text:
The name Stout was first used in Germany, according to Wesley
Stout of Ohio, writing for the Saturday Evening Post. At the time when the
Cathar hordes invaded the country, one man overcame in battle twenty of the
barbarians single- handed. His fellows
said he was Stout, and the name stuck.
Sir Robert Stout, who went from the Shetland Islands to make his
home in New Zealand, became a distinguished scholar and rose to the position of
Chief Justice there. In a letter to Mr.
Claude D. Stout of Wisconsin, genealogist, Sir Robert states that Stout is a
Scandinavian name. "Danish Norsemen invaded England," he said,
"drove the Celtic inhabitants back into Wales and Scotland, then mingling
with the peoples, they settled down and became permanent residents in the
northerly counties of England. The racial make-up of York, Lincoln, Nottingham,
and northern North-hampton shires was Scandinavian. Fair Isle has a population entirely of Stouts. The Stout family in Shetland claims descent
from Olaf Stout whose name is mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga, an epic-like
story of the tribal heroes of their early history. The Stout family in Norway is the royal family. Olaf Stout was the Earl of Orkney and
Shetland. Our family line goes back to
1220 A.D. when one Stout, a leader of the Danes against the Irish was
killed. Some of the family went to
In 1600 in Nottinghamshire, England, an entry was made in the
Burton Joyce Parish record book telling of the marriage of one John Stout, of
good family, to Elizabeth Gee. To this
union was born Richard Stout in 1602 or 1604.
When Richard grew up he quarreled with his father over a girl friend
whom the father considered beneath him in social standing. Consequently,
Richard ran away from home and joined the English Navy. After seven years, when
his time was out, Richard got a discharge from the Navy, and left his ship at
New Amsterdam about 1640. He took up arms for the Dutch, and so was unharmed by
the British when they took over New Amsterdam about 1664.
Richard found friends among some English settlers who because of
their religion had fled to New Amsterdam from neighboring colonies. Among them were Lady Deborah Moody, her son,
Sir Henry Moody, Richard Salter, William Browne, and Thomas Applegate. Together they obtained a charter from the
Dutch governor to found the first English settlement on Long Island at Graves
End. Thirty-eight others joined
Richard where he settled in 1644 on Plantation No. 18, which he had purchased
five years earlier. Richard became the
largest landowner of the group. He may
have married when he settled there, if so his first wife was dead when Penelope
Prince, a widow, appeared on the scene.
When religious persecution made life intolerable for dissenters in
England at this period, they fled to Holland and later to America. It seems likely a Baptist Preacher, Rev.
Prince, was driven out of Sheffield and lived for a time in Amsterdam, Holland,
when Penelope was born. Years later
Penelope married a boy from Amsterdam, and together they took a ship for
America. This ship was wrecked in 1640
at the northeast corner of New Jersey, on a point called Sandy Hook. The passengers that could fled overland to
the settlement called New Amsterdam, but Penelope's husband, ill of a fever,
was not able to go. Penelope busied
herself making him comfortable on the shore when they were attacked by Indians
who killed her husband and left Penelope seriously wounded. In fact, the Indians thought her dead.
But Penelope did not die.
Gradually she aroused from her swoon. Suffering from a fractured skull,
a hacked shoulder and a gash on her body, which allowed her intestines to
protrude, she crept to shelter in a hollow log or tree nearby. No doubt she found water from a spring, and
food from the bushes, for she suffered alone there for several days until two
Indians came by on a hunt. When they
saw her, they seemed to argue over what to do with her. The younger wanted to kill Penelope, but the
older objected, and finally won the argument, for he came, put her across his
shoulder and carried her away to the Indian village. He sewed her wounds with fishbone needle and thread of vegetable
fiber. He treated her kindly, and she
recovered. She helped the squaws with
their work and otherwise adapted herself to Indian life for perhaps a year.
Gradually the rumor reached New Amsterdam that a white woman had
been seen in the Indian village. When
some of the white men came, and offered to buy her, the old Indian called to
Penelope and made their desire known, and then asked what she wished to
do. When she replied that she wished
to go with the men, her captor agreed but accepted the pay they offered for
her. Penelope lived in New Amsterdam
among some of the English families until Richard Stout chose her for wife in
1644. A historian of the period says
that when they settled at Graves End on Long Island, Richard was forty years of
age, Penelope in her twenty-second year.
About the time the English took over the rule of the town, perhaps
to escape the English, perhaps seeking more land, Richard and a few other men
began exploring the main land of the New Jersey coast, near the place where the
Indian had saved Penelope's life.
About 1648, Richard with eleven others purchased a large section of east
New Jersey, called Monmouth, from Governor Nichols. Richard bought lot number six and some upland country, in all 745
acres. Thirty years later he had accumulated
so much land that he was able to deed eighteen hundred acres to his heirs. Considered the largest landed proprietor,
Richard served as overseer of the district of Middletown.
One day, the story goes, not long after they founded Middletown,
the old Indian who had saved Penelope, appeared at their home. When he refused to eat with her family,
Penelope followed him out of the house to learn what was wrong. He had come to warn Penelope that the tribes
were coming to attack the settlement.
He urged her to take her family and flee to safety in his canoe. When she told Richard the news, he refused
to believe it. Penelope then gathered
the children to the boat and paddled away as best she could to seek aid at New
Amsterdam. After Penelope left, Richard
reconsidered and gathered the men of the settlement together to make plans. They armed themselves, sent the women and
children in canoes to wait off shore while they prepared to watch all
night. At midnight the Indians came. When the whites from a point of vantage
attacked, the Indians armed with only bows and arrows were soon on the
run. Then Richard Stout walked into
the open and demanded a parley. After
a conference, the whites and Indians held a two-day ceremonial to celebrate a
treaty of peace. When the whites agreed
to buy the lands on which they had built their town, an alliance for mutual
assistance was formed. This treaty was
faithfully kept. Though other
settlements had war, this one was able to avoid it. The date of the purchase of the land from the Indians was January
25, 1664. Governor Nichols gave the
settlers a statement called the Monmouth Patent, which guaranteed them
religious and political freedom. There
were supposed to be fifty families of whites and 500 Indians inhabiting the
area at this time.
As the settlement in New Jersey grew into the town of Middletown,
Richard Stout was appointed to assist in laying out the lots. In 1668, Richard, Penelope, and their family
met with others in the kitchen of the Stout home to organize the first Baptist
Church of New Jersey. Richard and John,
his oldest son, were among the eighteen male charter members. Every Sunday the
group met at the homes of its members to sing hymns. Twenty years later a log
church was built. Today a new church
stands on the spot, but some of the materials of the old log church are carefully
preserved, after two hundred years, in this modern building.
Richard's will, approved October 1705, is on file in the Office of
the Secretary of State at Trenton. In
it he gave his home farm to his youngest son, Benjamin. Though Richard formerly was required to
report to the agents of the proprietors in writing, he signed his will with an
x, doubtless due to his age or the state of his health
Penelope out lived Richard by 27 years, dying in 1732, at the age
of 90 or 110. She had been the mother of
ten children, seven sons and three daughters.
By the time of her death, she had welcomed some five hundred and two
descendants into the world. It was told
of her that she had always to wear a cap because of her scalp scar, and that
she had no use of her left arm. Her
knowledge of the Indian language, and the fact that she was a friend of the
Indian who mended her wounds, no doubt were a great help to the little New
Jersey settlement.
A number of people through the years have written stories of this
early family. Samuel Smith, in his
"History of New Jersey", published in 1765, wrote less than thirty
years after Penelope's death. Morgan
Edwards published his "History of the Baptists of New Jersey" in
1792, in which he gives the same story of this family, taken from other
sources. Mrs. Seabrook, a descendant,
in her story added details, which had come down, through her family. She said she remembered the family
discussing Penelope's scars.
Stillwell, who married a descendant of the family, wrote after some time
had elapsed. Captain Nathan Stout
published his story in 1825. The
details differ in the various versions, but the main part of the story is
always the same. Dr. Stillwell says of
the various versions, "That the
tradition concerning Penelope Stout's experiences with the Indians is true, is
to my mind as certain as that man exists." Frank Stockton includes
Penelope's story in his "Stories of New Jersey."
Concerning Richard and Penelope, Mr. Claude D. Stout of Wisconsin
wrote: "I have concluded that
Richard Stout was of the Puritan Baptist Separatists, who went to New
Amsterdam. That Penelope Prince was
the daughter of the Rev. Mr. Prince who was banished from his church at
Sheffield, England, and lived for a time in Holland where Penelope probably was
born. I think also that Penelope was a
Baptist Puritan emigrant direct to New Amsterdam."
Dr. Thomas Hale Strats after investigation suggested that all
dates of the Richard and Penelope story seem to be twenty years too early. "The shipwreck should be dated 1640,
Richard and Penelope's marriage 1644." he said.
The three daughters of Richard and Penelope were married early to
men of the same or neighboring communities.
Mary, the oldest daughter, married Judge James Bowne of Portland Point. It was their great granddaughter. Hannah
Salter, who married Mordecia Lincoln, the great grandfather of Abraham,
President of the United States. The
husband of Alice Stout, the second daughter of Richard, was John
Throckmorton. Dr. John E. Stillwell, who wrote an early history of
the Stouts, was a grandson of Alice.
The third daughter of Richard, Sarah, became the wife of John Pike. It was of their line that Zebulon Pike,
1779-1813, American general and explorer was descended. He found in 1806 Pike's Peak, and then
pushed on to California. Tradition says
that when General Pike went west to Colorado he had two or three Stout boys
with him.
Five of Richard's seven sons, namely John, Richard, James, peter,
and Ben settled at Middletown or in Monmouth County. Two sons, Jonathon and David removed to adjoining districts to
the south of Middletown. The last two
were the ancestors of all Stout families who settled in Western Virginia so far
as is known.
David Stout, who married Rebecca Ashton of Freehold, settled first
on Hop River but moved in 1725 to Amwell Township. He died at the age of thirty-seven of pleurisy. Descendants of two of David's sons were
among Western Virginia's early residents.
Of the seven children, one son, James Stout, with his wife Catherine
Simpson, resided on a homestead of 700 acres in the same township as their
father. James, too, died young, at the
age of thirty-three years, leaving seven children, one of which was also named James.
This second James, with his wife Jemimah Howell Reeder, also dwelt
in Amwell township. One son of their
six children whose name was Caleb, came in 1783 to what is now Harrison County,
West Virginia. Another son, Abel,
settled with the Wyckoff Family in the Louden-Culpepper County of Virginia. Reuben Stout and wife willed Abel's son,
Jacob, his farm nearby. A son, Isaiah,
located near Monticello on a 1200-acre estate. Abel died eight years later and
was buried at White Oak Springs, Augusta County, Virginia.
David's son, Joseph had a single child, Mary, by his first wife,
Mary Ashland. His second wife, Martha
Reeder, of New Brunswick, New Jersey, was the mother of eight children. When Joseph settled at Hopewell, he lived on
land bequeathed him by his father, David.
After Joseph's death, five of his sons left New Jersey to settle farther
west. Abner, Job, and Joseph came to
Western Virginia. About 1800 Abner
moved to Washington County, Pennsylvania, where his brother Ben had settled
before him. Another brother, Jacob, settled in Kentucky.
There were then only four of David's descendants who remained as
early residents in what is now Harrison County, West Virginia. They were Caleb, son of James, and Abner,
Job, and Joseph, sons of Joseph, brother of James.
Another son of Richard and Penelope, Jonathon, in 1685 took for
his wife Anna Bollen. She was probably
the daughter of Captain James Bollen, Secretary of the New Jersey Province,
traditionally a close relative of Anne Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII, King of
England, and mother of Queen Elizabeth I.
Jonathon and Anna lived on a farm at Hopewell, south of Amwell
township. Together with Nathan Drake,
John Hart, and the Bowne Family, Jonathan helped establish the Baptist Church
of Hopewell. For forty-one years the
meetings were held at the home of Jonathon or at that of one of his children,
before a meetinghouse was built in the early 1700's. John Hart, signer of the Declaration of Independence, donated the
land for the church and was later buried in the graveyard adjoining. Nine of
the fifteen original members of this church organization were Stouts or Stout
descendants. Jonathan served as a
Captain of the Militia and as a President of the County Court. At his death he left a personal estate of
Nine children survived Jonathan.
The oldest, Colonel Joseph, who lived on land deeded to him by his
father at Middletown, took as his wife Ruth Brinson. The story goes that when Colonel Joseph offered the Baptist
congregation at Middletown a lot on which to build their church, the offer was
refused. Joseph was so wrought up that
he said he would build on the lot a house larger than a church. The result was a nine room, two story house
with basement which was used during the Revolutionary War as Gen. Washington's
headquarters, and in which he held a famous council of war. The house was later called Hunt House
because a brother-in-law of Col. Joseph's brother, named John Price Hunt, lived
there at the time. Hunt House is now a memorial. St. Ledger Codd Stout, a grandson of Col. Joseph, came about 1790
to settle near the present town of Beverly, West Virginia.
Another son of Jonathon, Benjamin, married Hannah Bonham, a
descendant of Edward Fuller who came to America on the Mayflower as the
twenty-first signer of the Mayflower Compact. She was also a descendant of Captain Francis Drake, a relative of
Sir Francis.
Five sons of Ben and Hannah were among the early settlers of
present Harrison County, West Virginia.
They were Jonathan, Hezekiah, Benjamin, Ezekiel, and Hosea.
The Stout family, which descended from Richard, first in America,
and his wife Penelope, had been living in the northern part of New Jersey for
more than a hundred years before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. Only
explorers or hunters and traders had yet entered the dense forests of Western
Before the time of the Revolutionary War, six nations of Indians
held control in that part of the country known today as West Virginia. Along the principal rivers of the state, the
Indians had rude shelters or wigwams at the place where they engaged in
hunting. They kept their settlements
north of the mountains or to the west in Ohio.
Frequently, other tribes from beyond the Ohio River challenged their
By 1716, Governor Spottswood's men sent out of eastern Virginia to
explore, had reached the summit of the Allegheny Mountains, the present
Pendleton County of West Virginia.
Soon afterwards, settlements were made along the Potomac River. Settlers feared to cross the mountains, both
because of French claims on the district, and because of the danger of Indian
attacks. The seizing of Fort Duquesne
and the treaty of Fort Stanwix, which gave the white man the title to Western
Virginia lands, really provided an entrance for pioneers from the East.
The Indians had regular routes for travel well beaten down by
their feet over a period of many years, which could easily be followed by one
of their number. These paths served as
guide to the white hunters, trappers and traders who were the first to enter
the mountainous district.
The settlements in West Augusta District were usually made by
three or more men coming in the spring over the most traveled trails on
horseback or afoot. When they found a
place to their liking, they made a tomahawk claim, which consisted in blazing a
mark on their boundary to show their right of possession. Often they stayed long enough to build rude
shelters and trap for furs before they returned home. In 1779, the Homestead Law required a settler to live a year on
his claim and raise a crop of corn, thus establishing his claim to 400
acres. Clearing land, planting a patch
of corn, and building a cabin, would require a full summer 5 work. It might be late in the fall before he
could store his crop and return to bring his family to his new home. In the earliest days, men waited sometimes
for years before moving a family to a new location.
Building a home on the new land was not a light task. After a pioneer found a suitable place near
a spring, other settlers would help him raise his dwelling. This consisted of felling the trees,
notching the logs, and chinking them with clay, riving the clapboards, and
placing them for a roof. Next, they
built a chimney of stone, mud, and sticks.
The final tasks consisted of laying a puncheon floor and cutting doors
and windows. The rule of help for help back would keep a settler occupied for a
time since he must pay other settlers in kind.
When the buildings in a settlement were complete and the family
safely sheltered, there were frequent corn huskings and a man could claim a
kiss from his sweetheart if he found a red ear of corn. Many kinds of "bees", as a
quilting, a bean stringing, a logrolling, etc., furnished some social life for
a settlement. A wedding was no doubt a
matter of the greatest moment. If no
minister lived nearby, all weddings would be performed when a traveling parson
passed through. Sometimes one man in
the community was granted the authority to "say the words." After a marriage ceremony, which was
performed at the bride's home, followed by a dinner, which all the neighbors
attended, the entire group escorted the pair to the home of the groom. Some uninvited guest of the group started up
a form of merry making by slipping ahead to stack logs or tree limbs to block
the path of the bride and groom. The
couple often rode or walked along to the accompaniment of a calithumpian band,
which performed by beating a stick on any form of metal to make a noise. A big supper was ready when the pair arrived
at the home of the groom. There must
also be a treat for the merrymakers. If
a fiddle were present the time following the evening meal was spent in dancing.
The original name of the "Westerly" part of Virginia to
which the early Stout settlers came was Spottsylvania. After 1734, the western part of
Spottsylvania was called Orange County.
In November 1738, Orange County was divided into two sections: the northeastern part being termed the
County of Frederick, and the remainder called the County of Augusta. That
portion of Augusta lying west of the mountains became officially known, after
1775, as the District of West Augusta.
In October 1776, the Assembly of the New Commonwealth of Virginia
divided the West Augusta District into three counties: The Ohio, the Monongalia
and Youghiogheny. In 1784, Monongalia was divided into two parts, the northern
called Monongalia, the southern receiving the name of Harrison County. Later on, the district known as Harrison
County was divided into sixteen entire of parts of counties. Randolph County was formed in 1787, Lewis
County in 1816, Gilmer and Doddridge in 1845, and Upshur in 1851.
The first descendant of the Stout family of New Jersey to appear
in the West Augusta District was Ben Stout, son of Ben, grandson of Jonathan,
and great grandson of Richard and Penelope.
He blazed his name on a claim in the Simpson Creek area in 1754. Coming to this section as a hunter and
trapper, he may have trapped for a number of seasons before he finally returned
in 1772 to West Augusta to settle, laying claim to 400 acres on Simpson Creek
There is a tradition to many families of the Stouts that there
were three brothers who came from New Jersey as settlers. Investigation shows that the three
brothers were most likely Joseph, Abner, and Job.
Since New Jersey was overrun so badly during the Revolutionary
struggle by the British and American armies passing through its boundaries as
they moved north or south, the Stout families who lived in the line of their
march mush have suffered great losses in food, forage, in animals, and even in
real estate. For a large number of the
Stout men stood on the side of the Colonists against England, although some
were sympathizers with the English and consequently lost their land through its
being sequestered. Some had even fled
the country to escape taking part in the conflict, returning after the war
ended. No doubt the condition of their
New Jersey homesteads, as well as the reports brought back from the region west
of the Alleghenies by Ben, Jonathan, and perhaps Hezekiah, must have prompted
the various Stout men to bring their families to found new homes in the West,
rather than to rebuild in New Jersey.
In the early years following the close of
the Revolutionary War, Caleb Stout, after serving in Captain Breaily's Company,
Second New Jersey Regiment, and spending two years as a prisoner in Quebec,
came to settle in Monongalia County in 1783.
At first he appeared on Elk Creek; in 1796 he purchased from Jonathan's
son, Daniel, 245 acres on Brushy Fork of Elk.
Caleb was taxed to vote in 1785.
He was also registered to vote for President of the United States in
A brother of Ben Stout, Jonathan, a
Lieutenant in the New York Regiment, turned west after his discharge from the
Army, arriving in Monongalia with his three sons, Bonham, Thomas, and
Daniel. In addition to the land he had
claimed in 1775, Jonathan obtained grants in 1785 for himself, Thomas, and
Daniel, and in 1788, for his sons Bonham and Amos. Amos, a younger son, seems
to have been too young to vote with the five Stouts who were on the list of
those who paid taxes in Harrison County in 1785. By 1792, Jonathan's wife and family appear, for a daughter,
Sarah, is named in the marriage records of that year.
In the year 1790, Job Stout, with Abner and
Joseph, his brothers, is found for the first time in Harrison County
records. Job secured 95 acres, Abner
300 acres by 1796, Joseph had 1260 acres on the West Fork River in 1793. This Abner Stout had married Levina,
daughter of Jonathan, who sold Abner 300 acres of land in Harrison County. By 1793 Abner had purchased land and moved
to Washington County, Pennsylvania, near his brother, Ben. After 1817, no further record of Joseph
Stout is found in Harrison County. He
later is found in Doddridge County.
A brother of Ben and Jonathan was Hosea. His name appears for a brief period in the
list of voters in the 1790's, but he disappears.
A Hosea Stout is on record as having gone west with Brigham Young,
serving for a time as Young's private secretary, later rising to the position
of Attorney General of the State of Utah.
Whether the Hosea who lived in Harrison County was the Hosea of western
fame has not been established.
A fourth brother, Ezekial, found his way to
Harrison County in 1787, laying claim to 870 acres on Brown 5 Creek, south of
the present Mt. Clare. His land
adjoined that of Edward Jackson of the Jane Lew Jackson line. Ezekial's land is still in the possession of
his descendants, one of whom now lives close to the site of the original log
cabin. Growing on the lawn of this
house is a rose bush which is proudly pointed out as being the one which was
brought by Ezekial's wife, Sarah Drake Stout, when she settled there after
coming from New Jersey.
By 1796, the total amount of land owned by
Stouts in Harrison County was 4,541 acres.
Hezekiah Stout, brother of Jonathan, laid
claim to land in 1783 on Brushy Fork, and his name appeared on the list of taxed
voters from 1796 to 1799. Though he
was twice married, to widow Smith and to widow Sorter, Hezekiah had no
children. Mrs. John Lang, late of
Bridgeport, reported the story of Hezekiah told her. "Uncle Hezekiah was slow." Mrs. Lang said. "One Sunday morning when they had a
house full of company, Aunt Becky, Uncle Hezekiah's wife, was making biscuits
for breakfast. She needed a hot fire but was running short of fuel, so to the
first person who came through the kitchen, without turning to look who it was,
Aunt Becky called out, "Say, would you bring me a load of wood?" Not receiving any reply, she turned to look
at the one who had entered. When she
saw it was her husband, she added "And don't be all week." Uncle Hezekiah stopped long enough to take
in the situation. Then, with a knowing
grin he slowly and deliberately picked up his hat and cane and left the
house. He returned a week later to the
exact hour carrying on his arm the load of wood."
Nancy Ann Stout, the daughter of St. Ledger Codd Stout was a direct descendant, in the royal line of England, of Prince Lionel of Antworth, son of King Edward III. The seventh descendant in line from Prince Lionel was Sir Anthony St. Ledger who came to America in 1609, and was a personal friend of Sir Walter Raleigh. Sir Anthony became a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. Later, he returned to England and became the Lord Mayor of London. Mary Ann St Ledger Codd, of the fourth generation following Sir Anthony, was the first of her family to remain in America. In 1730, Mary Ann married James Stout, the great grandson of Richard and Penelope through Jonathon and his son, Colonel Joseph. Nancy Ann Stout was the granddaughter of James and Mary Ann St. Ledger Codd Stout who settled in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
Nancy Stout married into the Hart family
during the Revolutionary War. Edward Hart, while a soldier serving in the New
Jersey Militia, received a three-day pass to go home to marry Nancy. George Washington attended the wedding, and
later visited in the Hart home. When
General Washington chose 2200 men to go with him to cross the Delaware River to
Trenton, December 25, 1777, Edward Hart was one of the group. Edward in his
later life received a pension for his military service
Edward Hart was the son of John Hart, signer
of the Declaration of Independence.
Mrs. Elizabeth Buckey, a Hart descendant in Beverly, says that John Hart
came with his sons Edward and Daniel when they came to settle there. "Later, he returned to New Jersey by
way of Baltimore," she says. The
records say that he left his home and hid out for two years. When he returned home his wife was
dead. When the countryside was
"beset with enemies and infested with tories" she had fled her home
with her children. After losing her
mind from worry, Deborah Scudder Hart died October 1776.
John Hart had been a delegate to the first
and second Continental Congresses and Speaker of the New Jersey Legislature
until illness forced him to resign.
England took all of John's estate, reducing him to poverty. "Honest John" as he was commonly
known, died before victory was assured in 1780, at seventy-two years of age.
Some years ago an article appeared in the
Saturday Evening Post which stated that a reward had been offered by the
British during the Revolutionary Period, which would pay $10,000 for any signer
of the Declaration of Independence whether dead or alive. To escape capture, John Hart, Edward's
father, slipped away into a swamp in which Col Charles Lindberg later built his
home. One cold rainy night in this
Sourland Country of New Jersey, he was in the swamp trudging along when he saw
a small light in a cabin window. The
man who lived in the cabin answered when John knocked at his door to inquire if
he might find lodging for the night.
"We have only one bed, but you may sleep
on the floor with the dog," was the reply. John Hart accepted gladly, but he left early in the morning,
always in fear of being recognized. His
host that night probably never knew whom he had befriended. The hardships he suffered shortened John's
Edward Hart was a contractor. In 1787, he took the contract to build the
first courthouse and jail at Beverly for $400.
After ten years, the work was concluded. Edward also gave the town a playground for pitching
horseshoe. This was the first public
playground in the United States. In 1798, Edward Hart gave bond to keep an
"Ordinary" (Inn) in Randolph County.
His prices were: "For lodging
and clean sheets each night .08, Breakfast .12, Supper .12, Dinner
.16." Through the years Edward
accumulated about 600 acres of land.
All of his estate he willed to his wife Nancy provided that she would
remain single after his death. In case
she should remarry, she could have but a third for her own use, all to be
passed on to her nine children after her demise. Edward Hart passed on in 1812, Nancy died in 1844. Both are
buried in the Beverly Cemetery.
Edward and Nancy's oldest son, John Montgomery
Hart, married Deborah Stout, his first cousin, daughter of Abagail Hart,
Edward's sister, wife of Moses Stout.
In 1803 the family lived in a large house on Rich Mountain. They moved in 1822 to the town of
Elkins. In 1829, John served as
Sheriff of Randolph County. He moved to
Kentucky in 1834, where his wife died.
Returning in 1858, he lived for a time with Ziba Reese, his grandson, in
whose home he died in 1865. The John
Montgomery Hart home in Elkins was on the spot where a stone house now stands
just outside the gates at the Maplewood Cemetery. The wall nearby is still in use as it was a hundred years
ago. The story goes that the Moses
Stout family moved from New Jersey to settle in Harrison County around 1800,
and that some descendants supposedly went on into Gilmer County later.
Edward and Nancy Hart's daughter, Abigail Ann
Hart, married Tyrus Wees. Their grandson, Boyd Wees, was a prosperous merchant
in Elkins.
Joseph Hart, Edward's son, was a lawyer and
prosecuting attorney in Randolph County.
His daughter, Nancy Ann Hart, married Lemuel Chenowith, the builder of
covered bridges. He also built fine
furniture and houses. It is told of Lemuel that he went to Richmond, Virginia,
to put in a bid for building the Philippi Bridge. He carried in his saddlebags small logs, which he had sawed and
whittled, out of which he constructed a miniature form of the proposed
bridge. He laid his plan on two chairs,
serving as abutments, then he stood and walked on the model bridge. He received the contract for the Philippi
Brigge and for five others, those at Cheat River, Huttonsville, Dailey,
Beverly, and Ellamore. The Philippi Bridge built in 1852, was the only two-lane
covered bridge west of the Alleghenies.
Some of the homes, which he built, are still standing in Beverly, among
them the house in which his family lived at the intersection of routes 250 and
Edward and Nancy Hart's daughter, Deborah,
married Captain William Booth, a veteran of the War of 1812. He was a son of Daniel Booth whose father,
Captain James Booth, settler of Booth's Creek, had been killed by Indians in
1778. Daniel had been the owner and
operator of the Booth's Ferry, which was later, replaced by the Philippi
Little is known of Captain William Booth's
family except that after William's death all of the family went to Illinois
except the son, Houston, who settled near the Booth schoolhouse in Harrison
County. Some of the family located in
Chicago where they started the Booth Fisheries that developed into a million-dollar
industry. Some of William Booth's
descendents married into the Stout family.
Daniel Farnsworth, the son of Thomas
Farnsworth, Jr., was born at Staten Island in 1766. After his marriage to Rachel Stout of New Jersey, they lived for
some time on Staten Island, New York, before selling their land and settling in
Western Virginia in 1814. The money,
which they received for their New York land, consisted of gold guineas, which
they used to pay for their new homestead.
Some pieces of the money, which were left over, were handed down in
later years among various members of the family as keepsakes. The land, which they purchased, was made up
of parts of some and all of others of five counties of present West Virginia.
Daniel brought Rachel and the children in a
carriage. The diary of their journey
from New York to Philadelphia, to Lancaster, to York, to Gettysburg, to
Hancock, Maryland, to Cumberland, to Morgantown, to Clarksburg, and present Buckhannon
gave, in addition to the route, the names of the Inns and their Inn Keepers
where they stopped. On their arrival,
Daniel built the first dwelling house on Buckhannon Island, his son, James, the
first store. Some of the descendants
still live on land purchased by Daniel.
A descendant of note was Daniel D. D. T.
Farnsworth, 1819 -1892, a tailor, storekeeper, and farmer, who was elected in
1861 to the General Assembly at Richmond.
Severance of West Virginia from the Mother State, however, precluded his
attendance. Instead, he became a
member of the second Wheeling Convention, and of the first House of Delegates
of West Virginia. When he served in the
State Senate of West Virginia, he was chosen President of the Senate. On the resignation of Governor Boreman, he
served as Governor of West Virginia for five days, Feb. 27 to March 3,
1869. In 1872, he was a member of the Second Constitutional Convention.
Another descendant, Dr. Floyd F. Farnsworth,
born 1869, became one of the officials of the State Board of Health of
Charleston. His son, French M. Farnsworth, born 1891, became a druggist at
Buckhannon. Ida M. Farnsworth Curry of Rock Cave, West
Virginia, was a teacher of Piano for many years. She was still living in August of 1959, at the age of 96. After suffering a broken hip, she was still
able to sit up in bed to write a letter telling about her family. Her Grandfather, Nathaniel D. Farnsworth,
was said to be the oldest resident of Buckhannon in his time, and lived in a
log house there. This family has
intermarried with the families of Jackson, Reger, Hart, Bassel, Edminston,
Clifford, Martin, Carper, and McCarty.
The first Benjamin Stout, whose name appeared
in 1754 (*) on a claim of land on Simpson's Creek, must have come at eighteen
years of age, for his birth date is given in New Jersey records as 1736. His claims to land in Harrison County were
recorded in 1775. Only in New Jersey
records are found the names of Rebecca Doolhagen, Ben's first wife, with three
sons, Andrew Bray, Samuel, and Benjamin.
A fourth son, Hezekiah, appears later in Harrison County as does Martha
Schenk Stout, Ben's second wife, whom he married in 1772, the date of their coming to Western Virginia. Tradition
says that Ben Stout was killed by an Indian.
There are no details as to when or where, but Ben's will is found on
record under the date of September 17, 1788, in Book 31, Page 145, of New
Jersey wills.
(*) date not verified in Harrison County records.
The rest of the family's story is learned
from Harrison County records. In 1789, Ben's son by his first wife, Hezekiah
Stout, married Mary Powers. In 1790, Martha Schenk Stout's name first
appeared on the list of tithables in Harrison County. She later appeared on record under the name of Martha Stout,
widow, on the applications for marriage of some of Ben's children in the years
following 1791. In 1793, the heirs of
Ben Stout of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, purchased 180 acres on Board Camp
Run from Thomas Webb. In 1807, Sarah
Stout married Thomas Eldridge, and in 1811, she sold for $500.00, 57 acres of
land on Booth's Creek, which she inherited from Ben Stout's estate.
On September 5, 1809, a daughter, Rachel,
died leaving to her brother Nathaniel all her property which she specified as
her inheritance from the estate of Ben Stout, late of Hunterdon County, New
Jersey. Nathaniel signed the marriage
application of a sister, Sarah. In
1808, Nathaniel married Peggy Monhar.
In 1800 a son, Daniel Stout, married Jemima Stout, Daughter of
Caleb. Some of the Daughters chose
first cousins as their husbands: Catherine, in 1791, married Ezekial's son,
Daniel; Mary, in 1797, married Ezekial's son, Dr. Hezekiah. A daughter, Charity, in 1802 married James
Malone. They settled at Stout's Mills
in what is now Gilmer County.
After Daniel, with his wife, Jemimah, moved
to present Stout's Mills, he purchased, in 1807, 103 acres along the Little
Kanawha River. While the Staunton to
Parkersburg Turnpike was in process of construction between the years 1831 and
1836, Daniel Stout was employed as a hunter and packer to provide meat for the
construction engineers. Gilmer County
records state that Daniel was accidentally shot at a deer lick, and was buried
near Smithville, Ritchie County.
In 1848, Jemima, widow of
Daniel, Mary, her daughter and the wife of Phillip Norman, and also a son,
Samuel E. Stout, signed the deed in which the farm of Daniel was sold to
Currance Conrad.
Concerning Ben's son, Hezekiah, very little
is known after his marriage to Mary Powers, in 1789. Professor T. Marcellus
Marshall, a great grandson, was an early President of Glenville State Normal
School. He wrote in a letter from
Stout's Mills that when his Grandmother was old she told of having lived with
her husband on the French Broad in Tennessee where he kept the ferry on the
Boone Road to Transylvania. Professor Marshall further states that before 1801,
Hezekiah had been in Webster county, where he had built a cabin at Stout's
Glade, later called Stout's Cabin, which was burned in the Civil War. He also said, the Stout people were at
Stout's Mills since about 1801. A large
shaft marks Professor Marshall's grave, in the Stout Cemetery at Stout's Mills. The Cemetery is almost inaccessible because
of many years of neglect.
A grandson of Hezekiah, Samuel Smith Stout,
writing in 1917, from Los Angeles, stated that he was one "of the third
generation", and the last one of nineteen living, of the Stouts of the
settlement of the Stouts of Stout's Mills, West Virginia.
Records and letters seem to add up to the
following picture. Hezekiah Stout with
his wife and children, together with any sisters and brothers, or even cousins,
with their husbands or wives; any in fact, in whom Hezekiah could stir up an
interest to go with him, a total of nineteen started out to settle in a place
which he may have previously located. That place was at the mouth of Big
Sliding Hill Run along the Little Kanawha River on land covered with virgin
forest. On his arrival Hezekiah built a
cabin and a gristmill. He leased an
acre of the land to James Malone, the husband of his sister, Charity. According to the agreement, James was
permitted to build any type of mill on the said land except a gristmill. The town, which later grew up about the
location, took the name of Stout's Mills.
Other Stouts found in the same community were
Hezekiah's brother Daniel, a cousin Sarah, and Hezekiah's son Hezekiah Jr., and
Samuel and Thomas.
Professor Marshall further stated, "My land is just a mile across Spring
Hollow from where the first cabin was built on the flat bottom that extends to
here, where it spreads around considerably more. Later they built on the hill flat by the road some distance from
the river, and where the public road has passed for nearly a century, to make
the turn and pass the bad bluff along the river."
Hezekiah Sr.'s name is on record in the 1840
census of Gilmer as having eight in the family. By 1850 his land is in the possession of Hezekiah Jr., who later
willed it to his youngest son,
Samuel. When Samuel decided to
move to California, in 1863, he sold the farm of 130 acres to a first cousin,
Sarah, and her husband, Robert R. Marshall.
They were the parents of T. Marcellus Marshall, who told the story of
Hezekiah Sr.'s last days. Marsellus
said, "Sarah Stout's grave is on my land, a mile from here, where I was
born. Her husband took a drove of
cattle toward Lynchburg, Virginia, and never was heard of beyond that
No record is found of the burial place of
Hezekiah Sr., though the graves of his sons are in the Stout graveyard at
Stout's Mills.
In 1834, Hezekiah Stout Jr., received land
grants of 50 acres on Copen Run, 50 acres on the Little Kanawha River, and in
1840 100 acres on Butchers Run.
Hezekiah, born in 1788, the son of Hezekiah Sr., had been living in the
Stout's Mills community in the early days of its settlement. In 1807 he married Mary Ann Wolfe of
Harrison County. In later years he married
a second wife, Sarah Kline, and a third, Mary Alexander. In 1865 William Stout, a son, was
administrator of the estate of Hezekiah Jr.
As such, he sold to Matthew Holt a lot, as directed in his father's
will. The will, dated August 13, 1850,
left the home place to the widow, Mary Stout, and at her death to her youngest
son, Samuel Smith Stout.
The family of Hezekiah Stout Jr. was a large
one, many of the children growing into men and women of fine character. They are remembered as leaders in their
communities by some of the older folk today.
Philip Rutherford was reared in the home of Hezekiah Jr., and in young
manhood married a daughter, Emzey.
As a boy, Phillip managed a trap line, which
covered a territory of 25 miles.
Starting out on Monday morning, he would camp out at night, cook his
food, and return home by the end of the week.
For years Uncle Philip and Aunt Emzey lived in a hewn log house, which
had been carefully built. This had been twice extended, no doubt as the size of
the family grew. It was located in present Braxton County along Cedar Creek, a
third of a mile above the mouth of Butchers Run. Many relatives and neighbors gathered at his old home to help
Uncle Philip celebrate his ninety-first birthday. He passed on about a year later. He was buried beside Aunt Emzey in the Rutherford Cemetery
located on his farm.
Uncle Phillip and Aunt Emzey Stout Rutherford
had a son Daniel, who married Virginia Stout, a great granddaughter of
Caleb. Uncle Daniel, a fine carpenter,
lived in a house he built adjoining the upper Hotel at Cedarville. He erected other homes in the community, but
the work that is most appreciated is the building of Cedarville Baptist Church. The structure is still in use. Uncle Daniel and Aunt Virginia were probably
the best loved people in their community.
A daughter of Hezekiah Stout Jr. was Nancy, the wife of Daniel
Townsend. Though they lived at Stout's
Mills, Daniel ran a mill of his own at Sand Ford. Leona Baker, who was reared in his home and later married Nancy's
grand nephew, makes the statement that Nancy was an efficient housekeeper and a
fine cook. Nancy was a midwife and a
nurse for all the sick of the community.
She still found time to be the best quilter in the community. "She made a quilt for everybody,"
Leona said.
A daughter of Nancy Stout and Daniel
Townsend, Louisa, married Marion Stout, great grandson of Caleb. After Marion was killed by an explosion of a
steam engine engaged in threshing grain, Louisa took a second husband, Jahu (Jabe)
Greenlief. Aunt Lou, as Louisa was
commonly known, was a pillar in the church.
At every meeting Aunt Lou sat in her pew, wearing her little cap and
white apron. She came to life in a
revival meeting when she shook hands with all and urged them to "be
faithful, live faithful." Two sons
and two daughters were leaders in the church and community.
A granddaughter of Nancy Stout Townsend,
Hallie McCullough, carried on Nancy's tradition. The night was never too dark, the roads too muddy, nor the weather
too bad for her to travel any number of miles on horseback to help a sick
Two sons of Hezekiah Stout Sr. settled in
Gilmer County, Samuel and Thomas B.
Samuel Stout married Elizabeth Stump and settled at Stout's Mills. Their daughter, Sarah, married Robert R.
Marshall, in June 1861 after having wrongfully accused of killing a Federal
Courier. John F. Sutton, in his History of Braxton County, gives this account
of the tragedy:
"Two Federal Couriers, coming up Wine
Hill from Big Run were fired upon by Ben Haymond, and one of them was
killed. Just over the hill on the west
side of Wine Gap, near the foot of the hill, some Federal soldiers captured
Thomas Stout and two of his sons, Jonathan and Isaac, at their home, brought
them to this place, and killed the father, shot Isaac, and wounded him
badly. Jonathan made his escape by
flight. Thinking Isaac was killed, the
soldiers ran after Jonathan, shooting at him, and while this was going on Isaac
made his escape. Jonathan joined the
Confederate Army, lived through the war and for many years thereafter, and was
finally killed by a falling tree.
Isaac, though badly wounded iii the mouth, recovered and is still
living." (1919)
Madge Stout Douds, Manager of the Robinson
Grand Theater in Clarksburg, West Virginia, is a granddaughter of Isaac. Pearly Stout of Burnsville is a son of
Thomas, and a grandson of Thomas who was shot.
Some of the Caleb Stout Great Grandchildren
attended Mr. Robert R. Marshall's subscription school when he taught in an old
log church that stood on the same spot as the present Baptist Church at
Cedarville. The tuition at the time
ranged fro fifty cents to a dollar per month per pupil.
At least two of the brothers of Hezekiah Jr.,
as well as others of his twelve children settled in the various communities in
the vicinity of Stout's Mills. Among
the descendents were the Jessee Stump, the William Cottril, and the Jemison
Heater families.
These pioneers were known for their
hospitality. If one came to their door,
he would be invited to "stay all day," when he rose to leave he was
pressed to "stay all night."
If he responded that he must be going, he must also reply, "You
come and go home with me," or "you pick up and come down and spend
the day with us." If a man were
plowing in his cornfield and a neighbor arrived to visit him, all work was
suspended and the day was spent in socializing.
Jonathan Stout, brother of the first Ben who came to Simpson's Creek, enlisted in the Revolutionary Army in the First New Jersey Regiment of Enlisted Men. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant before receiving his discharge from service in New York State. Though Jonathan had previously laid claim to lane in Western Virginia, his name appears first on the Harrison County Tax List in 1785
In the Simpson's Creek Church Minutes of 1780, there
appears a record showing that Reverend John Corbly on that date baptized Daniel
Stout, his wife Elizabeth, and brother Thomas.
These were the two sons and daughter-in-law of Jonathan. If we can trust that date as being accurate,
it establishes the fact that
Jonathan's sons were living on Simpson 5 Creek after their father had returned
to New Jersey for his service in the Army.
It further shows that these Stouts were holding to the tradition of the
earlier generations of the Richard Stout line in joining the Baptist Church.
By 1792, the date at which Jonathan's wife, Hannah Jewell, and
his daughters are mentioned in legal records, Jonathan had settled on Simpson's
Creek. By this time, he had spent 77 of
his 96 years. It was in that year that
his daughter Sarah in Harrison County married James Malone. After 1800, a second daughter, Priscilla,
is on record as becoming the wife of John Murphy. A third daughter, Louisa, had previously married Abner Stout, of
the Richard-David Stout line. A deed
recorded in Harrison County states that Jonathan sold a 300-acre tract of land
to Abner, his son-in-law. Not long
after, however, Abner and Louisa moved to Washington County, Pennsylvania,
locating near his brother, Ben. One of their descendants is the recent Governor
Martin of Pennsylvania.
Jonathan's son, Bonham, married Sarah Finley and later Ann Sair
in Harrison County. But by 1812, he had
moved to Ohio and later on to Missouri.
Daniel and Elizabeth also moved west, settling finally in Kentucky,
after spending some time in Missouri.
Jonathan's two sons, Thomas and Amos, remained in Western Virginia. Amos, who married Rachel Patton owned land
first on Simpson's Creek and Stout's Run, but by 1799, he moved to Hackers
Creek, present Lewis County.
Thomas, whose wives were Margaret Phillips and Mary Stewart,
owned land on Elk Creek in 1775, but lived on Simpson's Creek in 1785. He became a noted spy in the Virginia
service on the frontier, for which he received a pension in 1833. The Thomas and Amos Stout descendants still
remain in Harrison County.
Later generations appreciated the stories of "Uncle
Tom's" scouting days. Mable Stout,
a descendant, now a retired teacher, of Clarksburg, is the authority for the
statement that when her grandfather, James Pindall Stout, as a boy went with
his father, Ben, to visit Uncle Tom, the boy became enthralled by the stories
of Indian days. Upon his return home he
kept asking so many questions that his father threatened to give him a
"tanning" if he asked anything more.
Benjamin Stout, son of Thomas, had been reared on, and later
inherited the home farm, which was located about two miles north of the present
town of Bridgeport. When the town was
incorporated, Ben Stout was said to be the oldest resident. His house was then one of the finest in the
County. A legend exists in the family of Ransel Romine of Clarksburg that when
the Romine family arrived from Maryland to settle in Western Virginia, they
stopped at Ben Stout's home to inquire the way. They were fed, kept over night, and treated so well that the
families were friends ever after.
When Ben was Justice of the County Court, he applied for
permission to build a dam for a saw and gristmill. Ben's lands were heavily timbered, and he and his son James
Pindall, sawed great quantities of lumber, some of which was loaded onto flat
boats and floated to Pittsburg. In
1839, on the recommendation of the County Court, the Governor appointed Ben,
Sheriff of Harrison County. After Ben's
death in 1843, his son James continued to run the Mill until it was washed away
shortly after the Civil War. He was the
only Confederate sympathizer in the family.
The sons of Ben were prominent in business affairs of the County. John R., a farmer and grazer, at one time owned about a thousand acres of well-watered land. Thomas moved to Washington County, Pennsylvania, about 1860. Ben Brown Stout served as County Commissioner for ten years. Lemuel E. Stout was a blacksmith in the Union Army, serving only a few days until the war ended. After returning home, he became a farmer. His name is remembered best for the Methodist Chapel at Bridgeport which was named for him because he was influential in its building and had contributed largely to its maintenance.
Later descendants of Ben have also taken a large place in public affairs. James Otis Stout was a farmer-teacher who married Mary E. Crawford, who in her nineties was the oldest member of the Clarksburg Baptist Church. She had joined the congregation while its members met in the old Court House before a church building had been erected. A grandson, Charles W., became a Judge in Harrison County. Bertha Stout was Principal of the Broaddus Institute at Clarksburg before she became the wife of Porter Maxwell. Pauline Stout is Supervisor of Home Economics in the State Department of Education at Charleston.
The records of Harrison County list the following Stouts that
have served her in one capacity or another: W. Frank Stout, Lawrence R. Lynch,
Alexander Stout, and J. Philip Clifford as members of the Harrison County Bar,
the last a Prosecuting Attorney for many years. Rev. Ben Stout grandson of Sheriff Ben, son of John
Reynolds and Hannah Rose Stout, was one of the most distinguished ministers of
the Methodist Protestant Conference in W. Va.
He later became the first Home Missions Secretary of the General
Denomination, traveling to organize missions and solicit funds. His eloquence earned him the name of
"W.Va. Cyclone." Always a popular speaker, he was called to dedicate
31 churches. It was said of him, "His enthusiasm was as contagious as
his eloquence was inspiring." In
the second year of his ministry, he organized the Methodist Protestant Church
at Parkersburg. He married Martha Hull,
daughter of a charter member of that church.
Rachel Stout, who married Samuel Sheets, had a daughter, Florence, who married Rev. Hamilton Young of the Methodist Protestant Conference. This pastor held some of the greatest revivals ever known in Lewis County.
Rev. Ben Stout's sister, Mrs. Adam Fleming, in recent years provided tombstones for the leading members of her ancestral line in the Benedum Cemetery at Bridgeport - a fitting tribute to a worthy past.
Other descendants stand out in prominence Sylvester B. Stout was formerly Director of the School of Music of Louisiana School of Music. His son, Kemble, was the head of the Music School in Washington State. Bertha Stout Brown, daughter of Charles Q. Stout and Tina Prim Stout, is a teacher in Harrison County.
Early local histories of Western Virginia state that the early settlers arrived over different routes. One was the Nemacolin Path, present U.S. Route 40. Another was the trail from Winchester, Virginia, to Western- port, Maryland, thence to the mouth of the Cheat River, present Graf ton, West Virginia. A third route left from Staunton, Virginia, across the mountains to the present Beverly, and thence further west into the present Harrison, etc. Counties.
Unless they walked, the settlers rode on wooden saddles atop packhorses. Any possessions, which they brought, were carried in saddlebags or creels made of hickory withes. These possessions consisted mostly of agricultural tools, cooking utensils, bedding, and provisions. Children too young to walk were "tied on top as securely as possible." The description of their coming to the frontier is identical as recorded in the histories of several families.
Nanny L. Fordyce described one family's coming as follows; "The husband and father carried an axe and gun on his shoulder; the wife the rim of a spinning wheel in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other; several boys and girls each with a bundle according to size. Two horses were each heavily loaded with necessaries. On the top of the baggage of one was an infant rocked to sleep in a kind of wicker cage lashed securely to the horse. A cow formed one of the company and helped to bear her proportion of service. A bed cord was wound around her horns, and a bag of meal was on her back."
Caleb, son of James Stout, was the first of the David Stout line to come to Western Virginia. An early Lewis County history states that Caleb Stout was the "first or among the first" to arrive with his family in a wagon. The event was noteworthy because of the fact that there were only trails west of the mountains at the time. Other families must have come with him to help hack down trees along the way, and to help dismember and reassemble the wagons where the trail or stream did not readily permit a crossing.
The town of Clarksburg, at the time of Caleb's coming, consisted of two rows of cabins extending from the site of the present Court House east to the Jackson home on the corner of present Main and Maple Streets.
It happened that Judge Jackson was holding District Court, and when it was whispered about that wagons were arriving, the Judge dismissed court and went with the other men present to witness the event. No doubt the arrival of a first wagon was as much a sensation as the coming of a first car or a first airplane at a later date. At the place where Elk Creek empties into the river, present West End Bridge, the men helped to dig down the bank of the stream to enable the wagons to cross. The Judge himself put his hands on Caleb's wagon to help steady it in crossing the stream. The next day, the town folk turned out to help Caleb build his cabin. The date of Caleb's arrival is known only by the fact that in 1785, he was registered in the John Powers List on Simpson's Creek to vote in the election for the first President of the United States.
In 1775, while still a resident of New Jersey, Caleb had seen service in the Revolutionary War. Enlisting in Captain Breaily's Company, 2nd New Jersey Regiment under Colonel Maxwell, Caleb had gone north with Major Arnold through Maine to Quebec. Following the Kennebec and Chaudier Rivers, many of the men of the Company sickened and died because their provisions had become moldy from being upset in crossing the rapids in the River. The men had even reached the extremity of boiling leather to eat. Only a few of the original group reached their destination. They had to wait awhile across the river to build boats and gain recruits. Finally, they crossed and tried to take the fortress of Quebec by attacking from two sides at the same time. In the attempt, General Montgomery was killed, Major Arnold wounded and Caleb Stout taken prisoner.
Held within the walls for nearly
two years, he finally escaped on the night of December 31, 1777. "Without shoes or underwear, clad only
in an overcoat" in the Canadian winter, he found his way back to the
Patriot's camp. After his
discharge he returned
to his New Jersey home Immediately after the Revolution, with
his wife, Elizabeth Labaw Stout, and their children, he had started on his trip
across the mountains.
In 1788, Caleb purchased a two
hundred forty-five acre tract on Brushy Fork, present site of Stonewood, from
Daniel, son of Jonathan Stout. Although Caleb and Elizabeth deeded this land
later to their sons, David and Samuel, they seem to have spent the rest of
their lives there, for two leases are on record in which Samuel and his wife Nancy
gave to Caleb and Elizabeth the right of possession of their home place for the
rest of their lives. Both lived to be
ninety-six years of age.
Caleb's oldest child, Abel,
migrated to Kentucky, and later to Butler County, Ohio, where he died in 1837.
Caleb's son David's name appears in his will, dated 1825, in which he gives his
part of the home place to his brother James, and various items to his brother
Samuel and his sisters Deliverance, Jemima, and Eleanor. His wife, Elizabeth, is not named in the
will. A child, Gideon, was named, but
nothing beyond that has been found.
The marriage record of Titus to Phoebe Hall gives the name of David
Stout as signing the petition. Nothing
further is known of Titus except that he signed the bond for his sister Jemima
Stout to marry Daniel Stout.
Caleb's daughter, Delia Ann
(Deliverance) was unmarried. At the
time of the 1850 census, she was living then in the home of her nephew, Nathan
Stout, in Gilmer County.
Another daughter, Eleanor, in
1817 married Edward Davis, fifth child of Josiah (or Joseph) Davis and his wife
Sophia Jackson Davis, daughter of John and Elizabeth Cummins Jackson of the
"Stonewall" Jackson line. In
fact, Sophia was Stonewall's great Aunt.
Through the years following 1820, Edward and Eleanor accumulated
considerable land on Major Power's Run.
In 1846, they secured 108 acres on Rooting Creek. Later they bought a house and lot in
Johnstown opposite the old blacksmith shop.
At the death of her husband, in 1837, Eleanor received her share of the
estate, and the remainder went to her only child, a son Washington J. Davis, a
lawyer of Lewis County. Jemimah married
Daniel, the son of Jonathan, who settled in Gilmer County. The story has been given in Chapter seven.
Caleb's son, Samuel, in 1815,
married Nancy Stout, daughter of Job and Margaret Richards Stout of West
Milford. Samuel and Nancy lived on
Upper Elk, now Stonewood, for a time, and then moved with their children in
1855 to Gilmer County. Samuel purchased
eleven hundred acres on Steer Creek for twenty-five hundred dollars, which he
paid in five annual installments. When his farm was overrun by the armies
during the Civil War, Samuel, having been robbed, sold his place in 1865 for
$12,000. Soon he moved to Doddridge
County where he later owned all of one valley, Hunter's Fork, in New Milton
Township. At his death, he gave to
each of his twelve children $1,000.
Mrs. Oscar Andre, of Bridgeport,
West Virginia, a descendant, has in her possession an Empire Period cherry chest,
which Samuel and Nancy gave to their daughter, Sarah Catherine Stout, who
married Smith Barnett. Smith Barnett was the son of Reverend Joseph Barnett and
Elizabeth Calhoun. Reverend Joseph's
parents were Joseph Barnett, who served in the Revolution, and Jane Smith both of whom are buried in the old
Jackson Cemetery in Clarksburg.
Smith Barnett was married first
to Aiah Stuart, and they had one child, Rebecca. When Rebecca Barnett was grown, she married Noah B. Stout, a
younger brother of her stepmother, Sarah Catherine Stout Barnett. This made for much confusion among
descendants as to relationships. Mrs.
Thomas Stutler of Salem is a granddaughter of Noah Stout and Rebecca Barnett.
James was four years old when he
came with his father, Caleb Stout, to settle in present Harrison County. He grew up to be a prosperous farmer, a
Democrat, and a Baptist. In 1811, he
chose for his bride Phoebe, the daughter of Edward Jackson, who settled south
of the present town of Mt. Clare.
Phoebe's father had been one chosen by General Washington to cross the
Delaware River with him on December 25, 1776.
Edward and his son Stephen had fought together in the battle of
Yorktown, when Stephen was wounded before he had reached his eighteenth
birthday. James Stout, in 1812,
purchased from Stephen Jackson a part of the home place, which lay across the
hill on Stone Pot Run. There James and
Phoebe reared a family of four sons and two daughters.
Aunt Allie Jackson, late of Jane
Lew, said she remembered seeing Phoebe
Jackson Stout driving down the
streets of Clarksburg in her carriage
drawn by fine horses, and herself
beautifully dressed. One daughter,
Irene Stout, married Rev. Lewis
McDonald and settled in Lewis County.
The second daughter, Martha,
married a Dennison, as did her brother
Their son, Edward Stout, moved to
Missouri and died of Yellow Fever. His bride, Byrd Lawrence, lived near
George. His sons were a conductor on a
street car, a wholesale businessman, a prominent physician in Morgantown. William Stout alone remained in
Missouri. Daniel Stout and his wife,
Emmaline Booth - a John Hart descendant, lived in the home place with his
father until the Staunton to Parkersburg Turnpike was being constructed, when
Daniel built a large frame house on the Lost Creek side of the hill along the
new road. That house was recently
replaced by a new brick home built by Daniel's grandson, Jesse D. Stout. Daniel's daughters, Emma and Laverne Stout
lived nearby. The latter being the
mother of Hoffman and French Young.
The only son, Lloyd, became an
influential man, President of the Board of Education, a founder and Director of
The Harrison County Bank. At the
formation meeting of that bank, the story goes, all details were worked out
leading to the point where forty to fifty thousand dollars must be put up. Someone said, "Where will we get the money?" After a hush, Lloyd spoke up,
"Gentlemen, I reckon I can let you have that amount."
Another son of James Stout and
Phoebe Jackson Stout, Nathan, went about 1840 to settle in Gilmer County. The land which he purchased near Stout's
Mills he later exchanged for another near the village of Townsend's Mills -
later known as Cedarville. A teacher of
subscription schools, a farmer, Nathan later served as a commissioner in the
division of Gilmer County from Lewis.
His wife was Elizabeth Ann Cottril from Harrison County. The children settled in homes nearby and
became substantial members of the
Community. The youngest, John S. Stout
inherited the home farm. He was an
undertaker, a farmer, and a teacher of singing schools. From his experience, he had acquired
perfect pitch so that without an instrument or tuning fork he could start a
song on key. For more than twenty-five
years he served as Moderator of the Mt. Pisgah Association of the Baptist
Church, and as President of the Center District Sunday School Convention.
John's wife, Ellen Ora Snyder
Stout was the daughter of Jacob Snyder, who during the Civil War had gone as a
raw recruit into the battle of Phillippi, then across the mountains and down
the valley to Richmond with Jackson, back up the valley to Chancellorsville, on
into Pennsylvania, to Gettysburg, and back to Appomattox to the surrender,
coming out of the service without a scratch.
Rev. D. Blame Stout, John's son, recalled when as a small child his
mother would take him to see her grandmother. She was old and blind, scarcely
remembering the things which happened each day, but able to tell stories of the
days when her family came to settle at Bulltown. They lived at first in a hollow sycamore tree, large enough to
turn a fence rail around inside. The
Indians under Sitting Bull had only lately been driven out when the family
arrived. Ellen's Grandmother Conrad
died at the age of 119 years.
(ed note: 118 years per Braxton
County History 6/77)
A brother of Ben and Jonathan,
Ezekiel Stout, in 1787, came from New Jersey with his wife and seven children
to settle in present Harrison County.
He lived first on Hacker's Creek across from Johnstown but within the
year he purchased trout George Arnold 870 acres of land on Brown's Creek, at
the foot of the hill that separates the valley from Lost Creek. There Ezekiel lived eight short years,
dying in 1795. He was buried in a
family plot on the hill overlooking his cabin home.
Ezekiel's will gave to his wife,
Sarah Drake Stout, the home place for her lifetime. At her death it was to be passed on to her youngest son, Dr.
Hezekiah. The will gave to each of two
sons, Daniel and Ben 200 acres of land, and to the four daughters, 50 acres
each. Sarah must have been a competent
person, for Ezekiel made her executrix of his will.
Sarah was, in fact, a descendant
of Samuel Fuller who came from England on the Mayflower. When Sarah came from New Jersey, tradition
says she brought with her a rose bush, which she planted near her cabin
home. Her descendants today still
cherish the plant.
One of Ezekiel's daughters was
Prudence, the wife of Abraham Van Horn, who lived on the site of the Blake
School House near Rockford.
A third daughter, Hannah Stout,
married William Powers, son of John Powers, Sr., who settled in Western
Virginia in 1771 and built a Fort west of the town of Bridgeport. His land later came into the hands of Ben
Stout. Later, he was a Justice of the
Peace, living near West's Fort, above Jane Lew. A diary, which William kept enabled him to collaborate with
William Hacker in the First Harrison County History. William's granddaughter
married Eli, son of Levi Bond who was President of the first Board of
Education, first Miller, and oldest resident (106 years) of Lost Creek. Ezekiel's fourth daughter, Sarah Stout,
married Lieutenant John Powers, brother of William, a prominent Indian
Scout. He later became a Trustee of the
Randolph Academy in Clarksburg. He was
appointed as a member of a commission to survey a road to Parkersburg.
At 15 years of age, John
Powers, Jr., enlisted in Captain Joseph Gregory's Company of Indian Spies in
Monongalia County, Virginia. He was
made a 2nd Lieutenant; he voted in the first election for President of the
United States and was a Justice of the Peace in 1800.
Ezekiel's son, Daniel Stout,
married Catherine Stout, the daughter of his father's brother Ben. They owned land adjoining that of
Catherine's brother, Nathaniel, on Booth's Creek. This land Daniel left at his death, in 1808, to his
daughters. The home place he left to
his wife to be divided between their sons, Daniel and Hezekiah. The last two named migrated to Ritchie
County where Hezekiah married and raised a family, but Daniel remained single
and lived to the age of ninety-seven years.
Ezekiel's son, Ben, was a twin of
Dr. Hezekiah. Ben located in Pruntytown with his wife, Sarah Wilkinson. A grandson, Hon. John Wilkinson Stout
became a Civil Engineer, and later a prospector for oil, then a member of the
House of Delegates of West Virginia.
Another grandson organized the First Baptist Church in Pleasant
County. A third grandson, who settled in
Wood County in 1865, became a Colonel in the Militia.
Ezekiel's third son, Dr.
Hezekiah, married Mary Stout, the sister of Catherine, his brother Daniel's
wife. After Dr. Hezekiah studied medicine in England, he
practiced medicine in Harrison County for more than fifty years. The lance he used in his practice and the
recipe, which he used in his successful treatment of cancer, is in the
possession of his great grandson, Claude D. Stout, of Wisconsin.
Aside from the running of his
farm, and his practice of medicine, Dr. Hezekiah was employed as Court Crier at
the Harrison County Court House. He served as overseer of the poor in
1830. When the Doctor was too busy to
keep his accounts, his wife, Mary, helped out.
She did the collecting too, because Dr. Hezekiah did not always call his
patron's attention to a bill. To tease
Mary when the Doctor planned to be away from home, he asked his servants to run
up a red flannel petticoat on a pole before the house, to announce there would
be petticoat government in his absence.
Dr. Hezekiah's son, Milton Stout,
married Elizabeth Hoffman in Harrison County, and lived for a time on the Moses
Van Horn farm near Lost Creek. One day while Milton was felling a tree, his
wife came out of the house to watch.
When Elizabeth felt the tree was about to fall on her husband, she ran
screaming into danger herself. Then
Milton, in his effort to rescue her, was himself caught by the falling timber
and was almost instantly killed.
Elizabeth and her three small
sons resided for a time with Milton's parents.
When she planned to remarry, her Mother-in-law decided to try to keep
the boys by process of law. The widow,
too quick for legal procedures, was married early the same evening and traveled
all night with her new husband and her sons in a buggy, reaching Marietta, Ohio
by daylight, before the demurrer could be served.
One of the three sons was named
Hezekiah Milton Stout, the father of Claude D. Stout, a genealogist, who has
done some very valuable research in Stout family history. He became a lawyer without first gaining a
college education, by "reading law."
The same grit and perseverance he employed to master his profession he has
used in hobbies of coin collecting and the tracing of family lines.
A brother of Claude D., Arlo
Burdette Stout, after gaining a PH.D. at Columbia, became a teacher at the
University of Wisconsin before being appointed Director of the Botanical
Gardens in New York City in 1911, a position which he held until his death. He was the holder of a Phi Beta Kappa Key.
Other descendants of Ezekiel have
remained on the home place in Harrison County.
Though the log house has been removed, two large homes have been
constructed on the land, and are still in possession of the Stout descendants. French, Eli, Ocie Bohn, and Otta, great
grandchildren of Dr. Hezekiah, have passed on in recent years. Their first cousin Howard V. lives on the
site of the original Ezekiel home.
A grandson of Hezekiah, David
Daniel Stout, a physician, practiced medicine at Lumberport until his death in
1903. His sister, Amanda Stout was
prominent in the Harrison County Sunday School Association at the turn of the
Some descendants of Dr. Hezekiah
settled at West Union, others in Ritchie County and in Parkersburg.
grandson of Dr. Hezekiah and his wife, Mary, was John Stout, son of Ben. Born in 1845, on the headwaters of Hackers
Creek he enlisted at eighteen years as a Private in the 20th Virginia Cavalry
under General William S. Jackson. He
was taken prisoner and sent to Camp Chase, near Columbus, Ohio. Later he served until 1869 as a teamster
escorting Government trains to Santa Fe, Phoenix, Arizona, Denver, Colorado,
Omaha, and Salt Lake. He was in an
attack by Chief Red Cloud, of the Sioux. Another time, he was in an attack when
277 men were wiped out by Sitting Bull.
John himself lost his lower right arm and two fingers of the left hand in his trips
across the plains. In 1884 he
married. He located at Wilmot, Kansas,
in 1869, on a large cattle ranch.
In 1790, a second descendant of the David
Stout line appeared in present Harrison County namely Job, son of Joseph and
Martha Reeder Stout. Job brought his
wife, Nancy Bray Stout of New York, and at least the older, perhaps all of
their six children. Job chose Brushy
Fork as his place of residence, and may have lived in a cottage near that of
his daughter, Martha.
Job died not long after, for Nancy had
married a Shinn and then Joseph Hastings and lost them both by 1796, when Mr.
Hasting's will gives to Nancy's sons, Noah and Abner, the land which belonged
to Job. Nancy herself lived until 1810
to 1814, when she died at Peel Tree in the home of Colonel William Martin, her
son-in-law. "Job and Nancy were buried
in the Limestone Graveyard three fourths mile east of Clarksburg", their
grandson William Davisson stated.
Information as to the location of Job's home
on Brushy Fork is not very conclusive.
Mrs. Lillian Booth said he settled "near Martha," Ransel
Romine pointed out as the "old Stout farm" the second farm from the
lower end of the valley. Old could mean
it belonged to any of several Stouts. Job, Job's son, Abner, Jonathan, Daniel,
Ben, Hezekiah, or Samuel. Still another
possible location is the site of the large white house across the valley on the
hill facing Martha's house, where Abner Sterling Stout lived in 1890.
Mrs. Lillian Booth tells this story: "About 1875, my great uncle, William
Davisson, grandson of Job and Nancy Bray Stout, gave Nancy's iron cook pot to
my family. For many years, I carried it
with me everywhere we moved. But when I
moved to Kentucky from Lewisburg, West Virginia, in 1927, somehow I missed
packing it. It held a gallon and a
half, was rounded at the bottom, had three legs, bulged in the middle, grew
smaller at the top, had a flange about the top, and a bail handle. Uncle Billy told me how he'd watched Nancy
cook in that kettle when he was a boy.
Oh Me! How sorry I am that I
lost that iron cook pot." Lillian said.
The children of Job and Nancy numbered six,
namely, Martha, Susan, Abner, Job, Noah, and Joseph.
Martha Stout's husband, Josiah, was a brother
of the Daniel Davisson who was the Proprietor of land at Clarksburg. Josiah had lived for a number of years in
Middlesex, east of Princeton, New Jersey.
He located on Brushy Fork in 1778.
It may be that Josiah and Martha were married in New Jersey and were
instrumental in bringing her father and mother later to Brushy Fork. The present farm of Abner Stout is the site
of the home of Josiah. The title to
the land has passed by will down through the generations until Virginia, wife
of Sydney Haymond and granddaughter of Josiah, sold the place to present Abner
Stout's father, Cletus Stout. Sydney and Virginia had torn down the two
original cabins in which Josiah and possibly Job lived when they built their
palatial home in 1790. An old cellar
alone remains for the early buildings.
Abner Stout and his wife, Agnes, have modernized the latter dwelling
with a beautiful result. Tradition says that at one time, Martha Stout owned
all the land where the city of Wilmington, Del. now stands. Martha was said to be fair and freckled,
with red hair. Josiah and Martha are
buried in the family cemetery about 300 feet from their home. At his death in 1833, Josiah left to Martha
all of his estate to dispose of as she chose.
There were twelve children in the family of
Martha Stout and Josiah Davisson. Many
of them took a prominent place in the county.
Mary Susan Davisson married Abner, son of Thomas and Jane Lewis
Maxwell. Two stories are told about
their coming to Western Virginia. The
first states that Thomas came, found and purchased a place to settle, then
returned to Pennsylvania to bring his family.
The second states that Thomas brought his family when he came to
settle, returned to Pennsylvania, died
and was buried at Chillisquaque, Pennsylvania. Tradition says he was killed by
an Indian
Local history tells how Jane Lewis Maxwell
reared her family with the aid of neighbors like the Colonel William Lowther
family. One of Jane's sons was Lewis,
who later became a prominent and wealthy lawyer in Lewis County. He laid out the lots on the site of the
present town of Jane Lew, naming it so from his Mother's and his own
names. Lewis was a pioneer resident of
Weston, West Virginia
Abner Maxwell, Susan Davisson's husband, was
a great athlete, known far and wide for his great strength - for he had never
been thrown in his life. His home was
located on the first hill at the southern edge of Mt. Clare, on the site of the
house of the late Mr. William Blake.
Their cabin later burned, and the large farm which Abner had gradually
accumulated dwindled after Susan's death.
Abner and Susan were buried in a family cemetery on the hill along the
present road above the home of the late Mrs. Adkins. A second wife, Judith Modisett, reared seven children.
"Susan's son, Frank Maxwell, when a boy
would lie in the haymow all day Sunday because he did not have clothes fit to
go courting like the other boys," said Aunt Lillian Davisson Booth who
lived in the first farm around the hill from Frank. "He had a plan that made him a millionaire."
Frank Maxwell also became a remarkable man,
6' 3" tall with an equally sturdy mind.
When eighteen years of age, he worked as a farm hand at $100.00 per
year. On the side, he cut corn for
fifty cents a day. After three years,
he invested in cattle for himself. A
"natural" at handling cattle, he looked after his Uncle Lewis'
herd. He prospered, purchased land, and
finally became a Baron in Doddridge and other counties - the undisputed
"cattle king of West Virginia." Frank spent much of his time in the
saddle, and his daily rides were eighty miles at certain seasons.
At death, he owned 20,000 acres of land, much
of which later proved productive in oil, which made rich the heirs who
inherited his fortune. Yet he at one time had split rails for twelve and a half
cents a day. Elected to the State Senate, he served with distinction. He died in 1851. Frank's wife, Frances, was the daughter of John Reynolds and a
half-sister of Lovey, wife of Ben Stout, Sheriff. There were nine children in the family.
Porter, a prominent stockman in Harrison
County, owned 6,000 acres of grazing land.
He resided in a spacious farm home near Route 20. He married first, Columbia Post, sister of
Hon. Ira Carper Post, and second Bertha Stout, daughter of
"gentleman" Ben Stout.
A son of Porter, Isaac H. Maxwell, married
Nancy Baker, a Beverly descendant of Edward Hart. Their son, Dr. Isaac Maxwell, is a leader in the Lost Creek
community, a successful veterinarian, a member of the County Board of
Education. A daughter of Porter was
Carrie Virginia, wife of the late Judge Haymond Maxwell. Another son of Frank and Frances, Lewis,
settled on a farm south of West Union, Doddridge County, and raised cattle
extensively. He shipped cattle, sheep,
and horses by the hundreds of thousands.
He was also known for liberally providing for the families of those
under his employ and for caring for the church and school of his community.
Other members of the Maxwell family and their
descendants have reaped a fortune from cattle, oil, and coal on their extensive
The third child of Josiah Davisson and Martha
Stout, Nathan Davisson, married Elizabeth Carper. They lived in the house where Josiah had lived. Nathan was a merchant. Of Nathan's family of twelve children, his
daughter Florence was perhaps best known.
She was the wife of Hon. Ira Carper Post who owned a fine farm near Peel
Tree, with its palatial home called Templemore. Florence Davisson Post was the founder of the Daniel Davisson
Chapter of the DAR at Clarksburg. Her
son was the noted writer of short stories, Melville Davisson Post. Reared near Peel Tree, he attended West
Virginia University, graduated from Law School, and practiced law before he
found himself writing. With the keen
analytical working of a lawyer's mind, Melville poured out mystery stories that
were so perfect in plan that he soon was rated by the critics as second only to
Edgar Allen Poe. His stories brought in
huge sums for his day. Soon he traveled abroad in search of settings for his
stories, living in France for a time.
He married Mrs. Schoolfield,
and built for her a beautiful lodge, The Chalet, on a hill not far from his
father's house. His wife and child preceeded him in death. His home burned not long after his passing,
in the early 1930's.
Other descendants of Josiah and Martha Stout
Davisson include:
a. A
son Joseph who settled in Doddridge County.
His children went to Ohio.
b. The
Misses Belle and Carrie Davisson who conducted a private school in Clarksburg in 1859.
c. Dr. William Late Coplin, former President
of Vanderbilt College, later President
of Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia
d. A
son, Julius, who settled in Doddridge County.
e. Claudius
E. Davisson, late merchant of Mt. Clare.
f. John
H. Davisson, who was a prominent physician in Los Angeles,
In 1788, Susanna, the daughter of Job and
Nancy Stout, became the bride of William Martin, a nephew of Captain, later
Judge, John Bray, of New Jersey. Reared
in the home of Captain Bray, William Martin had enlisted in the Army at
Lebannon, New Jersey and served in the Commissary Dept. under Capt.
McKnight, James Johnson,
and John Bray. He served at
Pittstown, Raritan's Landing, and at Stony Point. Coming from New Jersey in 1786, Colonel Martin rose rapidly to a
place of prominence in the county. He
became the owner of the first general store in Clarksburg, and later Sheriff of
the County. The home of Col. Martin
was at Peel Tree, across the road from, though a little nearer to Clarksburg,
than the home of Dorsey Bartlett.
The children of William and Susanna numbered
six, all but one of which married children of Colonel Ben Wilson - part by his
first wife, Ann Ruddel, and part by the second, Phoebe Davisson. Martha, the other child, married a
Weminger. Col. Ben Wilson was a member
of Congress, first clerk of Harrison County Court, and no doubt the most
prominent person in the Monongahela valley in his day.
It seems that Col. Martin first married
Hester Cheney, and she died in childbirth within a year. James is supposedly her child. After Susanna's death in 1814, William married
Jane Powers. Jane and her six children
survived Colonel William's death in 1851.
Colonel and Susanna were buried at Gore Cemetery on the Shinnston road.
A son of Job and Nancy Bray Stout was named
Job for his father, but was often called Jobe.
He married in 1795, Mary or Margaret Richards, who was a ward of Robert
Lowther, father of Col. William Lowther.
The story goes that "She worked away from home, met this Stout man,
and married him."
The land that Job secured was situated in
West Milford, extending from the Lost Creek road across the river and valley to
the hills along route 19. The most
modern homes in the municipality have been built on the Stout farm. The Jobe Stout home, situated below the
Unidis High School which was torn down in recent years to be replaced by a
modern home, was a typical "roomy" house of the period, and it stood
among stately trees. Miss Berta Lynch said she lived in that house as a child
and liked the place so well she hated to see it torn down.
There were thirteen children named in Jobe's
will dated December 3, 1834. Of the
five boys in the family, "three of the brothers of Job Jr. were in the
Civil War," Charles Davisson said. The marker which commemorates the site of
the first cabin in the West Milford community is on the edge of the Jobe Stout
farm. Jobe and Margaret Richards are
buried close to their son Abner in the Old Bethel Cemetery south of the mouth
of Buffalo Creek, on a bank overlooking Route 19. In his will, Jobe left the home place to his wife, later to be
passed to Abner and Martin.
Abner, in 1879 left the property to his
sister Mary Pinchion; she gave more than 100 acres in turn to her grand nieces
and nephews. Mrs. Ward of West Milford
(at 93 years) said she lived near the Stout home when she was a young girl and
remembered seeing the children when they came home on a visit.
Job's daughter, Nancy, married Samuel Stout,
son of Caleb. (See chapter VIII)
Abner's brother Noah built a cabin in 1827,
still standing in 1964, beyond the village of Kinchelow on a spot where three
counties meet - Harrison, Doddridge, and Lewis. Later the cabin was covered with siding. It is still the home of
two granddaughters today. Noah had
been the father of three sets of twins of which only one child survived.
A son of Jobe and Margaret Richards was
another Job called Job Jr., whose wife was Margaret Springston. They settled on Sycamore Creek. From their
daughter Catherine who married Martin Wilcox many musicians have developed. Mrs. Genevieve Fritter is a talented
violinist, teacher, and composer.
Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Diehl and
son George are professional artists.
Mr. Diehl played at the coronation of King George V. at 15 years of age,
and played the organ at a church in Cleveland, Ohio, James Wilcox is a director
of an orchestra at Phoenix, Arizona, and an arranger of orchestral music. Music seemed to "run in the
family" for many were singers and players of various instruments, some
even without training. Mrs. Mary Moffet
played the piano in church for years without ever having had a music lesson.
Little is known of the Noah Stout, son of Job
and Nancy Bray Stout, who died before 1834, after marrying Elizabeth
Townsend. In a deed book in Harrison
County five children of Noah convey to Abner Stout and Nathan Davisson the land
on Brushy Fork given Noah by Joseph Hasting's will. Children named in Deed Book
22, page 325 were:
1. Nancy Stout
2. Ruhama, wife of James Martin
3. John Bray Stout, husband of Nancy (lived
Meigs Co. Ohio, 1831
4. Noah, with wife Elizabeth
5. Lucinda (lived Athens, Ohio 1834)
Joseph Stout, son of Job and Nancy, married
Martha Childers and settled at Jarvisville, Doddridge County. Their family consisted of twelve children.
In 1793 Joseph received a grant of land for
1,260 acres and 185 acres on Middle Island Creek in 1831. The 1850 Census gives Martha alone as a
parent of Joseph's children indicating Joseph's death.
Mrs. J.D. Allen of Salem is a Joseph Stout
descendant through Martha Stout who married Jacob Helmich.
Abner Stout, son of Job and Nancy, was born
in 1779 and died in 1850. In his lifetime he lived through the Revolutionary
War and the building of a nation, and in addition, the settlement of the west;
building homes and taming the wilderness.
Abner played his part well, for he helped rear a family of 12 children,
and he amassed a considerable estate.
His first wife, Rebecca Ireland, bore his 12 children - the second wife,
Rebecca Monroe, survived Abner's death.
Abner's home place was along the Pike near
Quiet Dell, though he may have lived on Zack's Run or Brushy Fork early in his
life. True to the family tradition
Abner was a fine farmer, stockman, and financier.
Abner's sons, James Martin Stout and Abner
Sterling Stout followed in their father's footsteps. They farmed, raised cattle, and built up the land. James M. settled on Zack's Run, Abner S. on
Brushy Fork. Many are the notable
people in these lines such as Elizabeth Ward, mother of Aquila Ward and Susan
Jane (Mrs. Bond). Of Mrs. Ward, her
son Aquila said, "No one could
play sweeter music than my mother, so I kept her grand piano
(square)." Aquila Ward's home is
beautiful, finished and furnished in excellent taste. It must be seen to be appreciated. Mrs. Bond's daughter, Mrs. John Lang, played a large part in the
success of 4-H camps at Jackson's Mill.
Her influence for good on young people cannot be overrated.
Thomas Benton, son of James Martin Stout and his
wife Josephine, had a fine farm on Zack's Run - their home was a beautiful
place. They themselves are buried on
the hill overlooking the house. James
and Celia are buried farther up the same valley in a private cemetery. The old house nearby is very well built, in
very good condition for one so old.
The Abner Sterling Stout family has produced
stockmen of note, businessmen and bankers.
Cletus was President of the Harrison County Fair Association for
years. Cletus chose as his partner the
late Laco Young and entered the Meat Packing industry. Abner, his grandson, continues in the work
though Mr. Young recently died
Cletus Stout's brother, Ai had a similar record for
cattle raising. Benton's son, Ross Stout, seemed to have a bent for investing
money - which always turned to gold at his touch. He had a stable of racehorses and showed them at the county
fairs. Coal lands also helped him to
gain wealth.
One of Abner's daughters, Nancy, married Augustus
Modicett. She lived in Nebraska where
her husband owned a large ranch and became a banker.
Elmore Stout was known at West Milford as a
"highly respected citizen," as were his daughter, Mrs. John Helmick,
and other descendants.
Ben Bassel Stout, son of James M., at one time owned
all the land from Quiet Dell to the outskirts of Clarksburg, adjoining the
Booth farm and across the valley to the top of the ridge. At his death he gave 1,000 acres to his
children, some of whom are living today.
Benjamin Bassel Stout's second wife was Mary
Catherine Burroughs. They were the
parents of four sons and three daughters: Lee, Carson, Charles, Meigs, May,
Josephine, and Mary Martha. Carson died
young as a result of being kicked by a horse.


text:
Guys, They are available from Danish Peter Falkenberg as mentioned on the Resources page in the article. Martin
Where can i buy these please? Regards...Guy
All comments will be screened by the GFF staff before publication.No HTML, images, ads or links, please - we do not publish such comments... And only English language comments will be published.Name and email is optional but recommended.The email will be shown in a disguised form in the final comment to protect you against spam You can see other public comments on this page

subset: commoncrawl


text:
James Vince admitted 'it was a bit special' to guide Hampshire to their fifth consecutive NatWest T20 Finals Day after his match-winning knock of 93 off 51 balls secured victory over Nottinghamshire.
The skipper hit 11 fours and four sixes as Hampshire chased down 198 with with an over to spare in a five-wicket victory at Trent Bridge.
And Vince paid tribute to his team-mates as they look forward to their fifth consecutive T20 Finals Day at Edgbaston on August 23 where they will play Lancashire in the semi-finals.
\"Obviously it's my first year as captain so I felt a bit of pressure to get there,\" Vince told Sky Sports.
\"At the halfway stage chasing 200 it was going to be a tough effort but it was a good wicket out there and all the guys that batted were excellent today.
\"We've got a great bunch of guys here who love playing together and love winning and it was special to chase a score like that down as well.\"
Hampshire opener Michael Carberry praised his skipper, insisting the team remained confident of winning after an opening stand of 70 from the first seven overs of their run chase
\"It was a good run chase,\" said the England international. \"Vinny played unbelievably well yet again as he has done all year and it was nice to get over the line.
\"It was one of those - obviously when you need nearly 10 an over I believe you go one of two ways. You either capitulate or you have a bit of a dip and see what happens and I guess when we got off to a good start we always felt we'd be there or there abouts.\"
Matt Coles, who took both wickets for Hampshire and scored the winning run, admitted he is looking forward to his first Finals Day.
\"It was great to get into a Finals Day. It will be my first one so it will be great to be there,\" he said.
\"It's nice to be at Hampshire and part of a team that's doing well and I'm glad to be a part of helping them get to their fifth consecutive Finals Day.\"
Nottinghamshire's Samit Patel admitted the manner of the defeat was hard to take, but said his side will make sure they are ready to go again for the remainder of the season.
"We're absolutely devastated to have lost that," he said. "We thought we'd put a pretty good score on the board but just didn't execute our skills properly with the ball.
"This is a bitter pill for us to swallow but we've got some tough characters in that dressing room.
"We are in good positions in the other two competitions and will bounce back."