Person Page 39

Rebecca Stout was born in 1726. She died in 1772, at age ~46.

John David Stout was born on 28 January 1734 in Amwell Twp., Hunterdon County, New Jersey. He died on 8 February 1826, at age 92, in South Amboy, Middlesex County, New Jersey.

Nathaniel Stout, Sr., was born on 6 April 1736 in Amwell Twp., Hunterdon County, New Jersey. He and Charity Stout were married about 1761. He and Sarah Stout were married on 4 June 1764. He died on 29 April 1798, at age 62, in Hopewell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey.

Charity Stout was born on 20 May 1762 in Hopewell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. She died in 1856, at age ~94.

Anne Vauquellin was born about 1633. She and James Bollen were married about 1650. She died.

David Stout died.

Nathaniel ("Jr.") Stout, Jr., was born about 1768 in Tennessee. He died about 1823, at age ~55, in Highland County, Ohio, USA.

Lavinia Stout died.

Anna Stout was born about 1790 in Hopewell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. She died.

Rebecca Stout was born about 1788 in. She died.

John Stout, Sr., was born in 1776. He died in 1853, at age ~77.

Zebulon Stout died.

Elijah Stout was born in January 1786 in Hopewell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. He died on 23 February 1861, at age 75, in Kingston, Franklin Twp., Somerset County, New Jersey. He was buried in Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Kingston, Somerset County, New Jersey.

Nehemiah Stout was born. He died in 1824 in Woodford County, Kentucky.

James Stout was born in 1694 in Middletown, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. He died about 1726, at age ~32, in Amwell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey.

From: "Pioneers of Old Hopewell" by Ralph Ege
Catharine Simpson married James Stout, son of David, in 1712, in Monmou
th County, and they soon after removed to Amwell Township, Hunterdon Count
y, and settled on a tract of 700 acres near the present location of Wertsv
ille, about five miles north of ourBorough. By this marriage they had a fa
mily of six sons and one daughter, the oldest born in 1713, and the younge
st in 1725. We are unable to give the date of the death of James Stout, b
ut the "Stout History," written by his grandson, Captain Nathan, gives h
is age as thirty-six, and in all probability his death occurred about 1726
Source: "History of the Stout Family" by Nathan Stout, 1823
James, the eldest son of David, was married in the year 1712 to Catheri
ne Simson, by whom he had seven children, six sons and one daughter, vi
z: John, James, Joseph, David, Jacob, Jonathan, and Rebecca. After he h
ad three children he sold his property at upper Freehold and moved to Amwe
ll (where Abraham Runkle now lives) and purchased about seven hundred acr
es of land, built a house and barn, cleared and improved to a considerab
le extent, and bid fair to be very rich. But when about thirty-six years o
ld he was taken with the pleurisy, and died with a few days' illness, a
nd left a widow and the above mentioned seven small children.

David Stout was born in 1667 in Middletown, Monmouth, New Jersey. He and Rebecca Ashton were married in 1688 in Freehold, New Jersey. He died in 1732, at age ~65, in Amwell, Hunterdon, New Jersey. He was buried in Stout-Manners Cemetery, Ringoes, Hunterdon County, New Jersey.

Source: "History of the Stout Family" by Nathan Stout, 1823

"I now bring forward the seventh and last son of Richard the first - David.
It is said he was born in the year 1669, and that he was married to
Rebecca Ashton, and lived in Middletown on land, part of which is now in
the possession of Dennis Hendrickson.

He had by the said wife five sons and three daughters, viz:

James, Freegift, David, Joseph, Benjamin, Rebecca, Sarah,
Deliverance.
He continued his residence at Middletown, a near neighbor
to Obediah Holmes, who had married his wife's sister Alice, until
he had raised his family, and two of them were married -- James and
Rebecca, whom he settled in Upper Freehold, with each of them a hundred
acres of land. James, the eldest son of David, was married in the year 1712
to Catherine Simson, by whom he had seven children, six sons and one da
ughter, viz: John, James, Joseph, David, Jacob, Jonathan, and Rebecca. Aft
er he had three children he sold his property at upper Freehold and mov
ed to Amwell (where Abraham Runkle now lives) and purchased about seven hu
ndred acres of land, built a house and barn, cleared and improved to a con
siderable extent, and bid fair to be very rich. But when about thirty-six years old
he was taken with the pleurisy, and died with a few days' ill
ness, and left a widow and the above mentioned seven small children.
David Stout, the father of the said James, sold all his possessions in Middle
town and moved to Amwell, some years before the death of his son James, a
nd settled where Henry Young now lives, and purchased large tract of la
nd - at which place he died a very old man, was buried on his own farm, wh
ich laid the foundation of a burying ground, where his descendants contin
ue to bury to this day. After the death of the above said James Stout, h
is widow married his own cousin, Samuel Stout, the youngest son of Jonath
an Stout, and had one son by him named Samuel, whose family I have befo
re treated of."

From findagrave.com ...
David Stout
Birth: 1667
Death: 1732


Family links:
Parents:
Richard Stout (1615 - 1705)
Penelope mnu Stout (1622 - 1732)

Children:
Rebecca Stout Manners (1691 - 1772)*

*Point here for explanation

Inscription:
D. S.

Burial:
Stout-Manners Cemetery
Ringoes
Hunterdon County
New Jersey, USA

Edit Virtual Cemetery info [?]

Created by: Dane Coefer
Record added: Oct 01, 2001
Find A Grave Memorial# 5816186. Stone photo present

David Stout

Birth: 1667
Monmouth County
New Jersey, USA
Death: Apr., 1732
Monmouth County
New Jersey, USA

Married Rebecca Ashton in 1688 in Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Rebecca was born 1762 in Providence, Rhode Island, the daughter of James Ashton and Deliverance Thockmorton and died after 1705 in New Jersey

Children: Penelope, Sarah, Rebecca, Freegift, James, David, Joseph, Deliverance, Benjamin.

"David Stout...sold all his possessions in Middletown and moved to Amwell...where he purchased a large tract of land at which place he died a very old man and was buried on his own farm, which laid the foundation of a burying ground where his descendants continue to bury to this day." Taken from History of the Stout Family by Nathan Stout, 1823.


Family links:
Parents:
Richard Stout (1610 - 1705)
Penelope Van Princis Stout (1622 - 1732)

Spouse:
Rebecca Ashton Stout (1672 - 1725)*

Children:
Rebecca Stout Manners (1691 - 1772)*
Freegift Stout (1693 - 1766)*
James Stout (1694 - 1727)*
Benjamin Stout (1707 - 1789)*

*Calculated relationship

Inscription:
D S Died
April 1732

Burial:
Stout-Manners Cemetery
Ringoes
Hunterdon County
New Jersey, USA

Maintained by: Treva Poe
Originally Created by: Dane Coefer
Record added: Oct 01, 2001
Find A Grave Memorial# 5816186.

Rebecca Stout was born in 1691 in. She died in 1772, at age ~81.

I now introduce Rebecca, sister to Benjamin, whose family I have lastdelin
eated. She was born, it is said, in the year 1691. She married John Manner
s, who was born in England, in Yorkshire, by whom she had a number of chil
dren, several of whom died when they were young. Those who lived to a sta
te of maturity were John, Rebecca, Elizabeth and Lydia.

Freegift Stout was born in 1693 in Clover Hill, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. He died on 29 June 1766, at age ~73, in Amwell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey.

Source - "History of the Stout Family" Nathan Stout, 1823
Here I close the history of the descendants of James, the son of David, a
nd introduce Freegift, his brother, who was born in the year 1693 it is sa
id. He married Mary Higgins, and had by her six sons and four daughters, v
iz: Jediah, Freegift, James, Joshua, Obediah, Isaac, Sarah, Mary, Rebec
ca and Rachel. Jediah married a Chamberlain and raised his family near t
he seashore. Freegift married Elizabeth Stout, the daughter of David, who
se history I gave in the family of David Stout, son of Jonathan. James mar
ried the daughter of Jacob Mattison and had by her one son, whose name w
as Samuel, his wife then died. He then married Rachel, the daughter of Jed
iah Higgins, by whom he had a family of children. Joshua married I thin
k, a Hames, and raised a family. Obediah married Mary McBride, by wh
om he had a large family of children. Isaac married Mary Quinby, the daugh
ter of Isaac Quinby, by whom he had six children: three sons and three dau
ghters, viz: Isaiah, Josiah, Aaron, Rachel, Sarah and Mary. Isaiah marri
ed a daughter of Henry Kennedy, by whom he had a family of children, and d
ied in the prime of life. Josiah married a daughter of Isaac Prall, by wh
om he had a family of children. Aaron married a daughter of Nathaniel Hixo
n, and by her he has a family of children. Rachel died single. Sarah marri
ed Elisha Sharp, and after her death he married her sister Mary, by wh
om he has a family of children.

David Stout was born in 1695 in. He and Ann Merrill were married about 1725 in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. He died in 1787, at age ~92. He was buried in.

Joseph Stout was born in 1698 in Amwell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. He died in 1770, at age ~72, in Kingwood, Hunterdon County, New Jersey.

"The History of the Stout Family" by Nathan Stout, 1823. page 27
I now introduce Joseph, the fourth son of David and brother to the David w
hose family I have just delineated. He was born in the year 1698. He marri
ed Mary Ashland, and by her had one child, which was named Mary. He then l
ost his wife and married Martha Reeder, by whom he had seven sons and o
ne daughter, viz: Job, Jacob, Noah, Abner, Reeder, Joseph, Benjamin and Ma
rtha.

Benjamin Stout was born in 1707 in Hopewell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. He died on 23 May 1789, at age ~82, in Hopewell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey.

Source - "History of the Stout Family" Nathan Stout, 1823
I now introduce Benjamin, the fifth son of David, and brother to Joseph la
st mentioned. He was born, as is said, in the year 1709. He was married wh
en about seventeen years old to the widow Ketcham (who had children old
er than he was) with whom he appeared to live very happy a number of yea
rs without issue. And after her death he married Mary Higgins, daught
er of Jediah Higgins, by whom he had nine children, viz: Elihu, Jediah, Be
njamin, and David, and Hannah, Sarah, Rachel and Mary. The three first, th
at is to say, Elihu, Hannah and Sarah,, all died under twelve years old, w
ith the dysentery. Jediah married Mary Stout and by her had a family of ch
ildren. Benjamin married Rachel Stout, sister to his brother Jediah's wif
e, and by her had children, but I know not their names nor number. And aft
er her death he married Anna Stout, the daughter of Samuel Stout, and by h
er I think had children. And after her death he married Mary Hart, a daugh
ter of Oliver hart. Whether he had any issue by the last marriage I know n
ot, but I have lately heard of his death. David, the youngest son of Benja
min, and brother to the last mentioned Benjamin, married Elizabeth Stou
t, daughter of James Stout. He died without issue, in about the thirty-sev
enty year of his age, in the full current of improvement and public useful
ness, both in church and State. Rachel married Paul Hill and by him had s
ix sons, viz: Samuel, Benjamin, Stout, Charles, Jediah, David and Asher. M
ary married Garrison Prall and moved to Kentucky. Sarah married Elijah Sto
ut, son of James.

Deliverance Stout was born in 1700 in. She died.

From: "The History of the Stout Family" by Nathan Stout
I now bring forward Deliverance, youngest daughter of David Stout and gran
d-daughter to Richard the first. She married Francis Labaw, who was bo
rn in England of French Protestant parents. She had by him five sons and o
ne daughter, viz: Morris. David, Samuel, Daniel, Moses and Elizabeth. Morr
is died at about ten or twelve years old. David and Elizabeth married a da
ughter and a son of James Stout, whose history I have given under the he
ad of James Stout, the son of James. Samuel, Daniel and Moses died sing
le without issue.

Sarah Stout was born in 1689 in. She died on 12 July 1761, at age ~72, in Hopewell, Hunterdon, New Jersey.

Sarah Stout was born on 10 September 1689 in Middletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Richard Stout was born about 1615 in Burton Joyce, Nottinghamshire, England. He and Penelope ("Kent or Lent") Van Princis were married about 1644 in Gravesend, Kings County, New York. He died in 1705, at age ~90, in Middletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

From "History of the Stout Family" by Nathan Stout, 1823
Richard Stout, the first of the name in America was born in Notinghamshir
e, in Old England, and his father's name was John. The said Richard, wh
en quite young paid his addresses to a young woman that his father thoug
ht below his rank, upon which account some unpleasant conversation happen
ed between the father and the son, on account of which, the said Richard l
eft his father's house; and in a few days engaged on board a ship of wa
r, where he served about seven years, after which time he got a dischar
ge at New Amsterdam, now called New York, in America. About the same ti
me a ship from Amsterdam, in Holland, on her way to the said New Amsterda
m, was driven on the shore that is now called Middletown, in Monmouth Coun
ty, in the State of new Jersey, which ship was loaded with passengers, w
ho with much difficulty got on shore. But the Indians not long after fe
ll upon them and butchered and killed the whole crew, as they thought, b
ut soon after the Indians were gone, a certain Penelope Van Princes, who
se husband the Indians had killed, found herself possessed of strength eno
ugh to creep to a hollow tree, where she remained some days. An Indian ha
ppening to come that way, whose dog coming to the tree, occasioned h
im to examine the inside of the tree, where he found the said Penelo
pe in a forlorn, distressed condition. She was bruised very severely abo
ut the head, and her bowels protruded from a cut across her abdomen; she k
ept them in with her hand. She had been in this fearful condition seven d
ays when the Indian found her. In his compassion he took her out of the t
ree and carried her to his wigwam where he treated her kindly and healed h
er wounds, and in a short time conveyed her in his canoe to New Amsterda
m, where he sold her to the Dutch, who then owned that city, now called N
ew York.
The man and woman from whom the whole race of Stouts descended, got into t
he city of New Amsterdam, where they became acquainted with each other a
nd were married. And, not withstanding, it may be thought by some, that t
hey conducted themselves with more fortitude than prudence, they immediate
ly crossed the bay and settled in the above said Middletown, where the sa
id Penelope had lost her first husband by the Indians and had been so seve
rely wounded herself.
There was at that time but six white families in the settlement, includi
ng their own, (which was in the year 1648), where they continued until th
ey became rich in prosperity and rich in children. They had together sev
en son and three daughters, viz: John, Richard, Jonathan, Peter, James, Be
njamin, David. The daughters were - Deliverance, Sarah, Penelope. A
ll of which sons and daughters lived to raise large families.
Source: Stilwell"s "Genealogy of the Stout Family", vol. # 4
Immigrant: Stout , Richard
Name of Ship: ?
Arrival Date: abt. 1643
Origin of Immigrant: Nottinghamshire, England
Immigrant's Date & Place of Birth: 1615, Nottinghamshire, England
Immigrant's Date & Place of Death: Oct 1705, Middletown, Monmouth Co. NJ I
mmigrant's Spouse: Penelope VanPrincin
Immigrant's Children:
John Stout, 1645 Gravesend L.I. New Netherlands, m. Elizabeth Crawfor
d, d. 1724 NJ
Richard Stout, 1646 -- 1717, m Frances Heath, Mary Seymour
James Stout, 1648 - ? , m Elizabeth Truax
Mary Stout, 1650 - ? , m Judge James Bowne 1665
Alice Stout, 1652 - ? m John Throckmorton 1670
Peter Stout, 1654- 1703, m Mary Bollen, then Mary Bowne
Sarah Stout, 1656 - ? m John Pike
Johnathan Stout, 1660 - 1723, m Anne Bollen 1685
All the above were born in Gravesend Long Island
David Stout, 1667 - ? b in Middletown NJ, m Rebecca Ashton 1688
Benjamin Stout, 1669-1734, m Mary Leonard, then Agnes Truax
Notes: Married in Gravesend, Long Island in 1644, a member of Lady Debor
ah Moody's anabaptist settlement. He accompanied her from Massachusett
s. In 1.

Penelope ("Kent or Lent") Van Princis was born about 1622 in Netherlands. She and Richard Stout were married about 1644 in Gravesend, Kings County, New York. She died in 1712, at age ~90, in Middletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Her married name was Penelope ("Kent or Lent") Strout. Newspaper article - Newspaper name and time of publication unknown,auth
or was John T. Cunningham
------------ THE STORY OF PENELOPE STOUT -----------
There is cause to dispute the traditional claim that Penelope vanPrin
cis Stout of Monmouth County lived to a mature 110 years before she di
ed in 1712, but no one can deny that for indomitable will to live and in n
umber of descendants Penelope has had few equals.
Penelopes's story is obscured slightly by discrepanceies in the dat
es of her birth and other occurrences in her life, but consider first t
he narrative as it is usually told.
Born in Holland (in 1602 according to the usual version,) Penelope va
nPrincis joined her young husband and other Dutch settlers headed for N
ew Amsterdam in 1620. Violent storms caught their ship, drove it off cour
se and finally wrecked it off Sandy Hook.
--- ON THE BEACH ---
All survived, and the passengers and crew set off for New Amsterd
am on foot, leaving Penelope on the beach to nurse her desperately ill hus
band (whose name was never recorded by Penelope and all of the large bro
od she would later rear.) Indians found the Dutch couple on the beach, ki
lled the husband and left Penelope viciously hacked.
The young widow lay unconscious, her skull fractured, her left a
rm so mangled that it would never again be normal and her abdomen slash
ed open. Somehow she revived and crawled into a hollow tree, where two In
dians found her several days later.
---- SHE PRAYED ---
Penelope prayed that they might end her misery and the younger Indi
an was willing to oblige. The older Indian dissented, carried her over h
is shoulder to camp, and there nursed her back to health. She stayed wi
th the Indians, working, learning their language and their ways.
Some of her shipwrecked friends returned after a time and asked the I
ndians to give her up. Penelope's Indian benefactor said he would let t
he young woman decide for herself. Penelope decided to leave, "very mu
ch to the surprise of this good Indian," according to Frank Stocktons's ve
rsion.
About two years later Penelope met Richard Stout who had left Notting
ham, England, because of parental disapproval of his love affair with a gi
rl they considered socially inferior. He enlisted in the navy, served f
or seven years and left ship in New Amsterdam when his enlistment ended.
Penelope vanPrincis and Richard Stout were married in 1624 (accordi
ng to tradition), when she was 22 and Richard was 40. Some time after, th
ey moved to Middletown, where through the years their family grew and pros
pered.
Several years after the Stouts came to Middletown, Penelope's old Ind
ian benefactor called on her to warn of an impending attack by his trib
e. Penelope and her children fled in a canoe, but Richard Stout and his n
eighbors stood up to the Indians and argued them out of an attack. So t
he Stouts lived on into the 18th century.
Dr. Thomas Hale Streets questioned the time sequence in a study he ma
de of the Delaware branch of the Stout family in 1915.
He said that all dates in recorded accounts were about 20 years too e
arly, thus making the date of the shipwreck about 1640 rather than 1620 a
nd making the date of the marriage to Richard Stout about 1644 rather th
an 1624. This logic seems sound.
For example, there was no New Amsterdam in 1620 and certainly there w
as no Middletown at the time when the Stout allegedly moved over. Advanci
ng all dates 20 years, however, makes New Amsterdam, Middletown and all el
se fall in line.
His most telling rebuttal hinged on the known birh date of Penelope
's 10th and last child, David, born in 1669. That would have made Mrs. St
out a mother at age 67 and Richard a father at 85. Speaking of the mothe
r, Dr. Streets commented drily:
"No medical man, it is safe to say, ever knew of such a case."
Penelope vanPrincis Stout died in 1712, either at the age of 11
0, if you believe traditional accounts,

_____________________________. Title: The Story Of Penelope Stout
Author: Frank R Stockton

In the early days of New Jersey, the Dutch settlers suffered very much from Indian hostilities. It was at the time that New Amsterdam, afterwards New York, was in the possession of the Dutch, that a ship came from Holland, bringing passengers who intended to settle in the new country. The ship was unfortunately wrecked in the neighborhood of Sandy Hook; but all the passengers managed to save themselves, and reached the shore.

Among these was a young couple whose names we do not know, except that the wife's maiden name was Penelope Van Princis. Her husband had been very sick during the voyage; and getting ashore through the surf from the wreck could not have been of any benefit to him, for, after he had reached dry land, he felt even worse than he had upon shipboard, and needed all the attention his wife could give him.

Although the passengers and crew of this vessel had reached the shore, they did not by any means consider themselves in safety; for they were very much afraid of the Indians, and desired above everything to make what haste they could toward New Amsterdam. They therefore started away as soon as possible. But Penelope's husband was too sick to go any farther at that time, and his wife was too good a woman to leave her husband in that lonely spot; and so these two were left behind, while the rest of the company started for New Amsterdam, promising, however, that they would send help to the unfortunate couple.

The fears of these immigrants in regard to the Indians were not without foundation; for the main party had not long departed, when a band of red men, probably having heard in some way of the wreck of the ship, appeared upon the scene, and discovered poor Penelope and her sick husband. It is unfortunately the disposition of most savages to show little pity for weakness and suffering, and the fact that the poor young man could not do them any possible harm had no effect upon them, and they set upon him and killed him; very much as a boy would kill a little harmless snake, for no reason whatever, except that he was able to do it.

Then they determined to kill Penelope also, and, attacking her with their tomahawks, they so cut and wounded her that she fell down bleeding and insensible. Having built a fire, these brave warriors cooked themselves a comfortable meal, and then departed. But Penelope was not killed, and, coming to her senses, her instincts told her that the first thing to do was to hide herself from these bloodthirsty red men: so, slowly and painfully, she crawled away to the edge of a wood, and found there a great hollow tree, into which she crept.

This made but narrow and doleful quarters for a wounded woman, but it was preferable at that time to the blue sky and fresh air. She did not leave the tree until nightfall, and then she made her way to the place where the fire was still glimmering; and by great care, and with what must have been painful labor, she kept this fire from going out, and so managed to get a little warmth.

In this way, living in the tree the greater part of the time, and depending for food chiefly upon the fungous excrescences and gum which grew on the outside of it,--for she was not able to go in search of berries and other food,--poor Penelope lived for a few days, with her dead husband on the beach, and her almost dead self in that cavern-like tree. The hours must have passed mournfully indeed to this young woman who had set out for the New World with such bright hopes.

That she survived her terrible hardships was due entirely to the existence of the danger she most feared; that is, the reappearance of the Indians. On the second morning, nearly famished and very weak, Penelope was making her way slowly over the ground, endeavoring to find something she could eat, or a little dew in the hollow of a leaf, that she might drink, when suddenly there came out of the woods two tall Indians, who, naturally enough, were much surprised to find a wounded white woman there alone upon the seashore.

Penelope gave herself up as lost. There was nothing now for her to do but to submit to her fate. It was a pity, she thought, that she had not been slain with her husband.

But the Indians did not immediately rush at her with their tomahawks: they stood and talked together, evidently about her, with their fierce eyes continually fixed upon her. Then their conversation became more animated, and it was soon plain that they were disputing. Of course, she did not then know the cause of their difference of opinion; but she found out afterwards that one of them was in favor of killing her upon the spot, and the other, an older man than his companion, was more mercifully inclined, and wished to carry her off as a prisoner to their camp.

At last the older man got the better of the other one; and he, being determined that the poor wounded woman should be taken care of, took her up and put her on his shoulder, and marched away with her. That an Indian should be able to perform a feat like this is not at all surprising; for when one of them shoots a deer in the forest, though many of those animals are heavier than Penelope was, he will put it on his back and carry it through the forests, perhaps for miles, until he reaches his camp. And so Penelope, as if she had been a deer wounded by some other hunters, which these men had found, was carried to the Indian camp.

There she was taken care of. Food and drink were given her. Her wounds were dressed and treated after the Indian fashion. In due course of time she recovered her health and strength, and there--living in a wigwam, among the women and children of the village, pounding corn, cooking food, carrying burdens as did the Indian women--she remained for some time, not daring even to try to escape; for in that wild country there was no place of safety to which it was possible for her to flee.

Although there was a good deal of bad feeling between the Indians and the whites at that time, they still traded and communicated with each other; and when, in the course of time, it became known in New Amsterdam that there was a white woman held as a prisoner in this Indian camp, there was every reason to suppose that this woman was the young wife who had been left on the seacoast by the survivors of the wreck. Consequently some of the men who had been her fellow-passengers came over to the Indian camp, which was not far from where Middletown now stands. Here, as they had expected, they found Penelope, and demanded that the Indians should give her up.

After some discussion, it was agreed that the matter should be left with Penelope herself; and the old Indian who had saved her life went to her,--for of course, being an inferior, she was not present at the conference,--and put the question before her. Here she was, with a comfortable wigwam, plenty to eat and drink, good Indian clothes to wear, as well treated as any Indian woman, and, so far as he could see, with everything to make her comfortable and happy; and here she might stay if she chose. On the other hand, if she wished to go to New Amsterdam, she would find there no one with whom she was acquainted, except the people who had rowed away and left her on that desolate coast, and who might have come in search of her a long time before if they really had cared anything about her. If she wanted to live here among friends who had been kind to her, and be taken care of, she could do so; if she wanted to go away and live among people who had deserted her, and who appeared to have forgotten her, she could do that.

Very much to the surprise of this good Indian, Penelope declared that she should prefer to go and live among people of her own race and country; and so, much to the regret of her Indian friends, she departed for New Amsterdam with the men who had come for her.

A year or two after Penelope had gone back to New Amsterdam, being then about twenty-two, she married an Englishman named Richard Stout, who afterwards became an important personage. He, with other settlers, went over to New Jersey and founded a little village, which was called Middletown, not far from the Indian camp where Penelope had once been a prisoner. The Indians still remained in this camp, but now they appeared to be quite friendly to the whites; and the new settlers did not consider that there was anything dangerous in having these red neighbors. The good Indian who had been Penelope's protector, now quite an old man, was very friendly and sociable, and often used to visit Mrs. Stout. This friendship for the woman whom he had saved from death seemed to have been strong and sincere.

One day this old Indian came to the house of Mrs. Stout, and, seating himself in the room where she was, remained for a long time pensive and silent. This rather unusual conduct made Penelope fear that something had happened to him; and she questioned him, asking him why he was so silent, and why he sighed so often. Then the old man spoke out and told her that he had come on a very important errand, in which he had risked his own life at the hands of his tribe; but, having saved her life once, he had determined to do it again, no matter what might happen to himself.

Then he told her that the good will of the Indians toward their white neighbors had come to an end, and that it had been determined in council that an attack should be made that night upon this little village, when every person in it--men, women, and children--should be put to death, the houses burned, and the cattle driven away. His brethren no longer wanted white people living near them.

Of course, this news was a great shock to Penelope. She had now two little children, and she could not get far away with them and hide, as she herself had once hidden from Indian foes. But the old man told her that she need not be afraid: he could not save all the people in the village, but he was her friend, and he had arranged to save her and her family. At a certain place, which he described so she could not fail to find it, he had concealed a canoe; and in that she and her husband, with the children, could go over to New Amsterdam, and there would be plenty of time for them to get away before the Indians would attack the place. Having said this, and having urged her to lose no time in getting away, the old Indian left.

As soon as he had gone, Penelope sent for her husband, who was working in the fields, and told him what she had heard, urging him to make preparations instantly to escape with her. But Mr. Stout was not easily frightened by news such as this. He pooh-poohed the whole story, and told his wife that the natives over there in their camp were as well disposed and friendly as if they had been a company of white settlers, and that, as these red men and the whites had lived together so long, trading with each other, and visiting each other with perfect freedom, there was no reason whatever to suppose that the Indians would suddenly determine to rise up and massacre a whole settlement of peaceable neighbors, who had never done them any harm, and who were a great benefit to them in the way of trading. It would be all nonsense, he said, to leave their homes, and run away from Indians so extremely friendly and good-natured as those in the neighboring camp.

But Penelope had entirely different ideas upon the subject. She thoroughly believed in the old Indian, and was sure that he would not have come and told her that story unless it had been true. If her husband chose to stay and risk his life, she could not help it; but she would not subject herself and her children to the terrible danger which threatened them. She had begged her husband to go with her; but as he had refused, and had returned to his work, she and her children would escape alone.

Consequently she set out with the little ones, and with all haste possible she reached the place where the canoe was moored among some tall reeds, and, getting in with the children, she paddled away to New Amsterdam, hoping she might reach there in time to send assistance to Middletown before the Indians should attack it.

When Farmer Stout found that his wife had really gone off, and had taken the children with her, he began to consider the matter seriously, and concluded that perhaps there might be something in the news which the old Indian had brought. He consequently called together a number of the men of the village, and they held a consultation, in which it was determined that it would be a wise thing to prepare themselves against the threatened attack; and, arming themselves with all the guns and pistols they could get, they met together in one of the houses, which was well adapted for that purpose, and prepared to watch all night.

They did not watch in vain, for about midnight they heard from the woods that dreadful war whoop which the white settlers now well understood. They knew it meant the same thing as the roar of the lion, who, after silently creeping towards his intended victim, suddenly makes the rocks echo with the sound of his terrible voice, and then gives his fatal spring.

But although these men might have been stricken with terror, had they heard such a war cry at a time when they were not expecting it, and from Indians to whom they were strangers, they were not so terrified at the coming of these red men with whom, perhaps only the day before, they had been trading buttons for venison and beans. They could not believe that these apparently mild and easy-going fellows could really be the terrible savages they tried to make themselves appear.

So Richard Stout and his companions went boldly out, guns in hand, to meet the oncoming savages, and, calling a parley, they declared that they had no intention of resting quietly, and allowing themselves and families to be slaughtered and their houses burned. If the Indians, who had so long been their good neighbors, were now determined to become bloody enemies, they would find that they would have to do a good deal of hard fighting before they could destroy the village of Middletown; and, if they persisted in carrying on the bloody job they had undertaken, a good many of them would be killed before that job was finished.

Now, it had been very seldom that Indians who had started out to massacre whites had met with people who acted like this; and these red men in war paint thought it wise to consider what had been said to them. A few of them may have had guns, but the majority were armed only with bows and tomahawks; and these white men had guns and pistols, with plenty of powder and ball. It would clearly be unsafe to fight them.

So, after discussing the matter among themselves and afterwards talking it over with the whites, the Indians made up their minds, that, instead of endeavoring to destroy the inhabitants of Middletown, they would shake hands with them and make a treaty of peace. They then retired; and on the following day a general conference was held, in which the whites agreed to buy the lands on which they had built their town, and an alliance was made for mutual protection and assistance. This compact was faithfully observed as long as there were any Indians in the neighborhood, and Middletown grew and flourished.

Among the citizens of the place there were none who grew and flourished in a greater degree than the Stout family. Although Penelope bore upon her body the scars of her wounds until the day of her death, it is stated, upon good authority, that she lived to be one hundred and ten years old; so that it is plain that her constitution was not injured by the sufferings and hardships of the beginning of her life in New Jersey.

Not only did the Stouts flourish in Middletown, but some of them went a little southward, and helped to found the town of Hopewell; and here they increased to such a degree that one of the early historians relates that the Baptist Church there was founded by the Stouts, and that for forty-one years the religious meetings were held in the houses of different members of the Stout family, while, at the time he wrote, half of the congregation of the church were still Stouts, and that, all in all, there had been at least two hundred members of that name. So the Baptist Church in Hopewell, as well as all the churches in Middletown, owed a great deal to the good Indian who carried poor Penelope to his village, and cured her of her wounds.


[The end]
Frank R Stockton's short story: Story Of Penelope Stout. Searching for Penelope Stout" at http://searchingforpenelopestout.blogspot.com/ As the title indicates, I'm searching for the historical truth behind Penelope's story. Few facts about Penelope exist, but much history surrounds the time of Penelope's adventures. Truth is elusive so I call my results "conjectures," meaning judgments or opinions based upon incomplete or inconclusive information.


The first blog is "Conjecture 1: Penelope Was of English Heritage."


Here is a sample paragraph: "My Dutch friends have never heard of a Dutch woman named Penelope. In June 2005 I spent a day in Amsterdam and visited a municipal archive building where the Amsterdam marriage records for several centuries have been transferred to cards and sorted by first and last names. I found no records for the name Penelope in the 1600s and 1700s."



The second blog is "Conjecture 2: Penelope’s first husband was English and his surname was Prince."


Here is a sample paragraph: "The only contemporary record of Penelope is the September 1648 slander trial about milking a cow in the Gravesend Town Records, which recorded her name as Penellopey Prince. Notice how the other women in the trial are mentioned: wife of Tho. Aplegate; his wife; Ambrose his wife; wife of Ambrose London; Aplegate’s daughter; and Ambrose his wife. Under the English legal doctrine of coverture, as the saying goes, “husband and wife were one person as far as the law was concerned, and that person was the husband.” The fact that the English clerk wrote her name as Penellopey Prince strongly implies that she had passed from the legal status of feme covert (literally, covered woman in archaic Anglo-Norman French legalese, meaning married) to feme sole (single woman) because she was a widow."



Several comments have been posted that led to the discovery that "Prins," the Dutch word for "prince," is a valid Dutch surname though not "Vanprincis." Maybe Penelope's first husband was a Dutchman named "Prins" that the English heard as "Prince."