A New Version of the Richard and Penelope Story

Thanks go to Jay R. Stout, who grew up in NJ and is a direct male descendant of R&P, for providing a copy of this article published in 1931 or ‘32 (exact date and page unknown) in the Keyport Weekly newspaper. This version of the Richard and Penelope story has a few details that I have never seen published. Jay states that this story is handed down over the generations by his ancestors. It is consistent with the 1765 and 1790 versions; furthermore, it has reasonable dates and no obvious errors and does not appear to be derived directly from either of the two original published versions.

Here is the two-paragraph R&P part, which is followed by the entire article.

                "Mr. Stout was a lineal descendant of Richard Stout, who married Penelope Van Princis, said to be the first white woman in the State of New Jersey. Penelope Van Princis and her husband, who was ill, (name unknown) were crossing the ocean on a Dutch ship bound for New Amsterdam, when the vessel was shipwrecked off Sandy Hook and came ashore near what is now the Highlands of New Jersey.  The passengers were able to get on shore, but being afraid of the Indians, would not stay until the sick man recovered. They set out to walk to New Amsterdam, but promised to send for them as soon as they arrived. The sick man’s wife, Penelope Van Princis, would not leave her husband. It was not long before two Indians discovered them and soon relieved the husband from all pain, mutilated the wife and left her for dead also, but Penelope was not dead. She found herself possessed with strength enough to creep into a hollow tree, and lived mostly in it for several days, when unexpectedly an old Indian discovered her hiding there and carried her to his little wigwam, near where Middletown now stands, and there nursed her with herbs, such as the Indians alone knew the value of, treated her kindly and she began to improve, gaining strength day by day, until she became entirely well. When the time came that Penelope wished to go to New Amsterdam to find her friends, he conveyed her in his canoe to that city. The old Indian remained faithful to her as long as she lived.

                "Among the people Penelope Van Princis met in New Amsterdam was one Richard Stout, an Englishman, aged about 42 years, having been born in 1602, while Penelope was about 22 years of age when they were married in 1644, and settled in Gravesend, L. I. Here, most, if not all of their ten children, seven sons and three daughters, were born. The date of Richard Stout’s arrival and permanent settlement on the Monmouth Tract (Old Middletown) was in 1664. Mr. Stout, one of the twelve Monmouth Patentees, was on the most respectable and respected men in his day in the Monmouth settlement. Richard Stout died in 1705 at the age of 103 years, while his wife, Penelope Stout, died in 1732, at the age of 110 years."

Begin the entire article:

Life-long Friends Nimrod Bedle and Thomas Bedle Stout

                Mr. Nimrod Bedle was born January 22, 1806, and Mr. Thomas Bedle Stout was born on December 17, 1807, Mr. Bedle being one year, ten months and twenty-five days older than Mr. Stout. Mr. Bedle’s parents’ farm was in what was called the “Newtown” section of the Bethany district, about two miles east of Keyport, while Mr. Stout was born on the old Stout farm at Centreville, near Bethany, in a locality then termed “Jericho.” The farms were not far apart. These boys, Nimrod and Thomas, went through life together; played together, both attended the old Bethany school; also attended the same Sunday school; both became members of Old Bethany Church, and were church workers there together. Both Mr. Bedle and Mr. Stout were class-leaders in three churches, viz: Bethany, old first Methodist Episcopal Church and Calvary M. E. Church, Keyport, and when Thomas Stout’s friend, Nimrod Bedle, decided to build a home in the wilderness, even though Mr. Stout thought it was a “crazy” idea for him to do so, he would be there to help.

                Mr. Thomas Bedle Stout was the son of John and Martha (daughter of Thomas and Amy Bedle) Stout. He was one of fourteen children, being the seventh child. There were nine sons and five daughters in this family.

                Mr. Stout was a lineal descendant of Richard Stout, who married Penelope Van Princis, said to be the first white woman in the State of New Jersey. Penelope Van Princis and her husband, who was ill, (name unknown) were crossing the ocean on a Dutch ship bound for New Amsterdam, when the vessel was shipwrecked off Sandy Hook and came ashore near what is now the Highlands of New Jersey.  The passengers were able to get on shore, but being afraid of the Indians, would not stay until the sick man recovered. They set out to walk to New Amsterdam, but promised to send for them as soon as they arrived. The sick man’s wife, Penelope Van Princis, would not leave her husband. It was not long before two Indians discovered them and soon relieved the husband from all pain, mutilated the wife and left her for dead also, but Penelope was not dead. She found herself possessed with strength enough to creep into a hollow tree, and lived mostly in it for several days, when unexpectedly an old Indian discovered her hiding there and carried her to his little wigwam, near where Middletown now stands, and there nursed her with herbs, such as the Indians alone knew the value of, treated her kindly and she began to improve, gaining strength day by day, until she became entirely well. When the time came that Penelope wished to go to New Amsterdam to find her friends, he conveyed her in his canoe to that city. The old Indian remained faithful to her as long as she lived.

                Among the people Penelope Van Princis met in New Amsterdam was one Richard Stout, an Englishman, aged about 42 years, having been born in 1602, while Penelope was about 22 years of age when they were married in 1644, and settled in Gravesend, L. I. Here, most, if not all of their ten children, seven sons and three daughters, were born. The date of Richard Stout’s arrival and permanent settlement on the Monmouth Tract (Old Middletown) was in 1664. Mr. Stout, one of the twelve Monmouth Patentees, was on the most respectable and respected men in his day in the Monmouth settlement. Richard Stout died in 1705 at the age of 103 years, while his wife, Penelope Stout, died in 1732, at the age of 110 years.

                Thomas Bedle Stout was the sixth generation, through the line of the eldest son of Richard and Penelope (van Princis) Stout, the first “Stout” settlers of Monmouth.

                Thomas Bedle Stout, when about twenty-three years of age, went into business as a blacksmith at Shrewsbury and carried it on successfully for a number of years. He was of inventive mind and patented quite a number of articles that were very salable.

                On September 25, 1832, Mr. Stout, then about twenty-five years of age, married Miss Amelia, daughter of Cornelius Walling and Elizabeth Murphy, his wife . The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Thomas G. Stewart, (this being Rev. Mr. Stewart’s first year as circuit preacher on the Freehold Circuit,) in the home of her parents, the old Walling homestead, then designated as being in “Bethany.” The “Walling” farm is now owned and occupied by Mr. John H. Curtis.

Mrs. Stout’s mother was the daughter of Mr. Timothy and Mary (Garrison) Murphy, who settled at “Bethany” about 1777, and from that date until they passed away, (over forty years) their home was a preaching place for all of the itinerant ministers on the Circuit, and “Friday” was their regular day for preaching services every two weeks. Mr. and Mrs. Stout moved to Keyport from Shrewsbury in 1838, and were residents here from that time until they passed away. Mr. Stout never engaged in business here but invested largely in real estate.

                In 1855, he was elected to the assembly from this district after an exciting campaign, his opponent being Eusebius M. Walling, his brother-in-law. In his younger days, Mr. Stout was noted for his great strength, and many are the feats told of his prowess.

                On March 31, 1840, Isaac K. Lippincott and Caroline W., his wife, conveyed to Thomas B. Stout, one hundred and ninety-five acres of land covering “Key Grove,” the Mansion House tract, which property was a part of Mr. Lippincott’s purchase at the Partition Sale of the Captain Edmund Kearney estate on November 3 and 4, 1829. The consideration was $8,500. The eastern boundary of part of the tract was “Main Street.” It was about 1838 that William Bedle Sr. purchased of Isaac Lippincott a plot of ground located on the northwest corner of what is now Main and Stout Streets, erected a dwelling, brought his wife and family to reside in the new settlement, and was a resident here from that time until his death.

                Thomas B. Stout selected from that one hundred and ninety-five acres of land, for his homestead, the property that is now the southwest corner of Main and Stout Streets. He cut a street through his farm on the north edge of his homestead tract, naming in “Stout” Street. The home property extended the width of a block, east and west, along Stout Street, giving tow street entrances to it. The timber for the “mansion House” was piled on the plot for a year to be seasoned before commencing to build. While waiting for the timber to season, and while building, Mr. Stout and family occupied the “Key Grove-Mansion House,” his recent purchase, until his new home was ready for occupancy.

                The home of Mr. and Mrs. Stout was like the home of Mrs. Stout’s parents, Mr. Cornelius and Elizabeth (Murphy) Walling, and the home of her grandparents, Mr. Timothy and Mary (garrison) Murphy. Since the settlement of Mr. Murphy at Bethany in 1777, these homes have been the Methodist headquarters for all the itinerant ministers on the Circuit, and also for the ministers and their wives until they passed away.

                (Note: The Thomas B. Stout homestead (1931) is owned and occupied by Horace S. Burrowes.)

                It was on March 2, 1846, that Thomas B. Stout and Amelia, his wife, conveyed to Joseph I. Beers, William Walling and William H. Crawford, ninety-five acres (covering the Mansion House tract) of the one hundred and ninety-five acres of land purchased in 1840, of Isaac Lippincott. Consideration $9,000. The deed was signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of Francis Murphy.

                (Note: The “Key Grove-Mansion House tract (1931) is owned and occupied by Peter Sondergaard.)

                In the spring of 1842, (ninety years ago) the New Jersey Methodist Conference appointed the Rev. James K. White and the Rev. James Rogers, the preachers on the Keyport Circuit. During their pastorate there was a great revival, about seventy people were converted and added to the church membership. This necessitated the forming of new classes and Brother Nimrod Bedle, William Bedle and Thomas Bedle Stout were appointed leaders, the first that had been appointed in Keyport proper. At this time the class meetings were held in the new church.

                The children of these early class leaders were brought up in the Sunday school; later in life they entered the class of their fathers and took an active part in church work until they passed away.

                The three Methodist class leaders first settled on Main Street, but after five years, Mr. William Bedle purchased a larger piece of property on the corner of Broadway and Front Street, settled and remained there many years, leaving his brother class leaders to pass their days together. These life-long friends lived nearly opposite each other the remainder of their lives. They were church workers together, they had one common interest, the church, the Methodist Episcopal Church.

                There came a day when these life-long Methodist friends were to part. Mr. and Mrs. Nimrod Bedle, after living together over fifty-three happy years together, were the first to be separated. Mrs. Bedle passed away on January 15, 1882, at the age of 77 years, 9 months and 24 days. Mr. Bedle followed shortly after, his death occurring on July 17, 1883, at the age of 77 years, 5 months and 25 days, having outlived his wife about a year and a half.

                Mr. Thomas Bedle Stout outlived his life-long friend, Mr. Bedle, five years, having passed away on September 1, 1888, at the age of 80 years, 8 months and 14 days, while Mrs. Stout outlived her husband early ten years, she having passed away on May 16, 1898, at the age of 82 years and 9 days.

                These active, pioneer settlers have gone to their reward.

                The “Methodist” seed sown by Nimrod Bedle, (the first settler in the town of Keyport) when he invited the Methodist Circuit preachers, the Rev. Thomas Stewart, to conduct a prayer meeting and preaching service in his home on Main Street, (in December, 1831) has grown and multiplied to about ten hundred and forty Methodist Church members and Sunday school scholars during the century, 1831-1931.

                (Note: The population of Keyport given in the 1930 census was about 4,900.)

 

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.

A Summary of What's Known about Penelope

Last week I listed the major sources of the stories about Penelope. Combining all threads produces the following summary of what we know about Penelope:

Penelope (whose maiden name was possibly Kent or Lent or Thompson or Thomson or vanPrincis or vanPrinces or vanPrincen or vanPrincess or van Prince or van Printzen) was born probably in the 1620s in either England or Holland to unknown parents who were either English or Dutch. Rumors suggest her father was a minister. In the 1640s at approximately 20 years of age, Penelope married either an Englishman or a Dutchman (whose name was probably Kent or Prince or vanPrince or vanPrincis or vanPrinces or vanPrincess or van Prince or van Printzen) probably in Amsterdam. Soon thereafter they sailed on a ship (name unknown) from Amsterdam to the Dutch West Indies colony of New Amsterdam possibly by way of the Caribbean island of Curacao.

Sometime in the 1640s somewhere in the Sandy Hook area of Raritan Bay (in what is now Monmouth County, NJ), Penelope’s ship (which might have the Kath/Kat/Cat/Cath which sank in 1648, returning from Curacao with a cargo of salt) ran aground or capsized in a storm or sank. Everyone except Penelope perished in the incident or else everyone except Penelope was killed by Indians after surviving the wreck or else everyone safely made it to shore except Penelope’s husband who was either injured in the wreck or had been sick on the voyage. If other passengers and crew survived the incident, they hiked to New Amsterdam, but Penelope refused to abandon her husband, who was too sick or injured to travel.

After the wreck, Indians attacked whoever was still there on the beach. If Penelope’s husband survived the wreck, the Indians killed him. The Indians mutilated Penelope (head injury and/or shoulder injury and/or partially disemboweled and/or scalped), and left her for dead. She managed to crawl into a hollow log or tree for protection and survived on the fungus growing on the rotten wood.

Later (perhaps a week), one or two Indians possibly with a dog were on the beach. Possibly they wounded a deer, which ran by Penelope’s log/tree with an arrow sticking out of it. Penelope called to the Indians to put her out of her misery. The young Indian (assuming there were two) was anxious to do so, but the older one prevailed. The older Indian carried the wounded white woman to his village near where the town of Middletown now stands. She recovered from her injuries.

Either Penelope lived with the Indians for many years, or else she escaped in a canoe, or else white men heard of her presence and rescued her, or else the old Indian delivered her to New Amsterdam for a ransom.

On 12 Sep 1648 (our only reliable date) in Gravesend, Long Island, colony of New Netherland, Pennellopy Prince testified in a slander trial about one woman milking another woman’s cow.

Penelope married Richard Stout, an early settler of Gravesend (on Long Island near Coney Island), who may have been 40 years old when they married in the 1640s (probably between 1642 and 1648). Richard was likely from Nottinghamshire, England, likely left home after an argument with his father possibly about a woman his father deemed unsuitable, and served in the English navy (possibly involuntarily) for probably seven years before being discharged in America (probably in New Amsterdam) about 1642.  "Octoberr 13th, 1643, Richard Aestin, Ambrose Love [London?] and Richard Stout made declarations that the crew of the Seven Stars and of the privateer landed at the farm of Anthony Jansen, of Salee, in the Bay, and took off 200 pumpkins, and would have carried away a lot of hogs from Coney Island had they not learned that they belonged to Lady Moody."

Penelope and Richard Stout had 10 children who lived to maturity and populated New Jersey.

At some point after marriage and by 1666 at the latest, Penelope and Richard left Gravesend and (with other settlers) founded the town of Middletown, NJ, near where the old Indian’s village was. At some point while she had young children (probably near Middletown but possibly in Gravesend), the old Indian warned Penelope that other Indians planned to attack her settlement. She could not persuade her husband of the truth, so she took the children away in a canoe (possibly provided by the old Indian). At her departure, her husband decided to be prudent, gathered the other settlers, and thwarted the attack before it occurred. Thereafter, the Indians and settlers lived in peace.

Richard Stout died as an old man (probably around age 90), his will being probated in 1705. Penelope died probably between 1712 and 1732 at an old age, which some claim was 110 years, at which time she had 502 descendants. She was buried somewhere in the Middletown area. Her numerous descendants recounted her adventures to their numerous descendants.

Penelope told her great grandson John Stout to reach into her apron pocket and feel her abdominal scar. John told this story to his granddaughter Helena Hoff, who told her granddaughter Therese Walling.

 

Conjecture #4: Penelope sailed on de Kath, which wrecked in the summer of 1648

Margaret Thomas Buchholz’s book New Jersey Shipwrecks: 350 Years in the Graveyard of the Atlantic opens with a vignette of Penelope’s shipwreck and claims it’s the first one known along the New Jersey coast. However, she doesn’t list ships by name until 1731 and even our favorite nameless shipwreck is lifted from H. F. Stout’s book Stout and Allied Families.

Kath is the First Documented Wreck in New Jersey

But Ms. Buchholz has a point. The first documented shipwreck is the Dutch West India Company’s ship de Kath (whose name is spelled many different ways), whose salvage report is recorded in the New Amsterdam Council Minutes on 9 Nov 1648 as follows:

        “Whereas the yacht De Cath, of which Jeuryaen Andries was master, arrived here from Curaçao with a cargo inside Sandy Hook, otherwise called Godyn Point, in a safe port and, the wind being contrary, tried to tack to before Fort Amsterdam, said yacht, in tacking, stranded on a sand bank with such force that notwithstanding all effort it could not be brought off, except the effects which were in and on her, inclusive of the masts; only, by the splitting of the ship, a quantity of salt was dissolved. The effects and merchandise being calculated against the monthly wages earned by the crew of the said ship, the proceeds according to the inventory were found to amount to more than the accrued wages; and whereas the ship’s crew appearing in a body before the council request a final settlement according to maritime law, it is therefore resolved and concluded in council to furnish a proper account to all members of the crew of the yacht De Cath, who shall be paid and satisfied by the honorable directors at Amsterdam, on condition that they shall continue in the Company’s service until their bounden time shall have expired. This day, the 9th of November 1648. Present: The honorable general, Mr. Dincklagen, Briant Nuton [Brian Newton] and Paulus Leedersz.”

The Slowness of Bureaucracy

Aha, you say, de Kath wrecked in November and Penelope was already in Gravesend in September. No, the November date pertains to the salvage report being entered into the Council Minutes. There is no mention of when the wreck occurred but surely the bureaucracy of investigating shipwrecks took months, even in the 17th century.

The Stopover

Aha, you say, de Kath sailed from Curaçao, an island in the Caribbean, whereas Penelope sailed from Amsterdam. I ask, why can’t both statements be true? If you flew from Los Angeles to New York with a change of planes in Chicago, then you traveled from Los Angeles but both you and your second plane flew from Chicago. How much importance do you attach to the stopover? So, is it plausible that Penelope sailed on one ship from Amsterdam to Curaçao and took another ship from Curaçao to New Amsterdam?

Kath was a Busy Ship

Follow the career path of de Kath, as recorded in the contemporary records. Source details can be found on my website. Note: the Dutch had already converted to the Gregorian calendar; thus all these dates are in modern format.

6 Jun 1647: The New Amsterdam Council ordered the ships Groote Gerrit, de Kath, and de Leifde to voyage to the West Indies as privateers. No info on when they actually departed.

19 Feb 1648: Vice Director Lucas Roodenborch of Curaçao wrote a letter to Stuyvesant that the Groote Gerrit was severely damaged by a storm and that de Cath and de Liefde were ravished by sickness. Stuyvesant received the letter by way of Boston on April 14.

15 Apr 1648: In the Caribbean de Kath captured a Spanish ship with a cargo of hides and tobacco. Note the delay between capture (15 Apr) and official announcement (2 Jul).

2 Jul 1648: The New Amsterdam Council announced that Hans Wyer, captain of the yacht De Cath, arrived in New Amsterdam with a captured Spanish bark Nostra Signora Rosario, laden with hides, captured below Margarita in the Caribbean Islands. Note: The West India Company protocol required three public announcements for an auction of seized goods but Stuyvesant was reprimanded for issuing only one announcement.

20 Jul 1648: The New Amsterdam Council ordered a ship to Curaçao to deliver supplies and bring back salt. Author’s Note: The sale of salt to New England fishermen was a big business. Name of ship was not recorded. The Council records often documented events that had already happened. In the Council minutes for July 2, they were already planning this voyage.

9 Nov 1648: The salvage report for de Kath’s salt was entered into Council Minutes.

How Long to Sail from New Amsterdam to Curaçao and Back?

If de Kath sailed from New Amsterdam in early July, took 5 weeks for a trip to the Caribbean and back, picked up passengers in Curaçao, and wrecked in mid-August, that schedule allows four weeks for Penelope to be attacked, rescued, and delivered to Gravesend before 12 Sep 1648. This scenario assumes that she is recuperating from her injuries at the Applegate home in Gravesend when she witnessed the cow incident. This timeframe also allows a plausible 3 months for creation of the salvage report.

 Don’t buy it? Then counter with a better idea. But first look at the previous blog entry Conjecture #3: Penelope and Richard Stout married in late 1648/early 1649.

 The Chain of Circumstances

Too unlikely? Every unusual event has a long chain of circumstances leading to it. Why was a particular passenger on the Titanic? If a child is hit by a stray bullet on the streets of Chicago, why was that particular child in that particular location at that particular time and why was the shooter there at that time? If my daughter hadn’t moved away from Brooklyn in Feb 2001, then my wife might have been waiting for discount Broadway tickets in the World Trade Center lobby eight mornings after Labor Day in 2001.

Comments , Please

Please use the comments section to express your opinions about my conjecture and the logic behind it or to ask questions that might spur further research.

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