I discovered Peter “the Quaker” Stout and Margaret Cypert Stout, my wife Sharon’s 6th great grand parents, while researching her grandmother Fannie Pandora Stout Carmac. Fannie was a remarkable woman who raised ten children largely by herself and lived to 101 years of age. I’ll write more about her another time.
Sharon’s line to Peter and Margaret:
- Cletus Aubrey Carmac, 1926-1996, her father
- Fannie Pandora Stout, 1893-1994, grandmother
- James C. Stout, 1862-1935, great grandfather
- Calvin Stout, 1836-1907, 2nd great grandfather
- James Calvin Stout, 1803-1885, 3rd great grandfather
- Jacob Stout, 1781-1852, 4th great grandfather
- Peter Stout Jr., 1754-1831, 5th great grandfather
- Peter Stout, 1715-1802, 6th great grandfather
The Stout (Stoudt) family can be traced to the Palatinate region of Germany. The religious struggle (and wars) between Catholicism and Protestantism in the 1600s caused many families to flee the area. The religious tolerance in Pennsylvania was an attractive landing spot. In fact Penn and/or his agents visited the German Rhine provinces to promote Penn’s acquisition of land in America as an opportunity for politically or religiously oppressed people.
Early Life
Much like the research of my Cox ancestors, I learned quite a bit about Peter thanks to the diligence of Quakers in documenting births, deaths, relocations, etc. Peter was born in 1715 to Samuel and Margaret Stout in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a descendant of Richard and Penelope Prince Stout who were among the earliest settlers of today’s New Jersey area (and who have a fantastic history I’m eager to research in greater detail).
New Castle began as Fort Casimir which was built by the Dutch in 1651 in a strategic location on a barrier island overlooking the river. The Netherlands, Sweden and Great Britain fussed and battled over the location with ownership changing hands several times. The English eventually won out but abandoned the fort in 1675. In 1682, New Castle became part of William Penn’s lands in America until being granted a separate legislature in 1702. New Castle became a thriving town serving as the colonial capitol of Delaware and continued as the county seat until the 1880s.
Marriage and Life in Pennsylvania
Peter (and perhaps his family) had left New Castle for nearby Lancaster County by the time Peter was in his early 20s. In 1739 he married Margaret Cypert, daughter of Lorrance/Lorentz and Margaret Cypert. The Cypert family was fairly new to Pennsylvania having arrived in 1733 on the Ship Samuel among its 291 passengers. Like the Stouts (Stoudt, Staudt), the Cypert (Seybert, Sibert) family origins were in Germany, and there are several phonetic spellings of the surname in records. The Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy uses “Cypert,” so that’s the spelling I’m using.
The Cyperts were members of the Dutch Reformed Church and the Stouts were prominent Baptists. (Peter’s grandfather, Jonathan Stout, was instrumental in establishing one of the first Baptist churches in New Jersey.) However, within a few years, the couple were members of the Society of Friends. It’s not clear what prompted Peter and Margaret to become Quakers. Perhaps it was a matter of convenience. But considering there were several other contemporaries named “Peter Stout” this might be why Peter eventually became referred to as Peter “the Quaker” Stout. Since the Stouts were historically Baptists, so Peter was most likely the first to convert to Quakerism.
Peter and Margaret had seven children: Samuel (1740-1831), Charles (1742-1822), Margaret (1744-1805), Joseph (1749 – 1831), Sharon’s 5th GGF Peter, Jr. (1754-1831), Elizabeth (1757-1837), and Rachel (1761-1840).
Peter came from several generations of land owners. His grandfather was among the earliest settlers of the Hopewell Valley in present day Mercer County, New Jersey. By the 1750s, Peter had several hundred acres of his own in Newberry Township of York County, Pennsylvania. (Conewago Township, where Peter and Margaret married, adjoins Newberry Township where his land was acquired.)
The Family Moves to North Carolina
In the summer of 1762, Peter and Margaret sold their land for 250 pounds (about $65,000 today) and moved their family to Cane Creek in North Carolina. John Wright deeded 59 acres on Cane Creek to Peter in September of the same year. They presented certificates of membership from the Warrington Monthly Meeting of Friends in York County to the Cane Creek Monthly Meeting and were accepted. It’s unclear exactly why Peter relocated the family to North Carolina. Perhaps it was a combination of the regional threat from the French and Indian War (1755-1763) and the favorable reports from Quakers already settling in the Cane Creek area.
In August 1763, Peter obtained a Granville land grant for 247 acres on the “Reedy Branch of Cane Creek of Haw River.” It mentions his “former line” meaning it was probably adjacent to the land he acquired from John Wright in 1762. There are references in area documents suggesting Peter farmed and milled grain for a living.
The Children
All ten of Peter and Margaret’s children came with them to Orange County and became devout Quakers. Samuel, the oldest son, married Rachel Chauncey the same year they moved to Cane Creek (December 16, 1762). They would eventually relocate to Tennessee and Illinois. Sons Charles (Mary Noblet), Joseph (Hannah Osborne), and Peter, Jr. (Hannah Brown) married and lived their lives in the area. Charles and Peter, Jr. are buried at Cane Creek, and Joseph is buried at Holly Spring Friends Cemetery in Randolph County, all with their spouses.
Daughter Margaret married Daniel Osborn. They were active in the Centre Friends Meeting in Guilford County prior to relocating to Tennessee. Elizabeth married Thomas Osborn (brother or cousin of David), but he died a few years into their marriage. She later married Joshua Murray and relocated to Indiana or Ohio.
Youngest child Rachel is especially interesting. She was born in Pennsylvania on February 28, 1761 and was a little over a year old when the family moved to CaneCreek. (I have seen her birth year listed as 1760, but Cane Creek minutes indicate 1761.) The Stout farm adjoined the land grant of the Allen family. At age 18 Rachel married young widower John Allen (1749-1826) in 1779, and the couple built a log house on the Allen property. The house was moved to the Alamance Battleground historic site in 1967. (Not to be confused with a crudely finished “log cabin, a “loghouse” is generally a permanent dwelling of one or two stories, often built to replace an earlier cabin.)
House built by John Allen. Photo approx 1882. From Cane Creek: Mother of Meetings
Rachel was a midwife and “doctor” in the Cane Creek community. There’s no documentation as to how or where she learned about herbal medicines, but her “recipe” book is still in the Stout family. Rachel and John had twelve children during their marriage of 47 years. She died in 1840 and is buried in the Cane Creek Friends Cemetery near her husband, parents, and many of her children.
Peter and Margaret’s Legacy
Peter and Margaret dedicated their lives to service within the Cane Creek Friends Meeting and surrounding community. Peter “sat at the “head of the meeting” on many occasions, meaning he was responsible for seeing that business was accomplished and recorded. Margaret died at age 84 on October 31, 1799. Peter died August 29, 1802. He was 87.
Quakers believed in simplicity, so graves were typically marked only with small field stones bearing only initials and a date. On August 19, 1929 a marker in the Cane Creek Friends cemetery honoring Peter and Margaret was dedicated at a Stout Family reunion.
Geneaologists generally agree that most Stouts in the counties of Alamance,
Chatham, Guilford, Orange, and Randolph are descendants of Peter and Margaret.
Resources of Note:
Forebears and Kinfolks 
PS what’s with the people who are saying Penelope Van Princess wasn’t our Grandmother and her story was fake????? That blew my mind! my email I registered with is a different one. Sorry to confuse ya… Barb L.