery. Elizabeth had passed away in early 1798 prior to John's marriage to Elizabeth Friermoot (Friermond) on March 10, 1798.

❁༺༻❁༺༻❁༺༻❁༺❈༻❁༺༻❁༺༻❁༺༻❁

May our dear Elizabeth Nauman Steinberger finally rest peacefully in the blessed presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.

❁༺༻❁༺༻❁༺༻❁༺❈༻❁༺༻❁༺༻❁༺༻❁

Note: Reference information provided by: 1) Constance Steinberger Bair, daughter of Chester A. Steinberger, member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 2) Alice Powell Steinberger, 3) Meriel A. Steinberger Sterling, 4) John "Jack" William Steinberger 5) Ralph E. Steinberger, 6) Mary L. Sterling Further References: 1) The History of Champaign County, Ohio by John W. Ogden, W.H. Beers & Company publishing; pages 723-732. 2) History of Champaign County, Ohio: Its People, Industries and ..., Volume 1, edited by Evan P. Middleton, B.F. Bowen, 1917, pages 162-166.

NOTE: Constance in her later research did say that there was an Elizabeth buried next to John in the Steenbarger Cemetery in Indiana, but could not at that time determine which Elizabeth was there. Since we found Elizabeth Friemood's resting place in Nettle Creek that left Elizabeth Nauman to be resting next to him. I have been in the process of finding this research that caused Constance to state this so adamantly. We located her old original research papers, which were later corrected during more extensive research, at the DAR and I or my cousins will continue to search to see if her later research was filed w/ the DAR as well. We are hoping she filed this at the DAR also. I know Connie never stated something w/o some compelling info, but until this research is found, and it may never be found now that Connie has passed, we must leave her burial place as listed being in Virginia. We cannot go by speculation. If this research turns up we will then place her back again next to John.

Some have questioned the information given to us which came from Constance about John carrying the body of Elizabeth from Virginia to Ohio and then to Indiana, with the reason given that bodies were not preserved then and very difficult to transport. Actually bodies were first embalmed in January of 1775, then the body was encased in plaster of Paris, which can be researched at this link:

This link is now not allowed on my memorial, so reference my profile, tap the avatar, and scroll to the bottom of the page for the link to read about early embalming techniques. Thank you!

This may or may not be the method used to transport her body in her coffin, if this did occur. She was first buried in 1798 in the family cemetery in Virginia, where John's parents are said to still rest. When John moved to Ohio with his second wife in 1804 it was only a few year after burial and the wooden coffin was likely in good condition. She was then possibly transported and then buried in the family cemetery at Nettle Creek, Ohio, where John Nauman Steenbarger and many others are now buried. When John moved a few years later to Indiana she would have been buried at Flat Rock. When John died he was buried likely next to Elizabeth Nauman there in his Continental uniform. (He did serve under George Washington at some point and loved him very much due to his compassion for his men serving under him. Thus the first son was named George Washington Stoneberger (Steenbarger) and the second son carried John's first name and the maiden name of his mother.) It was a grandson by the name of Joseph who moved John and likely Elizabeth Nauman Stoneberger (Steinberger) from Flat Rock to his farm where their final resting place is today. John and likely Elizabeth were moved because John's second wife Elizabeth Friermoot Stonebarger (Steinberger) sold the farm in Indiana and she returned to Ohio to live with their son David. She died in 1854 and is buried at Nettle Creek.

Also note the last name on the headstone for John, which was added many years later by the descendants of John Nauman Steenbarger, is Steinberger, tho his last name was Stoneberger. By then the family was associating his last name spelling with the current variation of Steinberger, which was the original spelling of the family name in Tyrol, Austria.

The burial place for Elizabeth was not added as someone has said because I could not pinpoint her actual burial place. This was placed there from information given to us from Constance Steinberger Bair who was a member of the DAR and genealogist, as well as versed in the history of the family line. If this does prove true then each of her burial places is now noted. Constance did meticulous research with many hours spent in the library and in traveling and her work was not done by playing the telephone game. She was highly esteemed by those in the DAR chapter she worked with.

It can be said that the original burial place is not certain either since all stones are now missing and it would be too time consuming and expensive to locate those resting there, and impossible to determine who they are if found and exhumed. It has been said they only believe that those originally resting there are actually there but are not certain of that either. Records that far back begin to get muddled, misplaced and lost. As it stands, if Constance felt she was by John she had good reason to believe so thru meticulous research. I have found her work to be extremely accurate with only minor mistakes. We have family who is in the process of joining the DAR to search this out further. I will also continue to search this out. As, I have said, Constance was not w/o mistakes but most information she documented was accurate and as close to correct for it being done in the 1970's prior to the internet. Until there is documentation found listed to her claims I will be keeping Elizabeth's burial place in the family cemetery in Virginia, tho I believe she is in Indiana by John.

Sources

1. ↑ "Deutschland Geburten und Taufen, 1558-1898," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NDX1-KZG : 28 November 2014), Magdalena Elisabeth Nauman, 25 Mar 1749; citing ; FHL microfilm 473,570.
2. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=112121554 (#112121554)
3. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112121554/elisabeth-steinberger; no headstone; accessed 2/23/2019