Maria Barbara Plonne was born 24 Oct. 1804 in Veilsdorf, Thuringia, Germany to Friedrich Wilhelm Plonne and Anna Margaretha Menz. She and her family belonged to the Evangelical or Lutheran Church. Maria married Johann Nikol Treybig (called Nicolaus) on 24 June 1821 in Veilsdorf. Nicolaus Treybig was born on 1 Oct. 1799 in Veilsdorf to Johann Nikol Trebyig and Anna Martha Bossecker. The family suffered great tragedy in that, of the eleven children born to them whose births are recorded, only four survived to adulthood. The children were Johann Gottfried, born 9 Nov. 1821, died 2 days later; Conrad Kaspar, born 17 Nov. 1822; died 5 years later; Georg Kaspar, born 14 Feb. 1825, died at age 19; Valentin Kilian, born 2 July 1827, died 7 months later; Kaspar Friedrich, born 5 Mar. 1829, married Anna Katharina Wunderlich; Katharina Antoine, born 25 Jun 1831, died 5 years later; Maria Dorothea, born 30 Jan 1834, died 2 years later; Katharina Carolina Treybig, born 22 Aug. 1836, married Johann Georg Wassermann; Margaretha Elisa Treybig, born 6 Feb.1839, died as a teenager; Gustav Bernhardt Treybig, born 16 July 1841, married Elise Heyne; and Friedericke Treybig, born 30 Oct. 1847, married Heinrich August Wunderlich. All the children were born in Veilsdorf, except for Friedericke who was born after the family immigrated to Texas.

Only four of the children were still alive in 1845 when the Nicolaus Treybig family left Veilsdorf and immigrated to Texas with the Adelsverein. According to family tradition, the Treybigs left Germany so that their two sons would not be drafted into the German army. The family sailed from Antwerp, Belgium on the ship "Nahant" on 25 Nov. 1845. On 18 Mar. 1846, the "Nahant" was wrecked off the coast of Torbay, England during a storm. On 5 May 1846 the ship "Timoleon" picked up the stranded travelers and they finally arrived in Galveston, TX, on 3 Aug. 1846. The family is believed to have settled first in the Spring area near Houston in Harris Co., TX, but information is sketchy. Shortly after their arrival in Texas, their last child, a daughter named Friedericke, was born on 30 Oct. 1847. By 1850 the Treybigs were living in Austin Co., TX. Nicolaus is believed to have died sometime before 1880, and Maria sometime after 1880, because she is listed on the 1880 census living with her son Bernhardt's family. Johann Nikol Carlmann and Maria Barbara (Plonne) Treybig are buried in the Shelby Cemetery in Shelby, Austin Co., TX.