In my efforts to ascertain how the different members of the Outten family are related after a lapse of nearly two centuries and a half since their settlement in Delaware and on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, I have been somewhat surprised to find that they have maintained a disposition to keep their names out of historical records. Either from choice or indifference they have usually kept their identity concealed. Not only have they kept out of court, and out of jail, but they have also kept out of large business enterprises, and out of political office.
Most of the men who bear the name of this modest and diffident family about whom the writer has heard, and with whom he has been personally acquainted have been farmers, fishermen, ship-carpenters, house-carpenters, mechanists, merchants, foremen, manufacturers, shoemakers, laborers and sea captains. They have also engaged in the various professions, as the writer knows of three physicians, two pharmacists, three lawyers, three dentists, three jewelers, one engraver, one optician, several school-teachers and three ministers of the Gospel. But, so far as his research as extended, only three have ever been behind prison bars and not one of them was found guilty of any crime. Only one has followed what may be stigmatized as a disreputable vocation and he was legalized by the County Court. While they have not been angelic and few have been saintly, it is quite evident that they have usually observed the principles of ethics and decorum.
The Outtens have always maintained very decided religious convictions. They have identified themselves with various Christian denominations and have remained true to the principles which were promulgated by their zealous Huguenot ancestors in France, so far as the writer knows, and that was caused by intermarriage. They have also been divided politically, some being Democrats and others Republicans. During the so-called Civil War there were Outtens in both the Federal and Confederate armies, facing each other in mortal conflict.
But an unusual propensity has obtained, which has been a peculiar characteristic of the family from its origin, and that was an inclination to avoid notoriety, publicity and preferment have been utterly disregarded, not a single individual has ever demonstrated the slightest aspiration for high political honors by the suffrage of his fellow citizens. They have been decidedly altruistic, assisting others to obtain positions of trust, very often at their own expense and suffered personal loss, while they have been content to remain in comparative obscurity.
The writer has always cherished the stories which he as heard recited concerning his father and other ancestors and he has experienced some degree of pleasure in making a general investigation of the historical records which are still extant, in order to inform himself concerning the early settlement of the locality known as the Eastern Shore, with its cosmopolitan population, and peculiar environments. He has consulted scores of the best informed men and women in regard to our family history. He has copied hundreds of names and dates from old family Bibles, ancient diaries, almost illegible epitaphs from tombstones in many a silent and abandoned graveyard, and from every other possible source of supply. So when future generations shall pursue this record the peculiar characteristics of the Outten family that obtain today will be revealed to them.
Even in the best regulated families there may be found secrets that have been hidden for may years, and sometimes through several generations. As the writer has desired to produce a history and genealogy of the Outten family, he intends to divulge all the facts which are known to him, without regard to the nature or character of the nude "skeleton in the closet"; and without equivocation or mental reservation. If the proverbial "black sheep" should be discovered in our family, as one is said to exist in every fold, let his presence be a timely admonition to all who read these pages.
While all the old family records which are now extant have been faithfully searched, dating back to 1677, and all reliable data has been tabulated, together with almost invulnerable facts and figures exhausting every available source of supply, the writer is perfectly cognizant of the fact that those records have very decided limitations, and he positively knows that a complete history of the Outten family cannot be written at this late hour. But he now proposed to tabulate all the facts which he had collected, changing them from the abstract to this concrete and permanent form in order to preserve them for future generations.
The writer has always believed that every family should have a written history and keep it up to date. His regret is that some more competent literary genius in the far distant past did not write the facts that were then obtainable, and his hope for the future is that in the generations to come some member of the family may have interest enough to perpetuate and perfect this history in chronological order. It is really astonishing how many people there are who know absolutely nothing about their ancestors, or from what country they came. Tens of thousands of intelligent people cannot tell the name of their grandfathers, and very few of us know how or when our ancestors came to America. We are all expected to know something about the history of our Country, but how about the histories of our own families!
In the conclusion the writer begs leave to acknowledge, and express to the members and friends of the Outten family his most sincere and heartfelt gratitude for the encouragement and assistance they have so kindly rendered him in collecting data, and completing his most difficult and arduous task. The facts herein recorded have been recorded from existing records, and from living witnesses both by oral and written communication. This historical and genealogical record must therefore hence forth be regarded as the oldest and only authenticated history and genealogy of the Outten family.
John Perry Outten
1617 W. 14th St.,
Wilmington, Del.
July 14, 1916