STOUT, Ephraim - 1912 Bio (1830-1917)

STOUT, RIGGS, BOWER, MILLER, MOORE, FRY, HUFFMAN, PARKER, EDWARDS, PATTISON, MCWHIRTER, FRAME

Posted By: Debbie Nash (email)
Date: 2/28/2004 at 01:04:14

From the “History of Jefferson County, Iowa” – 1912, Volume II
Pages 449-452.

EPHRAIM STOUT

“One of Jefferson county’s oldest pioneer settlers is Ephraim STOUT, who with his parents located in Round Prairie township more than seventy-five years ago, at which time there were but five white families in the township. He was born in Sangamon county, Illinois, on a farm six miles south of Springfield, his natal day being the 29th of August, 1830, and is a son of George and Phoebe (RIGGS) STOUT. His father, who was of German extraction, was born and reared in Pennsylvania, whence he removed in his early manhood to Illinois. There he engaged in farming until 1836, when together with his wife and family he came to Jefferson county, settling on a farm in Round Prairie township, that he had purchased on a trip to the county two years previously. His holdings comprised one hundred and sixty acres, for which he paid one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and were located just west of Glasgow. After making the necessary improvements upon his place and putting the land under cultivation, Mr. STOUT started on horseback for Texas. Upon his return trip he was taken ill and died at St. Louis, where he was buried, in 1838. He had been married twice, his first union having occurred in Pennsylvania, while his marriage to Miss RIGGS was celebrated in Illinois. She was also of German extraction and her mother died on shipboard en route from the fatherland to the United States, and was buried at sea. Mrs. STOUT survived her husband for about twelve years, continuing to make her home on the farm, where she died on the 14th of August, 1850.

Ephraim STOUT, who was only a lad of eight years when his father died remained at home with his mother until he was seventeen years of age, devoting his youthful energies to assisting in the cultivation of the farm. His boyhood and youth were hard, as were those of the majority of the pioneer lads, his schooling being confined to a term of three months held during the summer in the school located on what is now known as the Bowers farm, three miles from his home. In 1848, when he was in his nineteenth year, in common with every ambitious, enterprising youth he longed to see the world, the goldfields of California seeming to him to be most alluring, holding forth promise of adventure and excitement and of untold wealth to be found there. In company with his brother William, James Sears and John E. Mars he started for the new Eldorado, their outfit comprising of four yoke of oxen, two wagons and two cows. They spent three and a half months en route, and upon their arrival spent one hundred and nine days in placer-mining, which did not prove very remunerative. At Sacramento, Mr. STOUT and his brother received a letter advising them of the death of their mother, so very soon thereafter they started homeward. Upon his return he became associated with his brother John in conducting a meat market at Ottumwa, Iowa, but at the expiration of eight months he disposed of his interest and returned to California in 1852. He made the journey by water this time, taking the boat at Keokuk for New Orleans, where he sailed for San Francisco. He remained in the west seven years, meeting with good success, and returning to Jefferson county, he bought forty-seven and a half acres of land in Cedar township, upon which he has ever since resided. Later he extended the boundaries of his farm by the addition of another twenty acres, all of it being well improved and under high cultivation. Although diversified farming always engaged the attention of Mr. STOUT, he has devoted much attention to the cultivation of a fine apple orchard, said to be one of the best in the county. Through his grafting he has developed a new variety of apple, named by a prominent nurseryman “The Stout,” that is to be commonly found in orchards throughout this part of the country.

At the old MILLER homestead in Round Prairie township, on the 22d of September, 1859, Mr. Stout was married to Miss Angeline MILLER, by the Rev. Mr. Heaton, father of Hiram Heaton, of the advisory board. Mrs. STOUT is a daughter of Thomas and Eliza (MOORE) MILLER, natives of Erie county, Pennsylvania, the father’s birth occurring on August 8, 1806, and that of the mother on the 16th of June, 1810. They were the parents of the following: John, who was born on March 13, 1834; Jane, born on the 18th of September, 1835; Benjamin, born on March 24, 1837; Elizabeth, born June 19, 1839; Angeline, who became Mrs. STOUT, born March 31, 1841; Louisa, born January 8, 1843; Henry, who died in early youth, born on the 8th of September, 1845; Altha born on May 3, 1847; Thomas, born on September 20, 1848; Frances, who was born on the 25th of June, 1850; Alice, born on the 3d of May, 1852; and Ada, born on February 13, 1854. Mr. Miller came to Jefferson county with his family in 1837, locating at Glasgow, where he became associated with a Mr. Glasgow in conducting a general mercantile business, the first store in the town, all of their goods being hauled from Keokuk. In 1851, when Mrs. STOUT was about ten years of age he removed to a farm that he owned, located a mile and a quarter west of Glasgow, where the mother passed away on January 14, 1879. The father continued to live there for some years thereafter, when he made his home with Mr. and Mrs. STOUT, passing away on the 4th of January, 1892, at the venerable age of eighty-five years. To Mr. and Mrs. STOUT have been born the following children. Ellen M. married Warren FRY, a farmer of Cedar township, and has three children: Chester D., Clara and Guy. Albert married Elizabeth HUFFMAN and is living on a farm just south of his father. They have seven children: Ludwig; Arthur; Elsie; Helen; John; Clifford; and Lena, who died at the age of seven years. Their second son, who is a farmer near Mount Pleasant, married Birdie PARKER and they have two children, Harold and a baby, not yet named. William C., who owns a farm just south of his father, married Cornelia EdDWARDS of Van Buren county and they have one son, Ralph. Eliza married H. C. PATTISON, a farmer of Cedar township, and they have three children: Earl, Paul and Edna. Effie became the wife of William McWHIRTER, a farmer of Cedar township, and they have five children: Florence, Nina, Hugh, Clifford, and a baby. Bertha married Adrian FRAME, a farmer of North Dakota, by whom she has had four children: George, Ralph, Ruth and Opal.

Mr. and Mrs. STOUT are members of the Christian denomination and belong to Ebenezer church in Cedar township, of which he has been a deacon for more than twenty years. In his political views Mr. STOUT is a democrat, and has always given his unqualified support to that party and its candidates. He has never prominently participated in township affairs, but he served for four years as director of school district No. 4 in Cedar township, and he was trustee of the township school fund for two years. He has always been a very energetic man and until about three years ago was actively engaged in farming, but he has given up the work of the fields now and devotes his attention to his chickens and stock. Despite his eighty-one years he can accomplish a good day’s work, possessing the vitality of a man many years his junior, while his eyesight is so good that he has never found it necessary to wear glasses. Many and marvelous are the changes that have taken place in Jefferson county, since Mr. STOUT located here, not least of these being the wonderful agricultural development in which he has been an influential and helpful factor.”

I am copying this for genealogical purposes and am not related to said individuals.