Poffinbarger, William

Born: 1810-XX-XX Washington County, Maryland

Flourished: 1839-1860 Sangamon County, Illinois

Alternate name: Poffenbarger, Poffenberger

William Poffinbarger (Poffenbarger, Poffenberger), farmer and miller, left his native Maryland to move first to Ohio, then settled in Sangamon County, Illinois, along with his brother Christian Poffenbarger in 1839. In 1855 Abraham Lincoln represented the plaintiff in a case where Poffinbarger was sued in Sangamon County Circuit Court for debt. Poffinbarger seems to have married three times: to Mary Fink in Maryland in 1833, to Elizabeth Harris in Ohio in 1837, and to Rebecca Johnson in Illinois in 1855. He had several children. A William Puffenberger (1807-1872) buried in Sangamon County may be him.

Thomas Poffenberger, From Germany to Antietam: The Early History of the Pfaffenberger Family, 3d ed. (n.p.: Xlibris, 2009), 280-81; John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 574-75; Maryland, Compiled Marriages, 1667-1899, 18 April 1833, Washington County (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000); Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993, 20 November 1837, Guernsey County (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com, 2016); U.S. Census Office, Sixth Census of the United States (1840), Sangamon County, IL, 31; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Sangamon County, IL, 203; Daily Register (Springfield), 19 February 1850, 2:4; Bunn v. Poffenbarger, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=138414; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Sangamon County, 13 October 1855, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Sangamon County, IL, 26; Gravestone, South Fork Cemetery, Rochester, IL.