History: Family: The STOUT (STAUT) Family: Bucks, Northampton and Philadelphia Cos, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Thera. tsh@harborside.com USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ ____________________________________________________ The following is from "The Strassburger Family and Allied Families of Pennsylvania," by Ralph Beaver Strassburger, pp. 199-232. THE STOUT (STAUT) FAMILY JOHN JACOB STOUT (STAUT), the pioneer ancestor of this family, was a native of Switzerland. He was born in October, 1710, and came to Pennsylvania as a young man, accompanied by his two brothers, so tradition has it. The names Johann Jacob Staudt 26 year, Johannes Staudt 30 years, and Hans Adam Staut 19 years, appear upon the list of foreigners who came to this country in the ship "Samuel", sailing from Rotterdam and arriving in Philadelphia in August, 1737, where, on the 30th of that month, all three qualified as citizens of the Commonwealth. According to this list, Johann Jacob Staudt signed his own name to the Declaration, whereas the names of the other two, presumably his brothers, were written by clerks. John Jacob Stout settled in Bucks County. The brother, John, it is said, took up residence in Germantown. Nothing further is known of the third brother, John Adam. [Note from contributor: Hans Adam Stout appears on the 1737 Federal Census in Philadelphia County.] Jacob Stout's name appears among those designated as "Quakers, or such as conscientiously scruple to take an oath." It is believed by some of the descendents that Jacob Stout was a Mennonite and reared his children in this faith, though they afterwards became members of the German Reformed Church. It is true that the German Baptists or Dunkards were closely allied to the Mennonites, and as tradition says that Jacob was a German Baptist, this would account for his religious objections to taking an oath on the Holy Evangels, an objection strictly adhered to by Quakers, Mennonites and other sects closely related to these two. In the year 1739 Jacob Stout married Anna Miller Leisse, widow of John Leisse, of Rockhill Township, Bucks County, Pa. John Leisse (La Cene, Lacey or Licey, as the name has been variously spelled,) arrived in the ship "Adventurer" from Rotterdam and qualified September 23, 1732. He was accompanied by his wife, Anna, aged 24 years; a brother, Paul La Cene, with is wife, Luisa, and four children, and a brother-in-law, Hans Michael Miller, and his wife, Even. John Leisse, under the name of John Lacey, purchased in 1735 two hundred acres of land in Rockhill Township, Bucks County. He died in 1738, and his widow, the following year, married Jacob Stout. She is said to have been a daughter of a physician, Dr. Miller, in Germany. The two hundred acres purchased by John Leisse included a large part of the present borough of Perkasie. The Proprietary's Manor of Perkasie, consisting of a tract of ten thousand acres, comprised all the southeastern part of Rockhill, and part of the present Hilltown, Townships. It was laid out prior to 1708 and opened for settlement and purchase about 1730-35. In 1759 John and Henry Lacy, sons of John Lacy (Leisse), deceased, conveyed the original tract which had been their father's to their step-father, Jacob Stout. At the same time this conveyance was made, Jacob Stout and his wife sold to John and Henry Lacey, portions of two hundred and sixty-six acres in Hilltown Township, which he had purchased in 1757. The first purchase of land by Jacob Stout was a tract of two hundred and forty-three acres now in Williams Township, Northampton County, which he acquired in 1750 from John Eastburn and wife, of Philadelphia, for three hundred and sixty pounds. His residence at this time was given as "Durham Township, Bucks County," the early name for Williams Township. In 1753, he purchased a mill property at Church Hill in Rockhill Township, and in 1767 the mill property on Pine Run, one mile north of Doylestown, embracing one hundred and nineteen acres, which in 1770 he conveyed to his son-in-law, Abraham Freed. In 1774 Mr. Stout bought one hundred and fifty acres in New Britain Township, on which he settled his daughter Catherine, who had married Jacob Schleiffer. The Northampton County property descended to his son Isaac and remained in the possession of that family for several generations. He also owned twenty-five acres and a mill in Bedminster Township, on Tohickon Creek. Jacob Stout was a potter by trade, and no doubt followed this occupation for some years after his arrival in this country. The fact that he was able to buy as much land as he did seems to confirm the family tradition that the Stout brothers brought a large inheritance with them from the old country. As before stated, on October 20, 1759, John and Henry Lacey sold to their step-father, Jacob Stout, the two hundred acres in Rockhill originally taken up by their father, John Lacey. Before this their mother, Ann, had released or sold her dower rights to her sons, who upon coming of age in 1759, in consider- ation of five hundred pounds, made over all their right and title in the same to their step-father. This was the homestead of his later years and it embraced most of the land on which the borough of Perkasie is built. Jacob Stout soon erected for himself a large stone dwelling which stood on the side of Tunnel Creek, below the railroad station on the western outskirts of Perkasie. It was destroyed by fire in the early 20th century. Jacob Stout was a successful and prominent man in the community. He died on April 30, 1779, aged over sixty-eight years, and lies in a little burial plot originally a part of the farm, near the railroad station, known as Stout's Graveyard. His is the oldest tombstone in the cemetery and is marked with his name spelled Jacob Staut. Next to it is a small stone, in memory of his wife, Anna Miller (Lacey) Stout, upon which is inscribed merely her name, Mrs. Jacob Staut, as neither the date of her birth nor that of her death was known. In this same little graveyard lie buried Abraham Stout and his wife, Magdalena Hartzell; also two children of Rev. John Andrew Strassburger and his wife, Catherine Stout, granddaughter of Abraham and Magdelena. Children of Jacob Stout and Anna Miller Lacey: 1. Abraham Stout, born August 17, 1740, died June 8, 1812, married Mary Magdalena Hartzell (see below.) 2. Isaac Stout, settled on his father's Northampton County tract and reared a family, among whom was Dr. Abraham Stout. he inherited the Northampton County farm. 3. Elizabeth Salome Stout, married 1) Abraham Freed and after his death in 1773, 2) Gabriel Swartzlander, and lived and died at what was known for a century as "Swartzlander's Mill," one mile north of Doylestown, and left many descendents, among whom is Dr. Frank Swartzlander of Doylestown. 4. Catherine Stout, married Jacob Schleiffer and lived and died in New Britain, Pa. Abraham STOUT, eldest son of Jacob Stout and Anna Miller (Lacey), was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, August 17, 1740, and died on the farm near Perkasie, June 8, 1812. He married October 21, 1773, Mary Magdalena Hartzell, daughter of Henry Hartzell, a prominent citizen of Rockhill Township. She died on November 8, 1811. The records of Tohickon Reformed Church have this entry: "Buried November 10, 1811, Abraham Stout's wife." Abraham Stout was probably the most prominent and best educated Pennsylvania German of his time in Bucks County. He was educated at the famous Germantown Academy, under the tuition of Hilarius Becker, professor of German, and David J. Dove, instructor in English. He thus acquired a thorough knowledge of the English language, an accomplishment exceedingly rare at that early date, as well as a thorough scientific training. He was an excellent accountant and penman and a good business man. His services were much in demand among his German neighbors as a surveyor and scrivener. From an examination of old papers on file in the county office it would appear he drew a majority of the deeds, wills and other legal papers for his locality for a number of years. He was constantly in demand by the Court to serve as one of the auditors appointed to prepare the accounts of administrators and executors of estates, many of these papers being models of penmanship, conciseness and neatness. Abraham Stout was among the foremost in the neighborhood to enter protest against the oppressive acts of Great Britain and was named as a member of the Committee of Safety from Rockhill Township in 1775. When, however, it became apparent that the colonists were to resort to arms he asked to be relieved from serving, and another was appointed in his place, and he thereafter held aloof from active participation in the struggle. No doubt he was influenced by his early religious training and held conscientious scruples against taking up arms, as there is evidence to show that his sympathies were with the patriots' side. During the war he had a recess made in the cellar wall, where he kept money and valuable papers to preserve them against the raids of Doans and Tories. The Doans, a daring band of outlaws used his pasture along the east bank of the Perkiomen Creek during the night for a whole summer. In the morning they would leave with their horses for the shelter of the rocky ridges and return again in the evening. He did not dispute his rights with them and they did not further molest him. During the memorable winter of 1777-78, after the battle of Germantown, and when the British were in possession of Philadelphia, a troop of Dragoons, fifty-six men, visited the Stout homestead and quartered themselves on the premises for the winter. "They fed their horses from the well-supplied store of hay and grain in the barn, while the soldiers ate up all the house contained, excepting the smoked meat which the family had taken the precaution to hide by burying it in advance of their coming." After the close of the war, Abraham Stout became a prominent figure in public affairs. He was a Justice of the Peace, and was one of the delegates from Bucks County to the Constitutional Convention of 1787-1789 and took an active part in framing the first Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania. Abraham Stout died June 8, 1812, on the farm where he had spent all his life, and was buried beside his father and mother and wife in the family burial lot on the plantation. The pastor of Tohickon Church thus recorded upon his docket: "Buried June 9, 1812, Abraham Stout, aged 72 years." The will of Abraham Stout, dated May 14, 1812, is a document interesting, if not remarkable, in more respects than one. It was written by the testator himself and the pensmanship is rarely equalled at this day. To his son, Jacob, he left the larger part of the homestead farm at Perkasie, and to his son, Henry Hartzel Stout, he left a tract of land in Brush Valley, Center County, Pa., and made ample provision for his daughters. Children of Abraham Stout and Mary Magdalena Hartzell: i. Anna (Nancy) Stout, born 1773, married April 2, 1793, Jacob Hartman, of Friedensville, Lehigh Co., Pa. ii. Jacob Stout, born Nov. 27, 1775, d. Aug. 20, 1820, m. Elizabeth Barndt. iii. Henry Hartzell Stout, b. June 3, 1776, died January 1, 1854, m. May 8, 1798, Elizabeth Kern, born May 10, 1778, died June 5, 1871. Children: 1) Catherine, b. Nov. 4, 1787, d. Oct. 7, 1838, m. Rev. John Andrew Strassburger. 2) Anna Maria, born Nov. 9, 1800, m. Henry Cressman. 3) Samuel, b. Feb. 7, 1803, m. Eliza Stoneback 4) Magdelena, b. July 5, 1805, m. Philip Cressman. 5) Hannah, b. Dec. 27, 2807, m. John Stouver. 6) Elizabeth, b. Sept. 16, 1810, m. Abraham Roudenbush. 7) Enos, b. Apr. 17, 1813, m. Catherine Kratz. 8) Lydia, b. Jan. 16, 1816, m. David Creamer. 9) Annie, b. 1821, m. Tobias Fluck. iv. Margaretta Stout, born 1779, m. Tobias Ruhl, resided near Bridgeton, Pa. v. Abraham Stout, born 1787, m. Magdalena _______. vi. Mary Magdalena Stout, born 1790, m. John Gerhart of Telford. vii. Hannah Stout, m. 1) Mr. Worman; 2) Jacob Stouver.