Tag Archives: Isaiah Stout

Freegift Stout and His Children: Generation 3 and 4

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Freegift Stout (1693-1769), Generation Three

Other Freegift Stout offspring obviously were named for this one, but the name does not show up frequently. Where did his name come from? There must be a meaning for the name Freegift. I’m guessing religious roots. (Most obviously, “Gift of God.”) However, Mr. Google is failing me on this one. Have you heard the name before? Do you know what it means?

Freegift Stout, my 6th Great Grandfather was the father of my direct ancestor Isaac Stout (1740) along with a large number of other children.

What I know of Freegift leads to the conclusion that he led a quiet life as a successful farmer in New Jersey. As documented in his will, he acquired a widespread holding of lands in New Jersey. He did not wander, although one of his sons settled very early along the Ohio River and grandsons and great-grandsons of Freegift scattered across the land, creating new communities everywhere they went. For a summary of what we know so far, see my story about Isaac Stout (1740)

Freegift was the eldest son in the family of David Stout and Rebecca Ashton Stout, born in the area they called Clover Hill in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. He had two older sisters. At the age of twenty-one, Freegift moved along with his father and mother and the rest of the family to the rich farmland of nearby Amwell. Wikipedia describes Clover Hill: “Clover Hill, named for Peter C. Clover, was previously called Koughstown (pronounced kuestown) after Casparus Kough, Jr. and was located on Amwell Road and Clover Hill Road. The village was home to a tavern, store, church, hotel, blacksmith, post office and eight or nine houses. ” See more about Amwell Valley at Wikipedia, where I found this topographic map. Sources describe the valley as rich agricultural land.

Location of the Amwell Valley where David Stout settled and Freegift Stout spent his life.

Freegift Stout and his Family, Generation Four

In 1720, Freegift married Mary Higgins (1699-1773), daughter of Jediah and Mary Higgins. Mary Higgins and her family probably deserve a separate analysis. Most Ancestry trees, based on Find a Grave, say Mary was born in Eastham, Massachusetts. I was scratching my head trying to figure out how Freegift (New Jersey) met Mary (Massachusetts). It turns out that Find a Grave made a mistake. Mary’s father, Jedidiah Higgins moved with his family to Piscataway, New Jersey from Massachusetts, where her grandfather Richard Higgins had emigrated in the early 1600s. Her mother, Mary Newbold came with her family from England and also lived in New Jersey. So Mary was born in Piscataway, New Jersey.

Freegift and Mary lived in Clover Hill the rest of their lives, raising crops and a very large family. Pinning down those family members presented a real challenge. Freegift’s will, written 9 June, 1763, gives the best evidence for names of children, but of course that does not include dates of birth and death. Fortunately, in this case, the women’s husbands are listed, but we have to go elsewhere to find out who the Stout men married.

Sources

I have not found any birth records for any of this family. I compared sources, to see which might be the most authoritative. There are endless books on the Stouts and on the places they lived. Here are the major ones I looked at:

The History of the Stout Family: First Settling in Middleton and Somerset Counties, State of New Jersey, by Nathan Stout (1823)

Historical and Genealogical Miscellany: Data Relating to the Settlement and Settlers of New York and New Jersey, Vol. I/II and Vol. IV, by John Stillwell, M. D. Vol 1/II (1904) Vol. IV (1916)

Two books by Herald F. Stout, USN. Staudt-Stoudt-Stout Families of Ohio and Their Ancestors at Home and Abroad (1935) and Stout and Allied Families Vol. 1 (1951)

Since Nathan Stout’s book was the earliest, naturally he became a main source for the other two authors. Comparing lineage lists from the four sources backs that up. Although I assume the information in the book came from family records with limited research, he does not specify, so the foundational information on the Stout line is suspect. I found the most thoroughly researched and documented information in Historical and Genealogical Miscellany. Bless his heart, Dr. Stillwell explains everything in great detail and includes in his book things like lists of cattle brands and marriage licenses, etc. to back up.

Generation Four

Jedidiah Stout , ??-1782(?) Named for maternal grandfather. Married Phillena Chamberlain Daughter Rebecca born before June 1763; Ann, born before 18 May 1766.

Rebecca Stout (Taylor) Married Edward Taylor

Freegift Stout, Jr., 1724-1798 Married Elizabeth Stout , a second cousin.

Mary Stout B. Circa 1726 Married Richard Chamberlain, brother of Jedidiah’s wife Phillena.

Rachel Stout ??-After January 1777 Married Richard Rounsaville

Joshua Stout ?? – 1806

Obadiah Stout 1735-1830. Married Mary McBride

*Isaac Stout 1740-1823 born and died in Clover Hill New Jersey. Married Mary Quimby.

James Stout, married Mary Mattison and had one son, Samuel. Wife died in 1764. Married second Rachel Higgins (d. 1782) in 1765, and had a family.

Sarah Stout (Oliphant) ??- Bef. 1768.

*My 5th great grandfather

Freegift Stout and all of his offspring except one were born and died in New Jersey. These children of Freegift lived through power struggles between the Dutch and the English in New Jersey, the Revolutionary War, and the aftermath of economic problems. Obadiah, born in 1735, fought in the Army and took the land grant to which that entitled him and went West.

Obadiah, the 2x great uncle of my great-grandfather Isaiah was one of the first, if not the first of Isaiah’s Stout uncles and cousins to land in Ohio. Am I getting closer to finding out why my great-great Grandfather settled in Guernsey County, Ohio?

To review, The generations are (1) Richard, (2) David, (3) Freegift, (4) my ancestor Isaac and his brother Obadiah (5) Isaac’s children including my ancestor Isaiah and his brothers Josiah and Aaron, (6) Josiah’s and Aaron’s children.

I last wrote about Josiah and then about Aaron and Aaron’s children, most of whom were restless travelers. Now, having introduced Freegift, I will move back one generation to the children of Freegift–Generation Three. Next I will talk about Obadiah who spawned a family of settlers in the Northwest Territory and beyond.

Thanks for reading. I hope you’ll come along for the ride as more and more Stouts leave New Jersey and head West.

HOW I AM RELATED

  • Vera Marie Badertscher is the daughter of
  • Harriette Anderson Kaser, who is the daughter of
  • Vera Stout Anderson, who is the daughter of
  • William Cochran (Doc) Stout, who is the son of
  • Isaiah Stout (1822), who is the son of
  • Isaac Stout (1800), who is the son of
  • Isaiah Stout (1773) who is the son of
  • Isaac Stout (1740) who is the son of
  • Freegift Stout

NOTES ON RESEARCH

A partial genealogy of the DeWitt, Boss, Chamberlain, Cromwell, D’Arcy, Cockey and allied families , Albert Lilborn DeWitt , 1956 Accessed at Ancestry.com

New Jersey, Abstract of Wills, 1670-1817, Ancestry.com, 2011

New Jersey, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1643-1890 , Ancestry.com 1999

FindaGrave.com, Freegift Stout, Sr. # 7350252 . However, based on the dates in the New Jersey abstract of Wills, FAG is mistaken about his date of death.

Hopewell Town Records https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001174960, page 135.

Josiah Stout

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Josiah Stout 1780-1862

This continues my search for the motivation that drove my great-great-grandfather, Isaiah Stout (1822) to leave New Jersey for Ohio at the age of 17. Isaiah Stout’s Great Uncle, Josiah Stout, left New Jersey, but not until he was an elderly man. Josiah’s son Charles, Isaiah’s first cousin (1 time removed) who provided a closer role model to Isaiah for leaving New Jersey. However Charles migrated to Illinois, rather than to Ohio. And Isaiah’s great uncle Josiah followed his son when the father was about 75 years old.

To keep the generations consistent, I am using the system of numbering starting with Richard Stout, the founder of this Stout family in North America. (CORRECTED Jan 2020) The generations are (1) Richard, (2) David, (3) Freegift, (4) my ancestor Isaac and his brother Obadiah (5) Isaac’s children including my ancestor Isaiah and his brothers Josiah and Aaron, (6) Josiah’s and Aaron’s children.

His biography at Find a Grave describes Josiah as a prominent businessman in the shipping business. Other sources call him a prominent New Jersey businessman. He must have been a wheeler dealer in need of money for investments, because we have seen that his father, Isaac Stout (1740) mentioned in his will a loan to Josiah plus another loan for which the father had co-signed.

Generation Five: Josiah Stout and Wife Ann Go to Brooklyn

The 1850 census shows Josiah (70) and his wife Ann (69) living in New York with their Daughter Cornelia L. Bauduoine and her four children (ages 2-11).  They had moved there about 1848.

Generation Six: Cornelia Goes To New York and to Illinois

Josiah’s daughter Cornelia had married Abraham Baudoine in New Jersey in 1837 and they had one daughter before they moved to New York in 1839. There they had four more children. However, Abraham Bauduoine died in 1848, possibly before the birth of the son named for him, as the census lists the boy as two years old in 1850.  

Cornelia remarried in 1855 in Illinois, and by 1860 had lived in Canton, Fulton County, Illinois. Her second husband, Reuben Huff, brought a son, William to the marriage.

Generation Five: Josiah Stout and Wife Ann Move West

This first map of Stout migrations shows the home base in Hunterdon County, Cornelia in Brooklyn, Cornelia and later Charles in Canton Illinois, and Charles in Spring Lake Illinois.

Generation Six: Charles Goes to Illinois

The elderly couple, Josiah and Ann, resettled in Tazewell County, Illinois where their son Charles Steward Sr. lived with his family. According to the 1850 census, Charles had three children born in New Jersey before 1840, a son born in New York in 1840, and three more children born in New Jersey before 1850. The 1860 census gives us proof of approximately when he moved to Illinois. The family had another daughter born in New Jersey in 1853, but their young son was born in 1858 in Illinois.

So we know that Charles moved to Spring Lake, (Tazewell County) Illinois between 1853 and 1858. The motivation was probably economic. In 1850 the census shows him as “no occupation”, but once he moves to Illinois, he becomes a farmer. Since Charles’ mother, Ann Prall Stout died in Tazewell County in 1856, Charles probably moved around 1854 or 1855, when the elder Stouts had reason to leave New York.

Josiah continued to live with Charles until he died in 1862. So although Josiah left New Jersey, as did Charles, it does not seem that their migration has much to do with Isaiah. However, Isaac 1740, Josiah’s father, had another son, Aaron, who might have been a more direct influence. Next we will explore Aaron’s story.

See the map with details here.

How I Am Related

  • Vera Marie Badertscher is the daughter of
  • Harriette Anderson Kaser, who is the daughter of
  • Vera Stout Anderson, who is the daughter of
  • William Cochran (Doc) Stout, who is the son of
  • Isaiah Stout (1822), who is the son of
  • Isaac Stout (1800), who is the son of
  • Isaiah Stout (1773) who is the son of
  • Isaac Stout (1740), who is also the father of
  • Josiah Stout (1780)

Notes on Research

United States Census , Brooklyn New York 1850; North Brunswick, Middlesex, New Jersey 1850; Spring Lake, Tazewell, Illinois, 1860; Canton, Fulton County Illinois 1860 and 1870 and 1880 and 1900;

Illinois, Marriage Index, 1860-1920 Cornelia L Bandowine (sic) and Reuben Huff ,6 Sep 1855, Fulton, Illinois. Accessed at Ancestry.com

New Jersey, Marriage Records, 1670-1965 Cornelia L Stout and Abraham Baudoine , 20 Apr 1837,Middlesex, New Jersey, Accessed at Ancestry. Com

New Jersey, Marriage Records, 1670-1965 Charles Stout and Mary R. Fisher; 14 August 1832, Accessed at Ancestry.com

Find a Grave, Cornelia Louise Stout Huff; Josiah Stout; “Ann” Nancy Prall; Charles Stout

Isaiah Stout 1773-1810, Isaiah’s Grandfather

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I wanted to trace the Stout family (my maternal grandmother’s maiden name) back to its origins in America, which was very , very early. But it would be cheating just to skip all the generations in between my Grandmother’s grandfather, Isaiah Stout and that first hardy couple, wouldn’t it?

My theme is to explore what it was that moved Isaiah Stout (1800), my Grandmother’s grandfather, to walk the trek from New Jersey to Ohio in the early 1800s. And today I have gotten up to that Isaiah’s namesake, his grandfather, Isaiah Stout (1773). This Isaiah, unlike the later Isaiah, stayed in New Jersey. But what about his children and brothers and sisters? That’s what I am exploring.

As a side note, I would like to also explore the wives, but it is proving difficult. The wife of Isaac Stout (1800), Mary Ann Johnson is my direct ancestor, but he was also married a second time to Hester Bennett. Isaiah (1773) married Catharine (or Catherine) Kennedy, daughter of Henry Kennedy. I cannot locate either Mary Ann or Catharine with enough information to draw a clear picture. [Slight rant: I thought someone named Mary Ann Johnson would cause a problem by showing up multiple times, instead she seems invisible.]

On to Isaiah Stout (1773) my 4x great grandfather. As I mentioned in the profile of his son Isaac, this Isaiah had seven children. If you did the math with the numbers in the title, you already know, that Isaiah was not to live long.

Isaiah was born on March 1, 1773 in Clover Hill, Hunterdon, New Jersey to Isaac Stout and Mary Quinby. He was named for his maternal grandfather, Isaiah Quinby. The second oldest of five children, he was preceded by a sister, Rachel (1768), and followed by Josiah (1780) and Aaron (1781); Sarah (?-1790) and Mary(?-1810) were the babies in the family. Of the two great uncles to the Isaiah who went to Ohio, Josiah moved to Tazewell, Illinois when he was an old man, and he died there. Aaron moved to Butler County on the Eastern edge of Ohio in 1820. Would the fact that great-uncle Aaron was in Ohio and great-uncle Josiah in Illinois influence Isaiah (1822) to walk to Ohio in 1839? Possibly. I will talk more about Aaron and Josiah and their children, Isaiah’s cousins, next time. As for the three girls, Rachel and Sarah died before Isaiah was married, and Mary lived only to 1810.

Isaiah Stout (1773) lost his mother when he was twenty years old. Three years later, he married Catharine Kennedy. Married May 23, 1799, Isaiah and Catharine started their family immediately. Of Seven boys, six lived to adulthood

  • Isaac 1800-1877
  • Henry Kennedy 1802-1868
  • Elisha 1803-1880
  • Joseph 1806-1879
  • Absalom 1808-1883
  • Moses, born in 1809 died as an infant
  • Isaiah 1810-1879

Then, apparently too suddenly to write a will, in 1810, at the age of 37, Isaiah died, leaving Catharine with children aged 10, 8, 7, 4, 2 and an infant. Aln abstract of the probate inventory shows his property valued at $3, 190. That figure was sworn to by Josiah Stout, his brother, and Archibald Kennedy (a relative of his wife). I found it interesting that the Court Surrogate [July 22, 1811] also split administration of Isaiah Stout’s property between his brother, Josiah, and Archibald Kennedy (Presumably Catharine’s brother). Although I learned long ago that wives had no legal rights in those days.

I would have expected that Catharine remarried, but it is difficult to track a woman named Catharine or Catherine at that time, and some evidence says she did not. For the next 14 years, she may have soldiered on taking care of her brood of six boys as a single mother.

I do know that she died in 1825, and court records refer to her as Catharine Stout, so she may not have remarried after all. When she died, The Orphans Court [May 30, 1825] administration of her property was given to Isaac Stout (oldest son. 25); Henry K Stout (next oldest son, 23) and William Kennedy (whom I am guessing is her brother). When she died, William Kennedy was also appointed guardian of two of her minor sons, Isaiah (then15) and Joseph (then 19). The bond was put up by Isaac Stout and Henry Kennedy (Her father-in-law and father).

I will continue to look for more information on my 4th great-grandmother.

How I Am Related

  • Vera Marie Badertscher is the daughter of
  • Harriette Anderson Kaser, who is the daughter of
  • Vera Stout Anderson, who is the daughter of
  • William Cochran (Doc) Stout, who is the son of
  • Isaiah Stout (1822), who is the son of
  • Isaac Stout (1800), who is the son of
  • Isaiah Stout (1773).

Notes on Research

Hunterdon County New Jersey Marriages 1795- 1895. Isaiah Stout and Catharine Kennedy, Viewed at Amazon.com

New Jersey Marriage Records 1670-1965, Isaiah Stout and Catharine Kennedy, 23 May 1799, viewed at Ancestry.com

New Jersey Abstract of Wills, 1670-1817, 23 Jul 1811, Isaiah Stout, Amwell, Hunterdon, New Jersey

New Jersey Wills and Probate Record 1739-1991. New Jersey, Surrogate’s Court, (Hunterdon County) ; Probate Place, : Hunterdon, New Jersey. Viewed at Amazon.com, Isaiah Stout, 22 Jul 1811; Catharine Stout, 30 May, 1825 and 18 June, 1825.

History of Stout and Allied Families, Herald F. Stout, Captain, U. S. Navy, 1951, Eagle Press, Dover, Ohio.