Documentation for Penelope Prince of Kent Island, Maryland colony

This week I just provide more documentation for Penelope Prince of Kent Island, Maryland colony. Still not sure what ot make of all this. 

Item 1
Archives of Maryland, LIV (vol 54), Proceedings of the County Courts of Kent (1648-1676), Talbot (1662-1674) and Somerset (1656-1668). Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1937.
Robert Vaughan, adiminstrator of the estate of William Coxe in 1648 and of his wife Francis Coxe in 1656 prepared an inventory for the orphan Elizabeth Coxe

P 99
A True Acct of The Estate That belongeth to Elizabeth Cox The Daughter of Will Cox Deseased & francis Being now in The hands of Capt Robt Vaughan Taken The 24th of August 1656
Itt one Planttation with housing Vpon it: And one Thousand Acres
of land Belonging Vnto it With A Pattent
Itt an Indenture for 5 yeares serves Dew from Penellope Prince
That Rann Away from Mistiris Cox Anno: Dom 1646:
etc

 

Item 2

The Maryland Calendar of Wills: Wills from 1635 (earliest probated) to 1685

Page 21

Mees (or Mee), George                                      probated 6^th Aug 1662

To Joisas (Josiah?) Smith, house and ground

To John Vanheck, land on side of Deep Cr.

To wife (unnamed), residue of estate, real and personal during widowhood; if she marry, entire estate to John Vanheck, except dower rights. Caesar Prince to live with testator’s wife until he is 18 yrs. of age.

Exs: wife (unnamed) and John Vanheck

Test: Geo. Wilson and Thos. Ward.

Jim’s Note 1: Catherine was widow of Oliver van Heck of Virginia and mother of John van Heck, thus disposition of assets to widow’s son was typical

Jim’s Note 2: On page 16, Caesar Prince is “overseer” of will of William Martine, probated 4 Jul 1660. I think an overseer was a work foreman, implying that Caesar was probably a teenage in 1660 and thus near 18 in 1662.

Jim’s Note 3: Thus Caesar Prince was born likely between 1644 and 1646.

Item 3              

Provincial Court Proceedings, 1677/8.    Liber N N (Vol 66)  Pages 206 and 241

Lawsuit of  Edward Inglish   agt   Jno Stanesby Adr  and  Caesar Prince was settled. No details.

Item 4

Side-lights on Maryland history: with sketches of early Maryland families ...

“Eastern Neck” 200 acres surveyed October 24, 1692 for Caesar Prince and John Powell

Note: Archives of Maryland Online has very detailed biographies of Maryland legislators:  A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al.  see http://aomol.net/000001/000426/html/am426--849.html for example

Penelope Prince, a runaway from Kent Island, Maryland?

The text below is a letter written by Nora James (please identify yourself) to the website WeRelate, where people work to "build a unified family tree containing the best information from all contributors." See  http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person_talk:Penelope_Kent_(1)

"After many years (approximately 10) of obsessive research about the identity of the person known in legend as Penelope Van Princis/Van Princess/Kent and Thomson before deciding that I needed to get on with actual life on this here Earth, it is my strong opinion that her name was Penelope Prince; that she was English, that she came to Kent Island (note, "Kent" Island) in the Chesapeake under indenture by Robert Vaughan (note the similarily in pronunciation to the "Van" in one version of the legends about her; that she was the same Penelope Prince whom Robert Vaughan testified in court records in about 1656 and who ran away from her indenture in 1646-7 or so during the time of troubles on Kent Island; that she was working out her indenture in the service of William Cox and his wife Frances on Kent Island and that they lived near Richard Thompson/Thomson (note the "Thompson/Thomson" in some versions of her name) on Kent Island who was involved in a big old major way in the "Time of Troubles" that led to her running away; that another version of her surname that pops up in some versions is "Lent" and there was a man named "Lent" living on Kent Island and who figured in that "Time of Troubles." It is also very possible (though by no means proven) that she was the Penelope Prince who was born in 1629 in Stepney and baptized at St. Dunstan's.

"Penelope Prince ran away from Kent Island in 1646-7 (according to the testimony of Robert Vaughan); the Penelope who marries Richard Stout appears in the historical record as "Penelope Prince" in 1648 on Gravesend in Long Island. It is an educated guess on my part, and based on extraordinarily strong circumstantial evidence contained in the legends about her, that the Penelope Prince who married Richard Stout is the same person who was the Penelope Prince living on Kent Island from 1644-6.

"Take this and run with it or ignore it, I don't much care at this point, but anyone who wants to see this for themselves can look at Filby's at the entry for Penelope Prince which references the court testimony of Robert Vaughan in 1656, and read about the history of Kent Island during the time of troubles with William Claiborne, and read the various versions of the legends of Penelope Van Princess in all of those old histories of New Jersey, and consider how it is that legends take shape over time and names become misunderstood, and begin to understand how it might be that those who wrote down the stories of Penelope Prince many years after her death might have misunderstood how a young English girl on "Kent" Island in the 1640's, who was brought to the island by Robert "Vaughan," and who ran away during a war in which her neighbor Richard "Thompson" figured prominently as did her neighbor "_____ Lent," and might have merged all of these names into hers in print, making it almost impossible to determine her identity without careful consideration.

"At another time I will try to explain all of this and source it better, including why I believe there is a strong chance that she was the same Penelope Prince born in England, but at least for now I offer you Filby's for Penelope Prince and the Gravesend Town Records for someone of the same name. And for whatever it's worth, the records of St. Dunstan's in the East where Penelope Prince was baptized in 1629, the child of Mary Kilburn and Lawrence Prince."

unsigned User:Norajames
posted at WeRelate by administrator Jennifer JBS66 19 April 2011

On another page http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Penelope_Prince_(2) of the same website is written:

"Penelope Prince was born in Stepney, in what is now the east end of London, in 1629. Her mother, Mary Kilburn, was a widow when she married Lawrence Prince, a tailor, at St. Dunstan's in the East on 17 May 1629. Penelope was baptized at St. Dunstan's three months later, on 20 Sep 1629. Lawrence died in 1630 and was buried at St. Dunstan's in February of that year. See the records of St. Dunstan's church for the records of all of these, which can be viewed on microfilm at a Family History Center....

"Penelope Prince was an indentured servant at home of William and Frances Cox on Kent Island from 1644 to 1646. The Coxes had a tobacco plantation on Kent Island, and two small children. Penelope ran away during the "time of troubles" on that island, in 1646. See Filby's for the reference to a record of a court proceeding in 1656 wherein Robert Vaughan testifies that Penelope ran away in that year. "

This is Jim writing now. I don't know what to make of this but if an indentured servant were fleeing Kent Island in 1646-7, the logical path would be northeast to the Swedish settlement of Fort Christina (now Wilmington, DE) on the Delaware River, about 40 miles as the crow flies. The economies of both Maryland and Virginia were built on indentured servitude at that time and the authorities in those colonies were sure to enforce the law by returning runaways to the master. New Sweden was a foreign country and, as far as I know, didn't have indentured servants.

I am intrigued because of Nicholas Stillwell, another ancestor of mine. Virginia Protestants settled Kent Island in Cheaspeake Bay, east of Annapolis, and did not take kindly to their king re-assigning their home to Catholic Maryland in the 1630s . The political squabbles and armed assaults led by William Claiborne resulted in Nicholas Stillwell (among others) being banished from both Maryland and Virginia. Stillwell settled in Manhattan and joined the Gravesend group in the original settlement of 1643, did not rejoin in 1645 resettlement but purchased a lot in 1648 and was elected magitrate in 1649.

In my novel Nicholas Stillwell and his wife are major characters who help Penelope.

If anyone has more to contribute to this subject, please let me know.

Was Penelope Scalped?

The earliest reference I’ve found that claims Indians scalped Penelope was printed in 1876 by John Carroll Power in Early Settlers of Sangamon County [IL] – 1876. Springfield, IL: E. L. Merritt & Bro., Printers, 1876. pp 690-3

Even though John Carroll Power cites Benedict’s book as a source, this 1876 version disagrees in many respects with Benedict. See how many you can identify.

This garbling of a cited source suggests that the scalping was invented or at least was an embellishment of the original.

“STOUT, the origin of this family in America is quite romantic. The principal points in their history may be found in Benedict's History of the Baptists. Some of his statements are based on the writings of an earlier historian. The following embraces all that is known on the subject:

“Some time during the seventeenth century, probably about 1680 or '90, a young couple just married in Holland, embarked on a vessel bound for America. The voyage was prosperous until they were nearing the port of New Amsterdam, now the city of New York. The vessel was wrecked off what is now the coast of New Jersey, and nearly all on board drowned. The young couple of Hollanders, escaped drowning and with a small number of the passengers and crew succeeded in reaching the shore. Upon landing they were attacked by Indians, who lay in ambush awaiting their arrival. The whole party were tomahawked, scalped and otherwise mutilated, and left for dead. All were dead except the wife, from Holland. She alone survived, and although her scalp was removed and she was otherwise horribly mangled, she had sufficient remaining strength to crawl away from the scene of the slaughter, and secreted herself in a hollow log which was concealed by underbrush. She lay there a day or two, during which time her mental and bodily suffering may be imagined but cannot be described. She finally made up her mind that there was no possibility of her escaping with life; that if she remained quiet she would certainly die of hunger and thirst, and if she attempted to seek sustenance, that would expose her to the Indians, who would be sure to kill her. At this juncture, a deer, with an arrow sticking in its body, ran past where she was. This led her to believe that Indians were near, and she reasoned that it would be a much easier death to let them kill her, than to endure the pangs of starvation by remaining where she was. She then summoned all her remaining strength and dragged her body out to an open space that the Indians might see her should they pursue the deer. In a short time three of the savages appeared on its trail. Two of them rushed upon her with uplifted tomahawks, but the third one, a chief, restrained them and saved her life. It was not humanity, but gain that prompted him to this act of mercy. He took his prisoner to New Amsterdam and there received a ransom for her. That placed her in the hands of friends who gave her the proper surgical treatment and nursing as she recovered. The name of her husband is not known, neither is her own family name, nothing but her first or given name, Penelope; a name that has stood for more than twenty-five centuries, in tradition and literature, as the highest ideal of a true and loyal wife. It will readily be understood that I allude to one of the creations of Homer, the father of Greek poetry. A brief statement of the case, gleaned from his works will not be out of place here.

"When the Greeks declared war against Troy...[omitting long paragraph on  Trojan War]

“This modern Penelope had no such doubts to contend with. The death of her first husband was only too sure, having been witnessed by her own eyes. After her recovery, she became acquainted with and married an Englishman by the name of Richard Stout. They then went over into New Jersey, made themselves a home and raised a family of twelve sons. One of them, Jonathan Stout, and his family, were the founders of the Hope well settlement, in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, where Hopewell Baptist Church was afterwards constituted. Of the first fifteen members, nine were Stouts. The church was organized at the house of a Stout, and for forty years their meetings were held chiefly at the houses of the Stouts; after which they erected their first house of worship. In 1790, two of the deacons and four of the elders were Stouts. Jonathan Stout lived until his descendants were multiplied to one hundred and seventeen....

“The Stouts very justly take pride in their family history, and being mostly Baptists, they take pride in their Baptist history also. When they meet a stranger by the name of Stout, who manifests a disposition to claim relationship, they apply one test only in their family history. They do not ask him to pronounce the word Shibboleth, but ascertain if he has any knowledge of PENELOPE, and if he knows nothing of her, they know nothing of him. In other words, they do not cultivate his acquaintance, in the direction of relationship, any further.”

The same passage (minus the long-winded paragraph about the Trojan War) also appeared in PORTRAIT & BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM OF SANGAMON COUNTY, ILLINOIS , Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1891  p 493 and in PAST AND PRESENT OF THE CITY OF SPRINGFIELD AND SANGAMON COUNTY ILLINOIS by Joseph Wallace, M. A. of the Springfield Bar (The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, IL 1904).

The novel ideas in this passage are
Voyage about 1680 or 1690
A mention of New Jersey but not Sandy Hook
Indians lay in ambush at time of shipwreck
Tomahawked and scalped
Three Indians rescued her
Twelve sons

However, I do like their method of distinguishing Stouts who are relatives from non-relatives.

If anyone knows of an earlier scalping reference, please let me know.

Often Heard about her Adventures When He Was Young

The previous blog entry discussed Therese Walling Seabrook. Among some hand-written letters to Therese found in the Vera Conover collection at Monmouth County Historical Association by Kathleen Mirabella is the one below from Joseph Harrison West, of Mercer County, NJ, a local politician and historian and genealogist as well as descendant of Penelope. The content under discussion is obviously the account of Penelope’s experiences, presumably similar to what Mrs. Seabrook published in the Midget (circa 1891) and what John Stillwell published in 1916.

What I find interesting are the memories of the writer’s father, Joseph L. West, who “never saw or read an account of Penelope Stout.” Mr. West, Sr. had heard many of stories but not the scar story.

“Hamilton Square, NJ July 8, 1886

“Cousin Therese:

“I venture to call you cousin, although we are beyond the third degree of consanguinity.

“I have been much pleased in reading your letter, and have read it two or three times. The tradition, as you have it, reads very much like the account in Smith’s, 1765, history of New Jersey, excepting the part which speaks of Penelope’s allowing her grandson, John, to pass his hand over the scar. There is no doubt but what it is all true, though I never heard that part before. Penelope must have lived to 1730, as John Stout was probably a young man about that time; and though I have doubted, a little, that she lived to be 110 years old, yet according to your accounts, it must have been a fact.

“My father, also, never saw or read an account of Penelope Stout, yet when I read to him the story as published in 1790, he said he had often heard about her adventures when he was young. I am a grandson of Annie Stout West. In her father’s bible it is spelled Anne and in the West bible Anna. It is likely that I am the youngest of all the great grand children of John Stout. My father was her youngest son, and I am his youngest.

“Grandmother was born in 1755, my father in 1798, and I in 1847.”

[skip sections]

“And now I come to grandmother Anne, who married William West, a son of Bartholomew, who was of the Monmouth Wests. I suppose you saw my “West” article in the Monmouth Democrat last April. William and Anne had nine children. They have all passed away. My father died in 1876, and he the next youngest, William S., died last spring aged 90 years and some months. Grandmother died in 1814.”

[no closing; missing page(s); but we know it is from Joseph West from the contents as well as from other complete letters in this handwriting and with his signature.]

The genealogy of Joseph H. West is as follows:

Richard Stout + Penelope

John Stout (-1724) + Elizabeth Crawford
Richard Stout (1678-about 1749/50)+ Esther Tilton
John Stout (1701-1782) + Margaret Taylor (about 1711-)
Anne Stout (1755-1814) + William West (-1850)
Joseph Lippet West (1798-1876) + Hannah Hammell (1804-)
Joseph Harrison West (1847-) + Mary Reed Appleton (-)
 

Thus Joseph H. West and Therese Walling Seabrook were 2^nd cousins, one generation removed.

It’s nice to know that the various stories passed down through the generations in New Jersey substantially agree and that Penelope herself wanted her descendants to remember her adventures and survival. Next time, a family tradition that seems somewhat garbled.

Penelope's Scar

In his 1916 book Historical and Genealogical Miscellany, Early Settlers of New Jersey and their Descendants, John Stillwell quotes Therese Walling Seabrook as follows:

"My grandmother, Helena Huff, told me how her grandfather, John Stout, had felt the wounds of Penelope Stout, and that he blushed like a school boy. She wished the knowledge of the Indian assault transmitted to her posterity and it has been done, for there are but two hands between Penelope and me."

The Monmouth County Historical Library in Freehold NJ has a large file of Seabrook family documents donated by Vera Conover, granddaughter of Therese Walling Seabrook. Here are two-—a genealogy and a story—discovered by Kathleen Mirabella of Clarksburg, NJ.

According to Mrs. Seabrook, her genealogy is as follows [with some dates and spouses added by me for clarification]:

John Stout

Richard Stout of Nottingham, Eng. + Penelope van Prince of Holland
John Stout [-1724] + [Elizabeth Crawford]
Richard Stout [1678-1749/50] + [Ester Tilton]
John Stout [1701-1782] + Margaret [Taylor]
Helena Stout [1734- ] + John William Hoff
Helena Hoff (1771-1849) + Daniel I. Walling
Leonard Walling (1793- ) + Catherine Aumack
Therese Walling (1821-1899] + Henry Seabrook
Annie Longstreet Seabrook (1852-1943] + William Hubbard Conover
Vera Conover [1896-1977]

Before I begin the story, let me explain that Ethel Stout, mentioned below, was born in 1882, started a temperance newspaper, The Midget, when she was eight years old in Delaware, Ohio but lived in Melbourne, Florida in 1892. Her father, a newspaperman, agreed to print her journal if she set the type. Therefore, Mrs. Seabrook, a strong supporter of the The Women's Christian Temperance Union, wrote this account in 1890-92.

Also of note, this is the earliest record I have found of Kent or Lent as a last name for Penelope. However, Mrs. Seabrook offers the maiden name as Penelope van Prince with the last name of Kent or Lent belonging to her first husband, not to her father. [Personally I think these should be flip-flopped to agree with the Gravesend Town Records of 1648.]

Vera Conover typed her grandmother’s story (which differs somewhat from the account published 20 or so years later by Stillwell), ending with “This was copied from a very yellowed, single sheet of printing. 7-1-1961-vc”  With more clues from Kathleen Mirabella, I tracked down a copy of the original printed sheet, which appears to be Ethel Stout’s newspaper, at the Leatherby Libraries of Chapman University, in Orange, CA (thanks to Rand Boyd, librarian, for a copy)

THE MOTHER OF THE STOUTS

_______________________________________________________________________
Mrs. Therese W. Seabrook, of Keyport, New Jersey, prepared the following historical sketch for Ethel Stout, wee editor of THE MIDGET, of Delaware, Ohio. Mrs. Seabrook is doubtless the best authority on the continent for the early history of the Stout family, which she estimates now numbers 10,000, in America. The narrative, so full of interest to those who bear the name, is published by, and sent out with the compliments of the little editor and her parents.
_______________________________________________________________________

    Penelope Van Prince was a native of Holland—married there and sailed for the “New World” with her husband, whose name was Kent or Lent, I have really forgotten the husband’s name, and as he was nothing to us, it matters little. As they approached the end of their voyage, a storm arose which cast the vessel upon the beach somewhere between Long Branch and Sandy Hook, I think it was at the Highlands as she was taken to Middletown, or near it and that is the nearest those points. The passengers and crew who were not drowned were said to have been murdered by the Indians, — at least Penelope was the only one known to have survived. An Indian who went to the shore in the early morning after the storm, was attracted by the barking of his dog, to a “clump of bushes,” under which he discovered a naked woman, apparently dead.

    He walked backward to her side [for modesty?] and threw his blanket over her, and discovering that there was life still there, carried her to his wigwam.

    Her abdomen was cut open so that the bowels protruded. “He washed and sewed up the wound, using for thread the inside bark ‘withes,’ of a tree, and fishbones for needles.” She remained here until she was entirely recovered, the only white person, so far as is known in this (Monmouth) Co. —perhaps many months. The Indian then took her in his canoe to New Amsterdam (now New York city) and sold her to the Dutch. She met Richard, son of John Stout, of Nottinghamshire, England, whom she afterwards married. He had wished to marry some girl in Eng. whom his father did not consider his equal, and in anger had enlisted on a man-of-war ship, and the seven years of service expiring while the vessel was in New Amsterdam he remained there. After his marriage to Penelope, they went to Gravesend, L. Island, to live, but Mrs. Stout sighed for a return to the Indian home in New Jersey, but not until she had two or three children was she able to come. Then she induced four other heads of families to come with her to this place. Their names were Hartshorne, Browne [sic Bowne], Lawrence and Groves. These five families purchased of the Indians immense tracts of land. Bartown is built on a part of the land owned by Andrew Browne [sic].

    The properties owned by the Stouts had the old village of Middletown on it and an extensive farming country known as Pleasant Valley. It was all known as Middletown for many years.

    Some say that these five white families came here in 1648 but I am inclined to think it was 1648 when the wreck occurred. Two or three years ago the Baptist Church of Middletown celebrated its bicentennial, and as Richard Sr. and Richard Jr. were among its constituent members, I think they made their permanent settlement in the latter part of the decade 1650— nearly 1660. What I give here is tradition— history begins in 1667 when twelve men obtained a grant from Gov. Nichols. My tradition has come through only two persons from Penelope, herself, and I think it more correct than much that is told. The second son, Richard, had a son, John, who was therefore grandson of Penelope. When his grandmother was about 85 years old, he took her on his horse to visit one of her children and when he helped her to alight she insisted upon his putting his hand through the pocket hole of her garment to feel the seam which the Indian sewed up--he was young and bashful but she said, “Johnny, you can tell it to your grandchildren because you will know it’s true, and they can tell it to their grandchildren.” My grandmother was one of the grandchildren to whom he told the story, and when she told it to me, she would say “and so I tell it to you just as she said”; with an air of having descended from a prophetess. I am telling it to you in the language, chiefly, in which I heard it.
                                                                                                    Therese W. Seabrook

More Records from Rev. Oliver Hart's Journals

Rev. Oliver Hart (minister of Hopewell, NJ, Baptist Church from 1780 to 1795) kept a chronological journal of sermon titles he preached plus an index of the Biblical text plus notes in his diary—a triple set of overlapping  information. Below is the list of sermon dates where people’s names (a dozen marriages and 80 funerals) were mentioned [plus other details from his diary in brackets]. I think in every case where he enters both the death and the funeral, the funeral was always the day after the death. Note: Most of these events are apparently mentioned in the Town Records of Hopewell, NJ, a book I haven’t seen, but another independent source is always good.

 

I find two other things of interest. In February 1790, Rev. Morgan Edwards preached on three consecutive Sundays in Hopewell Baptist Church. Edwards was the author of Materials Towards a History of the Baptists in Jersey, its preface dated May 1, 1790. This book, published in 1792, contains the famous passage about Penelope Stout: “The mother lived to the age of 110, and saw her offspring multiplied into 502 in about 88 years.”

 

Referring to the death of Benjamin Stout in Feb 1782 at the age of 86, Rev. Hart (then 58 himself) remarked, “older than oldest of Stout family, now living.” Obviously the Stout family noted such things.
 

1780
[Oct 15 Zephaniah Stout’s child’s funeral]

[Dec 11 Zebulun Stout is brother of Capt. David Stout]

[Dec 21 Hart calls Zebulun Stout his uncle, likely by marriage not blood]

1781

Feb 4 preached at John Stout’s house [in Amwell]

[Feb 12 John Stout of Hopewell gave Hart $100]

[Feb 14 Miss Rachel Stout is sister of Richard Stout; she gave Hart $22]

[Mar 8 mentioned that Anne Stout is a widow]

Mar 12 Preached at Richard Stout’s house

[Aug 16 saw Miss Eunice Evans and Miss Margaret Parks]

[Sep 16 Married Asa Osborne to Orpha Hart; witnesses  Levi Stout, Ann Wall, and Phoebe Gillmore]

Oct 5 Mr. David’s Stout funeral [at Amwell, age 86]

Oct 11 Mr. Zephania Stout’s funeral [was buried at Col. Stout’s Burying Ground on the Hill; left widow and 2 young children]

Oct 15 Zeph. Stout’s child’s funeral

[Nov 2 Married Andrew Higgins to Sarah Applegate]

1782

[Jan 13 Married John Ford to Anna Vanhess]

Feb 9 Old Mr. Benj. Stout’s funeral [died Feb 8 at age 86, “older than oldest of Stout family , now living”]

[Feb 18 Mary-Ann Little was very ill]

Feb 23 Mrs. Baldwin’s funeral

[May 26 Rev. Hart’s diary ends here; next several diaries are missing]

Oct 4 Old Mrs. Runyan’s funeral

Nov 20 preached at Mr. Jacob Stout’s

Nov 24 at Capt. David’s house for funeral of child [Mr. Saxton’s child]

Dec 11 preached at Benj. Stout’s house

1783

Jun 4 Benj. Reader’s funeral

July 22 old Mrs. Hixon’s funeral

Aug 31 baptized Polly Gillmore

Oct 30 Mr. Saml. Hunt’s funeral

Dec 8 William Stiniman’s funeral

1784

Feb 13 Sarah Hunt’s funeral

Feb 15 Benj. Stout’s son’s funeral

Feb 21 Mrs. Bryant’s funeral

Feb 25 preached at Jacob Stout’s

May 24 Mr. Jos. Green’s funeral

Sep 20 Mrs. Merrell’s funeral

Sep 28 Effy Merrell’s funeral

Oct 6 Mrs. Simmons’s funeral

Oct 8 Ambrose Barracraft’s funeral

Nov 2 Mr. Harris’s son’s funeral

1785

Jan 3 Old Mrs. Sarah Vankirk’s fun.

Feb 6 Penelope Stout’s funeral

Apr 6 John Senteny’s funeral

Jun 4 Joshua Higgins’s wife’s funeral

Aug 28 at Southampton Jos. Dungan’s funeral

Sep 8 Sally Merrell’s funeral

Sep 13 Sarah Fano’s [Gano] funeral

Sep 22 Mr. Jacob Stout’s funeral

Sep 25 [Squire] Jared Saxton Esq’s funeral

Dec 23 Barbara Antony’s funeral

1786

Jan 12 Benjamin Merrell’s funeral

Feb 24 Catharine Vanpelt’s funeral

Mar 14 Francis Quick’s funeral

Apr 16 Mr. Isaac Hough’s funeral

May 29 Mary Armstrong’s funeral

Jun 7 John Hart’s funeral

Jun 27 Mrs. Vanpelt’s funeral
Dec 18 [Absalom Houghton’s funeral]

1787

Apr 3 Mrs. Jewel’s funeral

Apr 7 David Stout’s funeral

Apr 30 N. Drake’s wife’s funeral

Jun 26 Michal Blew’s funeral

Aug 15 Daniel Gano’s funeral

Sep 21 [young Mr.] Golden’s funeral

Dec 1 Higgin’s child’s funeral

Dec 10 Anthony Stout’s wife’s funeral

Dec 15 Mr. Fisher’s funeral

Dec 21 George Corvine’s funeral

1788

Jan 31 Rebeka Drake’s funeral

Feb 11 Thos. Drake’s child’s funeral

Feb 13 Lucina Park’s funeral

Mar 7 Nc. Drake’s grandchild’s funeral

Apr 13 funeral for Mrs. [R.] Drake’s son

May 6 Mrs. Blackwell’s funeral

Jun 5 Mr. Thomson’s fun N.Y.

Jul 8 Naomi Lot’s funeral

Aug 11 Jas. Swallow’s funeral

Aug 12 John Snook’s funeral

Aug 24 Alice Cone baptis’d

Aug 25 Young Blew’s funeral [son of Abr’m Blue]

Aug 28 Zebulun Stout Senr.’s funeral

Aug 31 Temperance Hixon baptized

Sep 1 preached at widow Golden’s

[another diary begins]

Nov 25 Caty Stout’s funeral [“died of a decline”]

[Dec 3 Married Mr. Daniel Drake to Miss Frances Golden at home of her father Jacob Golden]

Dec 8 Capt. Dd. Stout’s funeral [David Stout died y’day, age 83 years; left 4 sons, 5 daughters, many great and great grand children]
[Dec 8 William Simmon’s funeral]

[Dec 28 Married Capt. Jacob Sckanek to Miss Anne Law]

[Dec 31 Married Mr. William Barrey to Miss Ruth Golden at home of her father Jacob Golden in Hopewell]
1789

[Jan 1 Married Mr. Nicholas Drake to Miss Hannah Bryant at home of her father Valentine Bryant in Hopewell]

[Jan 11 Married his daughter Polly Hart to Mr. Benj. Merrell]

[Feb 4 Married Mr. Bemjamin Randolph to Miss Mary Stout at her uncle Zebulun Stout’s house]

[Feb 5 Married Mr. Jonathan Stout (son of Daniel) to Miss Hannah Horval at home of her father Mr. Stephen Horvel in Somerset County]

[Feb 15 baptized Amy Blue (wife of Isaac)]

Mar 26 Jno. Runyan’s wife’s funeral

[Apr 4 Married Mr. Reuben Anderson to Miss Sarah Runyan at home of John Stout]

Apr 8 at Elder Jno. Stout’s

Apr 9 at Mr. B. Stout’s

Apr 10 funeral of old Mrs. Golden [aged 90]

Apr 24 funeral of old Mrs. Sarah Stout [at John Merrell’s]

Apr 25 Ichabod Leigh [Lee]  Esqr.’s funeral

Apr 26 Baptized Sarah Smith

[Apr 30 old Mr. Benj. Stout in Amwell was dangerously ill]

May 6 Rachel Hill’s funeral [in Amwell, wife of James]

[May 16 “R. Stout was cut off, for which I am sorry.”]

May 25 Benjamin Stout Senr.’s funeral [in Amwell]

Jun 21 baptized Mary Blue

Jul 29 Natl. Hixon’s

[Aug 11 Married Mr. Joab Stout to Miss Elizabeth Bryant at her father William Bryant house in Hopewell]

[Aug 15 new deacons Saml. Stout and Jediah Stout; James Stout is Elder]

[end of this diary]

Oct 1 Jesse Christopher’s child’s funeral

Nov 5 Jos. Harris’s child’s funeral

Nov 14 Mrs. Harris’s funeral

1790

Jan 6 at Thomas Drake’s

Jan 22 Andrew Nannoy’s funeral

Jan 25 Nancy Hunt’s funeral

Feb 14 Rev. Morgan Edwards preached

 Feb 21 and 28 Rev. Morgan Edwards preached

Mar 8 Ury Osborn’s daught.s fun.

Mar 9 Sally Drake’s funeral

Mar 22 Old Mrs. Gulick’s funeral

Apr 10 old Mr. Slack’s funeral [possibly Mrs. Slack]

May 5 Francis Blackwell’s child’s funeral

1791

Jan 12 Mr. Hull’s funeral

Jan 14 at Ezek. Anderson’s for his son

Mar 13 funeral for Mr. Aaron Runyan

Apr 1 funeral for Mrs. Blackwell

Apr 14 Mr. Larson’s funeral

Apr 19 Mrs. Hunt’s funeral

July 24 mentioned following names: Mr. Ewing, Mr. Ustick, Deacon Natl. Stout, Dr. Rogers, Mr. Allison, Dr. Jones, Mr. Wilson, Thos. Drake

Aug 12 Sally Blackwell’s funeral

Aug 21 Eph. Carle’s son’s funeral

Sep 24 Hannah Brush baptized

Nov 12 old Mr. Blacwell’s funeral

Nov 28 Elias Golden’s funeral

Dec 10 Fun. The Drake’s child

Dec 14 Mrs. Drake’s funeral

1792

Jan 20 Jemmy Gordon’s funeral

Mar 11 Thos. Drake’s funeral

May 22 in room of Moses Hadley

Sep 14 Mrs. Merrell’s funeral

1793

Jul 3 John Ketcham’s funeral

Jul 26 at Mr. James Parine’s

1794

Jan 10 Mrs. Pettitt’s funeral

Jan 28 Idin Post’s funeral

May 1 Gideon Lion’s son’s funeral

Jun 13 Polly Furman’s funeral
 

{Editor's Note: Rev. Hart died Dec 31, 1795}

 

The Hopewell Church Records of Rev. Oliver Hart

This post was updated Thursday, Nov 1 after I went to the South Caroliniana library on the USC campus in Columbia, SC to view the papers of Rev. Oliver Hart. What does he have to do with Penelope? Hart was the minister of Hopewell Baptist Church when Morgan Edwards published his book Materials Toward a History of the Baptists, the second printed account of Penelope's ordeal and the first to claim 502 descendants and an age of 110 years. I had assumed that Hart provided the data to Edwards but the journals recorded that Rev. Morgan Edwards preached in Rev. Hart's church in Hopewell on Feb 14, 21 and 28 of 1790, about the time that Edwards was supposedly collecting his data from various towns in New Jersey.

Why are the records in South Carolina. Rev. Hart was a Baptist minister in Charleston for 30 years before he was chased away by the British because he was an active patriot. He was originally from Bucks County, PA, just across the Delaware River from Hopewell, NJ  but his older children remained in Charleston and his widow returned there (presumably with his journals and papers).

Here from Rev. Hart's journals is the list of the 216 members of the Hopewell Baptist Church on Dec.  1, 1780, when Rev. Hart became the pastor. Typos may be embedded due to Rev. Hart's tiny but neat handwriting, 200 years of fading, the person who oiginally transcribed his journal, and my typing. This list makes it much easier to believe that Penelope had 502 descendants when she died.

Note: Later I will update this page with additional information in [brackets] from the journals.

86 male members--John Stout, Elder; David Stout, Elder; ??Stout, Deacon; Nathaniel Stout, Deacon; Nathan Stout, Deacon; Zebulun Stout, Jacob Stout, David Stout, Hezekiah Stout, Benjamin Stout, Andrew Stout, James Stout, David Stout, John Stout, Zebulun Stout, Richard Stout, Samuel Stout, Benjamin Stout, Richard Stout, Samuel Stout, Benjamin Stout, Jedidiak Stout, David Stout, Levi Stout, Zehania [Zephaniah] Stout, Benjamin Stout, Thomas Drake, James Drake, John Drake, Ralph Drake, Enoch Drake, Timothy Titus Senr., Timothy Titus, Junr., Stephen Barton, Deacon; Zebulun Barton, John Hunt, James Hunt, Wilson Hunt, Nathaniel Hixon, Andrew Hixon, Bonham Runyan, John Corwine, John Corwine, Joseph Reed, James Wicoff, David Labaw, Francis Labaw, Moses Labaw, Ichabod Lee, Joseph Lee, Elijah Lee, Henry Vankirk, David Snowden, John Jewel, Jacob Huff, James Osborne, Uriah Osborne, William Osborne, Abraham Servie, Joseph Merrell, Samuel Merrel, John Matthew, Benjamin Matthews, Jedidiah Higgins, Geshome Herren, Samuel Hill, Thomas Craven, James Hill, Alexander Buchanan, William Parks, John Manners, Joseph Higgins, John Disberry, John Hixon, Gideon Lyan, Jerrer’d Saxton, Nathaniel Foster, Ephraim Smith, Abm. Runkle, Rev. John Blackwell, Rev. Benjamin Coles.

122 female members--

Rachel Stout, Sarah Stout, Mary Stout, ?? Stout, Esther Stout, Grace Stout, Marcy Stout, Eppenetus Stout, Martha Stout, Catharine Stout, Charity Stout, Mebal Stout, Penelope Stout, Hannah Stout, Ann Stout, Rhoda Stout, Rachel Stout junr., Rachel Stout, Dorothy Drake, Jemima Hunt, Jemima Laban, Jerusha Lee, Charity Lee, Mary Jewel, Lidya Huff, Lidya Servie, Leah Merrell, Elizabeth Matthews, Frances Higgins, Sarah Higgins, Barsheba Hill, Rachel Buchanan, Rachel Parks, Rachel Shannon, Jemima Hixon, Martha Smith, Sarah Blackwell, Mary Coles, Sarah Runkle, Ann Wilkins, Martha Hogland, Alice Runyan, Sarah Vankirk, Sussannah Gano, Sarah Park, Rebekah Eaton, Eleanor Merrell, Jane Vannelt, Hannah Saxton, Elizabeth Hise, Lucretia Chamberlain, Elizabeth Knowles, Mary Carbines, Tabitha Brush, Phoebe More, Anne Manners, Penelope Stout, Elizabeth Roberts, Anne Sherd, Mary Silvers, Marcy Runyan, Catherine Nanpelt [Vanpelt?], Abigal Vannoy, Anne Warford, Martha Dollos, Thamar Drake, Elizabeth Hart, Amy Olivant, Sarah Stout, Anne Brinson, Sarah Matthews, Sarah Randolph, Lucina Stout,  Anne Craven, Lucina Park, Miriam Younk, Penelope Hart, Elizabeth Cochran, Martha Reed, Elizabeth Drake, Margaret Sherrard, Hephziba Stout, Mable Cannuel, Hosa Vankirk, Catherine Saxton, Mary Barton, Margaret Vankirk, Elizabeth Lefever, Mary Hise, Jane Hutchefon, Mary Prawl, Pamelia Hunt, Sarah Goflin, Sarah Wildgoose, Elizabeth ??, Mary Runayn, Elizabeth Stout, Naomi Osborne, Pencina Osborn, Frances Laryson, Hannah Merrell, Sarah Listsen, Sarah Runkle, Elizabeth Hill, Sarah Hunt, Sarah Brush, Jane Stout, Mary Biggs, Sarah Roberts, Mary Stout, Elizabeth Stout, Rachel Snowden, Sussannah Allen, Elizabeth Hixon, Margaret Wilson, Sarah Hilsy, Mary Vanpelt, Rebekah Chetester.

7 Negroes--Bonto, Cate, Dinah, Weld, Cate, Sor, Frank
 

I think the pattern of names is a grouping by families. Unfortunately, I see no distinction between groups. A listing of "Jemima Hunt, Jemima Laban" suggests Jemima Laban is the daughter of Jemima Hunt.

More details next week.