From Biographical Memoirs of Huntington County, 1901, pages 501-504
Richard Stout, a British colonel, the progenitor of the family of that name in America, settled in New York, then called New Amsterdam, near 1620.
History traces the first family to one woman whose maiden name was Van Princis. She and her first husband, whose name is not known, were shipwrecked with others on the coast off Sandy Hook, about 1618. The crew, after suffering many privations, finally made ready to return in the temporarily repaired vessel. Mrs. Van Princis and her husband protested, choosing rather to risk their lives on the island where the Indians were hostile than to recross the ocean, as her husband was then sick. The crew made then (sic) comfortable, promising to return as soon as possible. The Indians soon found the couple who had been left, and killed the husband. They left the wife for dead also, having fractured her skull and partially disembowelled her. She survived her injuries, however, and fell into the hands of a friendly Indian, who took care of her until her recovery, when he sold her to her countrymen in New York for a heavy ransom. Here it was that she married the Richard Stout mentioned above. Their children were: First, Jonathan, who founded Hopewell, New Jersey, who with his posterity and kindred founded what was perhaps the first Baptist church in America under the name of Hopewell Missionary Baptist church, half of the membership of which from the beginning was made up of Stouts; second, John; third, Richard; fourth, James; fifth, Peter; sixth, David; seventh, Benjamin; eighth, Mary; ninth, Sarah; and tenth, Alice.
Jonathan, the first son, was the father of Daniel, an ensign during the Revolutionary war, who became the father of another Jonathan, great-grandson of the first. This Jonathan was an express mail carrier during the Revolution. He served during the entire war and his life was full of adventure and daring exploits, one being that he was entrusted with a large amount of money to carry to another army, there being two other men detailed to follow him up to see that he got through safe, and when they got in sight of him he supposed it was the enemy, put spurs to his horse and on reaching a river plunged in and swam across. The men detailed, knowing then that he was safe, returned and reported that he had got through safely. He was the father of Job Stout, the fifth generation from 1620.
Job Stout served his country in the Revolution during the last three years of the war, enlisting at the age of seventeen and was present with the continental troops at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Immediately after the war he married Rhoda Howell, and settled at Ft. Pitt, now Pittsburg. In 1788 he, in company with a party of emigrants and two brothers, went down the Ohio and landed where Louisville now stands. They had to fight their way down as the Indians were hostile. From Louisville they went to Lexington, and from there to Bracken county, on the Licking river. There the brothers experienced some of the curses of slavery, and, differing, they parted, one remaining near Louisville, one near Dayton, Ohio, and Job settled in Franklin county Indiana, in 1813, on a partially cleared farm, where he lived until the day of his death. Here he donated the land for a graveyard and church, and was one of the most prominent of the founders of what is now called the Big Cedar Grove Baptist church. Here the graves of himself and wife may be seen, resting in the midst of relatives and friends. Among his children was David Stout, who was a music teacher teaching music by a scale of the four notes--do-fa-sol-la. David was the father of ten children, among whom was Job C. Stout, one of the representative men of Huntington county, whose biography is herewith presented.
Job C. Stout was born in Franklin county, Indiana, April 1, 1833, and grew to maturity at the place of his nativity, his early experience being similar to that of the majority of boys reared in the country. The subscription schools of his neighborhood furnished him the means of obtaining a fair English education and on attaining his majority he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits which he has since followed with a larger measure of success than usually attends tillers of the soil. In 1858 he left his native county and moved to the county of Jennings, where, in connection with farming, he engaged in the manufacture of drain tile, an enterprise that proved financially very remunerative and which he carried on quite extensively for a period of seven years. In 1865 he came to Huntington county and purchased the place now occupied by him in section twenty-three, Lancaster township. When he located here the county was a veritable wilderness, with no house in sight in any direction, as the country around was very sparsely settled and but little improvement of any kind had been attempted. With the spirit that animated the strong, sturdy pioneer of the period, he built a small frame cabin and set to work to carve a home from the wilderness, adding improvements from time to time and getting his land in suitable condition to produce sustenance for his family and stock. With the passing years the development of the place proceeded, and by 1876 he was prepared to erect a commodious barn and other suitable outbuildings, meantime greatly enlarging the area of tillable land and increasing its productiveness by a system of tile drainage unexcelled, perhaps, by any other farm in the county, in fact, none equal to it of large size tile and parallel. In 1890 he added the crowning improvement to his place in the shape of the large and shapely residence, which, in structure and all of its appointments, will compare well with the finest rural dwellings in the state of Indiana.
Mr. Stout spared neither expense nor pains in the erection of this building, and when completed he furnished it with modern conveniences of the latest and most approved type. Nothing has been left undone which will add to the beauty and value of the farm as a home. Fruit and shade trees lend an added charm, making it indeed an ideal spot where one who has so long and tirelessly battled with the world may find the rest and quiet he has so nobly earned. With the exception of about sixteen acres the farm is cleared and under cultivation, as more than three thousand rods of tiling have served to reclaim all the swail land and make it tillable.
As an agriculturist Mr. Stout thoroughly understands his calling and gives time and study to his work, his success proving the practicability of his methods. In addition to general farming he also has a fine grade of cattle, hogs and horses which tend to build up the land, add to its productiveness, and greatly increasing his income. He lives a retired life on the farm.
On November 11, 1855, Mr. Stout was joined in marriage to Miss Mary Brady, of Franklin county, this state, daughter of John P. and Elinor (Nutt) Brady, the issue being the following children: Mary Elinor, born November 26, 1857; Sarah Jane, June 11, 1861; William L., born October 3, 1864; Martha Ann, August 16, 1866; Elizabeth, February 17, 1869; John Franklin, born June 7, 1871, died fourteen months later; and Nettie S., April 12, 1876. The marriages of these children, with dates of each, are as follows: Mary E. to M. A. Ryan, in November, 1877; Sarah J. to Henry Gill, December 25, 1881; W. L. to Helen Garrett, June 29, 1899, a successful druggist since 1888, now the proprietor of the finest drug and jewelry store at Whiting, Indiana. His wife was a successful school teacher in the Huntington high school for two years, and at East Chicago and Whiting, Indiana, for ten years; Martha A. to David Beal, February 13, 1887; Elizabeth to Prof. Eugene Merriman, August 15, 1895; and Nettie S. to O. N. Lefler, August 13, 1898. Of the above, M. A. Ryan is a prosperous farmer of Lancaster township; Henry Gill is a well known citizen of Warren; David Beal is a merchant and postmaster of Harlansburg, Indiana; Eugene Merriman was for eight years principal of the East Chicago high school, and at the present time is still further preparing himself for professional work by taking a course at Cornell University; Ora Lefler is a prominent farmer of Jefferson township and one of the county's most successful school teachers.
Mr. Stout is a self-made man in all the term implies, and his success in life is due wholly to his own efforts. Before settling on his present place he worked out by the day and month for about ten years, carefully husbanding his earnings with the object in view of purchasing a home of his own. Aware that the resources of the county could not be properly developed without a general system of public improvements, he alone undertook to raise money to construct a gravel road from Huntington to Warren, but failed for lack of encouragement and financial assistance. He then agitated the building of a road from the south line of Lancaster and Rock Creek townships to the county seat, succeeded in constructing nearly ten miles of the line and later had the satisfaction of seeing the enterprise pushed to completion. He superintended the work, and for two years exercised general oversight of the road, which cost the sum of thirty-one hundred dollars per mile. This was the first successful gravel road in Huntington county and proved a wonderful incentive to the construction of similar highways though various parts of the county.
A man of strong religious convictions, as were his ancestors for several generations, Mr. Stout has aided liberally in the construction of a number of church buildings in his township and elsewhere. He served a number of years as deacon of the West Union Baptist church and was largely instrumental in building that organization from a very small beginning to one of the strongest congregations of the kind in the county. He donated large sums to each of the following congregations to enable them to provide suitable temples of worship: The Christian and Methodist churches at Kelso; German Baptist churches at Lancaster and Loon Creek, besides contributing liberal sums to various charitable and benevolent enterprises, not one of which ever appealed to him in vain. In truth he has been the soul of liberality, and the poor and needy of his community will always have reason to hold his name in grateful remembrance for his many benefactions, distributed among them with lavish hand.
In politics Mr. Stout is a stanch Prohibitionist, but was previously identifeid with the Know-Nothings and later with the Republican party, casting his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont, the second for Abraham Lincoln. In the face of great opposition, and seeing the state and national sin of licensing saloons, he was compelled, for conscience sake, to become a Prohibitionist; made the first move to organize the party in Huntington county and since 1886 has been its recognized leader, earning a state reputation by his earnest work in promoting the party's interest. He believes the saloon cannot be legalized without sin, and that nothing but the strong arm of the law can successfully remove it from the land. Public spirited in all that relates to the material and moral upbuilding of his community and township, Mr. Stout deserves the high honor in which he is held by people of all classes, irrespective of religion or party ties. He is one of Huntington county's leading men, and it is with pleasure that this tribute to his worth is accorded a place in these pages.
The members of the old family to which he belongs have, by natural increase and by marriage with others, become widely known throughout the country, especially the central and western states. As a rule they are noted for deep religious zeal and their influence is ever exerted on the moral side of every question.