In writing the genealogy of the Outten family, the writer finds that one of the most highly honored and useful men of all those who bear our name was Dr. James Newton Outten of Hickman, Fulton County, Kentucky. He was the son of William Outten who married Priscilla Smith, daughter of Job Smith, who was a descendent of one of the early settlers of the Eastern Shore. He was the grandson of Abraham Outten, and the great grandson of Isaac Outten Sr.
Dr. Outten had three brothers and two sisters. His eldest brother was Hooper Outten, who died in 1861. His second brother was William who died in 1863. And his third brother was Alfred, who died in 1848. These three brothers of Dr. Outten were never married. He also had two sisters: Elizabeth Jane Outten married Henry Delany, of Morgansfield, Union Co., Ky. They were the parents of three children: George W., Henry, and Barbary who married Frank Holt of Sturgis, Union Co., Ky. His other sister was named Emmoline E. She was the younger child, but she died in her infancy in 1823. And Elizabeth Jane died in 1886, about 70 years of age. But her children are all living and all married at the time of this writing.
Dr. Outten was born near Seaford, Sussex Co., Delaware, and he was the youngest son of William and Priscilla Outten. He was born October 9, 1825, and his father died in 1828, when he was only three years old. Four years later, when he was seven years old, his mother with her five children, emigrated to Louisville, Jefferson Co., Ky. She had been given a farm in that section by her maternal uncle, James Brown, Jr., who came from Delaware, and was an extensive land owner. Mr. Brown had a sister named Mary who married a Mr. Tuisford of Seaford. There is a tradition still extant that William Outten was a part owner of the Seaford shipyard, with Brown and Tuisford, but the writer is not able to substantiate the story.
Dr. Outten was educated at Louisville, and he graduated in medicine at Louisville University.
When the Civil War came on, he served as a surgeon in the Confederate Army, Company E. 4th Tennessee Regiment, but he was honorably discharged on account of ill health. He served at Shiloh as a volunteer surgeon on Gen. Harchee's staff, and continued with the Army to Vicksburg, where he was paroled on July 6, 1863. At that time he was surgeon of Morris Reserved Artillery with Lieutenant General John C. Pomberton, Commander of the Southern Army.
Dr. Outten married E. Agnes Pollock, the daughter of John Pollock, a wealthy merchant and planter and they were the parents of nine children as follows: Precilla, James Alfred, John, Jessie Evelyn, Stonewall, William, Charles, Clara Agnes, and Anna Henrietta.
The boys all died young and unmarried. Charles died when he was 14 years old. Clara Agnes married Dr. William A. Johns, Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat specialist of Cornith, Miss., and they were the parents of two children: Clara Marguerite married Stevenson and William Alexander Johns. The writer has in his possession a letter that was written to him by Mrs. Johns, in which she inclosed a photograph of her son, She says "Our son William A. Jr., is a very promising, moral young man of eighteen years {illegible} daughter Clara Agnes. We have a very attractive daughter, Clara Marguerite, twenty one years of age, and attending school at University of Miss." m 2 children Peggy Ann The letter is dated October 24, 1921. Mrs. Johns died December 7, 1927, and in February, 1929, Dr. Johns was married to his wife's sister, Anna Henrietta Outten. Of all Dr. Outten's children only these two were ever married, Anna Henrietta died in 1936.
The writer always considered himself to be under many obligations to Miss Anna Henrietta Outten, as our correspondence began in 1916, and continued for about 20 years. She began by writing a letter to my elder brother William T. Outten, and he requested me to answer it, and so the correspondence began. And if any one who reads these pages should feel thankful for these family records, let the honor be given to the two persons named above.
Her address was at that time 4003 Ellis Ave., Chicago, Ill. She was a stenographer in a lawyer's office. In 1926 she went to Washington D.C., and while there she did about the same kind of work. Her address was 317 Gov. Hotels. She then began the study of law and completed her course, but the writer does not know that she ever practiced her profession.
At the writer's request, while she was in Washington, she searched all the records of the Outten family that were available, many of which could not be found elsewhere. She also assisted the writer in searching the records at Annapolis, Maryland, and she sent all the information she obtained to me. Anna never tried to straighten out any of the facts she gathered, but the writer has done the very best he could with them.
Anna Outten was one of the most highly educated and refined women that the Outten family has ever produced. Perhaps her greatest accomplishments may be seen in her communications, for she possessed the skill and ability to write well. From an intellectual standpoint she had no superior in our family. Her expressions were all chaste and refined, and there was not a sign of weakness, nor a breach of etiquette in any of her writing. But great minds may falter, and the last letter she wrote to me revealed the startling fact that her work was done, and so it proved to be. The writer never saw Anna, but she was his good friend, and without her sympathy and encouragement this genealogy would not have been written.
Dr. Outten died at Hickman, Ky., July 1, 1898, and Agnes, his widow, died in 1922. But the sad fact about the genealogy of this branch of the family is, the Outten name is now extinct, and only the children of Dr. Johns remain to perpetuate their memory.