My family tree

Penelope was born in Amsterdam, Holland, circa 1620/22, the daughter of a Baptist preacher who had fled Sheffield, Engl and, for religious reasons. When American colonization made it possible for the English expatriates to leave Holland th ey, wanting theirchildren to retain their Englishness, came to the New World. She married shortly before leaving Hollan d in 1640. Her adventures upon arrival are the stuff of legend; like all good legends, there is a certain variation i n the details butthe core of the story remains throughout. The ship on which she and her husband were traveling was ship-wrecked off Sandy Hook in what is now New Jersey, just ac ross the bay from New Amsterdam. Her husband was sick of a fever. The other surviving passengers fled up the coast to N ew Amsterdam, leaving Penelope to care for her sick husband. Before long they were attacked by Indians. Her husband wa s killed and Penelope was left for dead. She was evidently wounded about the head (supposedly a partial scalping) and her intestines were protruding. For severa l days she was able to survive alone before two Indians came by. They argued, evidently about whether or not to kill he r. The older Indian prevailed, saving her life and so, putting her across his shoulder, carried her to the Indian villa ge. He was kind to her and she lived and worked there for about a year before the men of New Amsterdam, hearingd of a whit e woman living with the Indians, came to barter for her. Her captor asked if she wished to leave. When she said she did , theoldman accepted payment and let her go. Smith's History of New Jersey, published in 1765, tells the story slightly differently. It relates that a party of Indi ans found the couple and immediately killed the man. They then mangled the woman, and left her for dead. After hiding f or several days in a hollow tree, Penelope was found by a friendly Indian who nursed her back to health. A rescue part y found her and brought her to New Amsterdam - now New York - and a short time later she married an Englishman, Richar d Stout. Either way, itt was through this transaction of events that Penelope became a member of the New Amsterdam colony and sh e and Richard Stout met were and were married in 1644. Family members, telling of Penelope in later years, relate that she always wore a head dress to conceal her terrible sc ars. Penelope outlived Richard by a number of years. Stout and Allied Families give her name as Penelope Kent or Lent , andher first husband as Mr. Van Princen or Von Princess. "Four Women in a Violent Time" by Debora H Crawford gives he r name as Penelope Thomson or Thompson, and her first husband as Kent Van Princes. Penelope was instrumental in helpin g Lady DeborahMoodyfound Gravesend, New York. Penelope and Richard later returned to New Jersey and had 10 children. The nameless Indian who saved Penelope Stout's l ife was a frequent visitor and friend. According to the tale, he later alerted the community to a potential confrontati on withanother band of marauding natives, probably from New York. Most accounts agree that Penelope lived to be 110 (de ath dates differ - either 1712 or 1732) and had some 502 descendants at the time of her death.. Many of her descendant s still live inthe county. She is reported to have been the first white woman to set foot on Monmouth County soil. It is said the Stout family by Penelope's 88th birthday had grown to 502, with daughters having married into the famili es of the Bounds, Pikes, THROCKMORTONS, and Skeltons. Tradition tells that Penelope lived to be 110 years old." Along w ith STOUT,GROVER,GIBBONS, BOWNE, GOULDING, and SPICER, came John TILTON Jr., Walter CLARKE, William REAPE, Nathaniel SY LVESTER, Obadiah HOLMES, and Nicholas DAVIS. On April 7, 1665, these twelve patentees Chief Pomamora and his brother, M ishacong signedthe purchase agreement, THE MONMOUTH PATENT." (http://longislandgenealogy.com/stout/surnames.htm) Another account: Prince What surname should be entered for Penelope? I use Prince because she seems best known by that name. But any choice lea ds to debate. It is said she was born in Holland - is there no record there? I haven't been able to check those archive s. The surnames Kent and Lent are also reported for her; but one of those two would be either her maiden name or her ma rried name, and Prince would be the other. I accept the suggestion that her name was recorded as Van Prinzen / Princi s etc only as a Dutchstyle of her English name, since all seem to agree she was English. In any case, Penelope is said to have come to America in a boat that was shipwrecked, to have made it ashore (as did mo st of the others, it seems, but who knows?) with her husband, only to see him killed by Indians. Penelope survived an d marriedRichard Stout. Here are some of the sources for her story. source: Samuel Smith, "History of New Jersey," Burlington, NJ 1775 pp65 - gave the first account of Penelope: "Case of a stranger, remarkably saved among the Indians. "While New York was in possession of the Dutch, about the time of the Indian war in New England, a Dutch ship coming fr om Amsterdam, was stranded on Sandy Hook, but the passengers got on shore; among them was a young Dutchman who had bee n sick mostof thevoyage; he was taken so bad after landing, that he could not travel; and the other passengers being af raid of the Indians, would not stay till he recovered, but made what haste they could to New Amsterdam; his wife howeve r would not leave him, the rest promised to send as soon as they arrived: They had not been long gone, before a compan y of Indians coming down to the water side, discovered them on the beach, and hastening to the spot, soon killed the ma n, and cut and mangled the woman in such a manner that they left her for dead. She had strength enough to crawl up to s ome old logs not far distant, and getting into a hollow one, lived mostly in it for several days, subsisting in part b y the excrescences that grew fromit; theIndians had left some fire onthe shore, which she kept together for warmth: hav ing remained in this manner for some time, an old Indian and a young one coming down to the beach found her; they wer e soon in high words, which she afterwardsunderstood was a dispute; the former being forkeeping her alive, the other fo r dispatching: After they had debated the point a while, the first hastily took her up, and tossing her upon his should er, carried her to a place near where Middletownnow stands, where he dressed her wounds and soon cured her: After som e time the Dutch in New-Amsterdam hearing of a white woman among the Indians, concluded who it must be and some of the m came to her relief; the old man her preserver, gave herthe choice to go or stay; she chose the first: A while after m arrying to one Stout, they lived together at Middletown among other Duthc inhabitants; the old Indian who saved her lif e, used frequently to visit her; at one of his visits she observedhim to be more pensive than common, and sitting dow n he gave three heavy sighs; after the last she thought herself at liberty to ask him what was the matter? He told he r he had something to tell her in friendship, tho' at the risk of his own life, which was, that the Indians were that n ight to kill all the whites, and advised her to go off for New-Amsterdam; she asked him how she could get off? he tol d her he had provided a canoe at a place which he named: Being gone from her, she sentfor her husband out of the field , and discovered the matter to him, who not believing it, she told him the old man never deceived her, and that she wit h her children would go; accordingly going to the place appointed, they found the canoe and paddled off. When theywer e gone, the husband began to consider the thing, and sending for five or six of his neighbours, they set upon their gua rd: About midnight they heard the dismal war-whoop; presently came up a company of Indians; they firstexpostulated, an d thentold them, if they persisted in their bloody design, they would sell their lives very dear: Their arguments preva iled, the Indians desisted, and entered into a league of peace, which was kept without a violation. From thiswoman, thu s remarkably saved, with her scars visible, through a long life, is descended a numerous posterity of the name of Stout , now inhabiting New Jersey: At that time there were supposed to be about fifty families of white people, and five hund red Indians inhabiting those whole parts. Note that the families at Middletown were English, not Dutch. source: John E. Stillwell, M.D., "Historical and Genealogical Miscellany" vol IV p 295 -. Cites the above plus the second account, by Morgan Edwards, and the oral traditions passed down to and through Mrs. Hen ry Seabrook. source: Stout genealogy OK, shoot me; I have to get back to the library to see just which Stout genealogy this came fro m. If you happen to know, please email me, because I won't get there soon. "The first record we have of Penelope is in the first volume of the Gravesend Town Book, in Sep 1648, after her releas e from the Indian village, her name appears as "Penelloppey Prince," at the home of Thos Applegate, who was one of th e early refugees toarrive at New Amsterdam." Note that there were 11 years of peace with the Indians from 1644/5 to 1655. source: Earliest Volume of Staten Island Records - speaking of SI but also New Amsterdam, because relations with the In dians in SI were affected by the actions of the Dutch throughout their concentrated holdings. source: Lamb's "History o f the Cityof NY"reports that the Indians were holding an English girl in Aug 1645, whom they were to deliver at Stamfor d. She is not named.