Penelope Van Princes[1, 2]

Female Abt 1622 - 1732  (~ 110 years)


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  • Name Penelope Van Princes 
    Born Abt 1622  Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Province, Netherlands Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Gender Female 
    Died 1732  MIddletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    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)
    Person ID I30877  Applegate Main
    Last Modified 11 Oct 2018 

    Family Richard Stout,   b. 1615, Nottinghamshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Married Abt 1624  New Amsterdam Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Children 
     1. Benjamin Stout
     2. Deliverance Stout
     3. Penelope Stout
     4. Mary Stout,   b. 1650, Gravesend, New York, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Middletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey, USA Find all individuals with events at this location
     5. John Stout,   b. 1650
     6. Alice Stout,   b. 1652, Gravesend, New York, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1703, Middletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 51 years)
     7. Sarah Stout,   b. 1652, Gravesend, New York, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1703, Middletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 51 years)
     8. Richard Stout,   b. 1655
     9. James Stout,   b. 1656,   d. Bef 1697  (Age < 40 years)
     10. Peter Stout,   b. 1658,   d. 1703  (Age 45 years)
     11. Jonathan Stout,   b. 1664,   d. Mar 1723, Hopewell, New Jersey, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 59 years)
     12. David Stout,   b. 1669
    Last Modified 11 Oct 2018 
    Family ID F11960  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsDied - 1732 - Middletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey, USA Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Sources 
    1. [S25] American Ancestry, Vol. XI (1898), 22.

    2. [S45] Historical and Genealogical Miscellany Relating to the Settlement and Settlers of New York and New Jersey, Volume III, J E Stillwell, 34.

    3. [S27] The New Jersey Coast in Three Centuries, Vol. II, William Nelson, ed., (Lewis Publishing Co. 1902), 149.


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