Penelope Stout

Penelope Van Princis Kent Stout (1622 - 1732) of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Was the first female white settler of Monmouth County, New Jersey. According to History of the Baptists [1] (cited in Stout and Allied Families by H.F. Stout[2]) she lived to the age of 110.

Penelope Van Princis Stout Commemorative Coin - Recto - depicting the scene of Penelope's first rescue by an old Indian Chief after surviving a shipwreck and the ensuing attack on the beach by the indigenous inhabitants after being abandoned by their fellow shipmates.


Penelope Van Princis Stout Commemorative Coin - Verso - depicting the scene of Penelope's second rescue by an old Native chief after surviving her first series of ordeals, and finally "rescued" to Fort Amsterdam, Penelope and her new husband return to Sandy Hook to build a home. Here the old Native Chief warns Penelope to escape a planned attack.

Her story

In 1643 [3] Penelope and her husband took a ship from the Netherlands to New Amsterdam. With their ship foundering, she and her husband, John Kent, and several others made land at Sandy Hook. Her husband was not able to travel due to illness and she remained with him. After the couple were abandoned on shore by the other passengers looking for safety and shelter, she and her husband were attacked by natives and her husband was killed. She was gravely injured and left for dead. She took shelter in a hollow tree until she made herself known to the Navesink tribe of Leni Lenapi. They bound up her wounds, and when she was well enough to travel she was released to the Dutch at New Amsterdam (now New York City). There in 1644 at the age of 22, she married Richard Stout (1615 - 1705), son of John Stout (1584 - 1620) and Elizabeth Bee (1591 - 1685) of Nottinghamshire, England. They had a large family (7 sons and 4 daughters) mostly born at Gravesend in the current area of Coney Island, Brooklyn. They moved to Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey around 1665. This was where the Leni Lenapi who had earlier helped her were from, and they were still living there when the Stouts arrived.

It is said that [4] Penelope had 502 direct descendants when she died at the age of 110.

The surnames for Penelope are quite variable in several references; Van Princis, Princis, Prince, Princes, Princess, Van Prinzen, Prinzen, Kent. The Gravesend Town Records[5] as written by Englishmen at the time of a trial in September 1648 name the defendant as 'Penelope Prince'. However, this does not necessarily mean that she had not yet married Richard Stout, as married Dutch women in that time period traditionally kept and used their maiden names. In honor of her being a pioneer in Middletown, NJ, 'Penelope Lane' off of Kings Highway is named after her.

Children

John Stout (1645 - 1724) m. Elizabeth Crawford (1655 - 1730)

Richard Stout II (1646 - 1717) m. Frances Heath (1646 - 1730)

James Stout (1648 - 1715) m. Elizabeth

Mary Penelope Stout Bowne (1650 - 1675) NOTE: Mary's great-granddaughter, Hannah Salter, married Mordecai Lincoln. Hannah and Mordecai Lincoln are the great-great-grandparents of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States.

Alice Stout Throckmorton (1652 - 1703)

Sarah Elizabeth Stout Pike (1656 - 1714)

Peter Stout (1664 - 1703) m. Mary Bolen (1655 - 1692)

Jonathan Stout (1665 - 1722) m. Anna Bullen

David Stout (1667 - 1732) m. Rebecca Ashton

Benjamin Stout (1669 - 1734) m. Agnes Truax

Elizabeth Stout (1670)

See also

Notes
  1. Benedict
  2. Stout, Herald F.
  3. Stillwell estimates 1643/44; controversial
  4. Benedict
  5. Gravesend Town Records

References
  • Benedict, David. A General History of the Baptist Denomination in America, and Other Parts of the World. 1813. p. 574
  • "Penelope Prince". In: Gravesend [New York] Town Book, volume 1, 12 September 1648.
  • Stillwell, John E. "Stout of Monmouth County". Historical and Genealogical Miscellany, New York, NY, vol. 4, 1916, pages 295-374.
  • Stout, Herald F., Stout and Allied Families, Eagle Press, Dover, OH, 1951, 813 pages.
  • Streets, Thomas Hale, The Stout Family of Delaware, 1915, pp 5–17.
  • History of Monmouth Co., NJ (I think this was either Cutter or Jordan or Lewis Hist Pub Co)
  • Baer, Mabel Van Dyke. National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol.52. Pt 1, No.2 June 1964.
  • De Burton, Maria Ruiz. History of American Women
  • Stillwell, John E. Historical and Genealogical Miscellany: Early Settlers of New Jersey and their Descendants, New York 1916.
  • Wills of New Jersey, Liber, pg. 120. Will of Richard Stout, Trenton, New Jersey

Further reading
  • Baer, Mabel V. D. "Richard Stout and Some Descendants". National Genealogical Society Quarterly, vol. 52, 1964, pages 86–94.
  • Friend, Maurie L. "The Perils of Penelope Kent". Drumbeat, vol. 45, no. 2, Fall 1966, pages 4–5.
  • Hornor, William S.. "Penelope VanPrinces". This Old Monmouth of Ours, Moreau Brothers, Freehold, NJ, 1932, pages 146-148.
  • Hornor, William S.. "Richard Stout". This Old Monmouth of Ours, Moreau Brothers, Freehold, NJ, 1932, page 181.
  • McFarlane, Jim. "Penelope: A Novel of New Amsterdam". Greer, SC: Twisted Cedar Press, 2012. 371 pages. The ISBN is 9780985112202 See external links below.
  • Salter, Edwin. "Stout". A History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, E. Gardner & Son, Bayonne, NJ, 1890, pages lvi-lvii.
  • Schott, Penelope S. Penelope: The Story of the Half-Scalped Woman, University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 1999, 64 pages.
  • Stockton, Frank R. "The Story of Penelope Stout". Stories of New Jersey, Rutgers Univ. Press, New Brunswick, NJ, 1961, pages 57–68.
  • Stout, Herald F. Some of the Descendants of Richard Stout of New Jersey, Glendale, CA, 1940, 92 pages.
  • Stout, Herald F. "Family History..Richard Stout". Stauden Blatter, vol. 5, no. 4, Winter 1964-65, pages 2–8.
  • Stout, Herald F. Stout and Allied Families, San Diego, CA, 3rd edition, vol. 1, 1986, 800 pages.
  • Stout, J. D. Stout and Allied Families, Chariton, IA, 1991, pages 1–4.
  • Stout, Kemble. James Pindall Stout 1819-1903 and Burthena Shackelford Kemble 1824-1908, 1975, 353 pages.
  • Stout, Wayne D. Genealogy of the Sagers, Fisk, and Stout Families, Salt Lake City, UT, 1960, 583 pages.
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