202 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ject of this sketch for at least three 

 generations. Here Jacob Stout resided 

 the remainder of his life, becoming a 

 prominent man in the community and an 

 extensive landowner. In 1767 he pur- 

 chased the Pine Run mill property, one 

 mile north of Doylestown, which in 

 1770 he conveyed to his son-in-law, Ab- 

 raham Freed. In 1774 he purchased 150 

 acres in New Britain, on which he set- 

 tled his daughter Catharine, who had 

 married Jacob Schliefifer. Jacob Stout 

 died April 30, T779, at the age of sixty- 

 eight and one-half years, and is buried 

 beside his wife and several of their chil- 

 dren and grandchildren in a neat little 

 family burial lot within a few rods 

 of Perkasie station on the N. P. 

 R. R. on a part of the old plantation. 

 The children of Jacob and Anna (Mil- 

 ler-Lacey), Stout were as follows:, i. 

 Abraham, an account of whom fol- 

 lows: 2. Isaac, who settled on his fath- 

 er's Northampton county tract and 

 reared a family, among whom were Dr. 

 Abraham Stout. 3. E. Salome, who 

 married first Abraham Freed, and after 

 his death, in 1773. Gabrielle Swartzland- 

 er, and lived and died at what was known 

 for a century as "Swartzlander's Mill" 

 one mile north of Dojdestown, and left 

 many descendants, among whom is Dr. 

 Frank Swartzlander. of Dovlestown. 4. 

 Catharine, who married Jacob SchleifYer, 

 and lived and died in New Britain. 



Abraham Stout, eldest son of Jacob 

 and Anna, born at Perkasie, August 

 17, 1740, was probably the most promi- 

 nent and best educated Pennsylvania . 

 German of his day. Most of his educa- 

 tion was acquired at the famous Ger- 

 mantown Academy, for years the rival 

 of the College of Philadelphia, later 

 the University of Pennsvlvania, under 

 the tuition of Hilarius Becker, profes- 

 sor of German, and David J. Dove as in- 

 structor in English. Abraham Stout 

 thus acquired a thorough knowledge 

 of the English language, an accomplish- 

 ment exceedingly rare at that date and 

 for a century later among the descend- 

 ants of the German colonists of upper 

 Bucks, as well as a thorough scientific 

 training. He was an excellent account- 

 ant and penman, a surveyor and con- 

 veyancer, as well as an excellent bust 

 ness man, and transacted practically all 

 the public business for his German 

 neighbors far and near. Most of the 

 deeds, wills, petitions to the courts, 

 etc., on file among the papers of the 

 several county offices from 1770 to t8i2. 

 are in his handwriting, as well as num- 

 berless account of administrators and 

 executors, (he having served very fre- 

 quently as auditor in estates) and are 

 models of brevity, neatness and execu- 

 tion. At the death of his father his 

 brothers and sisters conveyed to him the 

 old Perkasie homestead, and his whole 

 life was spent thereon. At the begin- 



ning of the protest agaiui^t the oppres- 

 sive acts of the mother country in 1774- 

 75, he was foremost in the neighborhood 

 in organizing for the protest, and was 

 named as the member of the committee 

 of safety from Rockhill in 1775. When, 

 however, it became apparent that a re- 

 sort to arms would follow, he resigned 

 from the committee and thereafter held 

 aloof from active participation in the 

 struggle. The reason for this was, no 

 doubt, owing to religious convictions 

 on the subject of the war, as there is 

 evidence to show that his sympathies 

 were with the patriot side. Though 

 later generations of the family were 

 members of the German Reformed 

 church, it is probable that he was reared 

 in the Mennonite faith. When his fath- 

 er, Jacob Stout, took the oath of alle- 

 giance in 1751, his name appears among 

 the list of "Quakers and others wha 

 from religious conviction conscientiously 

 scruple to take the Oath on the Holy 

 Evangelists and having complied with 

 the terms required by the Act of Par- 

 liament took and subscribed the qualifi- 

 cations required." Again, the German- 

 town Academy was in its inception a 

 Mennonist institution, and he probably 

 imbibed ideas of non-combativeness that 

 prevented his participation in a sanguin- 

 ary struggle. The war having ended, he 

 became, however, a prominent figure in 

 public afifairs. He was one of the dele- 

 gates from Bucks county in the consti- 

 tutional convention of 1700, and took a 

 prominent part therein. His career of 

 usefulness ended with his death on the 

 eve of the second struggle with the 

 mother country, June 8, 1812, and he is 

 buried beside his father in the old bury- 

 ing ground at Perkasie. He married,. 

 October 21, 1773, Mary Magdalen Hart- 

 zell, daughter of Henry Hartzell, an- 

 other prominent Pennsylvania Germarr 

 in Rockhill township. She died Novem- 

 ber 8, t8ii. Abraham and Magdalen 

 (Hartzell) Stout were the parents of 

 seven children, viz. : i. Nancy, who mar- 

 ried Jacob Hartman. 2. Jacob, the grand- 

 father of Hon. Mahlon H. Stout, president 

 judge of the courts of Bucks county. 3. 

 Henry H., the great-grandfather of the sub- 

 ject of this sketch. 4. Abraham. 6. Mar- 

 garetta, who married. Tobias Ruhl, and 7- 

 ^lagdalen, who married John Gearhart. 



Henry H. Stout, second son of Ab- 

 raham and Magdalen (Hartzell) Stouts 

 was born on the Perkasie homestead, 

 June 3. 1776. He was a lifelong farmer 

 and resided for some years after attain- 

 ing manhood on a portion of the old 

 homestead, but later settled in Hilltown, 

 where he owned considerable land. He 

 was a member of the German Reformed 

 church at Tohicken and an influential 

 man in the community. He married. 

 May. 1798, Elizabeth Kern, daughter of 

 Christian Kern, of Hilltown. She was 

 born May 10, 1778, and died June 5. 



