Sarah Stout

Sarah — ? Pike. [Group Sheet]

Richard married Penelope Van Princes Abt 1624, New Amsterdam. Penelope was born Abt 1622, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Province, Netherlands; died 1732, MIddletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey, USA. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

From findagrave:

Born in Holland in 1622, to English parents, Penelope married in 1642 and then joined her young husband and other Dutch settlers headed for New Amsterdam. When almost there, violent storms wrecked the ship off Sandy Hook (now NJ). All survived, but Penelope's husband was seriously ill and she chose to stay behind and nurse him. The remaining passengers and crew then set off on foot for New Amsterdam.

Indians soon found the couple on the beach, killed the husband, partially scalped and disemboweled Penelope, hacked her left arm and left her for dead. The young widow lay unconscious, her skull fractured, her abdomen slashed open, and her left arm so mangled that it would never again be normal. Somehow she survived by dragging herself into a hollow tree.

Seven days later, two Indians and a dog came along. The dog found Penelope in the tree. She had been in this forlorn, distressed condition when the Indians found her and Penelope prayed that they might end her misery. The younger Indian was willing to oblige but the older Indian dissented. In his compassion he took her out of the tree and carried her to his wigwam where, after sewing up her wounds with bark and fish bone needle, he treated her kindly, healed her wounds, and nursed her back to health. She stayed with the Indians, working and learning their language and their ways. Eventually, a reward was offered. When Penelope was restored to a condition of health, the Indians brought her into New Amsterdam and claimed the reward.

Penelope recovered completely and about two years later met Richard Stout of New Amsterdam. They were married in Gravesend, Long Island, in 1644, when she was 22 and Richard was 40. In 1668, they moved to Middletown, where they were the sixth white family in the settlement. They became rich in prosperity and rich in children. They had seven sons and three daughters, all of which lived to raise large families. Several years after the Stouts came to Middletown, Penelope's old Indian benefactor called on her to warn of an impending attack by his tribe. Penelope and her children fled in a canoe, but Richard Stout and his neighbors stood up to the Indians and argued them out of an attack. The Stouts lived on into the 18th century. Penelope died in 1732, at the age of 110!

Today huge numbers of Stout descendants recognize that without Penelope Stout, a stout-hearted woman if ever there was one, they wouldn't be here at all.
(Carol Chan, 12/7/09)