JAMES STOUT was born about 1655-1660 in Gravesend, Long Island, New York, the son of RICHARD STOUT and his wife PENELOPE VAN PRINCES. He removed with his parents to Middletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey after the granting of the Monmouth Patent in 1665, his father Richard Stout being one of twelve men to whom the patent was granted. His name first appears in the “Grants and Concessions” made under the Monmouth Patent on November 2, 1675, in which his father was allowed 60 acres on his behalf, suggesting that he was then over the age of 14 years in 1675 (East Jersey Deeds, Liber 3 (Reversed Side), 1665-1682, p. 1). On February 16, 1685, James Stout recorded his cattle mark, which was described as a “Crap [Crop] one the Left Eare and one hafe peny one under sid[e] of the Right Eare” (First Town Book of Middletown, NJ, p. 83 ½). On June 29, 1690, James Stout received from his father Richard Stout a tract of land along Romanis [Ramanessin] Brook on the Hop River near present day Holmdel, New Jersey adjoining his brother Jonathan Stout, and another tract containing 5 acres of meadow at Conesconk [Conaskonck Point near Union Beach, NJ] adjoining his brother David Stout (East Jersey Deeds, Liber F, 1680-1698, p. 651-652).
In the year 1700, Monmouth County became the scene of widespread insurrection. Under the leadership of Andrew Bowne and Richard Hartshorne, a large part of the citizenry of the county were in open rebellion against the authority of East Jersey Governor Andrew Hamilton (d 1703), who had been appointed in 1699 by the Lords Proprietors without a royal commission signed by the King to replace Governor Jeremiah Basse. Hamilton and members of his party such as Lewis Morris had inspired contempt among the people of Monmouth County through their corrupt practices, such as jury packing and the seizure of offices. In 1700, the citizens of Monmouth County submitted a petition to the King asking for the appointment of a competent Governor. The petition was signed by Peter Stout, Benjamin Stout, Richard Stout, David Stout, and Jonathan Stout among many others. Records of the County Court of Middletown dated March 26, 1700 show that Eleazar Cotterall was taken into custody for contempt of court. That same day, James Bollen, former clerk of court, was ordered to surrender up the books and papers of the county court, which he refused to do without bond ensuring him free from fines. On August 27, 1700, James Stout, David Stout, and Benjamin Stout along with 13 others were presented before the Grand Jury at Shrewsbury for having assaulted and wounded high Sheriff John Stewart and Henry Leonard the preceding July 17th. Rebellion continued to worsen in early 1701. Historian William S. Hornor in his 1932 history This Old Monmouth of Ours describes an incident where, “An armed mob, headed by Governor Hamilton, paraded in force to Middletown village, where they were faced by a mob twice as large, armed only with clubs. They faced each other on the green, . . . ‘When the Governor saw what he was up against,’ he withdrew his smaller force, no blow having been struck.” On March 25, 1701, Moses Butterworth, who had been accused of piracy under the command of Captain William Kidd (1645-1701), was presented before the court at Middletown. During his examination, the court was interrupted by Samuel Willet, who challenged the Court’s authority, followed by Thomas Johnson who beat a drum. A group of men then entered the courtroom making noise, ignoring the justice’s demands to remain silent. Benjamin and Richard Borden proceeded to rescue Butterworth. The constable and under-sheriff who attempted to stop them were assaulted. Consequently, Moses Butterworth managed an escape. A force of about one hundred men, which included James Stout and Jonathan Stout, then seized the Governor, his Justices, the under-sheriff, and the clerk of court and imprisoned them in jail for four days until March 29, 1701. Hamilton’s faction was so intimidated by this seizure of officials and the attempt of the people to assert their rights and liberties that no attempt at retaliation was undertaken. Hamilton’s officials contented themselves with only an appeal to the King reporting the unfortunate events. Prior to July 17, 1701, the inhabitants of Monmouth County again petitioned the King, challenging the illegal authority of Hamilton and requesting that either a new Governor be commissioned or that the government be taken under the King himself. They also asked that the governments of East and West Jersey become one distinct government. John Stout, Sr., Peter Stout, and James Stout signed the petition. With the courts disrupted and the provincial assembly dissolved, no government prevailed in East Jersey until 1703, when the first royal Governor, Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury (1661-1723), arrived.
In his father Richard Stout’s will dated June 9, 1703 (Proven October 23, 1705), James Stout received a legacy of one shilling. On March 18, 1705, he purchased land from George Willocks. That same year, the Grand Jury of Middletown, New Jersey summoned Elizabeth Stout, the daughter of James Stout of Middletown, for having a bastard child by James Hid, late of Middletown. The jury ruled that she was to be fined £ 5 and costs, or be whipped ten lashes on her bare back. James Stout paid the fine for his daughter.
James Stout and his wife ELIZABETH of Middletown conveyed land on April 6, 1706, and by August 11, 1707, they were residing in Freehold when they had another land transaction there. Stout and his wife were also living in Freehold, New Jersey when they sold land on May 8, 1711. In 1712, Elizabeth Stout of Freehold is listed as a member of the Baptist Church at Middletown. This may have been the wife of James Stout. On January 29, 1714, James Stout of Freehold, yeoman, and his wife Elizabeth conveyed to Thomas Williams of Freehold, for £ 250, the land which Stout had purchased from George Willocks in 1705. The land adjoined David Clayton, John Fraiser, and John Warford, and contained 11 acres with ½ acre of land reserved where John Clayton and his wife were buried (proven February 27, 1717) [Monmouth County, NJ Deed Book G, pp. 5-6]. On the same date, James Stout and his wife Elizabeth also sold 103 acres of land in Freehold, New Jersey to John Warford for the sum of £ 40. The land adjoined David Clayton, John Taylor, Samuel Layton, and Thomas Williams, and consisted of the tract where John Warford was then living. John Fraizer, Thomas Combs, and William Maddock witnessed the transaction (proven February 28, 1716) [Monmouth County, NJ Deed Book F, pp. 12-14]. This appears to be the last recorded reference to James Stout and his wife. Land records show that John Warford sold his 103 acres tract acquired from James Stout to David Clayton on April 2, 1717 (proven May 30, 1717) [Monmouth County, NJ Deed Book E, pp. 272-273]; likewise, Thomas Williams and his wife Mary sold the 11 acres tract purchased from Stout to David Clayton on May 12, 1720 (proven May 24, 1720) [Monmouth County, NJ Deed Book F, pp. 147-149].
In regard to Elizabeth, the wife of James Stout, she has been universally identified as ELIZABETH TRUAX (or DE TRIEUX). As will be shown, her identification as a Truax is a Twentieth century genealogist's creation, and is not supported by any original documentary evidence. The principal early published sources for the Stout family are Samuel Smith's History of Nova Caesaria or New Jersey (1765), which contains the account of Penelope Stout's shipwreck and rescue; Morgan Edwards’ “History of the Stouts” contained in his Materials Towards a History of the Baptists in New Jersey (1792); Nathan Stout's manuscript history of the Stout Family (1823); and John E. Stillwell's "Stout of Monmouth County" contained in Volume 4 of Historical and Genealogical Miscellany: Early Settlers of New Jersey and their Descendants (1916). These sources served as the foundation for Herald F. Stout's Stout and Allied Families, the first edition of which was published in 1951. Herald Stout was the first person to identify Elizabeth as a Truax in his 1951 genealogy, with no supporting documentation. Stout had published an earlier genealogy in 1935 entitled Stouts in Ohio, which identified James Stout's wife as simply Elizabeth. Thus, the "creation" of her identity as Elizabeth Truax appears to have occurred between 1935 and 1951. The idea is rooted in an erroneous interpretation of a passage appearing in Morgan Edwards' "History of the Stouts":
She [Penelope] bore him [Richard] seven sons and three daughters, viz. Jonathan (founder of Hopewell), John, Richard, James, Peter, David, Benjamin, Mary, Sarah, and Alice: the daughters married into the families of Bounds, Pikes, Throgmortons, and Skeltons, and so lost the name of Stout: the sons married into the families of Bullen, Crawford, Ashton, Truax; these had many children; but I could not come at the names of the families into which the other brothers married.
Regarding the sons of Richard and Penelope Stout, we know from marriage entries recorded in the First Town Book of Middletown (transcribed and published by John E. Stillwell in Historical and Genealogical Miscellany) that Jonathan Stout married Anna Bullen in 1685. It is also known from the writings of Nathan Stout that his ancestor David Stout married Rebecca Ashton. Documentary and circumstantial evidence shows that Benjamin Stout married Agnes Truax. Herald F. Stout assumed (without proof) that the Crawford reference in Morgan Edwards’ passage referred to Elizabeth, the wife of John Stout. Actually, Elizabeth's maiden surname is omitted in the original 1671 marriage record for John Stout found in the First Town Book of Middletown. Therefore, this identification can also be viewed as questionable. Nevertheless, the Truax reference appearing in Morgan Edwards’ passage clearly refers to the wife of Benjamin Stout, and documentary evidence supports that Agnes was one of the daughters of Jacob Truax of Monmouth County, New Jersey and later New Castle County, Delaware.
The Truax family originated with PHILLIPE DE TRIEUX (ca. 1587/88-before September 8, 1653) of New Amsterdam [Manhattan, New York, NY], a Walloon [a French speaking inhabitant of Wallonia, a southern region of present day Belgium] and "worsted dyer" originally from Roubaix, France. He married his first wife JACQUEMINE NOIRET of Ryssel [now Lille, France] (ca. 1593-before July 17, 1621), daughter of ARNOULD NOIRET and BARBE DU CHESNE, on May 10, 1615 at the Walloon Church in Amsterdam. By her, he had least four children as follows: PHILLIPE DE TRIEUX baptized January 3, 1616 Amsterdam; MARYE DE TRIEUX baptized April 5, 1617 Amsterdam, married CORNELIS VOLKERTSEN VIELE and JAN PEEK; a second PHILLIPE DE TRIEUX baptized February 10, 1619 Amsterdam; and MADELEINE DE TRIEUX baptized February 9, 1620 Amsterdam. Records show that De Trieux and his first wife were members of both the Walloon Churches at Amsterdam and Leyden. Phillipe De Trieux married his second wife SUSANNA DU CHESNE (ca. 1601-after October 23, 1654) of Sedan, France on August 30, 1621 at the Walloon Church at Amsterdam. By her, he had at least three sons: GEROME DE TRIEUX baptized October 20, 1623 Amsterdam; ISAAC DE TRIEUX baptized April 24, 1642 New Amsterdam, married MARIA WILEMSE BROUWER; and JACOB DE TRIEUX baptized December 2, 1642 New Amsterdam, married LYSBETH POST. Other children attributed to Phillipe De Trieux and his second wife Susanne are SARAH DE TRIEUX, wife of ISAAC DE FOREST; SUSANNA DE TRIEUX, wife of EVERT JANSE WENDELL; ABRAHAM DE TRIEUX; RACHEL DE TRIEUX, wife of HENDRICK VAN BOMMELL and DIRK JANSE DE GROOT; and REBECCA DE TRIEUX, wife of SYMON SYMONSE DE GROOT. Phillipe De Trieux and his wife Susanne received a certificate of transfer from the Walloon Church at Leyden on March 9, 1624, and it is believed that they immigrated to New Amsterdam on the ship New Netherland later that same year. In 1638, De Trieux was appointed court messenger (marshal) at New Amsterdam by Director-General Willem Kieft.
Phillipe’s son JACOB TRUAX was baptised at the Dutch Reformed Church in New Amsterdam on December 2, 1645. Jacob Truax married on August 26, 1674, LYSBETH POST (baptized July 18, 1655), daughter of LODEWYCK CORNELISZEN POST and AGNIETJE BOONS (or BONEN). Jacob and Elizabeth Truax had four children whose baptisms were recorded in the Dutch Reformed Church at New Amsterdam: AGNIETJE (baptized December 29, 1675 – i.e. Agnes who married BENJAMIN STOUT), SUSANNA (baptized March 15, 1679), JACOB (baptized October 10, 1683), and WILLIAM (baptized October 10, 1683). Jacob Truax and his wife Elizabeth settled in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Other children who were born to them were PHILIP, CORNELIUS, ISAAC, BENJAMIN, and perhaps ELIZABETH (md. DANIEL HOWLAND). Jacob Truax left Monmouth County, New Jersey and settled in New Castle County, Delaware, where he devised a will dated December 27, 1709 (Proven June 21, 1710). Jacob's will mentions son William, wife Elizabeth, and his three "youngest sons" Isaac, Benjamin, and Cornelius Du Truax. Wife Elizabeth was appointed executrix. Elizabeth (Post) Truax was still living as late as August 22, 1730, when she is mentioned in the will of her son Cornelius Truax. We know that Benjamin Stout had followed his Truax in-laws to New Castle County, Delaware as well, for he devised his will there on April 25, 1734 (Proven June 10, 1734).
James Stout and his wife Elizabeth were living in Freehold, New Jersey as late as 1714. Circumstantial evidence seems to suggest that Elizabeth was probably younger than her husband James Stout, but likely too old to have been one of the daughters of Jacob Truax and his wife Lysbeth Post. Elizabeth (Stout) Warford, the daughter of James Stout and Elizabeth, was allegedly born about 1691. Assuming that she was at least age 12 when she bore an illegitimate child by James Hid in 1705, then a birth year of 1693 or earlier is not unreasonable for her. We can also assume that her mother Elizabeth was at least between the ages of 15 and 21 when she married James Stout and bore daughter Elizabeth; therefore, she was probably born between 1670-1676 or earlier. The records of the Dutch Reformed Church show that Jacob Truax did not marry Lysbeth Post until 1674, and the baptisms of their four eldest children span from 1675 to 1683. Thus, if Jacob Truax had a daughter Elizabeth, it is likely that she was a younger child born after he had settled in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Jacob Truax was the only Truax in Monmouth County during the relevant period who would be a viable candidate for the father of James Stout's wife. The minutes of Welsh Tract Baptist Meeting in New Castle County, Delaware record the death of "Elizabeth Truax, Daniel Howland's wife" on 5 day, 11 mo., 1718 (January 5, 1718). It is assumed by genealogical researchers that she was one of the daughters of Jacob Truax. If so, then it is unlikely that she was identical with James Stout’s wife. Elizabeth (Truax) Howland died in New Castle County, Delaware in 1718, only four years after James Stout and his wife Elizabeth were last mentioned in land records as being residents of Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Some researchers have suggested that a widowed Elizabeth Stout might have remarried to Daniel Howland after 1714, and then moved to New Castle County, Delaware, where she died in 1718. This idea seems highly unlikely, since Elizabeth Howland and her husband Daniel would have probably migrated to Delaware about the same time as her father Jacob’s removal there, which occurred prior to 1709.
In recent years, some genealogical researchers have tried to compensate for a lack of proof and nagging chronological problems by suggesting that Elizabeth Stout's father might have been ABRAHAM DE TRIEUX (ca. 1632-after August 30, 1662), an elder brother of Jacob. Records show that he settled at Fort Orange (Schenectady), New York, a considerable distance from Monmouth County, New Jersey. There is no proof whatsoever that Abraham had a daughter Elizabeth. Furthermore, James Stout would have most likely married a woman of local residence in Monmouth County, not someone of such considerable geographical distance.
In summary, Elizabeth Stout, wife of James, was most likely NOT a Truax. Morgan Edwards' passage undoubtedly referred to the wife of Benjamin Stout's wife Agnes, but was misinterpreted by genealogist Herald F. Stout as referring to James Stout's wife. None of the principal sources before Herald Stout's publication in 1951 refer to Elizabeth, the wife of James Stout, as being a member of the Truax family. Nathan Stout in his 1823 family history stated that he did not know the family into which James Stout married. Likewise, John Edwin Stillwell, an expert genealogist and historian, identified her merely as Elizabeth. Even Herald F. Stout did not designate her as such until 1951, as his earlier 1935 publication does not supply a maiden name. There are simply no primary source documents to provide us with Elizabeth’s identity. In spite of this, the identification of Elizabeth Stout as a Truax has unfortunately been accepted as unquestioned fact by almost every researcher. Issue:
Copyright © 2005-2009, James Mark Valsame, Raleigh, NC. Reproduction or publication of this material without the expressed permission of the compiler is prohibited.