Elijah Stout - Revolutionary War Soldier, Part 1

Elijah Stout was the Great Great Grandfather of our Grandpa Stout (James A. Stout). Elijah's wife, my G-G-G-G-Grandmother was Anna Stout. We know all of this because of a specific date: August 14 1819.

This is the date listed in the records of our Grandpa Stout as the birthday of his grandfather, John L. Stout. It is also the birthday of Eljah Stout's grandson John Stout, recorded in the family Bible from the 1830s. These must be the same person. The picture is of the 'Marriage' page from this Bible. The Bible pages were submitted by Anna in order to get her portion of Elijah's pension after he died in 1838.

There are several other records that show these connections, but even if we didn't have any other records, the birthdate alone is proof beyond any reasonable doubt!

We do not know how Grandpa Stout knew his grandfather's birthday but we know that he knew it before anyone in our family made the link to Elijah. The copy of his records (which I have) were copied in 1952. The link to Elijah was found in 1964 by our Uncle Riley (George Riley Stout). Through the help of a distant cousin, Riley learned about the Revolutionary War Application of Elijah Stout and his wife Anna There we find the birth, marriage, and death records of several members of the Stout family. I will list these here:

-- Elijah Stout was married to Anna Stout November 19, 1783
-- Judiah Stout was married July 16, 1817
-- Harrison Lock was married to Rebecca Mosby(?) on February 14, 1828

-- Judiah Stout, oldest son of Elijah Stout was born January 19, 1799
-- Benjamin Proll(?) Stout was born July 25, 1801
-- Rebecca Hanes(?) granddaughter of Elijah Stout was born on Feb 14, 1807
-- John Stout son of Judiah Stout was born on August 14, 1819
-- Elijah Stout second son of Judiah Stout was born on Dec 28, 1822
-- Marion Stout 1st daughter of Judiah Stout was born Sept 5, 1824
-- Judiah Stout 4th son of Judiah and Delilah Stout was born Aug 4, 1828
-- Rebecca Stout was born June 23, 1830
-- Elise Pain(?) was born November 6, 1831

-- Rebecca Stout died December 1830 [must be the 6 month old daughter]
-- Judiah Stout died April 1835 [must be the 6 year old son, born 1828]
-- Benjamin P Stout died May 22, 1803 [must be the toddler born 1801]

These entries are hand written on Bible pages, which were submitted to the government in order to verify that Anna really was the widow of Elijah, so that she would continue to get her share of his pension after he died.

With just a little analysis, it is clear that Elijah and Anna's oldest son Judiah (and his wife Delilah) had as their oldest son John Stout, born August 14, 1819. It has since been learned that his full name was John Lewis Stout. Several other relationships are evident from the Bible pages, but some are unclear. I am confident that many of these relationships can be clarified with a little more research.

In the next post, we will share some of what Elijah said about his Revolutionary War service in his original pension application.

Thomas Benton Stout - Follow-up

The picture is our Thomas Benton Stout with five of his sons; "Riley, Marion, Willie, Johnie, and James", taken in 1917 in Clovis, New Mexico.

This is just a short note concerning the name of our g-g-grandfather. See the Jan 19 post for details concerning his family, etc.

This is one of the few posts that will be pure speculation! But I hope it is informative and maybe a little fun.

In the mid 1800s, there was a very popular fad of naming children after famous celebrities, mostly political or military folks.

So, where did our Thomas Benton Stout get his name?

I believe it was from the Missouri Senator, Thomas H. Benton.

Thomas H. Benton was elected as one of two senators from the then brand-new state of Missouri in 1820. He served for 30 years, until 1850, the year our Thomas was born. He led a colorful life, with famous fights and an unpopular stand against slavery late in life bringing him notoriety.

Instead of re-writing his life story, I will link to his Wikipedia page for those who are interested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hart_Benton_(senator)

He is the subject of several books, two of which were written by future presidents. Teddy Roosevelt published a biography in 1887, and Benton is one of the Senators profiled in John F. Kennedy's book, 'Profiles in Courage'.

Can we be sure that our Thomas Benton Stout was named after Thomas H. Benton? No. But until someone comes up with a better idea, this is what I will lean toward. It seems likely that parents would name a son after a man in whom they saw qualities which the family admired. Thomas H. Benton would fit the bill. We know the Stouts were men and women who stood strong for the values they deemed important, and the fact that John Lewis Stout (the father of our T.B.Stout) enlisted in the Union Army in Missouri shows that he must have been an abolishionist.

I hope that was fun, and even if it is wrong, it tells us a lot about the times in which these folks lived!

Tombstone Tuesday - Thomas Benton Stout

Believe it or not, there were at least 3 men named Thomas Benton Stout in the United States in the 1800s. We know this is 'ours' because of a hand written ledger copied from James Alexander Stout's records in 1952, in which the birth and death dates match this stone.

This grave is found in the Hollene Cemetery, near Clovis, New Mexico.

Thomas was the son of John Lewis Stout and Amanda C. Carroll. At the time of this writing, it is believed that John is the only man in our ancestry who was a Union soldier in the Civil War. He seems to have died shortly after the start of the war, from illness, on Oct 16, 1861. In most wars before 1900, illness WAS the most common cause of death! He died when Thomas was 11 years old. I hope to have more about John and Amanda and their family in another article.

The first record of Thomas is the 1850 census when he was 3 months old. He had three grandparents nearby. His maternal grandmother, Dorothy Carroll, was living with John and Amanda. His father's parents were living next door, listed as Jude and Delila Stout. These families were in Moniteau County, Missouri. In 1860 he was 10 years old, with his parents and 7 siblings. In the 1870 census we are not sure where he was, but he married Mary Jane Kelsey in 1873 in Morgan County Missouri. Mary Jane was the daughter of Samuel and Rose Ann Kelsey (sometimes spelled Kelsay). Samuel had apparently died when Mary Jane was young, as her and her mother had weddings just 3 days apart - her mother's second marriage and Mary Jane's first:

Rose Ann Kelsay m. Alexander Hamilton (not the famous one) June 5, 1873

Mary Jane Kelsay m. Thomas B. Stout June 8, 1873

Thomas and Mary Jane had their first child, named Rosa Jane, in Missouri. The rest of their 16 children were born in Texas. That's right SIXTEEN. This is the largest in our known family, all born to Mary Jane Kelsey Stout! The first child born in 1874, and the last in 1897. We know that Thomas and Mary Jane lived in Collin and Denton County Texas. They are found in Greer County Oklahoma in 1900, so they must have moved there about the same time as son James.

As was true of almost all of our ancestors, Thomas is listed as a 'farmer' in all census records. We have not researched how much land he had, but the 1910 census does tell us he owned his home.

Our 'Grandpa Stout' - James Alexander Stout was the 4th child and the oldest son in this family.

As the children of Thomas and Mary Jane grew up, some of them moved to New Mexico. Mary Jane died in 1915. Thomas is not found in the 1920 census, but he must have either gone to visit family, or moved to be near them in New Mexico, where he died in 1925.