- Nathan Stout (called Nate)was born March 11, 1859 in Hamilton, Minnesota. Nate was the only child of Joseph B. Stout's 1st marriage to Amanda. Later Joseph B. remarried and Nate had some half-brothers and half-sisters. Joseph, Amanda and Nate moved to Cobden, Union County, Illinois and lived in a small log house about 3 miles north west of Cobden. Nate's mother, Amanda, died when he was still young, probably around 1864-69. She is buried about to miles west in what is now an abandoned cemetary in Union County. In 1992, we walked t6hrough several old cemeteries in that area but didn't find her grave. After Amanda's death, Nate and his father moved in with a family who had a large two-story log house, just across the road from their original home. Nate lived there until he went west to Missouri in 1879 and on to Kansas where he worked as ranch manager on the Glendale Ranch for 3-4 years. (His Uncle Jared Stout owned part of this ranch.) While he worked on the ranch, Nate bought the 1st quarter section of what became the Nathan Stout place.
In 1930 Nathan's son Art and his wife Lottie Lightfoot Stout took Nate and Callie to Cobden, Illinois to visit Nate's boyhood home. Relatives of the same family still lived in the big log house where Nate and his dad had stayed, and the Stouts had Sunday dinner with them. They also visited the cemetery where Nate's mother Amanda is buried. The trip was a highlight for Nate, but he could hardly understand why their favorite swimming hole looked so small.
Nate and Caroline "Callie" Shaffer were married April 11, 1884 in Carthage, Missouri. They lived on the farm near Beverly, Kansas and raised their family there. They retired in about 1916. Their farm and 2 dry-land pastures took care of them financially. They began spending their winters on the Gulf, at Palacios, Texas, and continued for 21 consecutive years. It wasn't an expensive arrangement and was one that they very much enjoyed. Art Stout told me, "Dad was a born fisherman and mother was never happier than when she had a fishing pole in her hand. Creek, pond or Gulf, it didn't really matter." They moved into town (Beverly) about this time, but kept the farm and pasture land and leased it out.
My great-grandpa Nathan Stout died on my 1st birthday, October 2, 1939, so I don't remember him, but he must have been a talented man. Mother (Arthola Bloyd Harman) said he played the fiddle well, and she especially liked to hear him play "Red Wing". He would whittle and carve most any piece of wood he found. We have a monkey that he carved from a peach seed and also a "sea bean" he polished. He put hooks on them to use for necklaces for the girls and watch fobs for the boys. I always thought the beans were something he found near and ocean, but Kaye Martin (Beulah Frankie Stout Oliver's daughter) says they are buck-eyes and said she heard Nate partially polished them by carrying them around in his pocket. They rubbed together and were polished. Many of the family have walking canes he made and carved. He used most any stick or tree branch to make the canes. One started out as a partially burned stick and the burned area is still visible. Bie;aj Stpit P;over's daughters, Jean Allen and Kaye Martin said that often when Nate finished work in the fields or during a break, he would crawl under the wagon and carve the bottom so the underside of the wagon was a work of art! I have a little gold heart locket that Nate and Callie gave me when I was born. Beulah Oliver told that during one hard winter there wasn't much to eat, so the kids would put a bit of bread on a fish-hook and toss it out the door. When a bird ate the bread, the kids would pull it in and they cooked and ate the wren breasts. Nathan bouth and sold and worked and made out well. He was one of the first in the county to buy a car--in 1904. Nate didn't think girls needced to go on to school, so after Beulah graduated from 8th grade, she taught school for a year, then went to nurses training for a year. She alternated between teaching and nurses training for 3 years until she became a nurse. She met Jerry Oliver when she was his nurse when he was hospitalized with appendicitis when he was in the army.
MONEY IN THE CELLAR:
After Nate's death, they discovered money hidden in the cellar. Nate had evidently hidden it over the years, and even Caroline didn't know of it. Before they went anywhere, Nate would cover the cellar door with blankets, "In case it rains," he would say. It was an outside cellar, not connected to the house. It had a sloping door and Nate secured it with both a padlock and hand hasp plus a couple of nails--he never forgot the two nails--whenever they were to be gone for any period of time. It was evident that something was there that he valued, but everyone assumed it was the canned fruit and things of that sort. When Nate died all the kids came home, as as they had limited time, they wanted to take care of things. They knew their Dad had postal savings bonds, so they had the banker open his lock box, but there was nothing in it of any value. They knew he had assets somewhere. Art kept remembering the old plug cut tobacco box his father kept things in, but it didn't seem to be around. They looked for it all over the house, and checked the barn. Finally they looked down in the cellar, but found nothing. However, there was firewood stacked on one side of the cellar which had been there for years. They used out of it now and then during rainy weather when the other wood was wet. So finally they started unstacking the wood, and back about the middle of the pile they found the box. Inside were several tobacco tins stuffed with bills. There were $14,000 in bills of all denominations, all of them old bills, none of the new ones that came out in the 1930's. The kids decided to see a banker friend about what to do with it. He told them there was no tax problem and deposited it. They never found any bonds or savings certificates. Nate had probably used them instead of money to live on during his final years. They still had all 3 dry-land farms, too. Art Stout kept the tobacco box, and I saw it when we visited them in 1978. It is red and about 20" long and 4 1/2" high.
An incident happened after they found the money that the family had a lot of laughs over. "A nice neighbor, just a little bit tetched" lived in the house east of theirs. It was late in the evening when the money was found, so they pulled the window shades and stretched the bills out on the kitchen table in denomination piles to count. It was unusual for them to pull the curtains, living in the country as they did. The next day the neighbor saw Beulah and she said, "Don't worry, I'll never tell anybody." Apparently, she had seen the blinds drawn, so she came over and looked around them to see what was going on.
Jean (Oliver) Allen, daughter of Beulah Stout Oliver, said that when Nathan died, each of his children got $2,000 and Callie had $12,000 for the rest of her life. Jean Allen went to school on $500 of that money.
Another detail about Nathan that Kaye Martin told: If there was something mathematical to figure out, Nathan would tell the answer right away but didn't know how he got it. When someone else would figure it our on paper, he was proven correct.
Dee Ann Harman Bishopp
- Lincoln Sentinel-Republican
October 5, 1939
Nathan A. Stout, one of the early settlers of the Beverly community, died unexpectedly at his home in Beverly Monday morning. Apparently in his usual good health, Mr. Stout ate his breakfdast and it was a severe shock to Mrs. Stout when she found him dead a short time later on on his bed. He was more than 90 years of age. Mr. Stout came to Lincoln County in 1872 and was closely identified with the pioneer days. His mind was ever keen and alert and he brought pleasure to the many who knew him by his intelligent conversation and interest in both the past and present.
As I remembered hearing about Nathan's death when I was a child, I thought Caroline found him in a chair, but apparently he was on his bed. DAHB
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BEVERLY RESIDENT DEAD
N.A. Stout Had Been There Most of 80 Years
Beverly, October 3
N.A. Stout, 80, longtime resident of this community where he had been a prominent farmer, died suddenly at the his home here Monday morning. Born in 1859 at Hamilton, Minn., Mr. Stout spent nearly all of his life in this community, having farmed south of Beverly until he retired and moved into town about 20 years ago.
Beside the widow he leaves five children. They are Mrs. Helen Bloyd, Lamar, Colo.; Mrs. Gerturde Phillips, Salina; Mrs. Beulah Oliver, Buryn, Meb.; (Mr.)A.J. Stout, Los Angeles, Calif; and LeRoy Stout, St. Louis, Mo. Funeral Services will be held at 2 o'clock Thursday afternoon from the Beverly township hall.
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Nathan A. Stout
Nathan A. Stout was born in Hamilton, Minnesota, March 11, 1859 and passed away at his home in Beverly, Kansas, October 2, 1939. He was a Lincoln county pioneer, having come to that county fifty-eight years ago.
In 1882 he was united in marriage with Miss Caroline Shaffer.
He leaves to mourn his departure a wife, three daughters, Helen Bloyd of Lamar, Colorado; Gerturde Phillips of Salina, Kansas; Beulah Frankie Oliver of Berwyn, Mebraska; two sons, Joseph Leroy Stout of St. Louis, Mo.; and Arthur J. Stout of Los Angeles, Calif. One daughter, Nellie Anna Vawter preceded him in death. Also surviving are twenty one grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren, by other relatives and many friends. Funeral services were held at Colorado Township Hall inn Beverly on October 5, 1939 with the Rev. C.D. Flood in charge. Internment was made in Monroe Cemetery.
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Nathan Agusta Stous was born at Hamilton, Minn., March 11, 1859. He pioneered to Kansas 58 years ago in 1881 and was married to Caroline Shaffer in 1882. To this union four daughters and two sons were born. One daughter, Nellie A. Vawter, having preceded him in death.
He passed away at his home in Beverly, Kan., October 2, 1939 at the age of eighty years, 6 months, 21 days. His is survived by his wife; three daughters, Mrs. Helen Bloyd of Lamar, Colo.; Mrs. Gertrude Philips of Salina, Kans.; and Mrs. Beulah Frankie Oliver of Berwin, Nebr.; and by two sons: Joseph Leroy Stout of Eureka, Mo.; and Arthur J. Stout of Los Angeles, Calif.; by 2 half-brothersL C.R. Stout of Marmaduke, Ark.; and Jared Stout of Raymond, Washington; by 2 half sisters: Retta Kirby of Ferndale, Michigan, and Nora Stoneclipher of Normandy, Okla.; by 21 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren; by other relatives and many friends.
Funeral services were held at Colo. Township Hall in Beverly on Oct. 5, 1939, with the Rev. C.D. Flood in charge. Internment was made in Monroe Cemetery.
(I copied this from a paper written in long-hand that Grandma Bloyd (Helen Stout Bloyd) had. Probably someone had copied it from a newspaper for her.--DAHB)
- HOUSE
The Stout home was located 9 miles south east of Beverly, Kansas. Grandma Bloyd (Helen Stout Bloyd) was born in the barn there. It was built first to be used as a temporary house, until the permanent house could be built. The barn, like the house later, was built in 2 parts, each about 20'x14', with a drive between the parts and a single roof over both. The barn where Helen was born is gone now, but she could answer "Yes," if asked if she was born in a barn.
The limestone for the house and barn came from a big deposit just north of Beverly. Pastures in that area also had the stone used as fence posts and many buildings in Beverly are limestone. Now, people almost have to guard their stone posts, as people want one and usually break them off getting them out of the ground.
There was an artesian well which still flows. The well was dug where a man who witched for water said to dig it. It came in the day Art Stout was born, August 23, 1898, and has been flowing constantly ever since--94 years when we visited in 1992 and is probably still flowing.
Source: Dee Ann Harman Bishopp
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In 1908 or 1909, Helen Stout and Jud Bloyd came back to Kansas for awhile in a wagon Jud had built. It was after dark when they arrived and they parked under mulberry trees at the end of the lane. Art Stout was about 10 and he got to sleep in the covered wagon that night. Helen and Jud stayed all summer and Jud with Art's help, put a new roof on the barn. Art joked that he was glad Jud had come to help him put on the new roof.
Source: Dee Ann Harman Bishopp
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Buelah Stout Oliver told her daughters, Kaye and Jean, that when Nathan and Caroline built their house, it was the grandest house around, but it had no floor upstairs. They had to wait a year until they had enough money to build the floor so they could use the 2nd story. At first, they had to haul water 1/4 mile from the creek, so the kids were busy bringing water. They used as little amount of soap for dishes as possible because the chickens got the water when they finished doing the dishes. When the water-witch came Caroline asked him to try the spot where the dog always liked to lie. And that was the spot where the water-witch said to dig.
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Beulah said she thought that Nathan and Caroline lived in a dugout for a time, perhaps while the barn was being built. She said the dugout had a hard-packed dirt floor and a leather door. But Art Stout said he never saw any sign of a dugout.
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In 1992 we found the sandstone house that Nathan and Caroline Stout built near Beverly, Kansas around 1887. The artesian well they had is still flowing and we saw the cellar where Nathan hid his money. It isn't connected to the house as I had always pictured but is a short distance away in the back yard. **Later I realized that the celler in the story was at their place in town, not on the farm. I learned this in 2003. Don Bloyd says there were also fruit baskets stacked in front of where the money was hidden.**
The house is owned by Marjorie Echart now, who took very good care of it from all reports. Unfortunately, she had to move into Salina for health reasons. When we visited Joe Morgan, a bachelor, was renting the place from Marjorie Eckjhart, and the house doesn't seem as well cared for. He didn't invite us to see the inside.
Source: Dee Ann Harman Bishopp
- STONE FENCE POSTS
Because trees were somewhat scarce, early Kansas settlers quarried limestone and "broke out" posts for their fences.There are still alot of the old limestone fence posts in Lincoln County around Lincoln and Beverly, and a lot of old stone buildings like the court house in Lincoln. Today, the stone posts are making a comeback of sorts, as people are using stone posts for their businesses and on the lawns of their homes for their house numbers or names. The stone-work on the old Stout home is very nice and well-preserved. We bought a stone bookend in Lincoln that has a minature rock post and barbed wire fence on it.
Source: Dee Ann Harman Bishopp
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Our Family History
1857 - 1939 (82 years)