Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana Archives

Rev. Charles Brockden Stout

The Rev. Charles B. Stout was born on 20 April 1807 in Ontario County, New York, the son of David and Theodosia (Morford) Stout. He married Laura Chapin on 23 October 1832 in Canandaigua, New York. His early education took place in Canandaigua, and in 1827 becme a communicant at St. Luke's Church in Rochester.  By 1834 Bishop Onderdonk admitted him as a a candidate for Holy Orders. He went to Michigan and was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop McCoskrey in St. Paul's, Detroit in 1837 and a priest at St. Luke's, Ypsilanti, in 1838. Under Bishop McCoskrey he did missionary work in the western part of the Diocese of Michigan, helping to organize St. Luke's in Kalamazoo. He became rector of St. Stephen's Church in Edwardsburg, Cass County, and in 1837 joined the Rev. Henry F. M. Whitesides in organizing St. Paul's Church in Mishawaka, Indiana. In May 1839, he became rector of St. John's Church in Lenawee County and in 1840 he was at St. Patrick's Church in Clinton, Michigan. The following year, for reasons of health, he moved to St. Peter's Church in Westfield, New York, where he did missionary work. From there he moved to Ohio and was stationed at Painesville and Circleville. He organized the Church of the Epiphany in Urbana in 1850. Three years later he helped to found Trinity Church in Tiffin. By 1857 he had moved to Will County, Illinois, and the following year worked as a missionary at St. Mathias Church in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He returned to Illinois to serve at the Church of the Redeemer in Wilmington and St. Paul's in Manhattan. In 1861 he went to Clinton, Iowa, to take charge of St. John's Church, reestablishing its connection to another church in Lyons, Iowa. By 1865 he was rector of St. Michael's Church in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, when he served as a delegate to the General Convention. He went to Europe with the Rev. Dr. Bishop of St. John's Church, Chicago, and was with Bishop when he died in Paris. He returned to Mount Pleasant, but because of ill health, resigned and went to Chicago to serve St. John's Church. He suffered an accident at Kalamazoo in September 1878 that caused the dislocation of his shoulder. He never fully recovered and died in Chicago on 28 February 1880 with burial in Graceland Cemetery. His son, the Rev. Charles Tullidge Stout, was later rector of St. James, Goshen.