Person:Elisabeth Stout (1)

Elizabeth had married Abraham Freed about 1770. Abraham then died in 1773. She was the daughter of Jacob Stout and Anna Miller Lacey. Her brother, Abraham Stout, was probably the most prominent and best educated Pennsylvania German of the time in Bucks County. He was educated at the famous Germantown Academy under the tutelage of Hilarius Becker, Professor of German and DAvid J Dove, English instructor and thus acquired knowledge of English, an accomplishment rare at that early date, as well as a thorough and scientific training. Abraham was also an excellent accountatn and mpenman, and a good surveyor. He drew up the majority of the deds, wills and other legal papers for the locality for many years. He was named to the Committee of Safety from Rockhill Township in 1775 and later withdrew from that when he learned that there was going to be a war (which could account with his brother in law, Gabriel's "Non-Association" with the militias in 1775. Later Stout became among the foremost in the neighborhood to enter protest against the oppressive acts of Great Britain. After the war, Stout became prominent in public affairs. He was a Justice of the Peace and one of the Bucks County delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 - 1798 and thus took an active part in framing of the Constitution for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Stout farm on the north branch of Perkomy creek not far from Swartzlander's Mill was the scene of several encampments during the Revolution and show how the Revolution affected residents of that section of Bucks County where the Swartzlanders resided. During the war a recess was made in the cellar wall where Abraham kept his money and valuable papers to preserve them against raids of the Doans and Tories. The Doans werea daring band of outlaws who used his pasture for an entire summer. In the morning they would leave with their horses for shelter in the rocky ridges and return in the evening. Stout did not dispute his rights with them and they did not molest him or his family.