Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/152

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

grated from the neighborhood of Frankfort- on-the-Main, Germany, and settled at Ger- mantovvn, Pennsylvania. One of them re- mained in Pennsylvania ; the second re- moved to Frederick county, Virginia ; and the third, who never married, was a Luth- eran minister and chaplain in the army dur- ing the revolution. The name was originally spelled Traut, meaning in German "lovely" or "dear." An examination of the court records and other records of Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania, and Frederick county, Virginia, shows that this tradition is in the m.ain correct.

About 1740 there were three brothers, John Balthazar (generally called Baltzer). George, and Jeremias Trout, residing at Germantown, Pennsylvania, their names be- ing spelled indiscriminately Trout and Traut. They were among the earliest set- tlers at Germantown, George Trout owning twenty-eight acres and Baltzer Trout twen- ty-five acres of land there. The suggestion is that they were the sons of one "John Trout of Upper Dublin Township in Phil- adelphia County, yeoman," who in his will made April 3, 1728, and approved May 7. 1728, mentions his wife Catharine, his eldest son John, as executor, and his youngest son Phillip, but does not give the names of his other children. George Trout died July,

1745-

(II ) John Baltzer Trout, son of John and Catharine Trout, died in 1750. There is no will of his on record and the name of his wife is not known, but on May 26, 1747. he made a will respecting certain property jointly with his brother Jeremias Trout, in which are mentioned "our beloved sons and cousins Jacob, Balthazar, and Jeremias Trout (the three sons of John Balthazar Trout)." It would appear that his wife had died and that these were his only sons. The will was probated June 21, 1750. John B. Trout having died shortly before that date. Jeremias Trout surviving him. His son, Baltzer Trout, died November, 1762, his will mentioning his wife, Barbara, his daughter Mary, and his brother-in-law, Nicholas Rittenhouse. His other son, Jere- mias Trout, died in 1789, his will naming his wife Hannah and five children : Mary, Bottes (?), Hannah, William, and John. One of the striking features of nearly all these early wills is the fact that special pro-

vision is made for the thorough education of the children of the testators.

(III) Jacob Trout, son of John Baltzer Trout, removed about 1760, from German- town to Frederick county, Virginia, and settled at Newtown (also called Stephens- burg, but now Stephens City). Jacob Trout died shortly before April 5. 1774, for on that date Barbara Trout and Jacob Trout Jr. are mentioned as administrators of Jacob Trout, deceased. He mentions Barabara Klein, who came to this country from Ger- many about 1750. She lived to an old age, dying at Newtown after 1812. Her grand- children used to love to visit her and hear stories she would relate to them about her children in the Fatherland. Children: Jacob; Baltzer; Daniel; Philip, mentioned below; Henry; and Catherine. It is said that there were one or two other sons who moved to Tennessee or Georgia.

(IV) Philip Trout, son of Jacob and Bar- bara (Klein) Trout, was born at Newtown (?), August II, 1759 and died in the same place August 21, 1812. He lived at New- town and reared all his family there. In his will, made August 21, 1812, and proved March 2. 1813, he mentions his wife Mollie. and his mother, and names his wife, his brother Henry, and Jacob Boyers, as exec- utors. He married at Strasburg, in 1786, Mary Magdalene Lambert (born February 22, 1758, died at Newtown, February 12, 1S26). Children: Joseph, mentioned be- low; Rebecca, born July l, 1789. died in in- fancy ; Isaac, December 17, 1790, died March 29, 1873, married Araminta Donner Pagett ; Jacob, July 24, 1792, died May 22, 1853; Mary Magdalene, January 13, 1794, died January 22, 1865 ; David, Newtown, Decem- ber 25, 1795, died Front Royal. December 6, 1869; Elizabeth, December 10, 1797, died young; Rebecca (2), November 23, 1799, died at Staunton, November 3, 1855 ; Abra- ham, April 9, 1801, drowned in childhood while playing.

(V) Joseph Trout, son of Philip and Mary Magdalene (Lambert) Trout, was born at Newtown, October 16. 1787, and died at Port Republic, March 26, 1850. He lived at Greenville, Augusta county, till about 1818, when he removed to Port Re- public, where he resided until his death. For a number of years he was practically an invalid having suffered a stroke of par-