Richard Stout ^449,460,461

  General Notes:

WILL: Source:"Stout and Allied Families", by Herald F. Stout, vol. 1, 1951 edition, pg. xxii:
The Will of Richard Stout
KNOW ALL MEN, by these presents that I, Richard Stout of Middletown, in the county of Monmouth, in East Jersey, being of Sound Mind and disposing memory, do make and ordain this to be my last will and testament which is as followeth:
I will that all my just debts be paid; I give and devise unto my loving wife, during her natural life, all my orchard and that part of rooms of the house she now lives in, with the cellar, and all the land I now possess. I give and bequeath unto my loving wife, all my horse kind, excepting one mare and colt. My son Benjamin is to have for keeping my cattle last year.
I give unto my sons John, Richard, James, Johnathan, David and Benjamin, one shilling each of them.
I give unto my daughters, Mary, Alice and Sarah, each of them one shilling.
I give to my daughter-in-law Mary Stout and her son John one shilling each of them.
I give and bequeath unto my kinswoman Mary Stout, the daughter of formerly Peter Stout, one cow, to be paid within six days after my wife's death.
All the remainder of my personal estate whatsoever, I give and bequeath unto my loving wife, and to this, my last will and testament, I make my son John and my son Johnathan my executors to.
For this my will performed, in witness hereof I have hereunto put my hand and seal, June the ninth day, in the year one thousand seven hundred and three.
His
Richard X Stout
Mark
Signed, sealed and published in the presence of us: Richard Hartshorne
John Weekham
Peter Vandervere
Proved before Lord Cornbury, Governor, Captain General, & Etc. 23 October 1705 at Perth Amboy.
(Recorded in Liber I, p 120, of Wills at Trenton, N.J.)

BIOGRAPHY: HISTORY: Richard, came from a well to do family. His father interfered in a love affair with a young woman beneath his rank. So Richard, got angry and went to sea in a man-of-war, and served seven years. He was discharged at New York, and lived there for some time when he met Penelope, and then married her. He was a resident of New Amsterdam in the spring on 1643, employed by Governor Kieft as a soldier in the February uprising of that year. Named under the ?Monmouth Patent?, accompanied Lady Moody and others to settle Gravesend between her arrival in June and October of that year. In 1646 he received lot 16, in Gravesend where he grew tobacco. In 1657, 17 of his 20 acres were under cultivation. In 1661, he bought an adjoining farm of William Griffin. The Stout family was an important one in the Hopewell settlement. Many descendants of their family can to this day be found in northeastern New Jersey. This Baptist family originated from one woman. The story of Penelope Stout, once butchered and left for dead in the wilderness, is a stirring and fascinating one, which gives the reader an idea of the hardships settlers faced. About 1624, in New Amsterdam, Richard Stout, a native of England, married her. He was 40 while she only 22. She induced him to sail across the bay and settle at Middletown, near those who saved her. Many of his friends visited this contented couple and took up residence there. When they had two young children, an uprising was stirring. One of Mrs. Stouts? Indian friends came to warn her, and she was able to escape again to New Amsterdam with her children. There are references to Richard Stout attempting to settle Middletown in 1655, which were aborted. This may have been temporary due to Indian problems. Later, a general conference was held in which the white men agreed to buy the lands from the Indians. Deeds were granted, signed and duly paid for and witnessed. This led to relative peace in the area. Penelope went on to bear 10 children; seven sons and three daughters: Jonathan (founder of Hopewell), John, Richard, James Peter, David, Benjamin, Mary, Sarah and Alice. Penelope lived to be 110 years old and saw 502 offspring in 88 years.

BIOGRAPHY: From "History of the Stout Family" by Nathan Stout, 1823

Richard Stout, the first of the name in America was born in Nottinghamshire, in Old England, and his father's name was John. The said Richard, when quite young paid his addresses to a young woman that his father thought below his rank, upon which account some unpleasant conversation happened between the father and the son, on account of which, the said Richard left his father's house; and in a few days engaged on board a ship of war, where he served about seven years, after which time he got a discharge at New Amsterdam, now called New York, in America. About the same time a ship from Amsterdam, in Holland, on her way to the said New Amsterdam, was driven on the shore that is now called Middletown, in Monmouth County, in the State of new Jersey, which ship was loaded with passengers, who with much difficulty got on shore. But the Indians not long after fell upon them and butchered and killed the whole crew, as they thought, but soon after the Indians were gone, a certain Penelope Van Princes, whose husband the Indians had killed, found herself possessed of strength enough to creep to a hollow tree, where she remained some days. An Indian happening to come that way, whose dog coming to the tree, occasioned him to examine the inside of the tree, where he found the said Penelope in a forlorn, distressed condition. She was bruised very severely about the head, and her bowels protruded from a cut across her abdomen; she kept them in with her hand. She had been in this fearful condition seven days when the Indian found her. In his compassion he took her out of the tree and carried her to his wigwam where he treated her kindly and healed her wounds, and in a short time conveyed her in his canoe to New Amsterdam, where he sold her to the Dutch, who then owned that city, now called New York.

The man and woman from whom the whole race of Stouts descended, got into the city of New Amsterdam, where they became acquainted with each other and were married. And, not withstanding, it may be thought by some, that they conducted themselves with more fortitude than prudence, they immediately crossed the bay and settled in the above said Middletown, where the said Penelope had lost her first husband by the Indians and had been so severely wounded herself.

There was at that time but six white families in the settlement, including their own, (which was in the year 1648), where they continued until they became rich in prosperity and rich in children. They had together seven son and three daughters, viz: John, Richard, Jonathan, Peter, James, Benjamin, David. The daughters were - Deliverance, Sarah, Penelope. All of which sons and daughters lived to raise large families.

Richard married Penelope Kent about 1644 in Gravesend, Kings, New York ⁴⁶⁰.^,461 (Penelope Kent was born about 1622 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands, died in 1712 in Middletown, Monmouth, New Jersey and was buried in Family Estate, Middletown, Monmouth, New Jersey.)