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Archiver > STOUT > 2001-03 > 0984157686


From: "Mount, Jack" <>
Subject: Richard & Penelope STOUT's children's birthdates
Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2001 10:08:06 -0700


In the message below it says, that David, one of Richard & Penelope STOUT's
children, was born in 1669 and was the youngest child. Does anyone know this
birthdate is based on actual primary source data or just a guess? In fact,
are there any actual birthdates known for any of Richard & Penelope STOUT's
children? All the birthdates I have seen for them appear just to be
"guesses" or "circa" or "about" dates! Do any of them have gravestones with
birthdates on them or death dates with age at death, etc.?

- Jack Mount
http://dizzy.library.arizona.edu/users/mount/stout.html


-----Original Message-----
From: Kathleen [mailto:]
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 10:35 PM
To:
Subject: My notes on Penelope Stout - NOT MY RESEARCH


What with all the talk about Penelope Stout and her history, I am
sharing notes I have taken from several places regarding her. This is
not my research so if you use it, please do not give me credit. I have
just gathered it from many places.

Kathleen Burnett

Newspaper article - Newspaper name and time of publication unknown,
author was John T. Cunningham

------------ THE STORY OF PENELOPE STOUT -----------

There is cause to dispute the traditional claim that Penelope vanPrincis
Stout of Monmouth County lived to a mature 110 years before she died in
1712, but no one can deny that for indomitable will to live and in
number of descendants Penelope has had few equals.

Penelopes's story is obscured slightly by discrepanceies in the dates of
her birth and other occurrences in her life, but consider first the
narrative as it is usually told.

Born in Holland (in 1602 according to the usual version,) Penelope
vanPrincis joined her young husband and other Dutch settlers headed for
New Amsterdam in 1620. Violent storms caught their ship, drove it off
course and finally wrecked it off Sandy Hook.

--- ON THE BEACH ---

All survived, and the passengers and crew set off for New Amsterdam on
foot, leaving Penelope on the beach to nurse her desperately ill husband
(whose name was never recorded by Penelope and all of the large brood
she would later rear.) Indians found the Dutch couple on the beach,
killed the husband and left Penelope viciously hacked.

The young widow lay unconscious, her skull fractured, her left arm so
mangled that it would never again be normal and her abdomen slashed
open. Somehow she revived and crawled into a hollow tree, where two
Indians found her several days later.

---- SHE PRAYED ---

Penelope prayed that they might end her misery and the younger Indian
was willing to oblige. The older Indian dissented, carried her over his
shoulder to camp, and there nursed her back to health. She stayed with
the Indians, working, learning their language and their ways.

Some of her shipwrecked friends returned after a time and asked the
Indians to give her up. Penelope's Indian benefactor said he would let
the young woman decide for herself. Penelope decided to leave, "very
much to the surprise of this good Indian," according to Frank
Stocktons's version.

About two years later Penelope met Richard Stout who had left
Nottingham, England, because of parental disapproval of his love affair
with a girl they considered socially inferior. He enlisted in the navy,
served for seven years and left ship in New Amsterdam when his
enlistment ended.

Penelope vanPrincis and Richard Stout were married in 1624 (according to
tradition), when she was 22 and Richard was 40. Some time after, they
moved to Middletown, where through the years their family grew and
prospered.

Several years after the Stouts came to Middletown, Penelope's old Indian
benefactor called on her to warn of an impending attack by his tribe.
Penelope and her children fled in a canoe, but Richard Stout and his
neighbors stood up to the Indians and argued them out of an attack. So
the Stouts lived on into the 18th century.

Dr. Thomas Hale Streets questioned the time sequence in a study he made
of the Delaware branch of the Stout family in 1915.

He said that all dates in recorded accounts were about 20 years too
early, thus making the date of the shipwreck about 1640 rather than 1620
and making the date of the marriage to Richard Stout about 1644 rather
than 1624. This logic seems sound.

For example, there was no New Amsterdam in 1620 and certainly there was
no Middletown at the time when the Stout allegedly moved over. Advancing
all dates 20 years, however, makes New Amsterdam, Middletown and all
else 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.
Stout a mother at age 67 and Richard a father at 85. Speaking of the
mother, 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 110, if you
believe traditional accounts, or at the age of 90 if Dr. Streets is
correct.

Before dying, Mrs. Stout saw her seven sons and three daughters
multiplied into 492 other descendants

Penelope Stout - First Lady of Monmouth

One of the best known chapters of [Monmouth's] early history is the
story of Penelope Stout, believed to be the first white woman to set
foot on [Monmouth] county soil.
During the first half of the 17th century - the exact date is unknown -
a ship from Holland was wrecked on Sandy Hook. Among those aboard was
Penelope Van Princis, whose husband had become ill on the long sea
voyage. The passengers and crew reached shore safely, but hearing of an
Indian attack they set out on foot for New York (New Amsterdam), leaving
the sick man and his wife behind.

Smith's History of New Jersey, published in 1765, relates that a party
of Indians found the couple and immediately killed the man. They then
mangled the woman, and left her for dead. After hiding for several days
in a hollow tree, Penelope was found by a friendly Indian who nursed her
back to health. A rescue party found her and brought her to New
Amsterdam - now New York - and a short time later she married an
Englishman, Richard Stout.

Penelope and Richard later returned to New Jersey and had 10 children.
The nameless Indian who saved Penelope Stout's life was a frequent
visitor and friend. According to the tale, he later alerted the
community to a potential confrontation with another band of marauding
natives, probably from New York. Most accounts agree that Penelope
lived to be 110 and had some 502 descendants at the time of her death,
in either 1712 or 1732. Many
of her descendants still live in the county.

Penelope's story is told at the Spy House Museum Complex in Port
Monmouth, New Jersey.
Richard Stout, a son of John and Elizabeth (Bee or Gee) Stout, was born
in Nottinghamshire, England about 1715. He joined the British Navy and
was discharged at New Amsterdam, now New York, about 1640. Richard was
one of thirty nine people who founded a settlement at Graves End, Long
Island, in 1644. That year, he married Penelope (Kent) Van Princin.
Penelope Kent was probably born about 1622 in England. Her father is
believed to have been a Puritan Baptist Separatist who was banished from
his church and who fled to Holland with his family. Penelope married a
man named Van Princin in Amsterdam.
In 1640, Penelope and her husband took ship with a group of emigrants
to America. The ship was wrecked at Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Many of
the passengers traveled overland to New Amsterdam, but Penelope
husband was ill and could not travel, so they remained near the wreck
site. The little encampment was attacked by Indians, who killed
Penelope's
husband and left her for dead with a fractured skull, a hacked shoulder
and a gash in her body that allowed her intestines to protrude. Penelope
survived alone for several days until two Indian men came by. The older
of the two carried her to his village and sewed up her wounds with a
fish bone needle and vegetable fibers. Penelope recovered and lived
with the Indians, doing squaw's work and sharing their life. In 1644, a
group of white men came to the Indian village and offered to buy the
white woman that they had heard of. Penelope's captor asked if she
wished to go with the whites and was permitted to do so. In 1664, an
Indian came to warn Penelope of a planned Indian attack on the
settlement of Grave's end. The Indians did attack and the forewarned
settlers were able to defend themselves and put the Indians to flight.
Richard Stout walked into the open and demanded a parley. After a
conference, the whites and Indians agreed to a truce and a two day
ceremonial to celebrate the treaty. The white agreed to buy the lands
they had settled on and were never attacked again. The date of purchase
from the Indians was January 25, 1664. In 1668, Richard and his family
joined with others in forming the first Baptist Church of New Jersey.
Richard's will was approved in October 1705 and is on file in the office
of the Secretary of State at Trenton, New Jersey. Penelope died in
1732.

Unknown newspaper "The Story of Penelope Stout" copy found at Monmouth
County Historical Association Library, 70 Court Street, Freehold, NJ
07728

Dr. Thomas Hale Streets questions the time sequence in a study he made
of the Stout family in 1915. He said that all dates in recorded
accounts were about 20 years too early, thus making the date of the
shipwreck about 1640 rather than 1620 and making the date of the
marriage to Richard Stout about 1644 rather than 1624. For example,
there was no New Amsterdam in 1620. His most telling rebuttal hinged on
the known birth date of Penelope's 10th and last child, David, born in
1669. That would have made Mrs. Stout a mother at age 67 and Richard a
father at 85. Penelope Van Princis Stout died in 1712, either at age
110 if you believe traditional accounts, or at age 90 if Dr. Streets is
correct.

*******************************************************

The following sources and information are from: "Early Vital Records of
Ohio: - copied by the Daughters of the American Revolution - Complied
under the Direction of Miss Irma B. Gobel. This booklet was found at
the DAR Library in Washington, DC.

"There are still hollow Buttonwood trees near Middlestown as were there
in the time when Penelope is said to have taken refuge in one."

The Op Dyck Genealogy, page 148, "Among the settlers appear Richard
Stout, Samuel Holmes, and others whose descendants in New York and New
Jersey have number by thousands. The famous Penelope Prince appears on
the records as having remarked that, "the wife of Ambrose London did
milk the cows of Thomas Applegate." "She" being questioned knowledged
her fault in so speaking, and being sorry for her words, she spoke
satisfaction on both sides."


****************************************************************************


The following articles, 1 to 3 pages, that can be found in the Monmouth
County Historical Association Library, 70 Court Street, Freehold, NJ
07728. Library is open Wednesday - Sunday : 10 AM to 4 PM - phone
908-462-1466.

Newspaper, "The Monmouth Inquirer", Thursday, 20 May 1886. Article
"First Families of Monmouth, Stout Family" by Edwin Salter.

Unknown newspaper and unknown date, "The Story of Penelope Stout"

Asbury Park Press, Aug 10, 1980, page A3, "Stout family marks its 52nd
reunion at Middletown Church." Talks about and has picture of Penelope
Stout First Lady of Monmouth medallion.

"The Penelope Stout House, also known as the John S. Hendrickson House",
Everett Road, Holmdel, NJ. (Note there is a Holmes - Hendrickson House,
Longstreet Road, Holmdel, NJ. This house is part of Monmouth County
Historical Association Museums and is open May - October.)

"The Mother of the Stouts" by Mrs. Therese W. Seabrook. "My tradition
has come through only two persons from Penelope, herself, and I think
it more correct than much that is told. The second son, Richard, had a
son, John, who was therefore grandson of Penelope. When his grandmother
was about 85 years old, he took her on his horse to visit one of her
children and when he helped her to alight she insisted upon his putting
his hand through the pocket hole of her garment to feel the seam which
the Indian sewed up. He was young and bashful but she said, "Johnny, you
can tell it to your grandchildren because you will know it's true, and
they will tell it to their grandchildren." My grandmother was one of
the grandchildren to whom he told the story, and when she told it to me,
she would say, "and so I tell it to you in the language, chiefly, in
which I heard it."


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