Richard and Penelope Stout, my 9th Great Grandparents

My 9th Great Grandparents Richard Stout (1615 – 1705) and Penelope Prince Stout (1622 – 1712) on the Tomlinson side.

Part of this is from a Nathan Stout in 1823. From "History of the Stout Family" by Nathan Stout, 1823

Richard Stout, the first of the name in America was born in Notinghamshire, in Old England, and his father's name was John. The said Richard, when quite young paid his addresses to a young woman that his father thought below his rank, upon which account some unpleasant conversation happened between the father and the son, on account of which, the said Richard left his father's house; and in a few days engaged on board a ship of war, where he served about seven years, after which time he got a discharge at New Amsterdam, now called New York, in America.

Penelope Van Princis Stout was born in 1622 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She married John Kent in 1640, and the couple sailed for New Amsterdam (now New York City) on Manhattan Island in the American colony of New Netherland. For unknown reasons, their ship ran aground at the coast of what is now Monmouth County, New Jersey. The ship was loaded with passengers, who with much difficulty got on shore. But the Indians not long after fell upon them and killed the whole crew, as they thought, but soon after the Indians were gone, a certain Penelope Van Princes, whose husband the Indians had killed, found herself with enough strength to creep to a hollow tree, where she remained some days. An Indian happening to come that way, whose dog coming to the tree, occasioned him to examine the inside of the tree, where he found the said Penelope in a forlorn, distressed condition. She was bruised very severely about the head, and her bowels protruded from a cut across her abdomen; she kept them in with her hand. She had been in this fearful condition seven days when the Indian found her. In his compassion he took her out of the tree and carried her to his wigwam where he treated her kindly and healed her wounds, and in a short time conveyed her in his canoe to New Amsterdam, where he sold her to the Dutch, who then owned that city, now called New York.

In 1642, Penelope met Richard Stout, they were married in 1644 when she was 22 and Richard was 40. They settled at Gravesend on Plantation No. 18, which he had purchased five years earlier. In 1646, he received lot 16 where he grew tobacco. By 1657, seventeen of his twenty acres were under cultivation. In 1661, he bought an adjoining farm, and became the largest landowner of the group.

Richard found friends among some English settlers who had fled to New Amsterdam from neighboring colonies because of their religious beliefs. Among them were Lady Deborah Moody and her son, Sir Henry Moody. Together they obtained a charter from the Dutch governor to found the first English settlement on Long Island at Gravesend.

After the English took over the rule of New Amsterdam, Penelope her husband and a number of their neighbors at Gravesend tos move across the Lower Bay to what is now eastern New Jersey, near the village of the Indian chief who had saved her life.

The nameless chief was a frequent visitor to the Stout home, and one day, he came to warn her 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, but she gathered her children and paddled away.

After Penelope left, Richard reconsidered and gathered the men of the settlement together. They armed themselves and sent the other women and children in canoes to wait offshore, while they prepared to watch all night. At midnight the Indians came.

When the whites attacked, the Native Americans, armed with only bows and arrows, were soon on the run. Then Richard Stout walked out into the open and demanded a meeting. When the whites agreed to buy the native lands on which they had settled, an alliance was formed.

The whites and the Native Americans held a two-day ceremony to celebrate their new peace agreement. This treaty was faithfully kept. Though other settlements had war with the natives, this one avoided it.

The governor gave the settlers a statement called the Monmouth Patent, which guaranteed them religious and political freedom. There were fifty families of whites and 500 Indians inhabiting the area at that time.

As the settlement grew into the town of Middletown, Richard was appointed to assist in laying out the lots. And Penelope became known as the First Lady of Middletown.

Deeds were granted, signed and duly paid for, and witnessed. Among the list of claimants for land, Richard heads the list:

They had together seven son and three daughters, viz: John, Richard, Jonathan, Peter, James, Benjamin, David. The daughters were - Deliverance, Sarah, Penelope. We descend from their son, Peter.

The family line from Richard Stout & Penelope to our family.

• 9th Great Grandparents Richard Stout 1615 – 1705 / Penelope Prince 1622 – 1712

• 8th Great Grandparents - Peter Stout 1654 – 1703 / Mary Bollen 1655 – 1692

• 7th Great Grandparents - John Stout 1677 – 1719 / Sarah Stout 1693 – Deceased

• 6th Great Grandparents - Peter Stout 1715 – 1802 / Margaret Cypert 1716 – 1799

• 5th Great Grandparents - Peter Stout 1754 – 1832 / Hannah Brown 1756 – 1833

• 4th Great Grandparents -Ebenezer Doane 1768 – 1838 / Elizabeth Stout 1774 – 1808

• 3rd Great Grandparents -James Coppock Tomlinson (1799 – 1892) / Nancy Ann Doane (1800 – 1890)

• 2nd Great Grandparents -Moses Tomlinson (1836 – 1927) / Martha J. Jackson (1844-1917)

• Great Grandparents - Francis Marshall Calbert “Gramps” ( 1882 -1971) / Eunice Elba Tomlinson (1882 – 1950)

• Grandparents - John Henry Bombei (1907 – 1977) / Rose Lavada Calbert (1911 – 1979)

• Parents - Robert D. Bombei (1934-2018) / Betty Jean Cline (1936- 2010)